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Shvoong Home>Social Sciences>The Humanist Orientation in the Religious Thought of the Historiographers of Zhou Dynasty Summary

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The Humanist Orientation in the Religious Thought of the Historiographers of Zhou Dynasty

Article Summary by: TsingHua     

Original Author: Jilin University Journal Social Sciences Edition
This abstract was translated from 略论周代史官宗教思想的“人文”取向
One of the most important characteristics in the religious thought of the historiographers of Zhou dynasty, was that they
took great care about humankind, showing clear inclination to humanity. When they discussed about the essence of the gods, the relations between the human and the gods, the meanings of the god worship, their aim was to take care of the life of human being and their criterion about these discussions was also human being. They pointed out that all those gods were only a part of the nature and they must abide by the natural rules. By emphasizing the importance of natural rules, their apprehension to the gods diminished and even disappeared finally, so they could notice the value of human being fully. The thinking about the natural rules in ancient China stemmed from the "rules" that was fully described in the action of witchcraft in remote a ntiquity, so, the inclination of humanity in the religious thought of the historiographers of Zhou dynasty, actually was a positive result of the enormous development of the pre religious facts in the remote period of ancient China. Another saying about this conclusion is that the thick sense of humanity spirit in ancient china did not mainly come from the criticism against a former thick religious thought, but from a former tradition of non-worship to the gods which always existed in this kind of pre-religious phenomenon──witchcraft.
Published: March 24, 2002
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