The Confucian Tradition: Between Religion and Humanism

Guoxiang Peng

May 2023 · Bridge 21 Publications

About this ebook

The author reviews the Confucian tradition through the two concepts, religion and humanities. Chinese scholars always adopt Zongjiao and Renwen from the ancient Chinese documents as the Chinese translation of religion and humanities. In respect of their own contexts of culture, the Chinese words and the English words share some similarities in meaning, but also have some vital differences. This book covers the major phases of the development of Confucianism, which have a wide historical span from the Pre-Qin period to the contemporary era with a focus on Confucianism in Song and Ming dynasties. Relevant ideas of modern Western disciplines such as philosophy of religion, religious studies and theology are employed by the author as references, not criteria, to illuminate key ideas in Confucian tradition and highlight the features of Confucianism as a religious or spiritual humanism. In some chapters, the author compares the eastern thinkers and theories with those western ones.

About the author

Guoxiang Peng is one of the leading scholars in Chinese philosophy, intellectual history, and religions. He has been teaching at top universities in China including Peking University, Tisnghua University, and Zhejiang University and visiting professor, visiting scholar and research fellow at various prestigious universities and institutions around the world such as Harvard University, University of Hawaii, University of Frankfurt am Main, Ruhr-University Bochum, National University of Singapore, Chinese University of Hong Kong, National Taiwan University, Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, and Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity. He was the 2016 Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the North and the 2009 Awardee of the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award. He has published nine books and numerous articles.