Making the Gods Speak: The Ritual Production of Revelation in Chinese Religious History

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Vincent Goossaert

Making the Gods Speak

The Ritual Production of Revelation in Chinese Religious History

Vincent Goossaert

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Hardback

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English

Harvard University Press
05 July 2022

Asian history; History of religion; Other non-Christian religions; Taoism; Spirituality & religious experience

Series: Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series

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-divinization, among other purposes. Making the Gods Speak thus offers a ritual-centered framework to study revelation in Chinese cultural history and comparatively with the revelatory practices of other religious traditions.

By: Vincent Goossaert
Imprint: Harvard University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9780674270947
ISBN 10: 0674270940
Series: Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series
Pages: 368
Publication Date: 05 July 2022
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Vincent Goossaert is Research Professor in the Religious Studies Department at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris.

Reviews for Making the Gods Speak: The Ritual Production of Revelation in Chinese Religious History

Goossaert offers a compelling narrative about how spirit-writing and revealed texts were significant forces shaping the religious life of late imperial China…Excellent. -- Natasha Heller * Material Religion *