Startseite Beyond Non-Catholic/Catholic (Luong/Giao) Separation: Missionary Expansion and Divergent Manifestations of Religious Differentiation in Colonial Vietnam
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Beyond Non-Catholic/Catholic (Luong/Giao) Separation: Missionary Expansion and Divergent Manifestations of Religious Differentiation in Colonial Vietnam

  • Thao Nghiem
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Historicizing Secular-Religious Demarcations
Ein Kapitel aus dem Buch Historicizing Secular-Religious Demarcations

Abstract

The conventional narrative of religion and colonialism in Vietnam often portrays the imperial emperors as having persecuted Catholicism, condemning it as a “foreign” element - as a destabilizing factor for both the political and cultural structures of the land. However, this assessment overlooks the diverse religious evolutions within non-Catholic communities. This paper seeks to move beyond the traditional Catholic versus non-Catholic narrative of hostility, focusing on the complicated and divergent shifts in religious identity among non-Catholics, sparked by their interactions with missionary proselytization and Catholic exclusivist theology. Faced with a dominant Western religion that was backed by colonial power, Vietnamese non-Catholics employed a variety of strategies to accommodate this exclusivity, and reproduce their religiously pluralistic traditions. Their responses can be grouped into four categories: apologetic defense, critical introspection, reformist visions, and innovative spiritual synthesis. In these processes of religious adaptation and religion-making, certain manifestations of people’s religiosities were elevated and actively endorsed (such as faith with a more “rational” philosophy, emphasis on textual and doctrinal traditions, and the establishment of Church-like representative institutions), while others were judged as outdated, superstitious, or harmful. This analysis therefore emphasizes the paradoxes inherent in re-imagining a non-exclusivist culture according to an exclusivist religious framework, revealing how internal divisions weakened solidarity, hindering the efforts towards national liberation and independence. The study underscores the interconnectedness of religion, colonial history, and nationalism, highlighting the intricacies of religious transformations amid the complex territorial expansions and power struggles within colonial Vietnam.

Abstract

The conventional narrative of religion and colonialism in Vietnam often portrays the imperial emperors as having persecuted Catholicism, condemning it as a “foreign” element - as a destabilizing factor for both the political and cultural structures of the land. However, this assessment overlooks the diverse religious evolutions within non-Catholic communities. This paper seeks to move beyond the traditional Catholic versus non-Catholic narrative of hostility, focusing on the complicated and divergent shifts in religious identity among non-Catholics, sparked by their interactions with missionary proselytization and Catholic exclusivist theology. Faced with a dominant Western religion that was backed by colonial power, Vietnamese non-Catholics employed a variety of strategies to accommodate this exclusivity, and reproduce their religiously pluralistic traditions. Their responses can be grouped into four categories: apologetic defense, critical introspection, reformist visions, and innovative spiritual synthesis. In these processes of religious adaptation and religion-making, certain manifestations of people’s religiosities were elevated and actively endorsed (such as faith with a more “rational” philosophy, emphasis on textual and doctrinal traditions, and the establishment of Church-like representative institutions), while others were judged as outdated, superstitious, or harmful. This analysis therefore emphasizes the paradoxes inherent in re-imagining a non-exclusivist culture according to an exclusivist religious framework, revealing how internal divisions weakened solidarity, hindering the efforts towards national liberation and independence. The study underscores the interconnectedness of religion, colonial history, and nationalism, highlighting the intricacies of religious transformations amid the complex territorial expansions and power struggles within colonial Vietnam.

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I Premodern Boundary Negotiations: Self-Distinctions of the Religious Sphere
  5. Dynamics of Differentiation from Charlemagne to Dante. Medieval Christian Debates on Religion and Politics beyond the Model of a “Separation of Church and State” 15
  6. Secularity and Differentiation in Late Antiquity. The Case of Augustine of Hippo 51
  7. Monasticism, Differentiation and Secularization: Talcott Parsons and the Catholic ‘Monastic Movement’ in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries 79
  8. Negotiating the Boundaries between Religion and Science in the Abbasid Empire 105
  9. Religious and Secular in Premodern Islam and Christianity 125
  10. Part II Colonial Boundaries: Religion, Culture, and “Middle Things”
  11. King, Messiah, and Culture in the Making of Zulu Secularity 157
  12. The “Middle Things”. Differentiating between the Religious Spheres in Indian and African Mission Contexts in the Nineteenth Century 189
  13. Beyond Non-Catholic/Catholic (Luong/Giao) Separation: Missionary Expansion and Divergent Manifestations of Religious Differentiation in Colonial Vietnam 213
  14. Part III Competing Epistemes: Lessons Learned From Asia
  15. The Autonomy of Science vis-a-vis Religion: Amitav Ghosh’s The Calcutta Chromosome as a Theoretical Counter-Narrative to the Western Master Narrative of Functional Differentiation 239
  16. Global Translations: Conceptualizing Differentiations Between ‘Religion’ and ‘Science’ in Thailand and the Philippines in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries 271
  17. Demarcating Religion: On the Varying Ways of Conceptualizing Social Differentiation in Japanese History 301
  18. Rethinking the Place of Religion and Worldviews in Differentiation Theory: A Historical Comparison between Chinese and European Societies 329
  19. Part IV Programmatic Proposals: Differentiation Theory and the Sociology of Religion and Secularity
  20. The Fragmentation of the Sacred: An Alternative Narrative of Western Modernity 359
  21. Rigid Differentiation Theory and Flexible Sociology of Religion? 379
  22. After Autonomy. Relationships between Art and Religion in Nineteenth Century Germany and their Implications for Differentiation Theory 407
  23. Beyond Normative Binaries: Neutral Zones as Precursors and Starting Points of Secularity 437
  24. The Authors 467
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111386645-009

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Part I Premodern Boundary Negotiations: Self-Distinctions of the Religious Sphere
  5. Dynamics of Differentiation from Charlemagne to Dante. Medieval Christian Debates on Religion and Politics beyond the Model of a “Separation of Church and State” 15
  6. Secularity and Differentiation in Late Antiquity. The Case of Augustine of Hippo 51
  7. Monasticism, Differentiation and Secularization: Talcott Parsons and the Catholic ‘Monastic Movement’ in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries 79
  8. Negotiating the Boundaries between Religion and Science in the Abbasid Empire 105
  9. Religious and Secular in Premodern Islam and Christianity 125
  10. Part II Colonial Boundaries: Religion, Culture, and “Middle Things”
  11. King, Messiah, and Culture in the Making of Zulu Secularity 157
  12. The “Middle Things”. Differentiating between the Religious Spheres in Indian and African Mission Contexts in the Nineteenth Century 189
  13. Beyond Non-Catholic/Catholic (Luong/Giao) Separation: Missionary Expansion and Divergent Manifestations of Religious Differentiation in Colonial Vietnam 213
  14. Part III Competing Epistemes: Lessons Learned From Asia
  15. The Autonomy of Science vis-a-vis Religion: Amitav Ghosh’s The Calcutta Chromosome as a Theoretical Counter-Narrative to the Western Master Narrative of Functional Differentiation 239
  16. Global Translations: Conceptualizing Differentiations Between ‘Religion’ and ‘Science’ in Thailand and the Philippines in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries 271
  17. Demarcating Religion: On the Varying Ways of Conceptualizing Social Differentiation in Japanese History 301
  18. Rethinking the Place of Religion and Worldviews in Differentiation Theory: A Historical Comparison between Chinese and European Societies 329
  19. Part IV Programmatic Proposals: Differentiation Theory and the Sociology of Religion and Secularity
  20. The Fragmentation of the Sacred: An Alternative Narrative of Western Modernity 359
  21. Rigid Differentiation Theory and Flexible Sociology of Religion? 379
  22. After Autonomy. Relationships between Art and Religion in Nineteenth Century Germany and their Implications for Differentiation Theory 407
  23. Beyond Normative Binaries: Neutral Zones as Precursors and Starting Points of Secularity 437
  24. The Authors 467
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Heruntergeladen am 19.10.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783111386645-009/html
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