Marxism and Religion

In Marxism and Religion leading Chinese scholars unfold before our eyes theoretical explorations of religion in present-day China. In addition, they along with senior cadres superintending religious affairs strenuously explain why the Marxist view of religion still has relevance to living religions in a country undergoing deep changes unleashed by the late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping’s reform and opening-up policies.Mistakenly perceived by so many westerners as outdated and dogmatic quasi-scholarly work in the service of communist regime’s propaganda, studies selected here are brainchildren of a group of creative and reform-minded scholars and cadres who endeavor to uphold Marxist traditions while innovatively sinicizing them, hoping that their efforts will contribute to the ruling party’s ideological reconstruction.Contributors include: Fang Litian, Gao Shining, Gong Xuezeng, He Qimin, Jin Ze, Li Xiangping, Lü Daji, Wang Xiaochao, Wang Zuo’an, Ye Xiaowen, Zhu Xiaoming, and Zhuo Xinping.

"These different essays offer us a variety of approaches, but the main conclusion we can take from this compilation of translations is that the debates on the place of religion in China are far more sophisticated than assumed by non-specialists, […] This book will be a very useful resource for libraries, and can serve as a very useful starting point for policy-makers, business people, academics, and everyone interested in person-to-person exchanges with China who would also like to gain insight on the official perspectives on religion.” André Laliberté, University of Ottawa, Journal of Chinese Religions Volume 43/2 (2015) "Marxism and Religion makes accessible to English readers a representative sampling of academic and policy discussion from the top levels of the religious academic/policy establishment in the world’s most populous nation." Ryan Dunch, University of Alberta, Journal of Church and State (July 2016)

Lü Daji (1931 - 2012) was a Senior Research Fellow of Religious Studies at the Institute of World Religions, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). He was a leading Marxist scholar and published numerous monographs and articles on religion. Gong Xuezeng is Professor of Religious Studies at the CCP’s Central Party School. He has published dozens of books devoted to topics such as relations existing between religion and socialism and roles religion plays in China’s peaceful development.Chi Zhen, Ph.D. (2007), National University of Singapore, is Associate Research Fellow at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. He has published monographs and articles on Chinese intellectual history. He teaches modern Chinese history at China Executive Leadership Academy Jinggangshan.Thomas David DuBois is Senior Research Fellow in Chinese history at the Australian National University. He is author of Sacred Village: Social Change and Religious Life in Rural North China (Hawaii, 2005), and Religion and the Making of Modern East Asia (Cambridge, 2011), and has also written on the economic, legal and social history of the Chinese northeast.