“福音奋兴运动”与美国对华传教事业的兴起

17世纪末至19世纪下半叶席卷欧美的基督新教"福音奋兴运动"最重要的成果之一,是海外传教运动的兴起。18世纪末19世纪初,作为"福音奋兴运动"重要组成部分的美国"第二次大觉醒运动",在新英格兰地区掀起新的宗教复兴热潮,导致诸多传教机构产生,并最终引发大规模的海外传教运动。1830年代开启的美国对华传教事业,正是此次世界基督新教大宣教运动的一个缩影。     

宗教神学应当进入大学校园吗？

中国社科院国情调研重点项目，对北京大学等高校校园中的宗教现象进行了深入的调查研究。“教育与宗教相分离”，是近现代教育制度发展的必然趋势。然而j自20世纪90年代中叶以来，随着宗教热的逐渐升温，宗教在高等院校的传教活动逐渐由秘密转向公开，特别是基督教汉语神学运动，进入大学讲堂和国家研究机构。在当代中国大学校园里，海外基督教势力成为传播福音的主要力量。校园基督教传播隐性方式是进入教学领域进行文化宣教。这样扩张态势的传教中。大学生基督教徒出现比较快的增长趋势。抵御境外宗教渗透和防范校园传教工作．已经作为重要而紧迫的战略任务提上当前的工作日程。要毫不动摇地坚持教育与宗教相分离的原则。把马克思主义无神论作为抵御渗透和防范校园传教的基础性工作．     

如何理解中国今日的基督教

<正>理解当代中国基督教的最大难题之一,就是统计数据的缺乏或不确切。与传教时代以注重保存历史文献资料而著称的传教士和差会不同,关于当前中国基督教权威统计数据的缺乏以及对之解读的分歧之大,足以引出截然不同的结论。然而,正因为后传教时代的中美宗教互动,尤其是在宗教民调领域的合作,中美或中外之间的"方法论差距"和"信徒人数差距"正在明显缩小。据目前中外学界     

毛泽东关于《加强宗教问题的研究》的当代价值

毛泽东关于《加强宗教问题的研究》的重要批示,从国际战略角度提出研究宗教问题的重要性。任继愈将毛主席的批示精神概括为"研究宗教,批判神学",成为当代中国马克思主义宗教学的奠基者。坚持这一学术范式对于当前发展马克思主义宗教学具有战略性的指导意义。近些年来,宗教研究领域提出的"学术神学"范式,形成对"批判神学"学术范式的挑战。某些号称研究马克思主义宗教观的学者,绝口不提科学无神论。这是一种危险的倾向。科学无神论是马克思主义理论大厦最底层的基石。在社会主义核心价值体系中,科学无神论的唯物主义世界观和积极的人生观,占有重要地位。加强科学无神论学科建设,是抵御境外宗教渗透和防范校园传教工作的重要组成部分。     

19世纪中叶巴黎外方传教会内部关于成立西藏传教会的分歧与结局

巴黎外方西藏传教会在藏区近现代涉外关系史上有着重要的影响。然而,从宗教传播的角度看,西藏传教会无疑是不成功的,因为其始终未能实现最初设定的"进驻拉萨、归化西藏"的传教目标。西藏传教会成立之初,巴黎外方传教会总会和罗马教皇"钦定"的西藏传教会筹建者——巴黎外方四川传教会主教马伯乐之间就进藏困难、路线、西藏教务归属等问题曾产生过巨大分歧并展开激烈的争论。二者的分歧和争论从某种意义上是教会内部上、下层之间矛盾的一种体现。揭示这段历史,不仅有助于厘清近代天主教藏区传教活动失败的原因,对我们从另外一个角度认识西方宗教在藏区的传播具有重要意义。     

从司徒雷登看传教士和传教运动

司徒雷登是近代基督教传教士的典型人物。他一生做了两件对中国社会有影响的大事,一是办教育,尤其是成功创办燕京大学,获得中美各界赞誉;二是当美国驻华大使,以失败告终。他在中国办教育、出任大使,是为了同一个目的:以基督教精神改造中国。他爱中国,但更爱美国。他努力融合中西文化,提倡基督教本色化。从司徒雷登身上,可以看出:中国近代基督教传教运动是列强对外扩张的组成部分,而传教士往往是出于宗教热情参与其中。传教士主观上是传教,客观上促进了中西文化交流。今天,在殖民体系崩溃、全球经济一体化、区域文化多元化的时代背景下,依附于殖民体系的"差传"模式已成历史,取而代之的只能是相互交流和合作。     

农村“宗教热”对村级党组织建设的危害——基于浙江省H市的实证调查

随着宗教在农村地区的迅速传播,"宗教热"已成为当前浙江个别农村文化生态的重要体现。通过对H镇农村的田野调查,得知农民信众人数日渐增长、宗教发展不平衡、非法传教活动频繁。求神拜佛的社会传统、利益博弈与利益驱使、现实的利益诉求、宗教治理工作不利以及非法宗教多种传教方式等的影响是导致当前农村宗教盛行的主要原因。破解该难题,需通过"分类施策"引导村民理性看待宗教、"双管齐下"妥善解决农村的现实问题、"多方联手"加强农村非法宗教治理工作的力度、"因地制宜"加强基层统战干部队伍建设。     

“新时代的宗教工作”系列之九 江西坚持宗教中国化方向的实践与思考

正历史上,江西在坚持我国宗教中国化方向方面就作出了积极贡献。佛教"农禅并重"发源于江西,禅宗史上著名的"马祖建丛林、百丈立清规"发生在江西,禅宗一花开五叶,三叶在江西。天主教传教士利玛窦在南昌传教期间形成"南昌传教模式""利玛窦规矩",是天主教中国化的历史见证。2016年以来,江西省认真贯彻落实习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想、习近平总书记关于宗教工作的新思想新要求,以及全国宗教工作会议精神,在推进坚持我国宗教中国化方向工作方面进行了积极     

国外宗教多元化与族群冲突研究现状及反思

21世纪,族群冲突的宗教维度日益凸显。这与宗教的"神"性、组织性、跨国界性,宗教的世俗化、现代化运动,宗教民族主义运动,宗教歧视性政策与行为,宗教精英以及宗教国际环境的变化等社会元素密不可分。然而以文化主义与理性主义结合的视野来看,宗教在很多时候只是国际政治、民族国家以及宗教团体三个层面中的冲突各方用以进行内部动员和利益争斗的工具,在一定程度上宗教只是族群冲突的"替罪羊"。     

国际奎师那知觉协会中国发展传播探析

国际奎师那知觉协会是从印度教毗湿奴派发展出来的新兴宗教,它在中国的香港和台湾均建有神庙(中心),大陆则设有聚会场所数处,并有专职传教人员负责日常宗教活动。近年来,这一教派在中国的发展陷入了教会组织僵化、信徒增长缓慢的困境,面临着自养模式匮乏、宗教竞争力弱及"中国化"转型不畅等方面的考验,这些问题的出现标志它在中国的发展迈入了一个新的阶段。     

(Inadvertently) Instructing Missionaries in (Public University) World Religions Courses: Examining a Pedagogical Dilemma,its Dimensions,and a Course Section Solution

In this article, I explore an ethical and pedagogical dilemma that I encounter each semester in my world religions courses: namely, that a great number of students enroll in the courses as part of their missionary training programs, and come to class understanding successful learning to mean gathering enough information about the world's religious “traditions” so as to effectively seduce people out of them. How should we teach world religions – in public university religious studies courses – with this student constituency? What are/ought to be our student learning goals? What can and should we expect to accomplish? How can we maximize student learning, while also maintaining our disciplinary integrity? In response to these questions, I propose a world religions course module, the goal of which is for students to examine – as objects of inquiry – the lenses through which they understand religion(s). With a recognition of their own lenses, I argue, missionary students become more aware of the biases and presumptions about others that they bring to the table, and they learn to see the ways in which these presumptions inform what they see and know about others, and also what they do not so easily see.     

“But Aren't Cults Bad?”: Active Learning,Productive Chaos,and Teaching New Religious Movements

This article considers the challenges inherent when teaching about new religious movements (“cults”), how successful instructors have surmounted them, and how teacher‐scholars in other fields of religious studies can benefit from a discussion of the successful teaching of new religions. I note that student‐centered pedagogies are crucial to teaching new religions, particularly if students disrupt and defamiliarize the assumed and reified categories of “cult” and “religion.” I argue that what works in a classroom focusing on new religious movements will work more broadly in religious studies classrooms, since the challenges of the former are reproduced in the latter.     

Promoting religious acceptance: the relationship between intercultural competence and religious attitudes among Third Culture Kids

The study explored whether intercultural competence was a significant predictor of religious attitudes among Third Culture Kids (TCKs), individuals who had spent their developmental years abroad. It also examined whether growing up as a missionary kid (MK) would predict religious attitudes. Two hundred and seventy-six TCKs from 37 countries and 19 religious affiliations completed the web-based survey that included measures of intercultural competence, religious attitudes and beliefs, and demographic information. Intercultural competence was a significant predictor of participants’ desire for all religions to be treated fairly whereas growing up as an MK was a significant predictor of participants’ desire for their religion to be unchallenged and of less desire for interreligious dialogue. The findings suggest that increasing intercultural competence may be a way to promote religious acceptance.     

‘Vie with Each Other in Good Works’: What Can a Roman Catholic Missionary Order Learn from Entering into Closer Contact with Muslims?

The article deals with concerns and hopes regarding something commonly known as Christian missionary activity, which in Africa has tended to see Muslims as rivals in a race for the souls of the adherents of African indigenous religions. After explaining the meaning of a dialogue-based approach to missionary work, the focus is on matters concerning the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) and its new involvement in Chad. Such an analysis is essential if the SVD is going to change the perception of Christian mission from an exercise in religious imperialism to a dialogical way of searching together for the signs of God's presence. The latter will involve closer contact with Muslims and hopefully will incline SVD missionaries to a more thorough adoption and implementation of a dialogical way of carrying out their ministry, one based on profound and conscious respect for others.     

Mission and reconciliation from a Christian-Muslim relations perspective

The encounter between Islam and Christianity in the mission field has created shocks that have left indelible scars across the ages. These two religions, which have never hidden their missionary intentions, have at times engaged in the struggle for supremacy on the religious chessboard, not hesitating to encroach on each other. This state of affairs has led to frustrations and conflicts between the two religious systems that the passage of time has not been able to erase. Various organizations have attempted to bring Christians and Muslims together, among these the Programme for Christian-Muslim Relations in Africa. Reconciliation is possible. Although the path to reconciliation is still long, one who has already travelled on it gives us signs of hope. Only God can clear the path to effective reconciliation. This, however, must be combined with a new understanding of mission in both religious systems as well as a commitment on the part of both to embark on a new dynamic.     

SPIRITUAL TRANSFORMATION,HEALING, AND ALTRUISM: INTRODUCTION TO THE SYMPOSIUM

This essay introduces the five articles that follow, whose aim is to show how altruism emerges out of spiritual transformation and is integral to healing process in four kinds of ritual healing systems—popular, folk, an indigenous religious healing tradition, and complementary and alternative medicine represented by consciousness transformation movements. In this introduction I situate these largely marginalized religious and spiritual practices within the context of the religion‐science discourse, which has focused for the most part on the relationship between the established, mainstream religions and the dominant biomedical system. Antecedents of two of these types of religious practices, Spiritism and consciousness transformation movements, were part of the development of the psychological sciences in the nineteenth century but lost ground in the twentieth. Despite discrimination and persistent negative attitudes on the part of the established religions and biomedicine, these healing traditions have not only survived through the twentieth century but appear to have gained both followers and interest in the twenty‐first. In future decades, at least for complementary and alternative medical practices and perhaps also for spirit healing centers, there may be a reversal in status through greater acceptance of their unique combination of scientific and religious perspectives.     

Why religious movements succeed or fail: A revised general model

In this essay I refine and greatly expand the scope of my 1987 theory of why religious groups succeed or fail. The initial version was limited to new religions (cult movements). This version applies to all movements, including sects. The theory now consists of 10 propositions which attempt to specify the necessary and sufficient conditions for success or failure.     

Environmental Decline and the Rise of Religion

Abstract. Historically, crises have spawned deliberate, widespread efforts to change a culture's worldviews. Anthropologists have characterized such efforts as “revitalization movements” and speculated that many of the world's religions, including Christianity, arose through revitalization. Some responses to the planet's environmental crisis share the characteristics of both a revitalization movement and an incipient religion. They call for a science‐based cosmology and an encompassing reverence for nature, and thus differ from responses to environmental decline offered by traditional religions. As environmental problems deepen, historical precedent suggests that religious shifts in affected cultures may follow.     

Organization and work of missionaries in the Middle‐Volga in the second half of the nineteenth century

The missionary effort of the Orthodox Church in the Middle‐Volga—a region conquered by Russia in the sixteenth century and inhabited by an ethnically heterogeneous population practising Islam or a variety of indigenous religions—had led to the formation of important communities of converts. But until the nineteenth century, the church made essentially no effort to educate the converts in the meaning and content of the Orthodox faith and movements of apostasy were frequent. In the mid‐nineteenth century, an outstanding group of missionaries, concerned about the spread of Islam among the nominally Christian communities, began to deploy an important activity to enlighten converts in the Orthodox faith. Their methods—evangelization, education, and propaganda in native languages—were novel and radical. Concerned with the defence of nominally Christian populations against Muslim influences, anti‐Muslim activity was an important aspect of work of the missionaries. Missionaries developed a substantial anti‐Islamic literature and used their considerable influence to harm the Muslims culturally and politically. The legacy of the missionary experience contributed to the continuing distrust between Russians and indigenous peoples.     

Religious Traditions in Local Communities of China

All religions in China are closely linked to the traditional religion based on the patriarchal clan system. This bedrock faith of the Chinese, as it interacts with native religions and foreign religions, has fundamentally influenced the religious psychology of all Chinese people. Following a brief introduction to China’s religions, this article discusses folk religions as the main expression of traditional patriarchal religion, as well as their function and impact in contemporary society. The article then outlines relations between the multiple religions and cultures of ethnic groups in pluralist China to help the reader better understand the interaction between religious and cultural traditions of the Chinese people.