Authenticity, Sincerity and Spontaneity: The Mutual Implication of Nature and Religion in China and the West
Abstract
Fundamental approaches to ethics and morality in both China and the West are bound
up not only with conceptions of religion and ultimate truth, but also with conceptions
of nature. One dominant theme in the West is to see nature in terms of an original
goodness that precedes human manipulation. This theme is bound up with Biblical views
of divine creation by a divine lawmaker. In contrast to this view, Chinese conceptions
of sincerity (cheng) and spontaneity (ziran) mitigate against such an abstract conception
of the original goodness or authenticity of nature. © 2013 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden.
Type
Journal articlePermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/16706Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1163/15700682-12341259Publication Info
(2013). Authenticity, Sincerity and Spontaneity: The Mutual Implication of Nature and Religion
in China and the West. Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, 25(3). 10.1163/15700682-12341259. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/16706.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
Collections
More Info
Show full item recordScholars@Duke
James Miller
Professor of Humanities at Duke Kunshan University
James Miller is the inaugural Professor of Humanities at Duke Kunshan University,
Chair of the Faculty Assembly, and co-director of the DKU Humanities Research Center. Prior
to his appointment at Duke Kunshan, Dr. Miller served as the director of the interdisciplinary
graduate program in cultural studies, and as the director of the School of Religion,
at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Dr. Miller's research is
Articles written by Duke faculty are made available through the campus open access policy. For more information see: Duke Open Access Policy
Rights for Collection: Scholarly Articles
Works are deposited here by their authors, and represent their research and opinions, not that of Duke University. Some materials and descriptions may include offensive content. More info