Thematic cluster: Understanding Chinese culture through key concepts
The historical development of jiao 教 in Chinese and its impact on the concept of ‘religion’ in English
scholarship
This article contends that the traditional Chinese concept of jiao (teaching) has, through translation, greatly influenced the
conceptual development of ‘religion’ in English-language scholarship. The article first demonstrates how the historical
development of jiao in Chinese reveals numerous previously neglected patterns of Chinese spirituality. Using Friedrich
Schleiermacher’s and Max Müller’s viewpoints, the article suggests the significance of translation in redefining a concept via the
particularity of foreign culture. It then examines how James Legge, Jan Jakob Maria de Groot, William Edward Soothill, Bertrand
Russell, and Ernest Richard Hughes and K. Hughes redefine religion in their translations of jiao. Highlighting jiao and religion
as fluid categories via scholars’ translations and debates, my article challenges simplistic assumptions about Western supremacy
in Sino-Western acculturation. It affirms the traditions and translations of jiao as powerful agents for shaping and enriching the
meanings and phenomena of religion in the globalizing dynamics of human cultural interactions.
Article outline
- Introduction
-
Jiao 教: Rediscovering spiritual teachings in Chinese history
- The impact of jiao on the concept ‘religion’: A history of translation and conceptual development from Legge to the Hughes
- Redefining religion via “extensive contact with the foreign”: Theory of translation and comparative study of language and religion in the nineteenth century
- Conceptualizing and developing religion via translating jiao: The scholarship from Legge to the Hughes
- Conclusion
- Notes
-
References
References (62)
References
Note on references to early and dynastic Chinese sources:
References to the texts below are drawn from the database of Chinese Text Project 中國哲學書電子化計劃. 2006–present. Available at:
ctext.org/zh.
Baihu tongde lun 白虎通德論 [Debates at the White Tiger Pavilion] Accessed February 25, 2017. Available at: [URL].
Daodejing 道德經. Accessed March 6, 2017. Available at: [URL].
Guangyun 廣韻 [Broad Rimes]. Accessed February 25, 2017. Available at: [URL].
Kangxi zidian 康熙字典 [Kangxi Dictionary]. Accessed February 25, 2017. Available at: [URL].
Liji 禮記 [Book of Rites]. Accessed February 25, 2017. Available at: [URL].
Lunyu 論語 [Analects]. Accessed February 25, 2017. Available at: [URL].
Shangshu 尚書 [Book of Documents]. Accessed February 26, 2017. Available at: [URL].
Shuowen jiezi 說文解字 [On Characters]. Accessed February 25, 2017. Available at: [URL].
Taiping Yulan 太平御覽 [Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era]. Accessed February 25, 2017. Available at: [URL].
Xiaojing 孝經 [Classic of Filial Piety]. Accessed February 25, 2017. Available at: [URL].
Xunzi 荀子. Accessed February 26, 2017. Available at: [URL].
Yijing 易經 (Zhouyi 周易) [Book of Changes]. Accessed February 25, 2017. Available at: [URL].
Zhonglun 中論 [Balanced Discourses]. Accessed February 26, 2017. Available at: [URL].
Zhongyong 中庸 [Doctrine of the Mean], in the Liji [Book of Rites]. Accessed February 26, 2017. Available at: [URL].
Zhuangzi 莊子. Accessed March 6, 2017. Available at: [URL]
Reference to Kong Anguo 孔安國 and Kong Yingda 孔穎達 is drawn from their Shangshu zhengyi 尚書正義 [Shangshu, with Rectified Commentaries], collected in the Wuyingdian Shisanjing zhushu 武英殿十三經注疏 [Thirteen Classics, with Commentaries and Sub-commentaries: The Wuying Palace Hall
Edition]. 1739. Reprinted in 1871. Accessed February 25, 2017. Available at: [URL].
Reference to the Beishi 北史 [Histories of the Northern Dynasties] by Li Dashi 李大師 and Li Yanshou 李延壽 (643–659) is drawn from 國學網 [Web of Chinese Studies]. 2003. Accessed February 26, 2017. Available at: [URL].
Barrett, Tim H. and Francesca Tarocco. 2012. “Terminology and Religious Identity: Buddhism and the Genealogy of the Term Zongjiao
.” In Dynamics in the History of Religions between Asia and Europe, ed. by Volkhard Krech and Marion Steinicke, 307–319. Leiden: Brill. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Campany, Robert Ford. 2012. “Chinese History and Writing about ‘Religion(s)’: Reflections at a Crossroad.” In Dynamics in the History of Religions between Asia and Europe, ed. by Volkhard Krech and Marion Steinicke, 273–294. Leiden: Brill. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chou, Po-kan 周伯戡. 1998. 〈佛教初傳流佈中國考〉 [“Investigating the Initial Spread of Buddhism in China”]. 國立台灣大學文史哲學報 [Humanitas Taiwanica] 471: 289–319. Available at: [URL].
De Groot, Jan Jakob Maria. 1912. Religion in China. Universism: A Key to the Study of Taoism and Confucianism. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Elman, Benjamin A. 2009. “One Classic and Two Classical Traditions: The Recovery and Transmission of a Lost Edition of the
Analects
.” Monumenta Nipponica 64 (1): 53–82. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Giles, Herbert A. 1915. Confucianism and Its Rivals. London: Williams and Norgate.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Girardot, Norman. 2002. The Victorian Translation of China: James Legge’s Oriental Pilgrimage. Berkeley: University of California Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Girardot, Norman. 2015. Review of The Modern Spirit of Asia: The Spiritual and the Secular in China and India, by
Peter van der Veer. The Journal of Asian Studies 74 (2): 456–458. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hölscher, Lucian. 2012. “Religion to the Power of Three.” In Dynamics in the History of Religions between Asia and Europe, ed. by Volkhard Krech and Marion Steinicke, 243–253. Leiden: Brill.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Huang Ko-wu 黃克武. 2005. 〈魂归何处?──梁启超与儒教中国及其现代命运的再思考〉 [“Where Does the Soul Return? —Rethinking Liang Qichao in Relation to Ruist China and Its Modern Destiny”]. In 思想家与近代中国思想 [Thinkers and Thoughts in Modern China], ed. by Zheng Dahua 鄭大華 and Zou Xiaozhan 鄒小站, 91–114. Beijing: shehuikexue wenxian chubanshe.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hughes, Ernest Richard and K. Hughes. 1950. Religion in China. London: Hutchinson’s University Library.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jin Xueqin 金学勤. 2009. 《论语》英译之跨文化阐释──以理雅各、辜鸿铭为例 [A Cross-cultural Interpretation of Translating Confucian Analects, with Special Reference to James
Legge and Ku Hung-ming]. Chengdu: Sichuan University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Legge, James. 1852. The Notions of the Chinese concerning God and Spirits with an Examination of the Defense of an Essay, on the Proper
Rendering of the Words Elohim and Theos, into the Chinese Language, by William J. Boone, D.D., Missionary Bishop of the
Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States to China. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Register Office.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Legge, James. 1861. Confucian Analects; The Great Learning; and The Doctrine of the Mean. Vol. 11 of The Chinese Classics: with a Translation, Critical and Exegetical Notes, Prolegomena, and Copious Indexes. Hong Kong: At the Author’s, and London: Trübner.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Legge, James. 1879. The Sacred Books of China, Vol. 1 of 6. The Texts of Confucianism, Part II. The Shû king. The Religions Portions of
the Shih King. The Hsiâo King. In The Sacred Books of the East, ed. by Max Müller, vol. 31. Oxford: Clarendon Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Legge, James. 1880. The Religions of China: Confucianism and Tâoism Described and Compared with Christianity. London: Hodder and Stoughton.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Legge, James. 1893a. Confucian Analects; The Great Learning; and The Doctrine of the Mean. Vol. 11 of The Chinese Classics: with a Translation, Critical and Exegetical Notes, Prolegomena, and Copious Indexes. 2nd ed. Reprinted in 2001. Taibei: SMC.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Legge, James. 1893b. The Shoo King, or the Book of Historical Documents. Vol. 31 of The Chinese Classics: with a Translation, Critical and Exegetical Notes, Prolegomena, and Copious Indexes. Reprinted in 2001. Taibei: SMC.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Maxey, Trent E. 2014. The “Greatest Problem”: Religion and State Formation in Meiji Japan. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Miao Runtian 苗润田 and Chen Yan 陈燕. 1999. 〈儒学:宗教与非宗教之争──一个学术史的检讨〉 [“Disputes over Whether Ruism is a Religion or Not: a Discussion of an Academic History”]. 中国哲学史 [History of Chinese Philosophy] 31: 23–31.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Müller, F. Max. 1861/1885. Lectures on the Science of Language. 21 vols, vol. 11. London: Longmans, Green, and Co.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Müller, F. Max. 1873. Introduction to the Science of Religion: Four Lectures Delivered at the Royal Institution, with Two Essays on False
Analogies, and the Philosophy of Mythology. London: Longmans, Green.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Müller, F. Max. 1879. “Preface to The Sacred Books of the East.” In The Sacred Books of the East, ed. by F. Max Müller, 501 vols, vol. 11, ix–lv. Oxford: Clarendon Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Mungello, David E. 1985. Curious Land: Jesuit Accommodation and the Origins of Sinology. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Paul, Gregor. 2013. “China and Religious Diversity: Some Critical Reflections.” In Religious Diversity in Chinese Thought, ed. by Perry Schmidt-Leukel and Joachim Gentz, 39–50. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pfister, Lauren F. 2004. Striving for ‘The Whole Duty of Man’: James Legge and the Scottish Protestant Encounter with China. 21 vols. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pye, Michael. 1971/2004. “Syncretism and Ambiguity.” In Syncretism in Religion: A Reader, ed. by Anita Maria Leopold and Jeppe Sinding Jensen, 59–67. London: Equinox.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Reader, Ian. 2000. Religious Violence in Contemporary Japan: The Case of Aum Shinrikyo. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Russell, Bertrand. 1922. The Problem of China. London: George Allen & Unwin.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schleiermacher, Friedrich. 1813/2012. “On the Different Methods of Translating.” In The Translation Studies Reader, ed. by Lawrence Venuti, 3rd ed., 43–63. Abingdon: Routledge![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schleiermacher, Friedrich. 1821/1893. On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultured Despisers. Translated by John Oman. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner and Co.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schleiermacher, Friedrich. 1799/1996. On Religion: Speeches to Its Cultured Despisers. Translated by Richard Crouter. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Schmidt-Leukel, Perry and Joachim Gentz, eds. 2013. Religious Diversity in Chinese Thought. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Soothill, William Edward. 1913. The Three Religions of China. London: Hodder and Stoughton.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Strenski, Ivan. 2006. Thinking about Religion: An Historical Introduction to Theories of Religion. Malden, MA: Blackwell.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
St. André, James. 2015. “Consequences of the Conflation of 孝 and Filial Piety in English.” Paper presented at The Translation of Key Terms in Traditional and Modern China, Taipei, January 2–3.
Sun, Anna. 2013. Confucianism as a World Religion: Contested Histories and Contemporary Realities. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Van der Veer, Peter. 2014. The Modern Spirit of Asia: The Spiritual and the Secular in China and India. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Vial, Theodore. 2016. Modern Religion, Modern Race. New York: Oxford University Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wright, Arthur F. 1957. “Ernest Richard Hughes, 1883–1956.” The Journal of Asian Studies 16 (2): 333.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Yang Mei-Hui Mayfair 楊美惠, ed. 2008. Chinese Religiosities: Afflictions of Modernity and State Formation. Berkeley: University of California Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Young, W. John. 2014. “William E. Soothill (1861–1935): Missionary and Sinologist.” Accessed February 28. Available at: [URL]
Yu, Anthony C. 2005. State and Religion in China: Historical and Textual Perspectives. Chicago: Open Court.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Yu Ying-shih 余英時. 2010. 现代儒学论 [On Modern Ruism]. 2nd ed. Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Zhou Shenglai 周圣来. 2011. 〈谈 “宗教” 一词的来源及衍变〉 [“Origin and Evolution of ‘宗教,’ a Word in Chinese”]. 上海师范大学学报(哲学社会科学版) [Journal of Shanghai Normal University (Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition)] 40 (5): 114–119.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (1)
Cited by one other publication
Liu, Rui
2023.
Maine's comparative jurisprudence in British Sinology: George Jamieson's interpretation of China's lack of wills.
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 33:2
► pp. 297 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.