"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.
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导言 虽然此书名为《中国的宗教：儒教与道教》，但是内容却并不是仅仅介绍中国的宗教那么简单。首先，韦伯写作宗教社会学系列的目的是阐释为什么资本主义仅只在欧洲得到发展而没有在其他文明中开花结果。其次在他看来宗教社会学“所要研究的并不是宗教现象的本质，而是因宗教...
评分译本与原著的一点想法 要搞清马克斯·韦伯在这里阐述了什么，必须把这本经典的小册子放在一个大的写作环境中去，才能更好地理解他在思考什么问题、为什么要这么思考、以及他是怎么思考的。在读本书之前，单单从书名的角度出发的话，好象整本书是以儒教与道教为中心的，其...
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...
评分近代以来，当我们的仁人志士还在救国救民的泥潭里苦苦徘徊摸索时，在大陆彼岸遥远的西方，一位学者却以其渊博的学识，严谨的治学精神和非凡的思辨力，在不懂中文的情况下，对一个陌生的国度——中国传统社会的政治经济文化各方面进行了洞若观火的剖析，其论述之透彻、观点之精...
评分可能还没有抵达的 读一本汉译世界学术著丛书之一，马克斯•韦伯的《儒教与道教》，再读两本闲书，一本《佛学入门》圣严法师著，成都文殊院印；一本《太乙金华宗旨今语》冯广宏著，成都民族宗教文化丛书编委会印。 前一本书是极为正式的商务印书...
用户评价
great book. by putting his theory of religion and society in the context of Chinese history, he made his points clearer to me
评分The Protestant Ethic and the "Spirit" of Capitalism 基础上更实证化的衍生，也是当下学术图谱中大部分问题的源头。个人觉得原系列标题中的“Economic Ethic (of religion)” 才是韦伯问题的核心。韦伯所留下的仍然有洞见的思考框架是：1. 儒教/道教与新教作为两类精神资源各自具备怎样的rational ethic, 而这又如何影响了与之相应的两种文化的不同政治/社会/经济路径；2. 更抽象而言，韦伯如何回应了马克思，从而重新反思了“mentality”与政/经/社环境之间的关系。
评分The Protestant Ethic and the "Spirit" of Capitalism 基础上更实证化的衍生，也是当下学术图谱中大部分问题的源头。个人觉得原系列标题中的“Economic Ethic (of religion)” 才是韦伯问题的核心。韦伯所留下的仍然有洞见的思考框架是：1. 儒教/道教与新教作为两类精神资源各自具备怎样的rational ethic, 而这又如何影响了与之相应的两种文化的不同政治/社会/经济路径；2. 更抽象而言，韦伯如何回应了马克思，从而重新反思了“mentality”与政/经/社环境之间的关系。
评分great book. by putting his theory of religion and society in the context of Chinese history, he made his points clearer to me
评分即将咳血。
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