The Historical and Comparative Study of Religion: The Chinese Context

F. W. Mote Memorial Lecture Series

Professor Yu will explore the debate among both religion scholars and those of other disciplines on whether the concept of religion as such is wholly Western and thus not universally applicable in scholarship.

Anthony C. Yu, Carl Darling Buck Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in Humanities, The University of Chicago

The lecture attempts to address one current issue of debate among both religion scholars and those of other disciplines on whether the concept of religion as such is wholly Western and thus not universally applicable in scholarship.  An initial survey of the history of the academic study of religion highlights the Western tendency to separate the monotheistic traditions as “our” religion(s) from “other” religions of different cultures and histories.   Despite this tendency, the lecture seeks to demonstrate that the encounter with alien practices and beliefs will not merely lead—often and ironically—to greater awareness and clarification concerning one’s own religion, but it will also enlarge the examination of what is or is not religion.  The perception of similarity and difference animating the definitional or taxonomical enterprise is thus fundamentally comparative.  In the lengthy civilization of China, the presence of religions and co-existence of religious traditions undeniably cut across all levels of society, and religion persists in the most humble and casual acts of reverence no less than the most exalted forms of ritual and scripture.  Such a fertile field of data and materials should continue to fund and enrich the science of religion.