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158 Journal of Chinese Religions Social Scientific Studies of Religion in China: Methodologies, Theories, and Findings Edited by FENGGANG YANG and GRAEME LANG. Religion in Chinese Societies, vol.1. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2011. xi, 312 pages. ISBN 978-90-04-18246-2. €108.00, US$154.00 hardcover. Fenggang Yang and Graeme Lang’s edited volume, Social Scientific Studies of Religion in China: Methodologies, Theories, and Findings, is one of the most recent contributions to an important and under-studied field that is finally beginning to develop a critical mass of scholarship. The volume offers no less than twelve substantive chapters addressing the history of scholarship on religion in China, conceptual frameworks for the study of religion in China, and a variety of empirical case studies and comparative analyses of contemporary phenomena in Chinese religion. The book emerges from the 2008 Beijing Summit on Chinese Society and Spirituality, organized by the editors, and brings together an unusual variety of contributors: well-established Western scholars of religion in China, Chinese scholars, and Western sociologists of religion who do not specialize in China. This variety of perspectives is one of the volume’s strengths, as it offers a wider variety of perspectives than usual, taking advantage of the authors’ varying insider/outsider viewpoints on both China and sociology of religion. Other strengths of the volume include its careful attention to the dynamics of the academic field of Chinese religion and its explicit intent to engage with questions about the applicability of standard (Western) sociology of religion concepts, frameworks, and methods for the study of religion in China. The latter is a crucial set of concerns, in my view, and the different chapters provide a number of perspectives, angles, and arguments that contribute to this important discussion. Many of the chapters also offer empirical cases that provide novel and keenly analytical insight into specific areas in the realm of Chinese religion and society. This volume is a valuable contribution in many ways, but suffers from three main problems that limit its utility. The first is the issue of audience. The intended (or at least most appropriate) audience for chapters varies widely, sometimes even within a single chapter. The three major possible audiences are: Western sociologists/religion scholars new to China, Western-trained scholars of Chinese religion (both Western and Chinese natives), and Chinese-trained sociologists/religion scholars. Some articles would be quite inaccessible to the first group, while other articles seem expressly aimed at that group and offer little or nothing for audiences familiar with Chinese religion. Other chapters are targeted at the last group, essentially introducing Western sociology and religious studies concepts that have not been prevalent in Chinese training and scholarship. Thus, it is likely that no individual would find the entire volume useful, although it has the most to offer to people who already are Book Reviews 159 familiar with and engaged in the study of Chinese religion (I count myself in this category). While the problem of varying audiences is not a critical flaw, it does beg the question of whether this might have been more productively published as a special issue of a journal, so that it would be easier for readers to obtain only the chapters that are most accessible or applicable for their specific background and interests. The second problem is more serious and disappointing: the volume has virtually no integration or conversation across chapters. Especially surprising considering that it emanates from a conference that presumably included discussion amongst the authors, individual chapters do not acknowledge or engage with other chapters treating similar themes and questions, nor does the introduction attempt to bring chapters into comparison or conversation beyond what appears in each chapter. This is particularly frustrating given that quite a few chapters address two important topics—the history and definition of “religion” in China, and debates over the utility of concepts and frameworks from the Western study of religion—that would especially benefit from the juxtaposition and cross-pollination of the multiple perspectives present among the contributors to this volume. In the worst cases, there are sections of some chapters that are redundant, detailing essentially identical information on the history of the term...

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