PRESENTER: Ori Tavor (Pre-modern Chinese Studies,
University of Pennsylvania)
TOPIC: Axial Age Religiosity and the Rise of Moral Theology
in China
DATE: 12:00PM-1:15PM, Friday, March 7
LOCATION: Ballantine Hall Room 004
The Axial Age, a term coined by German philosopher Karl
Jaspers, is often associated in contemporary scholarship with the rise of
theoretical thinking, ethical universalism, and religious transcendence. In
this talk, I will seek to refine our understanding of this notion by tracing
the development of philosophical argumentation in pre-imperial China. Drawing
on recently excavated texts from the Shanghai Museum corpus, I will argue that
Warring States religious discourse features a fundamental tension between two
competing modes of religiosity: an elite mode, accompanied by a moral theology,
which stresses devotion to a fixed body of practice, and a popular mode,
accompanied by a practical theology, which portrays ritual as a negotiation
technique that facilitates communication and exchange between the human and
divine realms. Tracing the origins of this tension is thus crucial in helping
us better understand the evolution of religious thought in China and can also
offer us new and exciting ways of expanding our modern definitions of religion.
Ori Tavor is a lecturer in Pre-modern Chinese Studies
at the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on the relationship
between individual modes of religiosity and communal ritual activity. He is
currently working on a book manuscript, based on his dissertation, which
examines the role of bio-spiritual practices, such as meditation, sexual
cultivation, and calisthenics, in the development of the literary genre of
ritual theory in Pre-modern China. This interdisciplinary project, which draws
on Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist sources, aims to distill a Chinese approach
to the theorization of ritual and bring it in conversation with modern
approaches and methodologies in the study of ritual and religion.
Persons with disabilities interested in attending our events
who may require assistance, please contact us in advance at (812) 855-3765.
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