"The Religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism" (original Free Press edition 1951) is one of a number of works by the German sociologist Max Weber (1864-1920) published in English translation only long after his death, during a post-World-War II boom in Anglo-American interest in his writing. Such interest has recurred at irregular intervals since (one marked by this 1968 paperback reprinting), and Weber's major works, including technical and methodological studies, apparently have all been translated. Initially familiar to readers of English only for his theories on the relation between the Protestant (mainly Calvinist) world-view and the capitalist "rationalization" of economic life ("The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism"), Weber gradually has been revealed as an explorer of the nature of human societies in many times and places.
Sinologists have given his studies of China (here and in a few essays published elsewhere) a somewhat mixed reception. On the one hand, it was an important example of China being taken seriously as major civilization, illustrating basic trends in human social behavior, instead of an exotic footnote ("Oriental Despotism," "The Oriental Mode of Production"). A product of Bismarck's Germany, Weber was acutely aware of the effects of bureaucracy, centralization of authority, and economic rationalization on traditional societies, and used China as a test case for his general theories. The religious responses to China's social and political order are a main, but not the only focus, and his treatment of both Confucianism and (mainly philosophical) Taoism as embodying genuine religious experiences was then unusual. Weber's mastery of the available translations and secondary literature is often mentioned as amounting to nearly a professional command of the field.
On the other hand, Weber *was* unable to consult the primary sources directly. He was acutely aware that much of his information came from missionaries with ideological biases; according to some, however, he often chose the *wrong* missionary to believe. He seriously underestimated the antiquity of some developments in Chinese government. His examples are sometimes wrong, sometimes not especially pertinent; and better ones are missing because he had no access to them. He accepted the view of Confucius as a sort of learned academic with an interest in ethical government (popular among some modern Chinese as well as westerners), without seeming to notice that he has often been regarded as a supernatural figure, a prophet, or, in Weber's own terms, a "charismatic" leader. And the study of Buddhism in China was in its infancy, and its transformative impacts on Confucian and Taoist thought and practice only beginning to be grasped. The study of the very complex history of Taoism *as a religion* is also mostly a more recent development.
Bearing these limits in mind, Weber's study remains fascinating. His suggested interpretations of Chinese society have set the terms for much research attempting to confirm or refute his ideas. He was sometimes wrong about both absolute and relative datings, but he recognized many important trends, and successfully framed them in larger contexts.
As very much an amateur in Chinese studies (with greater limits than Weber, and not nearly as industrious, but able to benefit from modern scholarship), I have long found the book illuminating; I just try to check it against recent studies. For those who are familiar with Weber only for "The Protestant Ethic" (and the attendant controversy), this volume, and its companions on "Ancient Judaism" and "The Religions of India," may come as a considerable surprise.
Those interested in the sociology of Chinese religion (rather than beliefs and practices) will want to take a look at a book by C.K. Yang, the author of the Introduction to this translation. Yang's "Religion in Chinese Society: A Study of Contemporary Social Functions of Religion and Some of Their Historical Factors" (originally University of California Press, 1961) provides information on Chinese religion in relation to government policies, and community and family structures, with documentation for specific regions. I consider it a complement, not a substitute, for Weber, because several chapters are probably too statistical to make it attractive to many readers. Yang also assumes familiarity with a body of professional sociological thought that Weber was still establishing. Of course, it too is beginning to show its age.
信任与冷漠——对韦伯的中国观察 如果把中国社会数千年来的积淀比作一个茂密的森林,那么韦伯在做中国研究时的形象就像一个拿着放大镜寻找新植物的植物分类学家。这个森林里的一切皆是全新的,每每看到与西方相似的植物便会引起他比较的欲望和联想。可惜的是,他仿佛是第一个...
评分韦伯之《儒教与道教》一书,连同其《新教伦理与资本主义精神》,对中国知识界产生了深刻而广泛的影响,许多人接受了韦伯或者漫画化了的韦伯观念,即只有新教支持资本主义,儒家不利于经济发展。 清算韦伯是儒家在思想学术上得到重估的前提之一。为此,弘道书院联合开放时代杂志...
评分中国封建制度得以存在并稳固的保留几千年,与其有一套完备的政治、经济、文化体系是分不开的。而其中,儒家思想是功不可没的。它做为封建国家的正统思想规范着臣民的礼仪,儒士作为儒家思想的践行人治理国家……这些方面无不彰显着儒家思想的重...
评分信任与冷漠——对韦伯的中国观察 如果把中国社会数千年来的积淀比作一个茂密的森林,那么韦伯在做中国研究时的形象就像一个拿着放大镜寻找新植物的植物分类学家。这个森林里的一切皆是全新的,每每看到与西方相似的植物便会引起他比较的欲望和联想。可惜的是,他仿佛是第一个...
评分文化历史不同,随意链接对比,不认同。
评分Original name is Confucianism and Taoism, renamed The Religion of China in order to "avoid the isms". Basically Weber contrasted the Chinese society with analogous part in Western countries and attributed the lack of spirit of capitalism to confucianism...
评分即将咳血。
评分Original name is Confucianism and Taoism, renamed The Religion of China in order to "avoid the isms". Basically Weber contrasted the Chinese society with analogous part in Western countries and attributed the lack of spirit of capitalism to confucianism...
评分韦伯理论的缺陷在于缺乏一个穷尽性的宗教分类。这个缺陷在分析儒学的时候暴露无遗。以韦伯的见识,如果可以活到21世纪看到东亚的发展,大概也会更新他的理论吧。不知道东亚崛起与韦伯在学界的失宠有多大关系,但很多他的书都是70年代后就没有再版了。
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