Chinese Religious Cultures: Historical Traditions and Modern Interpretations—2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

This is the second volume of the Special Issue of Religions on “Chinese Religious Cultures: Historical Traditions and Modern Interpretations”. Chinese religious cultures have played a critical role in shaping China’s civilization development with their long history of continuous and dynamic traditions that mainly consist of Buddhism, Daoism, Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Confucian religious thought, and diverse folk religions. Understanding the historical traditions of Chinese religions will provide significant insights into both ancient Chinese society and modern cultural trends, as well as enduring cultural communication between the world’s civilizations. Modern interpretations of Chinese religious cultures can help us to understand the characteristics and features of Chinese civilization and the role religion has played in Chinese society and people’s daily lives.

The first volume, which published a number of excellent papers, attracted the attention of many scholars from both China and internationally, and providing us with ideas for the reinterpretation of the modern value of Chinese religious cultures. Accordingly, this second volume will once again make Chinese religious cultures its focal point, and we particularly seek to attract cross-cultural and interdisciplinary research. We are pleased to invite global scholars to contribute their multiple disciplinary academic research on religious cultures in China (with particular focus on the aforementioned religious traditions), including their history, traditions, and development, from the aspect of modern academic interpretation. With this Special Issue we seek to contribute to a better understanding of the characteristics of Chinese religions and Chinese cultural traditions.

Please see below for the key research directions of this Special Issue, along with the corresponding references. Regarding the historical traditions of Chinese religious cultures, it is recommended to refer to Mou Zhongjian’s A Brief History of the Relationship among Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism, as well as Max Weber’s The Religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism. For modern interpretations of Chinese religious cultures, it is suggested to consult Yang, C. K’s Religion in Chinese Society: A Study of the Contemporary Social Functions of Religion and Some of Their Historical Factors, and Brashier, K.E’s The Modern Effort to Interpret Early Chinese Religions.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome, and research areas may include, but need not be limited to, the following topics:

• Interpreting Chinese religious cultures and scriptural texts with modern theories of religious studies;
• Exploring modern value and significance of Chinese traditional religious cultures in Chinese;
• Comparative studies on Chinese religious cultures with the perspective of modern communication and mutual-learning among civilizations;
• The influence of important Chinese religious rituals, practices, figures, conceptions, theories, thoughts, events and places on modern China society;
• The international spread of Chinese religious cultures and its modern value in global civilization.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200–300 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send this to the Guest Editor or to the Assistant Editor of Religions, Ms. Bella.Xu (bella.xu@mdpi.com). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editor for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Reference:

Brashier, K.E. 2015. The Modern Endeavor to Interpret Early Chinese Religions, Oxford Handbook Topics in Religion (online edn, Oxford Academic, 3 Feb. 2014), https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935420.013.34, Accessed 30 Apr. 2024.

Stephen Eskildsen, 2026. Daoism, Internal Alchemy, and the Wonders of Serenity: Tenth Through Eighteenth Centuriesl, University of Hawaii Press.

Zhuo, Xinping. 2015. The Direction of Modern Chinese Religion, On China’s Cultural Transformation, Issues in Contemporary Chinese Thought and Culture. Edited by Arif Dirlik and Keping Yu. Leiden: Brill, Vol(5), p.228–240.

Yang, C. K. 1970. Religion in Chinese society: A study of contemporary social functions of religion and some of their historical factors. Berkeley and Los Angeles:University of California Press.

Weber, Max. 1968. The Religion of China : Confucianism and Taoism, Translated and Edited by Hans H. Gerth, New York: Free Press.

Mou, Zhongjian, 2018, A Brief History of the Relationship among Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism, 儒道佛三教關係簡明通史, Beijing: Renmin Press.  

Tang, Z. J. 2024. Reflection on the Unity of the Three Teachings in the Late Ming Dynasty—Centered on the Concept of “Sanhanjiao Is Non-Orthodox Teaching” in The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven. Religions 15, 1425. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15121425

Prof. Dr. Yuehua Chen
Prof. Dr. Chuanhui Zeng
Dr. Zhejia Tang
Dr. Yue Sun
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• modern interpretations
• Chinese religious cultures
• Buddhist culture
• Daoist culture
• Islamic culture
• Christian culture
• Chinese folk religion
• Confucian religious thought