The Chinese Religious World Today: Catholicism, Christianity, Islam, and Other Popular Faiths

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This new lecture and discussion course offers students a detailed introduction to the diverse, dynamic and widespread presence of religion in contemporary Chinese life. China is—increasingly—a nation of energetic religious believers. Today there are more than 95 million Christians in China, 25 million Muslims, and as many as 500,000,000 practitioners of traditional local rites of sacrifice and worship to deities and spirits (most importantly ancestors). In the last decade plural religious traditions have grown with a speed greater than that of the economic and political reforms. It is within this specific context that students will learn about the impact of religious ideas, practices, and organizations on social, political and economic phenomena and explore the role of religion in the consolidation of individual, communal, and national identity. Adopting a comparative and interdisciplinary approach, the class will ascertain the impact of `various Chinese religious traditions: Catholicism, Christianity, Islam, Daoism, Buddhism, and popular sects, on the internal socio-political structure of the Chinese state. As well the course will evaluate religions and their effects on shaping power relations on a regional, national, and local level. The class is discussion based, supplemented by lectures, student presentations, and documentary films. No knowledge of Chinese is required.