Sacralisation of a Deity in the Tense of Popular Religion and Official Cult. The Case of Jinlong Si

根据汉学项目的第一阶段，神圣的概念以及帝制晚期中国的神圣化过程再次成为关注的焦点，但现在要从新的角度来审视。因此，金龙四大王崇拜的发展应该被分析为一个走向神化的过程。这里薛旭的形象是非常重要的。在中国的语境中，他被视为一个人的神圣性的一个例子，但也被视为一个人真正成为神圣的方式的一条探究线。这是一种很有希望的方法，可以卓有成效地比较中国和基督教对圣人（“圣人”）的概念。在帝制晚期中国，个人圣洁的理论概念及其相关过程的发展将是本部分研究的目标之一。此外，金龙四大王的崇拜也要从受到皇权和民间宗教信仰影响的正统关系来分析。这些关系造成的紧张局势，也可以在规范的宗教指导方针（由国家发布）和实际的邪教实践（更广泛意义上的大众宗教）的背景下进行检查，可以用来描述关于神圣性及其各自要求的不同观点。

In accordance with the first phase of the sinological project, notions of sacrality as well as the process of sacralization in Late Imperial China are again in the focus of interest but are now to be ex amined from new perspectives. Therefore a closer look is to be taken on the development of the cult of Jinlong Si Dawang which should be analyzed as a process leading to sacrality. Here the figure of Xue Xu is of great importance. He is to be taken as an example for the sacrality of a person in the Chinese context but also as a line of inquiry to ask about the way a person actually became holy. This is a promising approach to a fruitful comparison of Chinese and Christian concepts of holy persons (“saints”). The development of a theoretical conception of personal holiness and related processes in Late Imperial China will be one of the objectives for this part of the study. Furthermore the cult of Jinlong Si Dawang is also to be analyzed in terms of the relation of orthodoxy influenced both by the imperial state and popular religious beliefs. The tensions resulting from these relations, which can also be examined in the context of normative religious guidelines (issued by the state) and actual cultic practice (popular religion in a broader sense), can be used to describe differing ideas about sacrality and its respective demands.