This is a comparative treatment of the religious beliefs and practices of Chinese traditional culture. The Spirits are Drunk presents Chinese religion as a complex, singular construct that is the basis of Chinese culture and civilization from its inception to the present. It focuses on the development and role of ecstatic religious experience and on the importance of the feminine in religious perceptions. Topics include the underlying structure of Chinese religion through the analysis of ritual; interpretations of the ritual decor of protohistoric sacrificial vessels in relation to ecstatic experience; the comparative study of myths and symbols; the development and interrelationships of shamanism, mediumism, and the mystic experience; the role of ecstatic religious experience in the arts and aesthetics; the importance of female deities; female roles in ritual; and the understanding of Christianity and Christian scriptures in China.

The Spirits Are Drunk: Comparative Approaches to Chinese Religion (Suny Series in Chinese Philosophy & Culture)

History

Paper, Jordan D.

Asia

State Univ of New York Pr

Provides a theology of polytheism―the belief in many deities―using examples from a wide range of world religions. The Deities Are Many is a lively and learned introduction to polytheism. Drawing from both his scholarly research and his personal experience, author Jordan Paper is the ideal guide into this milieu. Paper was drawn to polytheism through his love of nature, seeing it as a source of the divine. In this book he focuses on Chinese and Native American religious traditions, as well as West African, African-Brazilian, Hindu, Polynesian, and circum-Polar traditions, to describe the theology of polytheism. The book provides a topology of polytheistic deities, focusing on the cosmic couple, Father Sky and Mother Earth; animal, plant, and mineral deities; ancestral spirits; divine ghosts; and culture heroes and tricksters. Paper also shows how monotheists misunderstand polytheism and provides a polytheist perspective on what it means to be human when the “deities are many.” This is a fascinating, illuminating book, especially for those raised in monotheistic societies.

The Deities Are Many: A Polytheistic Theology (SUNY series in Religious Studies)

Religion & Spirituality

Other Religions, Practices & Sacred Texts

Guide to Chinese prose (The Asian literature bibliography series)

Literature & Fiction

World Literature

G.K. Hall

Guide to Chinese Prose (Asian Literature Bibliography Series)

Reference

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Books by Paper, Jordan D.