BR
发帖数: 4151 | 1 生于荷兰，在台湾出家做了道士。编辑有1800页的 The Taoist Canon， 在西方开创了
道教学。
Kristofer Schipper, Influential China Scholar, Dies at 86
A native of Holland, he helped change the understanding of Chinese religion
and became a Taoist priest in the process.
By Ian Johnson
April 4, 2021Updated 1:31 p.m. ET
Early in the afternoon on Thursday, in the southern Chinese city of Suzhou,
more than 50 people gathered in a Taoist temple for a 10-hour ceremony to
bid farewell to one of the most influential China scholars of recent times.
But this wasn’t to honor a professor at one of China’s great universities;
instead it was for Kristofer Schipper, a Dutch Sinologist whose work helped
usher in a fundamental shift in how people think of Chinese religion and
society.
Professor Schipper died at 86 on Feb. 18 in Amsterdam after developing a
blood clot in his stomach, said a friend and former student, Vincent
Goossaert.
Professor Schipper had made Taoism his life’s work, helping to elevate it
from a widely disregarded faith to a religious tradition that is regularly
included in global discussions of current issues like climate change.
More important, his ideas contributed to an understanding of how Chinese
society has been organized through its history — by local autonomous groups
often centered on temples rather than the emperor and his vaunted
bureaucracy, as historians have traditionally tended to depict it.
An ordained Taoist priest, Professor Schipper combined firsthand knowledge
of rural religious life with deep textual study of classical Chinese.
“He was able to show that there was a religion of the people of China that
was deeply connected to local forms of self-organization and self-government
,” said Kenneth Dean, head of Chinese Studies at the National University of
Singapore. “It was part of a change in how people described Chinese
society.”
Professor Schipper is best known for his book “The Taoist Body” (1994),
which was written for the general reader. It shows how many seemingly
disparate elements of Chinese culture — martial arts, art, cuisine, rituals
, holidays, medicine and much local religious life — are imbued with Taoist
concepts. That helped broaden how Taoism is defined, from being known for a
few philosophical texts and local religious practices to being seen as
encompassing a huge swath of Chinese culture and society.
Among scholars, Professor Schipper’s most influential work was as co-editor
, with Franciscus Verellen, of a monumental three-volume work, “The Taoist
Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang.” Totaling 1,800 pages, it
was the first time that the 1,500 core texts of Taoism were systemically
arranged and described. The project lasted nearly 30 years and involved
dozens of scholars from around the world — an effort that many say created
the modern field of Taoist studies.
全文：
http://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/04/world/kristofer-schipper-dead.html?referringSource=articleShare | BR
发帖数: 4151 | 2 He argued that the Chinese culture was rooted in Daoism and that the Chinese
society has been organized through its history by local autonomous groups
often centered on temples rather than the emperor.
religion
,
【在 BR 的大作中提到】
: 生于荷兰，在台湾出家做了道士。编辑有1800页的 The Taoist Canon， 在西方开创了
: 道教学。
: Kristofer Schipper, Influential China Scholar, Dies at 86
: A native of Holland, he helped change the understanding of Chinese religion
: and became a Taoist priest in the process.
: By Ian Johnson
: April 4, 2021Updated 1:31 p.m. ET
: Early in the afternoon on Thursday, in the southern Chinese city of Suzhou,
: more than 50 people gathered in a Taoist temple for a 10-hour ceremony to
: bid farewell to one of the most influential China scholars of recent times.
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