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Tragedy and Hope in an Emerging Civil Society
Comparative Studies in Religion and Society, 12
University of California Press
November 1998
On Sale: November 1, 1998
204 pages
ISBN: 0520213262
EAN: 9780520213265
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Religion
After suffering isolation and persecution during the Maoist
era, the Catholic Church in China has reemerged with
astonishing vitality in recent years. Richard Madsen focuses
on this revival and relates it to the larger issue of the
changing structure of Chinese society, particularly to its
implications for the development of a "civil society." Madsen knows China well and has spent extensive time there
interviewing Chinese Catholics both young and old, the "true
believers" and the less devout. Their stories reveal the
tensions that have arisen even as political control over
everyday life in China has loosened. Of particular interest
are the rural-urban split in the church, the question of
church authority, and the divisions between public and
underground practices of church followers. All kinds of religious groups have revived and flourished in
the post-Mao era. Protestants, Buddhists, Daoists,
practitioners of folk religions, even intellectuals seeking
more secularized answers to "ultimate" concerns are engaged
in spiritual quests. Madsen is interested in determining if
such quests contain the resources for constructing a more
humane political order in China. Will religion contribute to
or impede economic modernization? What role will the church
play in the pluralization of society? The questions he
raises in China's Catholics are important not only for
China's political future but for all countries in transition
from political totalitarianism.
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