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FrostyTheSasquatch t1_je0lux3 wrote

You’re using a lot of Christian language here to describe a non-Christian tradition, which makes it tricky to really understand what’s going on here. Yes, these aspects of Chinese Folk Tradition may LOOK like aspects of Catholicism and may even function similarly in the wider society, but to use such uniquely Christian terminology muddies the water by assuming that Chinese religion or even society functions in any way like western society.

Terminology either means something or it doesn’t.

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jingyi-ah t1_je1o9dj wrote

Yeah reading this title was very ….. interesting? Weird? I am obviously familiar with this stuff but seeing it couched in Christian terms was bizarre. Lowkey felt like the way a missionary in the 1800s would describe it in a carrier pigeon letter to the king lol

It’s obviously an attempt to relate it to what the author is familiar with, but there is no direct equivalent and it doesnt make sense to try and explain it as the eastern version of Christian XYZ when you can just explain it as what it IS.

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mully_and_sculder t1_je2rv6l wrote

So what's the difference with the terminology?

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adankgoon t1_je2vm92 wrote

There’s no church (thus no clergy) centralized in China. The only thing close enough was maybe Buddhism in some eras but historically I don’t believe those were interested in turning heroes into ‘Gods’. The concept of a ‘God’ in Chinese folklore is also more similar to Greek/Roman mythology where they’re in charge of some aspect of daily life. There are also unkind divinities/gods worshipped in different local cultures.

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