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Making the Gods Speak
The Ritual Production of Revelation in Chinese Religious History
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Making the Gods Speak
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
This book is ideal for readers interested in Chinese religion, spirituality, and ritual studies, as well as scholars examining comparative revelation and the intersection of culture and religious communication.
Making the Gods Speak presents a comprehensive accounting for the processes of divine revelations. Focusing the bulk of his analysis on spirit-writing, Vincent Goossaert offers a ritual-centered framework to study revelation in Chinese cultural history and comparatively with the revelatory practices of other religious traditions.
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
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Description
For two millennia, Chinese society has been producing divine revelations on an unparalleled scale, in multifarious genres and formats. This book is the first comprehensive attempt at accounting for the processes of such production. It builds a typology of the various ritual techniques used to make gods present and allow them to speak or write, and it follows the historical development of these types and the revealed teachings they made possible.
Within the large array of visionary, mediumistic, and mystical techniques, Vincent Goossaert devotes the bulk of his analysis to spirit-writing, a family of rites that appeared around the eleventh century and gradually came to account for the largest numbers of books and tracts ascribed to the gods. In doing so, he shows that the practice of spirit-writing must be placed within the framework of techniques used by ritual specialists to control human communications with gods and spirits for healing, divining, and self-divinisation, among other purposes.
Making the Gods Speak thus offers a ritual-centred framework to study revelation in Chinese cultural history and comparatively with the revelatory practices of other religious traditions.
Series: Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series
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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
Natasha Heller praises Goossaert for delivering a compelling narrative that highlights the importance of spirit-writing and revealed texts in shaping late imperial Chinese religious life, describing the work as excellent.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780674270947
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Format: Hardback
Date Published: 05 July 2022
Country: United States
Imprint: Harvard University Press
Illustration: 1 illus.
Audience: Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 25.0mm
Width: 152.0mm
Height: 229.0mm
Weight: 612g
Pages: 368
About the Author
Vincent Goossaert is Research Professor in the Religious Studies Department at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris.
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