| Shendao shejiao | |||||||
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| Chinese | 神道社教 | ||||||
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| Philosophy of religion |
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Shendao teaching (Chinese: 神道设教 or 神道社教; pinyin: shéndào shèjiào; lit. 'by "theistic ways" establishing the [moral] teachings')[1][a] is a Chinese philosophical perspective on religion. Originally it referred to conduct conforming and in harmony with the principles of Nature, following the subtlety of the path of Heaven's Way; it lays the basis for the teachings of tianxia, a worldview promoting social order and harmony, in which the commoners were unified and compliant, to the benefit of the whole society. It is also translated as "to educate by means of mysticism", the education here referring to moral education.[2]
The Chinese idea of "Shendao" arose in the early Western Zhou and later became a strategy and method of character education in the Confucianism ideological system, for strengthening integrity or virtue (德, dé) and other socially desirable traits. As it developed, concepts of gods, ghosts and demons were used as a means of character, or moral, education; such training included theories about karma including, cause and effect of fate or fortune, sin and merit, heaven or hell.[3]
The monotheist ideological basis of Shendao is considered instrumental in the later integration of Roman Catholicism in China.[1][4]
- ^ a b "Christian Meyer - Scholars | Institute for Advanced Study". www.ias.edu. 9 December 2019. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
- ^ Xiaohu, Cao (17 December 2021). "Trustworthiness Education in Ancient Chinese Beliefs". Advances in Vocational and Technical Education. 3 (4): 70–73. doi:10.23977/avte.2021.030414 (inactive 12 July 2025). ISSN 2523-5834.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link) Archived 6 May 2023 at the Wayback Machine - ^ Book of the Later Han biography of Weixiao："You want to bear the sky and obey the people, to assist the Han and rise, in fact, there is no command, how will be able to see the faith in the public? It is appropriate to urgently set up a high temple, called the minister to the shrine, the so-called Shendao teaching, help people God also."
- ^ Fairbank, John King (2009). United States and China. American Foreign Policy Library. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-92438-3.
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