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From Trustworthiness to Secular Beliefs
Changing Concepts of xin 信 from Traditional to Modern Chinese
Series: - Religion in Chinese Societies, Volume: 19
What does the Chinese term xin 信 mean? How does it relate to the concept of faith in a Western sense? How far does it still denote “being trustworthy” in its ancient Confucian sense? When did major shifts occur in its long history of semantics that allowed later Christian missionaries to use the term regularly as a translation for the concept of believing in gods or God?
This volume offers a broad picture of the semantic history of this Chinese term, throwing light on its semantic multi-layeredness shaped by changing discursive contexts, interactions between various ideological milieus, and transcultural encounters.
This volume offers a broad picture of the semantic history of this Chinese term, throwing light on its semantic multi-layeredness shaped by changing discursive contexts, interactions between various ideological milieus, and transcultural encounters.
Philip Clart, Ph.D. (1997), University of British Columbia, is Professor of Chinese Culture and History at Leipzig University, Germany, and editor of the Journal of Chinese Religions.
Christian Meyer, Dr. phil. (2003), Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, is Professor of Chinese Culture and History with a focus on religions at Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. He has published on modern debates on religion and the history of religious studies in China.
Christian Meyer, Dr. phil. (2003), Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, is Professor of Chinese Culture and History with a focus on religions at Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. He has published on modern debates on religion and the history of religious studies in China.
Acknowledgements
Contributors
1 Introduction
Christian Meyer and Philip Clart
2 An Overview: a Short Genealogy of Faith in the Western History of Philosophy and Theology and a Chinese Perspective
Jiang Manke
3 A Trustworthy Companion: xin 信 as Component Term in Early Chinese Texts
Joachim Gentz
4 A Linguistic Analysis of the Different Functions of xin and Their Historical Development from Late Archaic to Middle Chinese
Barbara Meisterernst
5 An Inquiry into Conceptions of xin 信 in Early Medieval Daoism
Friederike Assandri
6 The Concept of Faith in Chinese Buddhist Scriptures
Tam Wai Lun
7 Japanese Buddhist Concepts of Faith (shin 信): the Postmodern Narrative of the Conceptual Hegemony of Western Modernity Reconsidered
Christoph Kleine
8 Convinced by Amazement—Creating Buddhist xin 信 (Belief/Trust) in the Biographies of Thaumaturge Monks (T. 2064)
Esther-Maria Guggenmos
9 Xin in Morality Books: An Overview
Vincent Goossaert
10 From Trust in the Buddha to the Belief in the One God—xin as a Buddhist, Manichaean and Christian Concept in Early Medieval China
Max Deeg
11 Xin 信 in the Early Seventeenth-Century Chinese Christian Community
Nicolas Standaert
12 Theology, Ethics and Textual Sensitivity: the Multiple Notions of xin 信 in Chinese-Islamic Texts
Dror Weil
13 Negotiating between Chinese Religious Beliefs and Christian Faith: Timothy Richard’s (1845–1919) Understanding of “Faith”/xin 信 and Approach to Comparative Religion
Thomas Jansen
14 From Missionary Doctrine to Chinese Theology: Developing xin 信 in the Protestant Church and the Creeds of Zhao Zichen
Chloë Starr
15 Shin 信 as a Marker of Identity in Modern Japanese Buddhism
Hans Martin Krämer
16 The (New) Buddhist Semantics of xin 信 in the First Half of the Twentieth Century: Arguments from China and Taiwan
Stefania Travagnin
17 Religious Concepts and Evolutionary Theory in the Early Thought of Liang Qichao: from “Religion” via “Faith” to the “View of Death and Life”
Thomas Fröhlich
18 From Universal Faith to Religious Experience: Usages of xin in Early Chinese Religious Studies (zongjiaoxue)
Christian Meyer
19 “Our Believing in the Three People’s Principles Requires a Religious Spirit”: xin (yang) and the Political Religion of the Guomindang, 1925–1949
Thoralf Klein
20 Belief in the Dao, or Knowledge of the Truth? Contested Interpretations of “Xin/Xinyang” in Yiguandao Discourses
Nikolas Broy
21 Xin in the Discourse on Conversion among Tzuchians in Shanghai
Huang Weishan
22 The Role of “Confidence” in the Gender Discourse of Buddhist Nuns* in Contemporary Mainland China: Learning xinxin 信心 to Become a Masculine Hero
Johanna Lüdde
23 Giving Credit Where Its Due: Thanksgiving as Performance of Belief in Chinese Popular Religion
Adam Yuet Chau
24 What China Is Missing—Faith in Political Discourse
Gerda Wielander
25 Epilogue: Reflections and Theses on the Semantic History of xin and Faith
Christian Meyer
Contributors
Introductory Part: Western, Chinese, and Global Genealogies of Faith and xin
1 Introduction
Christian Meyer and Philip Clart
2 An Overview: a Short Genealogy of Faith in the Western History of Philosophy and Theology and a Chinese Perspective
Jiang Manke
Part 1: Setting the Stage: Traditional Uses in Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist Contexts
3 A Trustworthy Companion: xin 信 as Component Term in Early Chinese Texts
Joachim Gentz
4 A Linguistic Analysis of the Different Functions of xin and Their Historical Development from Late Archaic to Middle Chinese
Barbara Meisterernst
5 An Inquiry into Conceptions of xin 信 in Early Medieval Daoism
Friederike Assandri
6 The Concept of Faith in Chinese Buddhist Scriptures
Tam Wai Lun
7 Japanese Buddhist Concepts of Faith (shin 信): the Postmodern Narrative of the Conceptual Hegemony of Western Modernity Reconsidered
Christoph Kleine
8 Convinced by Amazement—Creating Buddhist xin 信 (Belief/Trust) in the Biographies of Thaumaturge Monks (T. 2064)
Esther-Maria Guggenmos
9 Xin in Morality Books: An Overview
Vincent Goossaert
Part 2: Early Channels of Transfer: Monotheistic Uses of the Term xin from the Seventh to the Seventeenth Century
10 From Trust in the Buddha to the Belief in the One God—xin as a Buddhist, Manichaean and Christian Concept in Early Medieval China
Max Deeg
11 Xin 信 in the Early Seventeenth-Century Chinese Christian Community
Nicolas Standaert
12 Theology, Ethics and Textual Sensitivity: the Multiple Notions of xin 信 in Chinese-Islamic Texts
Dror Weil
Part 3: From the Christian Milieu to the Entry into the General Lexicon of Modern Chinese: Late-Qing to Republican Uses and the Role of Japan
13 Negotiating between Chinese Religious Beliefs and Christian Faith: Timothy Richard’s (1845–1919) Understanding of “Faith”/xin 信 and Approach to Comparative Religion
Thomas Jansen
14 From Missionary Doctrine to Chinese Theology: Developing xin 信 in the Protestant Church and the Creeds of Zhao Zichen
Chloë Starr
15 Shin 信 as a Marker of Identity in Modern Japanese Buddhism
Hans Martin Krämer
16 The (New) Buddhist Semantics of xin 信 in the First Half of the Twentieth Century: Arguments from China and Taiwan
Stefania Travagnin
17 Religious Concepts and Evolutionary Theory in the Early Thought of Liang Qichao: from “Religion” via “Faith” to the “View of Death and Life”
Thomas Fröhlich
18 From Universal Faith to Religious Experience: Usages of xin in Early Chinese Religious Studies (zongjiaoxue)
Christian Meyer
19 “Our Believing in the Three People’s Principles Requires a Religious Spirit”: xin (yang) and the Political Religion of the Guomindang, 1925–1949
Thoralf Klein
20 Belief in the Dao, or Knowledge of the Truth? Contested Interpretations of “Xin/Xinyang” in Yiguandao Discourses
Nikolas Broy
Part 4: Contemporary Usages in Special and Everyday Language Discourses in Mainland China and Taiwan
21 Xin in the Discourse on Conversion among Tzuchians in Shanghai
Huang Weishan
22 The Role of “Confidence” in the Gender Discourse of Buddhist Nuns* in Contemporary Mainland China: Learning xinxin 信心 to Become a Masculine Hero
Johanna Lüdde
23 Giving Credit Where Its Due: Thanksgiving as Performance of Belief in Chinese Popular Religion
Adam Yuet Chau
24 What China Is Missing—Faith in Political Discourse
Gerda Wielander
25 Epilogue: Reflections and Theses on the Semantic History of xin and Faith
Christian Meyer
University libraries and department, institutes, and students and scholars with an interest in Chinese religions, including ancient religion, Buddhism, Daoism, popular religion, Islam, and Christianity in premodern and modern China, or anyone concerned with the semantic changes of the East Asian lexicon (neologisms), esp. in the modern period.
