SOURCE: Smith, D. Howard. “The Significance of Confucius for Religion.” History of Religions 2, no. 2 (winter 1963): 242-55.

In the following essay, Smith discusses whether Confucianism should be treated as a religion or as a philosophy with religious ethics.

What is known in the West as Confucianism has its roots in pre-Confucian times in the teaching of the Ju, a scholar class, the origin of which has been hotly debated by Chinese scholars in recent years.¹ These Ju seem to have been experts in the performance and interpretation of religious rites, and were the holders and transmitters of traditional learning. Confucius acknowledged his indebtedness to these teachers of the past. “I transmit but do not create,” he said.² The Ju Chiao, or Confucianism, exercised a dominant role in the development of Chinese civilization throughout more than two millennia.

Several centuries after his death Confucius came to be recognized throughout China...