Chapter Seven
Confucianism and Christianity

Confucianism and the Contemporary World

Colin Hoad

“Confucius, in identifying monarchs with Heaven, had given them unlimited authority, thus promoting an autocratic form of society.”

[I Pai-sha, “New Youth”, 1916]

“It is probably to the Confucian ethos and Confucian scholarship that the Chinese dynastic state owed much of its stability and bureaucratic continuity…yet the reverse was not equally true; Confucianism was less dependent on the state for survival that the state on it. Even though affected by the rise and fall of dynasties, Confucianism found ways to survive.”

[William Theodore de Bary, John Mitchell Mason Professor of the University, Emeritus, Columbia University and former President of the Association of Asian Studies]

From Passive Past to Future Perfect

            For Peter Bol, Confucianism is “a notion created in the West to define and discuss a phenomenon that existed in the past.”[i] Indeed, “not long ago, it would have seemed almost unthinkable to ask ‘what significance has Confucianism for the world today?’”[ii] For the past twenty or thirty years, it has been a dead subject – but it refused to stay buried. With the revitalization of East Asia, there have been calls made that identify their success with Confucianism. Japan’s economic superiority, and the Tiger Economies of Singapore and Malaysia are seen as having an intrinsic link with Confucius’s philosophy. It some people’s minds, it is still a ‘spectre’ of the past – but there can be no doubt that debate surrounding Confucianism has surged since the late 1980s. After the Republican revolution and subsequent Communist Revolution, a popular view in the West was that Confucianism was responsible for all of China’s ills – but there is increasing evidence that this view has shifted to one of both admiration and approval. Samuel P. Huntington goes further, in suggesting that Confucianism poses a very real threat to the West, and that much of the clash between East and West comes from the Confucian / Christian divide[iii]. For Christians, the question will be how relevant this new turn on Confucius’s philosophy is for them – and more importantly what impact Confucius has had on the East Asian mindset and culture. As we will see, Confucianism could have many implications for Christians and their relations with the East.

Deus Ex Machina

            At the start of the twentieth century, Confucianism was used on both sides of the Chinese political spectrum for answers to the problems of the day. The conservatives used it to enshrine the Imperial family, whilst the reformers used it in perhaps its best sense, namely as a power that could save China. Unfortunately, the reformist view did not survive long. The May Fourth Movement made calls to “Smash Confucius’s Shop”, and abandon the “uncrowned king”. The search for a new culture in China devoid of Confucian values became paramount for many Chinese. In retaliation, Gu Jiegang re-examined the Confucian Classics and led the xiandai xin ruxue[iv] movement to regain inner virtue and outer merit. The Rationalists accepted elements of Western philosophy, whilst the Idealists adopted Buddhism and Western philosophies of life to aid their cause. But, by 1949, Confucian studies could no longer take place on the Mainland, and Confucians retreated to Hong Kong, Taiwan and the USA.

            In 1958, Confucian scholars released “A Declaration of Chinese Culture to the Scholars of the World” in which they proved that Confucianism was neither against democracy nor science – it was the voice of progress. The seeds of Confucian doctrine were there waiting for their cultivation into a distinctly Chinese version of Western democracy and science. Scholars like Xu Fuguan even sough to reject westernisation wholesale, stating that it was Western liberalism that produced the worst government in China’s history! During the Cultural Revolution, Mao identified Confucianism with the exploitive class, and called it the path to death and decay. New Confucians like He Lin rejected this, stating that “in the new development of Confucianism the modern and traditional, the new and the old, and the Chinese and the western, would become a holistic unity, and therefore would be the future of China and the Chinese nation.”[v]

            Of course, the anti-Confucian voice has always been heard louder than the supportive one. The strongest criticism comes from people like Weber who assert that “the literati’s lack of interest in economic production enterprises, inhibited socio-economic innovation in the direction of Western capitalism.”[vi] Now, looking beyond the arrogance that the only ‘socio-economic innovation’ possible could be that of Western capitalism, something of what Weber says is the essence of anti-Confucian arguments. There does not appear to be anything in Confucius’s philosophy that might had led Chinese scholars to a form of science or democracy that we perceive in the West. Yet, it is not as clear cut as that. “Observing the pattern of the heavens and examining the order of the earth” are called for in the Confucian commentary to the I Ching, and Confucian scholar Xunzi called for “understanding nature…and the division between Nature and mankind.” The neo-Confucian exploration of the world in both physical and metaphysical senses has led some to conclude that their view of the world is “one extremely congruent with that of the natural sciences.”[vii] Both li and Tao contain elements of natural law, and as de Bary says, Confucian philosophy “may well be said to be scientific, or at least pre-modern scientific.”[viii]

            As for democracy, there are elements to Confucianism which have been kept very quiet by the anti-Confucian lobby. One will undoubtedly be surprised to learn that not only are there elements to be derived from Confucian texts, but also an explicit passage by Mencius himself on the subject. To begin, the Tian Ming can sometimes be seen as the will of the people; coupled to this is the idea that everyone can become a sage, promoting the idea of equality. Furthermore, Confucianism did not initiate autocracy, but was stifled by it. “Only by further accepting Confucian thought can democratic politics root firmly and manifest its highest value.”[ix] More evidence for the links between democracy and Confucianism are implicit: “the Confucian personality ideals of chun-tzu, worthy and sage can be realized more fully in the liberal-democratic society than either in the traditional imperial-dictatorship or a modern authoritarian regime.”[x] Yet, Mencius should have the final word with regard to Confucianism and democracy: “If those close to a ruler recommend the talent of a person to be appointed, it is not to be agreed to. If all those in rank and file also recommend the talent of a person, it is still not to be agreed to. It is not until all the people in the state recommend the talent of a person that a ruler, taking a closer look and finding the recommendation to be correct, will then make the appointment.”[xi] He says exactly the same for a person’s dismissal and a person’s execution, showing elementary roots for election and the right of innocence until proven guilty. In Confucianism, one cannot doubt that the seeds were always there – it was up to the people of the day to make the most of them – and today is no different. If China and the Chinese really seek the freedoms and democratic rights enjoyed to some extent in the West, then Confucius’s philosophy provides an ideal starting point.

Human Rights and Confucian Rites

            The question many reformers are asking now is, what would Confucius have made of the concept of human ‘rights’? In terms of the value of life, Confucians are one of the most respectful, since for them, transcendence comes in this life. Furthermore, “the people come first”[xii], and the people have the right to kill a tyrant, often called the doctrine of tyrannicide. It comes as no surprise that the Ming Emperors tried to expurgate this passage from the Book of Mencius. There is little in the Confucian tradition to suggest it would be opposed to human rights, that much is clear. The problem we face is reconciling an emergence of human rights from Confucianism without Western interference.

            The first task is to understand that human rights are not the same concept as they have become today. For all its cries of personal freedom and individualism, the West needs to look to its own. There is a decline in family values, a litigious spirit promoting conflict rather than harmony, an unacceptably high crime rate (especially in the States) an increasing gap between rich and poor, a monopoly of politics by the rich, and social deprivation to minorities. This, either directly or indirectly, is the result of human rights. The rights of criminals has meant many members of society are still at risk from men and women who should have been prosecuted; the rights of asserting one’s own business has led to money leaping to extremes, namely rich and poor – and as a result, politics is governed by those who have enough money to get their message (or, more likely, image) across. There is much that jen could teach the West in this respect. If Confucianism were to derive human rights of its own, they might expend elements of individualism for the benefits of harmony. In today’s China, “if obstacles remain to the observance of human rights, they are due not to any incompatibility of these concepts or practices with Confucian tradition, but to the misuse of political power in defence of entrenched repressive regimes”[xiii] – which is the way it has always been.

            Thus, what we need to do now is “preserve the Confucian virtues, while at the same time extrapolating from them an ethics of rights for modern society.”[xiv] Confucian social duty and mutual respect is an ideal place to begin with ethics and the equality of human rights. There is a very clear “dimension of human rights”[xv] within Confucius’s philosophy, in which “the Chinese humanistic tradition of virtues and the Western rationalistic tradition of human rights could go hand in hand for the creation of a self-sustainable and ecologically sound social order.”[xvi] Virtues are products of effort, which begin within the human heart. They represent the individual’s creative input in society, and serve both the self and the community. Thus, what the self owes the community, the community in turn owes the self. This culminates in a duty consciousness of virtue, and public utility is manifested. People within a community will benefit from another’s virtue, and so individuals must be protected by the community in order that they can continue to contribute to it – and this is much the same as a human right. The removal of intermediary powers that could distort these ‘rights’ are all that remains between Confucian virtues and human rights. All the while Confucian virtues demonstrate to us how self-assertion can be damaging within the community.

            The core values of Confucius’s philosophy dictate that a person is the centre of his or her relationships, and that society is a community of trust rather than antagonism, and human beings are duty bound to respect family, society and nation. As Tu Weiming points out, these not only accord with human rights – they could well enhance existing Western rights also.

Liberation Theology Plays Theological Liberation

            All this talk of Confucianism in the modern world may not at first seem to have much relevance to Christians. Yet, there is much to be learned. Christianity has given birth to a branch of affirmative action known as Liberation Theology. These men and women go out to Third World countries and work within the community to liberate them from their oppressive regimes. They use Christianity as their message and rasion d’être, and in liberating they spread the word of Christ. In Confucianism, there is much to be said for the liberating power that lies dormant within its doctrines, as we have seen. As well as this, what Confucius has had to say, and how this relates to modern science, democracy and human rights should be borne in mind for Christians. Just as Confucianism has been tied to Chinese society and culture for so long, so too has Christianity in the West. Many of the problems that have been generated for the most part by individualism simply aren’t being focused on enough by Christians today. What Confucius’s philosophy teaches us is to harmonize with our brothers and sisters, moving from familial love to love for the world. Instead of concerning ourselves solely with God’s love, Christians should show the love that God shows them to others in a way that promotes harmonisation and community spirit. Christianity, just as much as China, can be ‘liberalized’ by the seeds of Confucian philosophy.