A Spiritual Geography of Early Chinese Thought

The notions of 'gods' and religious beliefs in early China are often considered to be either unique to a single non-representative thinker, and therefore irrelevant in the writings of mainstream Chinese thinkers, or inconsequential to Chinese moral and political thought. Rejecting the claim that religious practice plays a minimal philosophical role, Kelly James Clark and Justin Winslett offer a textual study that maps the religious terrain of early Chinese texts. They analyse the pantheon of extrahumans, from high gods down to ancestor spirits, and discuss their various representations, as well as examining conceptions of the afterlife and religious ritual.

Demonstrating how religious beliefs are both textually endorsed and ritually embodied, this book reveals that religion in early China is philosophically salient. The summative chapter on the role of religious ritual in moral formation, shows how religion forms a complex philosophical system capable of informing moral, social, economic, and political conditions.