Professor Liyong Dai
The Religious Landscape in China
Post-Cultural Revolution China has witnessed a huge and rapid spiritual/religious change: the revival and development of Buddhism and Daoism, the rise of Chinese Christianity and also of new religious movements, the coming back of Confucianism, and the resurgence of folk religions. How does this picture fit together? What is the whole image of Chinese religions? Is there a Leap of Faith as put by some Western observers? Because the religious landscape in China and East Asia is different from that of countries where Abrahamic religions are dominant, Professor Dai will use a different approach to describe and explain this reality.
Liyong DAI is an associate professor at the Department of Sociology, Central China Normal University, and a visiting scholar at Confucius Institute, Carleton University. His research centers on modernity and religion, religious pluralism, and comparative religions between Christianity and Chinese religions. Dai is the author of Modernity and Chinese Religions (Beijing: Chinese Social Science Press, 2008). Dai received his BA in Politics from Jiang Han University in 1989, an MA in Philosophy from Wuhan University in 1995, and a PhD. in Religious Studies from Renmin University of China in 2006. He spent two years as a post-doc at the Berkeley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, Georgetown University, USA (2007-09). Dai is the author of a number of essays, the topics of which ranged from comparative religions, Confucianism, Chinese Buddhism, Philosophy, sociology of religion, and Mao Zedong.
Tuesday, February 20, 2018 – 7:30 p.m.