Four Controversies over the Religious Nature of Confucianism
This chapter presents the four major controversies in the past five centuries regarding the nature of Confucianism as a religion. The first is the Chinese Rites and Term Controversy, which involved Jesuit missionaries in China. The second is the so-called Term Controversy, which involved missionaries in China as well as scholars in the newly emerging intellectual discipline, “comparative religion.” The third is the Confucianity Movement (kongjiao yundong), which was a failed movement to make Confucianity into China's state religion. The fourth is the latest debate over the religious nature of Confucianism, the so-called Confucianism as a Religion Controversy, which took place in China between 2000 and 2004.