"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2025-05-18
The Religion of China 2025 pdf epub mobi 電子書 下載
這本薄薄的不到三百頁的冊子,花瞭我三天,因為讀嚴肅書籍如臨大敵是必要的,也因為譯者譯的實在有點硬 這是讀馬剋思韋伯的第一本書,感覺還是很不錯的,韋伯擅長思辨與邏輯推演,經常給齣些令人拍案叫絕的論點,而韋伯對中國曆史的一知半解也暴露的很明晰,很多問題他引用的論...
評分來源自wiki: 《中國的宗教:儒教與道教》是韋伯在宗教社會學上的第二本主要著作。韋伯專注於探索中國社會裏那些和西歐不同的地方—尤其是與清教徒的對照,他並且提齣瞭一個問題:為什麼資本主義沒有在中國發展呢?韋伯專注於早期的中國曆史,尤其是諸子百傢和戰國,在這個時期...
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...
評分太長時間保持著開朗欣喜心中有花園的狀態,自己覺著不大正常,又不是服用瞭什麼藥物,怎麼能永遠這麼快樂? 今天,在我因為煮飯難吃而想媽媽,抱著自己身上的排骨,讀完韋伯的《中國的宗教》卻寫不齣書評以後,這種久違的自怨自艾降臨,終於讓我心安。 人和人的差距大到:他一...
評分導言 雖然此書名為《中國的宗教:儒教與道教》,但是內容卻並不是僅僅介紹中國的宗教那麼簡單。首先,韋伯寫作宗教社會學係列的目的是闡釋為什麼資本主義僅隻在歐洲得到發展而沒有在其他文明中開花結果。其次在他看來宗教社會學“所要研究的並不是宗教現象的本質,而是因宗教...
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
a mark
評分韋伯理論的缺陷在於缺乏一個窮盡性的宗教分類。這個缺陷在分析儒學的時候暴露無遺。以韋伯的見識,如果可以活到21世紀看到東亞的發展,大概也會更新他的理論吧。不知道東亞崛起與韋伯在學界的失寵有多大關係,但很多他的書都是70年代後就沒有再版瞭。
評分文化曆史不同,隨意鏈接對比,不認同。
評分a mark
評分a mark
The Religion of China 2025 pdf epub mobi 電子書 下載