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<p>While contemporary Western and post-Mao Chinese philosophers dismiss the spirit realm in early Chinese thought, the Confucian tradition is riddled with spirits (shen 神) from souls (hunpo 魂魄) to ghosts (gui 鬼) to lesser deities (di 帝 of mountains, rivers, rain, and the underworld, etc.) to the High God (shangdi 上帝). We will develop a Confucian theology of Di, Shangdi (God, the High God or the Lord on High) and Tian 天 (Heaven) by looking beyond Canonical Confucianism (Four Books (Analects, Mencius, the “Great Learning” and the “Doctrine of the Mean”) and Five Classics (Classic of Poetry, Book of Documents, Book of Rights, I Ching, and Spring and Autumn Annals)) and into the writings of subsequent, self-identified “Confucians.” As such, we will explore the theology of Heaven of one such “Confucian,” Dong Zhongshu (195–115 BCE), who is believed to be instrumental in establishing “Confucianism” as imperial orthodoxy. I will carefully exposit Dong’s <i>Chunqiu Fanlu</i> 春 秋繁露(The Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals), making reference to canonical Confucianism as I proceed.</p>

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A Confucian Theology: Through the Prism of Dong Zhongshu

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年7月21日

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  • Kelly James Clark

摘要

While contemporary Western and post-Mao Chinese philosophers dismiss the spirit realm in early Chinese thought, the Confucian tradition is riddled with spirits (shen 神) from souls (hunpo 魂魄) to ghosts (gui 鬼) to lesser deities (di 帝 of mountains, rivers, rain, and the underworld, etc.) to the High God (shangdi 上帝). We will develop a Confucian theology of Di, Shangdi (God, the High God or the Lord on High) and Tian 天 (Heaven) by looking beyond Canonical Confucianism (Four Books (Analects, Mencius, the “Great Learning” and the “Doctrine of the Mean”) and Five Classics (Classic of Poetry, Book of Documents, Book of Rights, I Ching, and Spring and Autumn Annals)) and into the writings of subsequent, self-identified “Confucians.” As such, we will explore the theology of Heaven of one such “Confucian,” Dong Zhongshu (195–115 BCE), who is believed to be instrumental in establishing “Confucianism” as imperial orthodoxy. I will carefully exposit Dong’s Chunqiu Fanlu 春 秋繁露(The Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals), making reference to canonical Confucianism as I proceed.