2017: From Trustworthiness to Secular Beliefs: Changing Concepts of xin 信 from Traditional to Modern Chinese
A first conference of this project has taken place in June 2017: From Trustworthiness to Secular Beliefs – Changing Concepts of xin 信 from Traditional to Modern Chinese
Conference Schedule:
Thursday, 8 June
Arrival at Seminaris Hotel
Friday, 9 June
8:30 – 9:00 Registration
9:00 – 9:15 Welcome address
9:15 – 10:00 Introduction (General Approach of the Conference)
- Christian Meyer (FU Berlin): “Global Genealogies of ‘religion’ – Western and Chinese histories of ‘faith’ and ‘xin’. A Preliminary Overview”
10:00 – 12:30 Session I. Traditional Uses in Confucian, Daoist, Buddhist and Other Contexts / Chair and discussant: Prof. Philip Clart (Leipzig)
- Joachim Gentz (Univ. of Edinburgh): “A Trustworthy Companion: Xin 信 as complementary term in early Chinese texts”
(Short) coffee break 10.45 – 11:00
- Barbara Meisterernst (Humboldt Universität Berlin) “A linguistic analysis of the different functions of XIN and their historical development from Late Archaic to Middle Chinese”
- Friederike Assandri (Universität Leipzig): "The concept of xin in medieval Daoism"
12:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. Lunch break
1:30 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. Session I (cont.): Traditional Uses in Confucian, Daoist, Buddhist and Other Contexts / Chair and discussant: Prof. Philip Clart (Leipzig)
- Tam Wai Lun (The Chinese University of Hong Kong): “The concept of xin in Pre-modern Chinese Buddhism”
- Esther-MariaGuggenmos (Univ. Erlangen-Nürnberg): „Convinced by Amazement - Creating Buddhist ‘xin 信’ (Belief/Trust) in the Biographies of Thaumaturge Monks (T. 2064)“
- Christoph Kleine (Universität Leipzig): „Japanese Buddhist Concepts of Faith (shin 信): The Postmodern Narrative of the Conceptual Hegemony of Western Modernity Reconsidered“
Coffee break 3:45 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.
4:15 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Session II: Early Channels of Transfer: From Traditional to Early Monotheistic Uses of the Term from 7th to 19 th cent. / Chair and discussant: Prof. Klaus Mühlhahn (FU Berlin)
- Max Deeg (University of Cardiff, Wales): “From Trust in the Buddha to Belief in the One God – ‘xin’ as a Buddhist, Manichaean and Christian Concept in Early Medieval China”
- Henning Klöter (Humboldt Universität Berlin): “Translating belief for non-believers? Dominican missionaries and Chinese migrants in Manila (17th century)”
- Dror Weil (Princeton University): “The concept of xin in Chinese Islam” (via Skype)
6:30 p.m. Conference Dinner
Saturday, 10 June
9:00 – 12:20 Session III: From the Traditional and Christian Milieus to the Entry into the General Lexicon of Modern Chinese / Chair and discussant: Dr. Brooks Jessup and Prof. Albert Wu
- Vincent Goossaert (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris): "The notion of xin in morality books, 12th-20th centuries" (via Skype)
- Thomas Jansen (University of Wales, Lampeter): Negotiating between Chinese religious beliefs and Christian faith: An exploration of Timothy Richard’s (1845-1919) theology and translation work”
(Short) Coffee break 10:30 – 10:50
- Stefania Travagnin (University of Groningen): “The (New) Buddhist Semantics of xin in Republican China (1910-1940): Assessing Local Discourses, Global Influences and Glocal Resolutions"
- Christian Meyer (FU Berlin): “Xin(yang) in Introductory Works of History of Religions / Comparative Religions in Late Qing and Republican periods”
12:20 a.m. – 1:50 p.m. Lunch break
1:50 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. Session III (continued) / Chair and discussant: Prof. Thomas Fröhlich
- Thoralf Klein: (University of Loughborough) “’Our believing in the Three People's Principles requires a religious spirit’: Xin(yang) and the political religion of the Guomindang, 1925–1949”
- Lauren Pfister (Baptist University of Hong Kong): "When Philosophy and Xin / Belief Meet: Three Phases of Feng Youlan's Thoughts and Experiences of Xin"
- Chloe Starr (Yale Divinity School): ”Clarifying Xin in the Nascent Chinese Protestant Church"
Coffee break 4:15 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.
4:45 p.m. – 6:15 p.m. Session IV: Contemporary uses in special and everyday language discourses and fieldwork cases in Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong (and overseas) (1): / Chair and discussants: Esther-Maria Guggenmos
- Adam Yuet Chau (Univ. of Cambridge): „ Modalities of 'believing' in contemporary Chinese religious practices (with illustrative cases from popular religion and Buddhism)“
- Nikolas Broy (Leipzig): „ Belief in the Dao, or Knowledge of the Truth? Contested Interpretations of 'Believing' in Yiguandao Discourses“
6:30 p.m. Conferene Dinner
Sunday, 11 June
9:00 – 11:30 Session IV (cont.).: Contemporary uses in special and everyday language discourses and fieldwork cases in Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong (and overseas) (2): / Chairs and discussants: Fabian Heubel and Esther Maria Guggenmos
- Johanna Lüdde (Freie Universität Berlin): “The role of xin in the Buddhist discourse of nuns in contemporary China”
- Huang Weishan: "Learning to Believe: Xinfo on Buddhist Monks"
- Gerda Wielander (University of Westminster): “The Concept of xin in current political discourse under Xi Jinping”
(Short) Coffee break: 11:30 – 11:45
11:45 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Concluding discussion
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Lunch
2:00 p.m. End of conference/departure
Organizers: Freie Universität Berlin, Department of East Asian Studies, Sinology
- Prof. Dr. Christian Meyer, ch.meyer@fu-berlin.de
- Dr. Johanna Lüdde, johanna.luedde@fu-berlin.de
- Richard Ellguth, M.A. richard.ellguth@fu-berlin.de
Time and conference venue
09.06.2017 - 11.06.2017
Freie Universität Berlin, Dahlem Campus, Fabeckstr. 23-25 (“Holzlaube”), room: 2.2051
