| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The conclusions of a great scholar.,
This review is from: The religions of China: Confucianism and Taoism described and compared with Christianity
Several weeks ago I stood on the site of the palace of Hong Xiuquan, the moderately mad school-teacher who attempted to fuse Christian, Confucian, and Chinese folk ideals to overthrow the Qing Dynasty a hundred fifty years ago. To the right of the replica of Hong's old reading desk were written, in beautiful script, these words: "The tiger runs a thousand li and returns to the land of the swallow," and on the left, "The dragon flies to the ninth heaven and revives the dynasty of Yao and Xun." (Ideal ancient eemperors like Kings David or Arthur.) Clearly Hong saw the Biblical God not as doing away with Chinese ideals, but as bringing them to fruition. The desire to reconcile the "need for roots" (as Simone Weil put it) with truth that is universal, is one of the key problems of modern life. James Legge, one of the greatest China scholars, believed Jesus could be the bridge between East and West. This book is interesting for several reasons. The cousin of Hong Xiuquan, Hong Rengan, was a friend of James Legge. When Hong was named (nominal) head of the rebel government, he laid plans for sweeping reform of Chinese society to make it both a modern, prosperous state -- and the land of the sparrow, a China, like that of Yao and Xun, under the rule of Heaven. Aside from the small role Legge played in Chinese history, he knew ancient Chinese thought remarkably well. His translations of ancient Confucian and Taoist texts are a century and a half old now, but several are still standard works. While some scholars dislike his faith, or complain of his less than eloquent style, even one fan of the Book of Changes admits his translations are "never wrong." He was a precise scholar with a remarkable grasp of Chinese thought. Legge was also honest as a winter rain in Scotland. His clear, meat-and-potatoes (or dumpling and soy sauce) approach remains a pretty good introduction to Chinese religions. (Apart from folk religion.) In this book, Legge describes the two "native" faiths of China, and gives his thoughts on the relationship between Christianity and Chinese culture. Like Matteo Ricci, he is less familiar with, and sympathetic towards, the Buddhist tradition. He doesn't care for folk Taoism either, though he appeciates the Dad Dejing some. Recently, a Chinese philosopher has called Lao Zi a "prophet of God" who foretold the coming of Christ. Legge is too cautious for that. But he does say, "The more that a man possesses the Christian spirit, the more anxious will he be to do justice to every other system of religion," and he tries to be fair. Like Ricci, Hong, and even the great Kang Xi emperor, Legge believes the ancient Chinese worshipped the same God as He whom Christians pray to. For Legge, too, acceptance of the Gospel would not mean rejecting ancient Chinese culture, but affirming its highest ideals -- including worship of the God that Yao and Shun believed in. Legge was born before the concept of being "politically correct" occured to most Europeans, and it shows. He does not much care for Buddhism. (It was rather corrupt in his day.) He argues, in his straightforward but undiplomatic way, that Christianity is "superior" to even the best teachings of traditional Chinese culture. I prefer to describe the relationship in terms of completion, rather than comparison. (True Son of Heaven: How Jesus Fulfills the Chinese Culture.) But even some secular Chinese historians admit that missionaries of Legge's era did (in imitation of Jesus) an enormous amount of good in China, in education, medicine, raising the status of women. How could they have brought reform if they didn't have what they thought a worthy form on whom to model progress? Anyway, Legge found great delight in Chinese culture. He certainly earned a right to his opinions. For anyone interested in China, Christianity, or comparative religion, this old book is worth tracking down. Author, Jesus and the Religions of Man
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
