Reflecting on over half a century of study on Chinese culture, Jordan Paper explores new ways of approaching religion in China. Moving away from using Christianity as a model for examination, which has led to considerable misunderstandings between China and the West, Paper instead applies the paradigm of Familism to Chinese religion. By looking through the lens of Familism, which emphasises the importance of the family unit, Paper argues that we can understand the basis of Chinese culture, society, government, and religion. In the book, Paper explains how, when and why Familism appears in the development of human culture in the Neolithic period, as well as its ramifications in more complex societies, using the imperial Chinese state as an example. The discussion in the book includes how the Chinese state can be understood as a religious institution; the role of spirit possession; the relationship of other religions in China to Chinese Religion, including Buddhism, Daoism and Judaism; and the issue of freedom of religion in contemporary China. Chinese Religion and Familism not only challenges the discipline’s perception of Chinese religion, but all of the religions of East Asia, indigenous sub-Saharan African religions, Polynesian Religion, and elsewhere.
Reflecting on over half a century of study on Chinese culture, Jordan Paper explores new ways of approaching religion in China. Moving away from using Christianity as a model for examination, which has led to considerable misunderstandings between China and the West, Paper instead applies the paradigm of Familism to Chinese religion. By looking through the lens of Familism, which emphasises the importance of the family unit, Paper argues that we can understand the basis of Chinese culture, society, government, and religion. In the book, Paper explains how, when and why Familism appears in the development of human culture in the Neolithic period, as well as its ramifications in more complex societies, using the imperial Chinese state as an example. The discussion in the book includes how the Chinese state can be understood as a religious institution; the role of spirit possession; the relationship of other religions in China to Chinese Religion, including Buddhism, Daoism and Judaism; and the issue of freedom of religion in contemporary China. Chinese Religion and Familism not only challenges the discipline’s perception of Chinese religion, but all of the religions of East Asia, indigenous sub-Saharan African religions, Polynesian Religion, and elsewhere.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Prologue: Six Decades of Studying Chinese Religion
1. Chinese Religion: The Oldest Documented Religious Tradition
2. Five Centuries of the Western Misrepresentation of Chinese
Religion
3. Familism: The Global Context of Chinese Religion
4. The Theology Implicit in the Early Confucian Tradition: The
Fundamental Understanding of the Meaning of Life in Chinese
Culture
5. The Role of Possession Trance in Chinese Culture and Religion: A
Comparative Overview from the Neolithic to the Present
6. State and Religion in China: The District Magistrate as
Priest
7. Freedom of Religion in China: In the Past and Under the Chinese
Communist Party
8. Why Buddhism Succeeded and Christianity Failed in China
9. The Theology of the Chinese Jews: A Synthesis of Judaism and
Neo-Confucianism
Epilogue: Chinese Religion Today in China and the Chinese
Diaspora
Appendix: Chronological Chart
Bibliography
Notes
Index
Jordan Paper, for the first time in religious studies, applies the paradigm of familism to Chinese religion, arguing that it allows for a better understanding of religion in China.
Jordan Paper is Professor Emeritus at York University (Toronto) and a Fellow at the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society at the University of Victoria (BC), Canada. He is author of a dozen books covering Chinese Religion, Native American religions, polytheism, mysticism, female spirituality, and Chinese Judaism.
The volume’s value lies in intriguing questions, informative
illustrations, and relevant glimpses at local practices.
*Religious Studies Review*
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