Science and the Confucian Religion of Kang Youwei (1858–1927)

China Before the Conflict Thesis

Series: 

Author:
Zhaoyuan WAN
WAN Zhaoyuan analyses how Chinese intellectuals conceived of the relationship between ‘science’ and ‘religion’ through in-depth examination of the writings of Kang Youwei, a prominent political reformer and radical Confucian thinker, often referred to by his disciples as the ‘Martin Luther of Confucianism’.
Confronted with the rise of scientism and challenged by the Conflict Thesis during his life among adversarial Chinese New Culture intellectuals, Kang maintains a holistic yet evolving conception of a compatible and complementary relationship between scientific knowledge and ‘true religion’ exemplified by his Confucian religion (kongjiao). This close analysis of Kang’s ideas contributes to a richer understanding of the history of science and religion in China and in a more global context.
Copyright Year:
2021
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-46822-1
Publication:
15 Nov 2021
Hardback
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Published
ISBN:
978-90-04-46821-4
Publication:
18 Nov 2021
Cover Science and the Confucian Religion of Kang Youwei (1858–1927)

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WAN Zhaoyuan, D.Phil. (2019), Oxford University, is Associate Professor of the History of Science at Beijing Normal University. He has published translations and articles in the fields of religion, science and religion, Newton studies, and modern Chinese intellectual history.
"Wan's book offers a tour de force study of Kang and his reform program, unique because it presents Kang mainly as a religious thinker. Wan develops his argument, facilitated by a highly accessible writing style, through a chronological narrative focused on five periods from the 1880s into the 1920s. The research is thorough, reflecting this book's origins in the author's 2019 doctoral dissertation completed at Oxford University. Readers interested in late-imperial and early Republican China's intellectual, political, social, and religious history will find much of value in Wan's data and exhaustive bibliography, although Wan admits there is much left to do to properly understand Kang's thought."
- M. C. Brose, Indiana University, CHOICE, Vol. 60, No. 4 (December 2022)

"[A] very wide spectrum of the intellectual richness and problematique of the period of transition from Imperial to Republican China has been delineated in the book under review, which gives testimony to an in-depth study on the writings of Kang Youwei and his associates and disciples... I do agree with the author of the book under review that his monograph has added to the study on Kang Youwei in three main areas: Primarily, it represents another attempt to present a more comprehensive picture of Kang’s thought by focusing on the religious and scientific dimensions of his whole work (cf. p. 24). Secondly, this book reveals the profuse and multiplex nature of the relationship between science and religion during modern Chinese intellectual history (cf. p. 25). Thirdly, since the discourse presented in the book is conducted in the context of peculiar Chinese intellectual tradition, this study can also enhance the global discussion so popular today on the relationship between science and religion by offering a non-Western, i.e., the Confucian understanding of this relationship."
- Zbigniew Wesołowski, Monumenta Serica - Journal of Oriental Studies, (June 2023)
Foreword
Notes and Abbreviations
Acknowledgements

Introduction
 1 Definition of Terms
 2 Science and Religion
 3 ‘Studies of Half Kang’
 4 Implications
 5 Chapter Organization

1 A New Sage
 1 Religious Leanings
  1.1 Classical and Folk Beliefs
  1.2 Buddhist Inspiration
  1.3 Knowledge of Christianity
 2 Scientific Pursuits
  2.1 The Window of Geography
  2.2 Book Purchase at Shanghai
  2.3 Gleaning from Translations
 3 Enlightenment
  3.1 Universal Laws
  3.2 Unity of Shangdi (God)

2 The Confucian Luther
 1 A Memorial to the Throne
  1.1 Countering Christian Threats
 2 An Unconventional Teacher
  2.1 Western Sciences
  2.2 Chinese Origins
  2.3 Cosmic Evolution
 3 Recasting Confucianism
  3.1 Restoring the Religion of Confucius
  3.2 Reform and a Confucian Church
 4 Knowledge Is One
  4.1 A Three-Tiered System
  4.2 Harmonizing the Three Religions
  4.3 A Monistic Philosophy

3 The Great Unity
 1 Confucian Reinterpretation Completed
  1.1 Confucius as a Divine Teacher
  1.2 Scientific Notions Appropriated
  1.3 In the Future World of Datong
 2 Liang’s ‘Change of Heart’
  2.1 Confucianism Not a Religion
  2.2 Buddhism a Better Choice
 3 Observations during World Travels
  3.1 Reflections on Religions
  3.2 Shendao and Rendao
  3.3 On Material Reconstruction

4 A State Religion
 1 A ‘Titular Monarchical Republic’
 2 The Confucian Movement
  2.1 Chen’s Presentation
  2.2 The Confucian Religion Association
  2.3 The State Religion Campaign
 3 In the Name of Science
  3.1 Religion and Superstition
  3.2 Scientism versus Religion
  3.3 Looking for Substitutes

5 A Celestial Wanderer
 1 Science versus Metaphysics
 2 A Lecture Tour to the North
  2.1 The Confucian Way
  2.2 The Power of Science
 3 Celestial Peregrination
  3.1 Lectures on the Heavens
  3.2 A Treatise on God
 4 The Fate of Kang’s Skull

Conclusion

Bibliography
Index
All interested in a widening reconsideration of the relationship between science and religion, in China, Asia and the world, as well as anyone concerned with the thought of Kang Youwei.
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