Brisbane School of Theology

Confucianism: religion or worldview?

Dr Andrew Prince, Director for Brisbane School of Theology’s Centre for Asian Christianity

In some East Asian contexts, the concept of religion encapsulates the ideas of an organisation or movement that a person joins, and also something imported from a Western context. Based on that understanding, many people from across East Asia would argue that Confucianism should be classified as a worldview rather than as a religion [Nadeau: 2014, 21]. A comparison of Confucianism with standard characteristics of a religious entity would seem to support this – including Confucianism’s lack of specific founder or date, lack of belief in God or gods, its emphasis on practice being more important than belief, its lack of specific national identity, and its lack of fixed religious services [Nadeau 2014, 22].

That being said, in his book Asian Religions, Randall Nadeau suggests that human beings are religious by nature, seek to make meaning of their lives, and desire have their lives undergo some form of what he calls “ultimate transformation,” with religion offering something of a blueprint for how this ultimate transformation might occur [2014, 8-9]. Based on this understanding of the nature and function of religion, Nadeau has a strong case for arguing the Confucian tradition more broadly being classified as a religion rather than a worldview [2014, 22].

Find out more about CAC

 

Scroll to Top
KEEP UP TO DATE

Stay up to date with all the latest news and updates from BST. Subscribe today!

Pastor Grace Lung

BSci (Comp Sci), GradDipDiv, MA (ChrStds)

DIRECTOR

Grace grew up in Sydney in a large Chinese church. Since then she has served at various Chinese churches over the years in youth, students, young workers and women. Her passion and interest is contextualizing the gospel to Asian Australians and developing Asian churches in Australia. Grace is a graduate of Sydney Missionary and Bible College and Fuller Theological Seminary. Her study focussed on Chinese Australian identity and ministry.

Her previous roles have included: Director for Asian Contextual Engagement for the RICE Movement, Team Member for Interserve Culture Connect and OMF QLD’s Ministry Team. She was an Anglican Deaconness Ministries Summer Fellow in 2019. Her writing has appeared on the SOLA Network, Gospel Coalition Australia, Centered: Resources for the Asian American Church, Common Grace and Ethos: EA Centre for Christianity and Society.

In addition to her role as Director of CAC, Grace is also serving as a pastor alongside her husband, Chris, at Rise Alliance Church – a new church plant servicing the Rochedale area.