Patheos Press

The Patheos Guide to Confucianism

By Jeffrey Richey

Series Editor - Kathleen Mulhern

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Confucianism is both an ancient path and a revitalized tradition. Kongzi (known as Confucius) was a 5th century B.C.E. scholar and philosopher who initiated a way of life that still influences Chinese thought and culture; it stands poised to become even more important as New Confucianism recovers the tradition's strengths.

Jeffrey Richey, a specialist in ancient and early medieval Chinese and Japanese religious history, especially Confucian and Daoist studies, has published widely in scholarly journals, encyclopedias, and edited anthologies. This exploration of Confucianism's origins, development, beliefs, texts, and practices is both accessible and illuminating, giving the reader a solid introduction to this deeply influential tradition.

Jeffrey L. Richey, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Religion and Director of the Asian Studies Program at Berea College in Kentucky. He was educated at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Harvard University, the Graduate Theological Union, and the University of California at Berkeley. A specialist in ancient and early medieval Chinese and Japanese religious history, especially Confucian and Daoist studies, he has published widely in scholarly journals, encyclopedias, and edited anthologies. His publications include Teaching Confucianism (Oxford University Press, 2008), which he edited and to which he also contributed a chapter, as well as chapters in Confucius Now: Contemporary Encounters with the Analects (Open Court Publishing Company, 2008) and Riding the Wind with Liezi: New Scholarship on the Daoist Classic (forthcoming from State University of New York Press). He also serves as Chinese Philosophy Area Editor for the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (http://www.iep.utm.edu/). At present, he is at work on co-editing (with Kenneth J. Hammond) The Return of the Repressed: Aspects of the Confucian Revival in Contemporary Chinese Society.