Spirit, Qi, and the Multitude: A Comparative Theology for the Democracy of Creation

376 Pages·2013·2.775 MB·English

by  Hyo-Dong Lee

SPIRIT, QI, A ND THE MULTITUDE

comparative theology: thinking across traditions
Loye Ashton and John J. Thatamanil, Series Editors
Th is series invites books that engage in constructive comparative theological
refl ection that draws from the resources of more than one religious tradition.
It off ers a venue for constructive thinkers, from a variety of religious traditions
(or thinkers belonging to more than one), who seek to advance theology
understood as “deep learning” across religious traditions.

SPIR IT, QI, AND
THE MULTITUDE
A Comparative Theology for
the Democracy of Creation
hyo- dong lee
Ford ham University Press new york 2014
Copyr ight © 2014 Fordham University Press
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lee, Hyo-Dong.
Spirit, Qi, and the Multitude : a comparative theology for the democracy of
creation / Hyo-Dong Lee.
pages cm — (Comparative theology: thinking across traditions)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary: “A comparative theological and philosophical analysis of the concept
of spirit in the West and the concept of qi (ch’i) in East Asia in regard to their
respective and mutually illuminating potentials for sustaining a pluralistic and
democratic metaphysical vision of the cosmos” — Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-0-8232-5501-6 (hardback) — ISBN 978-0-8232-5502-3 (paper)
1. Qi (Chinese philosophy) 2. Philosophy, Korean. 3. Philosophy, Chinese.
4. Spirit. 5. Philosophy, Modern. 6. Cosmology. I. Title.
B127.C49L4 2014
181'.11—dc23
2013014386
Printed in the United States of America
16 15 1 4 5 4 3 2 1
First e dition
for Younhee and Saehan

CONTENTS
P reface xi
Prologue: A Meeting of Two Stories 1
Introducti on: A Decolonizing Asian Th eology of Spirit
as a Comparative Th eology of Spirit-Qi 15
1 Th e Psy chophysical Energy of the Way in Daoist Th ought 42
2 Th e Psy chophysical Energy of the Great Ultimate:
A Neo-Confucian Adventure of the Idea in Zhu Xi 62
3 Creativ ity and a Democracy of Fellow Creatures: Th e Challenge
of Whitehead’s Radical Ontological Pluralism 83
4 Th e Gre at Ultimate as Primordial Manyone: Th e Promise
and Peril of Toegye’s Neo-Confucian “Heterodoxy” 106
5 From th e Divine Idea to the Concrete Unity of the Spirit:
Hegel’s Shapes of Freedom and the Domination of Nature 122
6 Pattern and Psychophysical Energy Are Equally Actual:
Th e Empathetic Plurisingularity of the Great
Ultimate in Nongmun’s Th ought 142
7 Th e Cha os mos and the Great Ultimate: A Neo-Confucian
Trinity in Conversation with Deleuze and Keller 174
8 Th e Dem o cracy of Numinous Spirits: Th e Panentheism
of “Subaltern” Ultimate Energy in Donghak 211
x Contents
Epilogue: Th e Spiri t-Qi of the Multitude under the Cross
of Empire 245
Notes 257
Bibliograp hy 335
Index 353