Papers presented in the fifth session: “Religion and Culture”

Papers presented in the fifth session: “Religion and Culture”

The speakers of the fifth session “Religious Cultures” were Prof. Ren Yanli and Prof. Duan Qi, Director and Researcher of the Christianity Section of the Institute of World Religions, Chinese Academy of Social Science respectively, and Dr. Huang Ruicheng of the Christian Culture Research Centre, Shaanxi Education University.

The presentation of Prof. Ren was “The Spirit of Assisi”. He spoke of the origin of the spirit, and pointed out that this spirit was and is a great moment of inter-religious dialogue between the Catholic Church and other faiths. Based on the “new theology” of the Vatican II, the spirit opened new ways to inter-religious dialogues.

The topic of Prof. Duan’s presentation was “Comparing Two Religious Utopianisms: The Xi-Dao-Tang and Jesus’ Family”. These two communities were of Muslim and Christian origins respectively. She compared the development, religious principles, organization and production modes of these communities. And she pointed out that the “collectiveness” of both communities has had impacts to the materialistic society. Dr. Huang’s topic of presentation is “‘Penitence’ in the “Rule of St. Benedict”. He suggested that the “Rule of Benedict” and the Order of St. Benedict are the model of all Christian missionaries. The practice of retreating based on “humbleness” and “obedience” is the perfect model for the medieval Christian values of “penitence” and “following Christ”.