书城宗教当代宗教冲突与对话研究
10766400000004

第4章 序言(2)

This monograph is the final product of the important project of the Ministry of Education,“A Study of Contemporary Religious Conflicts and Interreligious Dialogue,”composed of three parts and 22 chapters。 The basic framework is as follows:

Part I,“the study of contemporary Religious Conflicts,”we try to apply an interdisciplinary method to not only comprehensively analyze the major forms of contemporary religious conflicts, but also attempt to emphasize the religious elements in various international hot issues and important conflicts, i。 e。,the influence of religious elements in the hot issues and important conflicts。In the first seven chapters of this part, we emphasize the complexity of the contemporary conflicts in two senses:form and cause, and try to think deeply into this complexity。First of all, we rely extensively on the studies both domestic and international, in order to indicate the influence of religious elements in the various hot issues and important conflicts after the cold war。Second, by analyzing the interpretations of the causes of conflicts, we try to find the defects and problems in the available studies。Third, by examining the basic theoretical ideas in religious studies, we attempt to find the academic inspirations for the above-mentioned important issues。Finally, we emphatically interpret the religious elements and their four characteristics, that is, sedimentation, diffusion, permeation, and profundity, in order to establish a new methodology of religious studies, so that we can more comprehensively and more profoundly identify the influence of religious elements in various international hot issues and important conflicts。The theoretical summary of this part is in the concluding chapter, that is, chapter 8,“the theoretical reflection on religious conflicts。”

Part Ⅱ,“the study of contemporary religious dialogue,”we mainly do three things:(1)In chapter 9,we attempt to comprehensively and profoundly examine the background and theoretical issues in religious dialogues。(2)In chapter 10,we roughly examine the current situation of international religious dialogues。(3)Based on the work in the previous two chapters, we comprehensively and profoundly examine five major modes of religious dialogues, that is, religious exclusivism, religious inclusivism, religious pluralism, religious compatiblism, religious praxism。By criticizing their advantages and disadvantages in the methodology of religious philosophy, we try to reflect on the characteristics, ambiguities, difficulties, tensions, progress, aims, ideas, and the future of religious dialogues。This is the main body of Part Ⅱ,chapters 11-15.Compared with previous studies, this study is distinguished by these features:(1)based on new resources, we strengthen analysis of religious exclusivism

(2)by way of theoretical comparisons, we summarize a new idea of religious dialogue, namely, religious praxism, which has never been seen in foreign references

(3)we more comprehensively summarize the ideas on religious dialogues as five types, which is also the first time in international scholarship of religious studies。 And hence we turn to the content of the next part。

Part Ⅲ,“The tradition of harmony in chinese religious and its modern values,”consists of three parts:(1)from chapter 16 to chapter 20,we comprehensively reflect on the conflicts and communication between native religions in China and religions that came from other cultures and interpret the feature of harmonization that various religions developed in the context of Chinese culture

(2)in chapter 21,we attempt to describe the current situation of religions in China and the experiences and problems of religious policies since 1949

(3)in the last chapter of this part as well as of the whole book, turning to international academic dialogues, we attempt to provide an“experience of Chinese religious culture”to promote religious dialogues, solve the conflicts between civilizations, and establish a more harmonious world。 Because of the importance and urgency of religious dialogues, the international scholarship of religious studies are putting more emphasis on tracing the cultural traditions east and west to dig out more historical experiences and intellectual resources。Hence we put more emphasis on summarizing and discussing the relevant studies of the distinguishing scholars of the previous generations, including their ideas about the cultural features of Chinese religions, the summaries of excellent cultural traditions in Chinese religions, and the intellectual resources that Chinese cultural traditions could provide for the promotion of religious dialogues, the solution of the conflicts between civilizations, and the establishment of a harmonious world.