"Provocative, sound, and engaging" --Religious Studies Review, January 2003

"A careful study and thorough analysis" --Review of Bibliography in Sinology, 2002

"This outstanding book provides a major reinterpretation ... Davis convincingly shatters the academic myth of a neo-Confucian society in the Song." --American Historical Review, April 2003

"A rich and engagingly written work, based on solid research into an astounding array of texts and offering stunning conclusions and suggestions for further research on nearly every page" --Journal of Asian Studies, November 2002

"Fascinating ... This book excels by virtue of the richness and freshness of its data. It is a must-read for any serious student of Chinese religion and culture. --Pacific Affairs 75 (2002)

"An intricate and extensive groundbreaking study ... A thoughtful and well-written book. It combines a generous supply of intriguing stories and ritual texts with a panoramic view of the landscape of secondary literature, a stimulating and thorough analysis, and a sound theoretical framework." --China Review International 9 (2002)

"Wide-ranging and richly documented" --Buddhist Studies Review 19 (2002)

"[Davis] gives particular attention to the interaction of a select group of ritual specialists, including lay Daoist and Buddhist exorcists, in uncovering a social and religious dynamic heretofore left largely unexamined." --Journal of Religion 82 (2002)

"Davis has set a new agenda for future scholars, and achieved conceptual and methodological breakthroughs that will continue to shape research on Chinese religions for years to come. This book should also prove invaluable for use in courses on Chinese religions for both undergraduate and graduate students." --Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 62 (2002)

"The first book to offer a plausible explanation for the emergence of the characteristic patterns of religion that have prevailed in China to the present day.... Built on a thorough knowledge of Buddhist and Taoist ritual sources and of Song society, this book will necessitate fundamental changes in the way we think about China, yesterday and today." --John Lagerwey, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes

"This superb study fills what has until now been a gap in the history of Chinese religions. It shows precisely, in gripping and convincing detail, how the indigenous tradition having to do with spirit possession and rites for the dead became integrated with the organized religions--Buddhism and Taoism--that followed to form the lived religion of modern times." --Stephen Teiser, Princeton University

Society and the Supernatural in Song China is at once a meticulous examination of spirit possession and exorcism in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and a social history of the full panoply of China's religious practices and practitioners at the moment when she was poised to dominate the world economy. Although the Song dynasty (960-1276) is often identified with the establishment of Confucian orthodoxy, Edward Davis demonstrates the renewed vitality of the dynasty's Taoist, Buddhist, and local religious traditions. He charts the rise of hundreds of new temple-cults and the lineages of clerical exorcists and vernacular priests; the increasingly competitive interaction among all practitioners of therapeutic ritual; and the wide social range of their patrons and clients.

Edward L. Davis is associate professor of Chinese history at the University of Hawai'i.

Read the introduction (PDF).

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