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From Chronicle to Canon: The Hermeneutics of the Spring and Autumn According to Tung Chung-shu
Sarah A. Queen, 1996
Book description
Professor Queen provides a new reading of this text and concludes that it was compiled several centuries after Tung's death, sometime between the third and sixth centuries C.E., from Tung's authentic writings and other materials not authored by him. By historizing the Luxuriant Gems of the Spring and Autumn, Queen allows a new view of Tung Chung-shu, one that sees his hermeneutics evolving not outside of history, but in relation to the political factors and doctrinal discourses that defined his day. Queen challenges the common assumption that Tung's purpose was to legitimate the political status quo. The author argues that Tung was a reformist, intent on persuading the emperor, whose power was institutionally unlimited, to accept voluntarily the role of sage-priest and become the ritual center of the realm, separated by his self-discipline from the business of governance for which his officials were responsible.
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