Benoît Vermander uses Confucian tradition to beautifully balance the rigid sacred/profane dichotomy in modern western theory of religion:
The Latin-based lexicon Durkheim used draws a sharp distinction between sacred and profane. … In ancient Chinese thought, the meaning of any concept deemed central to the understand of human and cosmic realities will be progressively enlarged. Going one step further, the relationship between the cardinal Confucian virtues of ritual (sense of propriety, ritual expertise) and benevolence (ren) suggests a corrective to the sacred/profane dichotomy: While the sacred/profane dichotomy is about discontinuities, Chinese texts and terminology stress necessary continuation in life processes Different orders in collective existence are associated with different models of conduct. There are different space-times (including the ones induced by the distinction between sacrifices and festivals, on the one hand, and everyday work and life, on the other), but their alternation and combination are indispensable for ensuring the community’s sustainability as a whole. Ritual observance allows one to lead life based on benevolence, while the deployment of benevolence enables one to express to the fullest the inner meaning of ritual. Then the distinction between the sacred and the profane is better perceived as a continuum.
Shanghai Sacred: The Religious Landscape of a Global City
(University of Washington Press, 2018), 9-10
(University of Washington Press, 2018), 9-10
