SOAS Research Online

A Free Database of the Latest Research by SOAS Academics and PhD Students

[skip to content]

Stoyanov, Yuri (2018) 'Religious Syncretism and Cultural Pluralism along the Central and East Asian Silk Road – New Discoveries and Venues for Research.' The Silk Road, Fourth Conference on Chinese Studies, 4. pp. 291-300.

[img]
Preview
Text - Accepted Version
Download (328kB) | Preview

Abstract

The current and continuing shifts in frequently contrasting „official” and popular stances multiculturalism and religious pluralism in Europe are clearly symptomatic of the growing crisis of state multiculturalism in Europe, a crisis increasingly visible on a variety of political and cultural levels. These developments also indicate that cultural and religious pluralism cannot be approached and understood solely in the framework of European modernity. The traditional Eurocentric lens certainly need to be widened and transcended to consider also comparable pre-modern and nonEuropean phenomena, involving international networks promoting inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue and co-existence. The historic trans-continental routes linking the Mediterranean and East Asia, commonly labelled the Silk Road, and the dynamics of the wide-ranging religious and cultural exchange and syncretism during the active phases of its millennia-old history, certainly represents the most characteristic and illustrative of these pre-modern globalization phenomena. In the fields of religious and cultural history the antique and late antique syncretistic and pluralist cultures which existed along the Central Asian sectors of the Silk Road and the transmutations of Manichaeism in contact with Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism in China (until its absorption into Chinese popular religions) is of vital significance for understanding the nature and trajectories of inter-religious and inter-cultural relations and globalizing exchange in pre-modern and nonEuropean settings. The mounting evidence of Taocisation of Christian and Manichaean notions and beliefs in pre-modern Chinese contexts indicate a dynamic of religio-cultural trasplantability and translatability which are undoubtedly of obvious relevance to the contemporary global dilemmas and crises of multiculturalism and religious diversity, rapidly intensifying in an increasingly interconnected and inter-dependent world.

Item Type: Journal Article
Keywords: Silk Road, Central Asia, Sogdiana, China, Archaeology, Cultural Interactions, Syncretism,
SOAS Departments & Centres: Departments and Subunits > School of Languages, Cultures & Linguistics
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religions. Mythology. Rationalism
B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BP Islam. Bahaism. Theosophy, etc
B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BQ Buddhism
B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BR Christianity
B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BT Doctrinal Theology
D History General and Old World > DE The Mediterranean Region. The Greco-Roman World
D History General and Old World > DJK Eastern Europe (General)
D History General and Old World > DS Asia
G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology
G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GR Folklore
P Language and Literature > PA Classical philology
P Language and Literature > PI Oriental languages and literatures
P Language and Literature > PK Indo-Iranian languages and literatures
P Language and Literature > PL Languages and literatures of Eastern Asia, Africa, Oceania
B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion
D History General and Old World
G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation
P Language and Literature
ISSN: 13149865
Date Deposited: 02 Aug 2023 14:25
URI: https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/id/eprint/39978

Altmetric Data

There is no Altmetric data currently associated with this item.

Statistics

Download activity - last 12 monthsShow export options
Downloads since deposit
6 month trend
139Downloads
6 month trend
105Hits
Accesses by country - last 12 monthsShow export options
Accesses by referrer - last 12 monthsShow export options

Repository staff only

Edit Item Edit Item