Religion and Law in China, Past and Present

"Law without (what I call) religion degenerates into a mechanical legalism. Religion without (what I call) law loses its social effectiveness... it is a dialectical synthesis, a synthesis of opposites."

— Harold J. Berman, The Interaction of Law and Religion

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue, “Religion and Law in China, Past and Present,” is a modest attempt at exploring the dynamic between law and religion in Chinese history and contemporary China. These papers try to illustrate how law and religion, in the Chinese context, are not only in tension with each other, but also reflect one another.

The papers on Buddhism provide a historical analysis concerning how the interaction between Buddhists rules and laws have redefined both person and community in imperial China. In history, Buddhism introduced new rules and laws to challenge numerous Chinese communities, by providing new approaches to the construction of communities and the regulation of individual daily lives. It introduced concepts such as Karma, rebirth, and reincarnation, and associated practical cultivation such as confession. In accepting Buddhist rules and laws, the Buddhists from different regions in China have come to terms with different cultural and religious identities and have constructed different communities in practicing Buddhism through individual and communal patrons and ritual worships. The papers will also discuss how beliefs in concepts such as karma enable the effective implementation of laws inspired by Buddhism

The papers on Confucianism provide studies concerning how “the Confucianization of law”—a historically developed symbiosis between rites and law—was challenged by the modern ideal of the autonomy of law in the early 20^th century. The studies will also discuss how the School of Rites won the debate, but nevertheless eventually lost to the School of Law. Finally, these papers will discuss the impact of “de-Confucianization” on the development of Chinese law.

The papers on contemporary studies demonstrate a continuous tension and dimension between law and religion in today’s China. Using the recent religious cases, these papers emphasize the role of the state in the interplay between law and religion.

Dr. Huaiyu Chen
Dr. Hui Zhao
Guest Editors

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• karma
• rite
• interaction of law and religion
• religious cases