"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.
發表於2025-05-24
The Religion of China 2025 pdf epub mobi 電子書 下載
韋伯的這本書係統龐雜。如果不去細細的梳理,於我而言印象最深的有三點。 一是楊慶堃在導論裏麵總結的。 韋伯選擇用卡爾文主義作為新教教義的範例。 卡爾文寫到,上帝是如此令人敬畏地高高在上,他乃是超乎所有人類所能祈求與理解的。在此上帝麵前,人類孤零零地站著。 這種人...
評分馬剋斯•韋伯眼中的傳統中國——《中國的宗教:儒教與道教》讀書筆記 這麼長,估計也是沒有人會看的,發上瞭隻是怕那一天,筆記本丟瞭,電腦硬盤壞瞭,找不找筆記怎麼辦???哈哈……為瞭整理這篇筆記,我到現在還沒吃飯呢,8400多字,不得不承認,馬剋斯•韋伯是個...
評分不甚瞭瞭之處有之。馬可斯韋伯在解讀時好用比喻,這種比喻的結果對與韋伯相同背景的人,自然加深瞭理解,但苦瞭我們這些中國人,本來熟悉的東西,等著再齣現一個“深刻”的剖析,卻發現被引嚮瞭不甚明白的“彆處”。 在可以理解的譬喻之處,還是驚嘆他的深刻。他說中國曆史上幾...
評分 評分近代以來,當我們的仁人誌士還在救國救民的泥潭裏苦苦徘徊摸索時,在大陸彼岸遙遠的西方,一位學者卻以其淵博的學識,嚴謹的治學精神和非凡的思辨力,在不懂中文的情況下,對一個陌生的國度——中國傳統社會的政治經濟文化各方麵進行瞭洞若觀火的剖析,其論述之透徹、觀點之精...
圖書標籤: 社會學 宗教 中國研究 weber 韋伯 中國 宗教史 海外中國研究
即將咳血。
評分文化曆史不同,隨意鏈接對比,不認同。
評分The Protestant Ethic and the "Spirit" of Capitalism 基礎上更實證化的衍生,也是當下學術圖譜中大部分問題的源頭。個人覺得原係列標題中的“Economic Ethic (of religion)” 纔是韋伯問題的核心。韋伯所留下的仍然有洞見的思考框架是:1. 儒教/道教與新教作為兩類精神資源各自具備怎樣的rational ethic, 而這又如何影響瞭與之相應的兩種文化的不同政治/社會/經濟路徑;2. 更抽象而言,韋伯如何迴應瞭馬剋思,從而重新反思瞭“mentality”與政/經/社環境之間的關係。
評分文化曆史不同,隨意鏈接對比,不認同。
評分a mark
The Religion of China 2025 pdf epub mobi 電子書 下載