Die Formierung der frühen Religionswissenschaft in China (1890–1949) : Diskurse, Kontexte, Akteure

Abstract

How did modern religious studies develop in China before 1949? Which discourses, actors, and local contexts contributed to its adaptation in a non-Western context? Which transfer channels and motives were decisive? Christian Meyer, for the first time, comprehensively reconstructs the local contexts, transnational discourses, and groups of actors that contributed to the emergence of early Chinese religious studies in the late imperial and republican periods. Against the backdrop of the political, societal, and institutional preconditions, the study draws attention to the crucial role of Christian-Chinese academics as actors in the early modernization and identity debates. As part of the global genealogy of the discipline of religious studies, the author thus provides a case study for an early non-Western history of the discipline.