Publications and papers of Barend J. ter Haar

 

Published books and articles

last update: 30-3-2023

Books

  • Guan Yu: You fan ru shen de lishi yu xiangxiang 关羽:由凡入神的历史与想象(trsl. by Wang Jian 王健、Yin Wei 尹薇、Yan Aiping 闫爱萍、Qu Xiaoyu 屈啸宇, corrected by Wang Jian 王健) (Beijing: Xinxing chubanshe 新星出版社, 2022

  • background in Chinese further down this page

  • Religious Culture and Violence in Traditional China. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019)(also see Bookreviews)
  • To prevent disappointment: the real book is not much larger than this picture.

  • Tiandihui de yishi yu shenhua: chuangzao rentong 天地會的儀式與神話: 創造認同 (Li Gongzhong 李恭忠 trsl.)(Shangwu yinshuguan, Beijing, 2018)
  • Guan Yu: The Religious Afterlife of a Failed Hero (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017)(also see Bookreviews)


  • My Guan Yu book at the feet of the deity (twice: standing on the left and sitting on the right)

  • Zhongguo lishishangde Bailianjiao 中國歷史上的白蓮教 (Liu Ping 劉平 and Wang Rui 王蕊 trsl.) (Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan, 2017)

  • Jiang gushi: zhongguo lishishang de wushu yu tizui 講故事: 中國歷史上的巫術與替罪 (Xu Liheng 徐力恆,Huang Yuning 黃宇寧, Zhao Lingyun 赵凌云,Zhou Nulu 周努鲁, Huang Fei 黄菲, Li Tong 李瞳 trsl.)(Shanghai: Zhongxi shuju, 2016)

  • Practicing Scripture: A Lay Buddhist Movement in Late Imperial China (Honolulu: Hawaii University Press, 2014)(also see Bookreviews)



  • Het Hemels Mandaat: De geschiedenis van het Chinese keizerrijk (a revisionist Dutch language history of China until 1911; Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2009, tweede druk 2010, derde druk 2013, vierde en herziene druk 2018) (some corrections first print Het Hemels Mandaat). Zie ook Besprekingen


  • This book was obligatory for first year students of Chinese in Leiden until a few years ago (and again as of 2022). It could be a bit intimidating, with disastrous results (for author and students), hence this attack.... The attack took place in the summer of 2015.

  • Telling Stories: Witchcraft and Scapegoating in Chinese History (Leiden: Brill, 2006) (also see Bookreviews).


  • Ritual and Mythology of the Chinese Triads: Creating an Identity   (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1998)(paperback edition: Leiden: Brill, 2000) (also see Bookreviews).


  • The White Lotus Teachings in Chinese Religious History (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1992; paperback edition: Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1999) (also see Bookreviews) (Korean translation, 2007; ISBN 9788979400564)


  • In this 1999 reprint, my name is also written Barend J. ter Harr. Please note that this is WRONG.

    (almost) Published scholarly articles

  • "The Frustrations of Learning Chinese: The Case of J.J.L. Duyvendak", in Max J. Fölster ed., The China Experience and the Making of Sinology/ 《中国经历与汉学生成——旅居中国的西方学者》论文集 (Harrasowitz: Wiesbaden, in press).
  • "Religion as a Binding Force in Urban Society: The 1313–1314 Restoration of the Travelling Palace of the Eastern Marchmount in Changxing Prefecture (Zhejiang)", Hualin International Journal of Buddhist Studies, 6.2 (2023): 111–159
  • "The Importance of Provenance: A Preliminary Essay on Migration Narratives", In: Achim Mittag ed., in collaboration with Martin Hanke. New Approaches to Chinese Historiography and Historical Culture from a Comparative Perspective (Gossenberg: OSTASIEN Verlag, 2023), 127-148 (it finally appeared!).
  • "Dark wind for seven days and nights: a Chinese apocalyptic disaster", Studies in Chinese Religions, 9 (2023) ONLY ONLINE FOR NOW
  • "Religion and war in traditional China", pp. 164-186 and "The Demonological Framework of the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace," pp. 428-442, in Margo Kits eds., Cambridge Companion to Religion and War (Cambridge: Cambridge University, 2023)
  • "Harmful ancestors or friendly ghosts: looking at our early evidence on the Chinese notion of gui 鬼", Review article for Journal of Asian History 56 (2022) 269-306
  • "Divine Soldiers: the Boxers and their religious universe", Studies in Chinese Religions 8: 2 (2022), 259-288
  • "Buddhist monks and oral performance", in: Jonathan Silk and Stefano Zachetti eds., Chinese Buddhism and the Scholarship of Erik Zürcher (Leiden: Brill, 2022), 188-232.
  • "Notions of secrecy and the unknown/hidden in Chinese culture," in: Hugh B. Urban and Paul Christopher Johnson eds., The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Secrecy (Routledge: London, 2022), 163-173.
  • "Pure Land and netherworld: an essential combination", Hualin International Journal of Buddhist Studies, 4.2 (2021): 352–392. With minor corrections in Jinhua Chen and Eugene Wang eds., Worldmaking in East Asian Buddhism (World Scholastic: Singapore, 2023), 375-408.
  • "What Inscriptions do not tell about themselves: Chinese cases," Jörg B. Quenzer ed., Exploring Written Artefacts: Objects, Methods, and Concepts (De Gruyter: Berlin, 2021), 139-158.
  • "A word for violence: the Chinese term bao 暴", Journal of Religion and Violence, 8:3 (2020), 221-241 (appeared in 2021).
  • "Giving Believers Back Their Voice: Agency and Heresy in Late Imperial China", In Text and Context in the Modern History of Chinese Religions: Redemptive Societies and Their Sacred Texts, edited by Philip Clart and David Ownby (Brill: Leiden, 2020), 16-54. Chinese version trsl. by 鄧育渠 "信仰者的聲音:帝制中國晚期的能動性與異端" 《華林國際佛學學刊》第五卷‧第二期(2022):95–137; https://dx.doi.org/10.6939/HIJBS.202210_5(2)
  • "The White Lotus Movement and the Use of Chan", Journal of Chan Buddhism 1 (2019) 17-54 (appeared in 2020)
  • "The Way of the Nine Palaces (jiugong dao 九宮道): a lay Buddhist movement", Studies in Chinese Religions, 5: 3/4 (2019), 415-432 (largely the same text appeared in translation as “Minjian fojiao yundong Jiugong dao 民間佛教運動九宮道”,in: Miaojiang 妙江, Chen Jinhua 陳金華 , Kuanguang 寬廣 and Ji Yun 紀贇 eds. Wutaishan xinyang duowenhua kuazongjiao de xingge yiji guojixing yingxiangli 五臺山信仰多文化,跨宗教的性格以及國際性影響力 [Taibei 臺北: Xinwenfeng Chuban Gongsi 新文豐出版公司, 2018.6], 193-212, with some minor adaptations to Chinese discourse as visible in the different title)
  • "Shamans, Mediums and Chinese Buddhism: a Brief Reconnaissance", Hualin International Journal of Buddhist Studies, 1.2 (2019), 202-230
  • "Oosterse lotus en Fries pompenblad: Boeddhisme in het veld", in: Tjalling Halbertsma, Alpita de Jong en Barend ter Haar, De Predikant en de Boeddha: Beschouwingen bij de heruitgave van Joost Halbertsma’s Het buddhisme en zijn stichter uit 1843 (Gorredijk: Uitgeverij Noordboek, 2019), 42-70.
  • "Een kleine revolutie: het Boeddhisme als een tekst", in: Tjalling Halbertsma, Alpita de Jong en Barend ter Haar, De Predikant en de Boeddha: Beschouwingen bij de heruitgave van Joost Halbertsma’s Het buddhisme en zijn stichter uit 1843 (Gorredijk: Uitgeverij Noordboek, 2019), 71-105.
  • "The rise of Northern Chinese regional temple cults: a case study of the worship of King Tang" Minsu quyi 民俗曲藝 205 (2019.9): 161–213
  • "Studying fears of witchcraft in traditional China: A close reading of three examples from Hong Mai’s The Record", in: Barbara Mittler, Joachim & Natascha Gentz and Catherina Vance Yeh, eds., China and the World--The World and China: A Transcultural Perspective (Ostasian Verlag: Gossenberg, 2019), 203-211. More important than my own contribution are the other articles, especially those relating to my late Heidelberg colleague Rudolf Wagner.
  • "Luo Qing", in Jonathan Silk and others eds., Brill’s Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Volume 2 “Lives”(Brill: Leiden, 2019), 707-710.
  • "Rumours and prophecies: the religious background of the late Yuan rebellions", Studies in Chinese Religions 4: 4 (2018) 382-418
  • "Heterodox Sects in Premodern China" (Oxford Bibliographies in "Chinese Studies"). Ed. Tim Wright. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2018).
  • "The Religious Core of Local Social Organization", in: Michael Szonyi ed., Blackwell Companion to Chinese History (Blackwell: Oxford, 2016), 304-314.
  • "State and Samgha in the Qing Period: A New Look at Old Figures", in: T. Jülch ed., The Middle Kingdom and the Dharma Wheel: Aspects of the Relationship Between the Buddhist Samgha and the State in Chinese History (Brill: Leiden, 2016) 379-408.
  • "From Field to Text in the Study of Chinese Religion", in: Kiri Paramore ed., Religion and Orientalism in Asian Studies (Bloomsbury: London, 2016), 85-105
  • (trsl. Shi Ye 施晔, "Zhongxue xichuan de dianxing gean: 19 shiji Rujiao (Confucianism) yici de faming 中学西传的典型个案:19世纪“儒教”(Confucianism)一词的发明", Shanghai shifan daxue xuebao yhexue shehui kexue ban《上海师范大学学报:哲学社会科学版》2016: 4)
  • "Witchcraft in Chinese History", in: Wolfgang Behringer, Sönke Lorenz and Dieter R. Bauer eds., Späte Hexenprozesse: Der Umgang der Aufklärung mit dem Irrationalen (Verlag für Regionalgeschichte, 2016), 309-330 (please note that this article was largely written almost ten years earlier).
  • "China", in: Joseph Laycock ed., Spirit Possession around the World: Possession, Communion, and Demon Expulsion across Cultures (ABC Clio: Santa Barbara, Denver, 2015) 76-80 (very very short piece on shamans and mediums)
  • "Patriarch Luo as a Writer and Reader: Speculating about the Creative Process behind the Five Books in Six Volumes", Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies Vol.15 No.1 (2015) 21-44.
  • "The Sutra of the Five Lords: manuscript and oral tradition", Studies in Chinese Religions 1: 2 (2015) 172-197.
  • "Ouzhou hanxuejia yanzhongde zhongguo minjian zongjiao--yi Jiangnan Wuweijiao wei zhongxin" 歐洲漢學家眼中的中國民間宗教--以江南無爲教為中心 (Xu Maoming 徐茂明 trsl. and edited), Tang Lixing 唐力行 ed., Jiangnan shehui lishi pinglun 江南社會歷史評論 (Shangwu yinshuguan: Beijing, 2014) 336-354
  • "Between the Dutch Indies and philology, 1919-1974", in: Wilt L. Idema ed., Chinese Studies in the Netherlands: Past, Present and Future (Brill: Leiden, 2014) 69-102.
  • "Rediscovering Chinese religion and contemporary China", in: Wilt L. Idema ed., 'Chinese Studies in the Netherlands: Past, Present and Future (Brill: Leiden, 2014) 105-126.
  • "Divine violence to uphold moral values: The casebook of an Emperor Guan temple in Hunan province in 1851-1852", in: Duindam, J., Harries, J., Humfress, C. and Hurvitz, N., Law and Empire (Brill: Leiden, 2013) 314-338.
  • "Chinese new religious groups and religious freedom", in: Perry Schmidt-Leukel and Joachim Gentz eds., Religious Diversity in Chinese Thought (Palgrave Macmillan: New York, 2013) 243-257.
  • "The Non-Action Teachings and Christianity: Confusion and Similarities", in: Philip Clart ed., Chinese and European Perspectives on the Study of Chinese Popular Religions (Boyang Publishing: Taipei, 2012), pp.295-328.
  • "Towards Retrieving Early Oral Traditions: Some Ruminations on Orality and Textuality in Early Chinese Culture", in: Cheng Pei-Kai and Fan Ka Wai eds., New Perspectives on the Research of Chinese Culture (Springer Science and Business Media: Singapore, 2012), pp. 45-61
  • "Violence in Chinese Religious Culture", in: Murphy, A. R. (Ed.), The Blackwell Companion to Religion and Violence (Malden/Oxford/Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. 2011), pp. 249-262.
  • "Dootokutekikachi o iji suru tame no kami no booryoku" 道徳的価値を維持するための神の暴力―湖南省における関帝廟の事例(一八五一~一八五二年). In: Takeuchi Fuasji 武内 房司(Ed.), Ekkyoo suru kindai Ajia no minshuu shuukyoo 越境する近代東アジアの民衆宗教―中国・台湾・香港・ベトナム、そして日本 (Tokyo: Meiseki shoten, 2011) pp. 125-152.
  • ハール,バレンデ・テル(田海) (Maruyama Hiroshi trsl. 丸山 宏, "Shobutsu o yomi riyō suru rekishi" 「書物を讀み利用する歴史:新しい史料から」 ("New sources on the history of reading and using texts"), Tōhōgaku 東方學 120 (2010), pp. 135-152
  • Tian Hai (Zhang Chongfu 張崇富 trsl.), "Yaodie xinyi" 瑤牒新意, Hongdao 弘道 2010:1-13.
  • "The present situation of religious culture in China: A report on religious culture, state control of religion, and recent changes, followed by some policy recommendations" (report for the Dutch embassy in Beijing, 2010)
  • "The Dragon Flower Teachings and the Practice of Ritual", Minsu quyi 163 (2009: 3) 117-159.
  • "Yongzheng and his abbots", in: The People and the Dao: New Studies of Chinese Religions in Honour of Prof. Daniel L. Overmyer. Edited by Philip Clart and Paul Crowe. (Sankt Augustin: Institut Monumenta Serica, 2009), pp. 435-477
  • "The Teachings of the Dragon Flower as Continuation of Song-Yuan Lay-Buddhism", in: Z. Wesolowski ed., Research on Religions in China: Status quo and Perspectives (Monumenta Serica Sinological Center, Taibei/Xinzhuang, 2007 [actually 2008]) 31-83 (as well as op.cit., 85-159 translation into Chinese + comments by Paul Katz and Wang Jianchuan).
  • six contributions to: F. Pregadio ed., The Encyclopedia of Taoism (London: Routledge, 2007), Taoism and secret societies (170-171), Guan Yu (454-455), jinxiang (585-586), Shao Yuanjie (878-879), Tao Zhongwen (971-972), Wang Qinruo (1014-1015).
  • two contributions on the Falun Gong and Li Hongzhi, in: Peter Clarke ed., Encyclopedia on New Religious Movements (Routledge Curzon Press: London, 2005) 180-182, 310-311.
  • " Thee en cup-a-soup: enige opmerkingen over thee, ritueel en sociale interactie in het traditionele China" (Oratie uitgesproken op 26 oktober 2001 te Leiden, in bijgewerkte vorm beschikbaar gemaakt op 22 september 2004)
  • Tian Hai 田海 (Ji Qiufeng trsl.), "Chongxin sikao zhongguo wenhua zhongde 'baoli'" 重新思考中國文化中的暴力, Sun Jiang 孫江ed., Shijian, jiyi, xushu事件.记忆.叙述 (Hangzhou: Zhejiang renmin, 2004), pp. 134-155
  • Two contributions to B. Staiger ed., China Handbuch (Institut fur Asienkunde, Hamburg), 2003 (pp. 248-240: "Geheimgesellschaften", and pp. 373-374: " Klerus") Hamburg: Institut fur Asienkunde.
  • "Whose Norm, Whose Heresy: The Case of the Song-Yuan White Lotus Movement", in: Irene Pieper, Michael Schimmelpfennig, and Joost van Soosten eds., Häresien (Wilhelm Fink Verlag: München, 2003), pp. 67-93.
  • "China's Inner Demons: The Political Impact of the Demonological Paradigm," in: Woei Lien Chong ed., China's Great Proletarian Revolution: Master Narratives and Post-Mao Counternarratives (Rowman & Littlefield: London, 2002), pp. 27-68 (revised version of my 1996-1997 article)
  • "PR China: Falun Gong: assessing its origins and present situation" (July 2002; ISSN 1020-8429. On behalf of WriteNet for use by the UNHCR / internal document )
  • "Myth in the Shape of History: Elusive Triad Leaders", in: Irene Lim ed. Chinese Triads: Perspectives and Histories, Identities, and Spheres of Impact (Singapore: Singapore History Museum, 2002) 19-31.
  • "The Buddhist Option: Aspects of Religious Life in the Lower Yangzi Region from 1100-1340", T'oung Pao LXXXVII (2001) 92-152.
  • "Rethinking 'violence' in Chinese culture,"  in: Goeran Aijmer and Jos Abbink eds., Meanings of Violence: a Cross Cultural Perspective (Oxford: Berg, 2000) 123-140. Trsl. by Ji Qiufeng as Tian Hai, "Chongxin sikao zhongguo wenhua zhongde 'baoli'", in: Sun Jiang ed., Shijian, jiyi, xushu (Hangzhou: Zhejiang renmin, 2004), pp. 134-155.
  • "Teaching with Incense", in: Studies in Central and East Asian Religions 11 (2000)  1-15
  • "The Rise of the  Guan Yu  Cult: The Daoist Connection" , in: Jan A.M. DeMeyer en Peter M. Engelfriet eds., Linked Faiths: Essays on Chinese Religions and Traditional Culture in Honour of Kristofer Schipper (Leiden: Brill, 1999) 183-204
  • "Das politische Wesen des daoistischen Rituals", in: Josef Thesing and Thomas Awe eds., Dao in China und im Westen (Bonn: Bouvier, 1999) 113-139.
  • "A New Interpretation of the Yao Charters," Paul van der Velde  and Alex McKay eds., New Developments in Asian Studies (London: Kegan Paul International, 1998) 3-19. Trsl.by Zhang Chongfu, as Tian Hai, "Yaodie xinyi", in: Hongdao 2010:1-13.
  • "China's inner demons: the political impact of the demonological paradigm," China Information, Vol. XI, Nos. 2/3 (1996-1997) 54-88.
  • "Local Society and the Organization of Cults in Early Modern China: A Preliminary Study" in: Studies in Central and East Asian Religions 8 (1995) 1-43.
  • "Introduction", "Traditional Chinese Religion on Taiwan" and "Offering Incense" in: Mark de Fraeye ed. and comp., Taiwan, Isle of Beauty (Freiburg: Schilinger Verlag, 1995) 9-10, 93-99, 133-134.
  • "Messianism and the Heaven and Earth Society", in: David Ownby en Mary Somers Heidhues eds., "Secret Societies" Reconsidered (New York: M.E. Sharpe, 1993) 153-176.
  • "Newly Recovered Anecdotes from Hong Mai's (1123-1202) Yijian zhi", in: Journal of Sung-Yuan Studies, 23 (1993) 19-41.
  • "The Gathering of Brothers and Elders (ko-lao hui): A New Hypothesis", Leonard Blusse and Harriet Zurndorfer eds., Conflict and Accommodation in Early Modern China: Essays in Honour of Erik Zurcher (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1993) 259-283.
  • "The Genesis and Spread of Temple Cults in Fukien", in: E.B. Vermeer ed., Development and Decline of Fukien Province in the 17th and 18th Centuries (Leiden: E.J. Brill,  1990) 349- 396.
  • Translation: Lin Renchuan, "Fukien's Private Sea Trade in the 16th and 17th Centuries", in: E.B. Vermeer ed., Development and Decline of Fukien Province in the 17th and 18th Centuries (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1990) 163-215.
  • "De burakumin: Discriminatie in Japan", in: D. van Arkel, B. ter Haar, L. Lucassen, J. Ramakers en R. Ross eds., Van Oost naar West: Racisme als mondiaal verschijnsel (Baarn: Ambo, 1990) 18-33.
  • Articles for popular journals and books`

  • "Zusammenhalt durch Rituale" and "Im Zeichen der „Pax Mongolica“", Stefan Bergmann ed., China – Von der Antike bis ins 20. Jahrhundert (Leinfelden-Echterdingen: Konradin Medien, 2020), 45-52, 63-76.
  • "Hoe confucianistisch is China eigenlijk?" Christen Democratische Verkenningen, Nummer 3, herfst 2019, 86-91
  • Verschillende bijdrages tot V.T. van Vilsteren (red.) The Great Liao – nomadendynastie uit Binnen-Mongolië (907-1125), Zwolle/Assen, 2017
  • "Chang'an, keizerlijke metropool", in: Mater, B. (Ed.), De Gouden Eeuw van China: Tang Dynastie (618-907 na Chr.) (Zwolle: W Books, 2011) 21-29
  • "De vele gezichten van de Tang-vrouw", In: Mater, B. (Ed.), De Gouden Eeuw van China: Tang-dynastie (618-907 na Chr.) (Zwolle: W Books, 2011) 51-54
  • "De Falun Gong in China: religie in verzet tegen de staat", Internationale Spectator 64: 5 (2010) 285-289
  • "De zeventiende eeuw in China", in: Lauwaert, F. (Ed.), De Drie Dromen van de Mandarijn (Brussel: Europalia International, 2009) 74-78
  • "Het Hemelse Koninkrijk van de Grote Vrede", Leidschrift 24: 1 (2009) 69-81
  • "Boksers als laatste kans? Rampjaar 1900", Kleio 49: 4 (2008) 4-8.
  • "Hoe een keizerrijk volksrepubliek werd?, in: China (Elsevier Speciale editie) (Reed Business: Amsterdam, 2008) 14-27.
  • "Het Boek der Vijf Heren: hoe men in het oude China omging met het kwaad van de eindtijd", in: Rob Wiche (red.), Des Duivels: Het kwaad in religieuze en spirituele tradities (Acco: Leuven, 2005) 32-50
  • "Het verhaal van Tante Oude Tijger of: Roodkapje in China", Het Trage Vuur 27 (2004) 58-64.
  • "Christenen in China als slachtoffer van geweld: de rol van traditionele angsten", Leidschrift 18: 3 (2004) 75-88
  • "De Witte Lotus en de Triaden: Criminaliteit in het oude China", China Nu 26: (2001)
  • "Chinese religie en de moderne samenleving," Kultuurleven (maart 1998) 52-55
  • "Vossen in de Chinese literatuur en religie: Een behulpzame kwelgeest", China Nu 20:4 (1995) 7-9
  • "Guan Yu: van tragische held tot god", China Nu 19:3 (1994) 8-10
  • "Een kolos in beweging", China Nu 15: 2 (1990) 4-7
  • "Gerucht wordt massapaniek", China Nu 10: 3 (1985) 6-9
  • Book reviews

  • Alain Arrault, A History of Cultic Images in China: The Domestic Statuary of Hunan. Translated by Lisa Verchery. Hong Kong / Paris: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press / École française d’Extrême-Orient, 2020.International Quarterly for Asian Studies, 52: 3-4 (2021), pp. 359-361
  • Feng Yanggang and others, Atlas of Religion in China: Social and Geographical Contexts. Leiden: Brill, 2019. In: International Quarterly for Asian Studies, 50: 3-4 (2019), pp. 127-132 (appeared in 2020).
  • John Lagerwey and Pierre Marsone, editors. Modern Chinese Religion I: Song-Liao-Jin-Yuan (960-1368 AD) (Leiden: Brill, 2014), in: Journal of Sung-Yuan Studies 46 (2016) 259-281 (only appeared in 2018).
  • Elizabeth J. Perry, Anyuan: mining China's revolutionary tradition (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012), in: China Information, 28 (March 2014), pp. 95-96.
  • "The Religion of Falun Gong, by Benjamin Penny", in The Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 76: 02 (2013), pp 344-345.
  • Victor Mair and Mark Bender, The Columbia anthology of Chinese folk and popular literature (New York: Columbia University Press, 2011), in CHIME 18/19 (2013), 213-216.
  • "Gods, ghosts, and gangsters : Ritual Violence, Martial Arts, and Masculinity on the Margins of Chinese Society, by Avron Boretz", In: Pacific Affairs, Vol. 85: 2 (2011), pp. 390-391.
  • "A World in Miniature: Three Recent Introductions to Chinese Religions", Journal of Chinese Religions 38 (2010), pp. 59-65 (reviewing Philip Clart, Die Religionen Chinas; Mario Poceski, Introducing Chinese Religions; Xinzhong Yao & Yanxia Zhao, Chinese Religion: A Contextual Approach) (the review actually came out in 2012!)
  • Hugh R. Clark, Portrait of a Community: Society, Culture, and the Structures of Kinship in the Mulan River Valley (Fujian) from the Late Tang through the Song (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 2007) , in: Journal of Sung-Yuan Studies 37 (2008) 286-292
  • Kai Vogelsang, Feng Kuei-fen und seine Chiao-Pin lu k'ang i (Hamburg: Hamburger Sinologische Gesellschaft, 2001), in: T'oung Pao 93 (2007) 250-253.
  • Walravens, Hartmut ed., Erwin Ritter von Zach (1872-1942): gesammelte Rezensionen ; chinesische Sprache und Literatur in der Kritik (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2006), in: T'oung Pao 93 (2007) 557-558.
  • Richard von Glahn, The Sinister Way: The Divine and the Demonic in Chinese Religious Culture (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004), in: Journal of Sung-Yuan Studies 36 (2007) 249-258
  • Hans van de Ven ed., Warfare in Chinese History (Leiden: Brill, 2000), in: T'oung Pao 93 (2007) 270-277.
  • Werblowsky, R.J. Zwi, edited by Hartmut Walravens, The Beaten Track of Science: The Life and Work of J.J.M. de Groot (Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz Verlag, 2002) in: T'oung Pao LXXXXII (2006) 540-560
  • Machida K., T. Kuroiwa, and J. Sugawara eds., Aspects of Arabic Script Culture in China (Tokyo: Tokyo Universiy of Foreign Studies, 2004) and by the same authors, Arabic Script Culture: Its Core and Periphery (Tokyo: Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, 2003) (Japanese language publications), in: Bibliotheca Orientalis LXIII no 5-6 (2006) 616-620.
  • Robert Ford Campany, To Live as Long as Heaven and Earth: A Translation and Study of Ge Hong's Traditions of Divine Transcendents" (University of California Press: Berkeley, 2002), Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 64: 2 (2004) 479-487
  • Edward L. Davis, Society and the Supernatural in Song China (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2001) in: Journal of Sung-Yuan Studies 32 (2003) 155-163
  • Thomas Jansen, Höfische Öffentlichkeit im alterlichen China: Debatten im Salon des Prinzen Xiao Ziliang (Freiburg im Breisgau: Rombag, 2000) in: T'oung Pao LXXXIX (2003) 197-201 (2003).
  • Daniel L. Overmeyer, Precious Volumes: An Introduction to Chinese Sectarian Scriptures from the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999), T'oung Pao LXXXIX (2003) 201-208 (2003)
  • Ellen Johnston Laing, Art & Aesthetics in Chinese Popular Prints: Selections from the Muban Foundation Collection (Center for Chinese Studies The University of Michigan: Ann Arbor, 2002) in: T'oung Pao LXXXIX (2003) 225-228
  • Susan Naquin, Peking: Temples and City Life, 1400-1900 (California University Press, Berkeley, 2000) in: China Information 2002.
  • Kenneth Pomeranz, The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000) in: NEHA-bulletin 16: 1 (2002) 42-44.
  • Paul R. Katz, Images of the Immortal: The Cult of Lü Dongbin at the Palace of Eternal Joy (University of Hawai'i Press: Honolulu, 1999) in: Journal of Chinese Religions (2001?)
  • Lucille Chia, Printing for Profit: The Commercial Publishers of Jianyang, Fujian (11th ? 17th centuries) (Harvard University Asia Center for the Harvard-Yenching Institute, distributed by Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Mass.) and London, 2002) in: Journal of Sung-Yuan Studies 34 (2005) 170-182
  • Frank Dikötter, Imperfect Conceptions: Medical Knowledge, Birth Defects, and Eugenics in China (London: Hurst and Company, 1998)  in: China Information XIV (2000) 217-218
  • Stephan Feuchtwang, The Imperial Metaphor: Popular Religion in China (London: Routledge, 1992) T'oung Pao LXXXV (1999)  243-247
  • Marion Eggert, Rede vom Traum: Traumauffassungen der Literatenschicht im späten kaiserlichen China (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1993) T'oung Pao LXXXV (1999) 197-200
  • Patricia Buckley Ebrey and Peter N. Gregory eds., Religion and Society in T'ang and Sung China (University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 1993) T'oung Pao LXXXV (1999) 190-197
  • Timothy Brook, Praying for Power: Buddhism and the Formation of Gentry Society in Late-Ming China (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1993), T'oung Pao LXXXV (1999) 515-520
  • John Lust, Chinese Popular Prints (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1996), T'oung Pao LXXXV (1999) 521-522
  • Jonathan D. Spence, God's Chinese Son: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan (New York and London, W.W. Norton & Company, 1996) in: Journal of Social History (June 1997) 1006-1008
  • Meir Shahar and Robert P. Weller, Unruly Gods: Divinity and Society in China (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1996) in: The Journal of Chinese Religions 25 (1997) 204-212
  • Valerie Hansen, Changing Gods in Medieval China, 1127-1276 (Princeton UP, Princeton, 1990) in: T'oung Pao LXXXII (1996) 184-194.
  • Gerd Wädow, T'ien-fei hsien-sheng lu; "Die Aufzeichnungen von der manifestierten Heiligkeit der Himmelsprinzessin"; Einleitung, Übersetzung, Kommentar (Monumenta Serica Monograph Series XXIX, Steyler Verlag, Nettetal, 1992) in: T'oung Pao LXXXII (1996) 503-507.
  • John Hay ed., Boundaries in China (London: Reaktion Books, 1994) in: China Information XI: 1 (1996) 119-121.
  • Cynthia J. Brokaw, The Ledgers of Merit and Demerit: Social Change and Moral Order in Late Imperial China (Princeton UP, Princeton 1991) in: T'oung Pao LXXIX (1993) 160-167.
  • Po Sung-nien and David Johnson, Domesticated Deities and Auspicious Emblems: The Iconography of Everyday Life in Village China (Publications of the Chinese Popular Culture Project 2, Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley, 1992) (207 pp.) ISBN 0-9624327-1-7
  • Anne S. Goodrich, Peking Paper Gods: A Look at Home Worship ( Monumenta Serica Monograph Series XXIII, Steyler Verlag, Nettetal, 1991) (501 pp. with index) ISBN 3-8050-0284-X combined bookreview in: T'oung Pao LXXIX (1993) 433-438.
  • Stephen F. Teiser, The Ghost Festival in Medieval China (Princeton UP, Princeton 1988) in: T'oung Pao LXXVIII (1992) 379-382.
  • Arthur Waldron, The Great Wall of China: From History to Myth (Cambridge UP, Cambridge 1990) in: T'oung Pao LXXVIII (1992) 382-386.
  • Brigitte Berthier, La dame-du-bord-de-l'eau (Nanterre, Société d'ethnologie 1988) in: T'oung Pao LXXVIII (1992) 373-378.
  • N.Golvers and U. Libbrecht, Astronoom van de keizer: Ferdinand Verbiest en zijn Europese sterrenkunde (Davidsfonds, Leuven, 1988) in: Bijdragen en medelingen betreffende de geschiedenis der Nederlanden 106: 1 (1991) 42-43.
  • Herbert Franke, Studien und Texte zur Kriegsgeschichte der sudlichen Sungzeit (Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1987) in: T'oung Pao LXXVII (1991) 348-352.
  • Manuscripts

    Bookmanuscripts:

  • "Where are China's witches" (book manuscript, essentially finished and to go off to a publisher any moment now)
  • Internet resources and teaching materials

    For a general audience

  • Falun Gong: Evaluation and Further References
  • Research bibliographies (see left TOC)

  • "Annotated bibliography on violence in Chinese culture"  (in progress)
  • "Shamanism in China" (in progress)
  • "Literacy, writing and education" (in progress)
  • "Bibliography for the study of Yao religion" (in progress)
  • Teaching bibliographies (see left TOC)

  • "Working on religious culture in China".(in progress)
  • "Towards a bibliography of works and passages on local religious life in mainland China in the twentieth century (Republican China [before 1949] and the PRC)" (in progress)
  • Dutch language tools

  • "Een sinologische gebruikersgids" (a research guide in Dutch dealing with all types of sinological handbooks for the study of pre-modern and contemporary China) (three versions 1987-1990). I have used this handbook to create a Dutch language website on the most basic China-related handbooks and websites, entitled China-tools. It used to be on the library website of the Sinological Institute in Leiden, but is no longer maintained there.
  • Papers and Talks

    (excluding teaching and talks for a general public)

  • ”從外邊看進去,從裏邊看看裏邊: 立場怎麽影響我們提的問題與怎麽回答他們“ Chengchi [Zhengzhi] University, Taiwan, 9 May 2023
  • 翻譯的多重宇宙:談外國學者從方言、文言、白話、文言英譯到英翻漢語的學思歷程, Taiwan University, 12 May 2023
  • 關公崇拜與口頭文化的角色, Furen University, 19 April 2023
  • "Random remarks towards the social and cultural history of sound and silence" (keynote lecture 12 September 2022, at the 35th Deutsche Orientalistentage, Berlin)
  • "Buddhism in local society: the 1313-1314 restoration of the Travelling Palace of the Eastern Marchmount in Changxing" (keynote lecture for the "Religions and Local Society in the Historical, Comparative, and Theoretical Perspectives: A Conference in Honour of Professor Timothy Brook", 12-14 August 2022 (VAncouver/Zoom)
  • Teaching in the Glorisun summer course, on ““Thinking through socio-religious change from the Han to the late imperial period”” (Zoom 20-24 July 2022, Yale University)
  • "Black wind for seven days and nights: a Chinese apocalyptic disaster" (Zoom, Dan David Conference, U. of Tel Aviv, 19-21 December 2021; updated version at the conference “The Dharma-Ending Age: The Climate Crisis through the Lens of Buddhist Eschatology, Past and Present”, U of British Columbia, Oct 7-9 2022)
  • Teaching in the Glorsun summer course, on “Lay approaches to Buddhism” (Zoom 22-25 August 2021, Harvard University)
  • "词与物:中国宗教及哲学研究的范式转换", Qingshi yanjiusuo, Renmin University, Beijing, September 22, 2019
  • "J.J.L. Duyvendak’s China experiences" ("The China Experience and the Making of Sinology", 20/21 September 2019, Foreign Languages University, Beijing)
  • Visiting professor at the University of Sichuan, Chengdu,China(March and September 2019, soppted by the Covid 19 pandemic)
  • "Hexerei-Vorwürfe im alten und heutigen China" (Konfuzius Institut, Leipzig, 3. Dezember 2018) (reworked English language version, Tübingen University,5 November 2019)
  • "Animal Demons and Local Conflicts"("Animals and Religion in Asia", Tel Aviv University, 27-29/5 2018)
  • "Sound in Chinese religious culture" (30th Anniversary Lecture Series, CCK Foundation; April 27th 2018, Karolinium, Charles University) (with improved variations at Sichuan University in March 2019 and 7 June 2023 at the Academia Sinica, Taiwan)
  • Taught in Dharma Drum Mountain (DILA) wintercourse on "Buddhism and Oral Culture in Medieval China" (Taibei, Taiwan, 16-18 January, 2018)
  • "The footprint of Chan in Song-Yuan lay religious life" (DILA conference on Dunhuang and/or Chan Studies, 14-15 January 2018, Taibei, Taiwan)
  • "Lord Guan worship and oral culture" 關公崇拜 與口頭文化·(in Chinese) (December 18, 2017, University of Sichuan, Chengdu)
  • "To understand China's traditional society from local religious culture" 從地方信仰 瞭解中國傳統社會 (in Chinese) (December 19, 2017, University of Sichuam Chengdu)
  • "The rise of northern Chinese regional temple cults" (The Emergence of a Temple-Centric Society; AoE Historical Anthropology of China Conference, CUHK, 28-30 September 2017)
  • "Shamans, mediums and Chinese Buddhism" (August 28 2016, Madrid; "When the Himalaya meets with Alps 當喜馬拉雅山與阿爾卑斯山相遇: International forum on Buddhist art & Buddhism’s transmission to Europe")
  • "The Way of the Nine Palaces (jiugong dao): A Buddhist movement" (July 19-22, 2016; Mount Wutai, China; "An International Conference Mañjuśrī in Motion: Multi-Cultural, Cross-Religious Characteristics and International Impact of the Wutai Cult")
  • Taught in Zhulin Monastery (Wutai Mountain) summer course on "Witchcraft, shamans, mediums and Buddhist religious culture" (Wutai mountain, 15-18 July, 2016)
  • "The oral nature of (a) manuscript tradition: an analytical experiment" (May 26-28, University of British Columbia, Vancouver; "Research Roundtable East Asian Manuscript and Print as Harbingers of the Digital Future")
  • "Historical Models for Violent Solutions in Maoist China and After" (University of Zurich, 17 March 2016)
  • "The oracle of Lord Guan" (University of Oxford, ARGO seminar, 2 March 2016)
  • "Guan Yu: Violent and moral deity" (University of Tel Aviv, 23 November 2015)
  • "A tangible presence: imagining the deity” (Durham University, 5 March 2015; lecture at Chinese University of Hong Kong, 19 March 2015 [revised])
  • "Away from the dynastic cycle model in studying Chinese history" (21 March 2015; lecture at Sun Yatsen University, Guangzhou)
  • "Heresy" (workshop on "Evil in Chinese Religion" in the Seminar on Chinese Religions, Harvard University, November 17. 2014)
  • "The Sutra of the Five Lords: manuscript and oral tradition" ("International Conference on Buddhism and Manuscripts in Eastern Religions", Emeishan, 17-18 December 2014)
  • Taught in winter course on the Guan Yu cult (Emeishan, 12-10 December 2014); again (but differently) in the summer of 2018 (Vancouver, University of British Columbia)
  • "Patriarch Luo as a writer and reader: Speculating about the writing process of the Five Books in Six Volumes" ("Academic Conference on Buddhism in Ming Period Beijing", October 12-13, 2013, Guanghua Temple, Beijing) (21 March, 2014, Sungkyunkwan University. Seoul, Korea)
  • "The invention of Confucianism in the nineteenth century" (Workshop on Area Studies and Religion, 22 September 2014, Leiden)
  • "Giving believers back their voice: agency and heresy in late imperial China" (“Text and Context: Redemptive Societies and New Religious Movements in Modern Contemporary China and Southeast Asia”, Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Hong Kong, November 8, 2014)
  • "Are non-conformist groups non-conformist? Thinking through the concepts in the Chinese case" ("Challenging Consensus: New Perspectives on Religious Non-Conformism", International conference of the Research Training Group "Religious Non-Conformism and Cultural Dynamics" at the University of Leipzig, 01-03 February 2013)
  • Taught in Fudan University Summer course on local Chinese religious culture (Shanghai/Hangzhou, 11-27 August, 2013)
  • The Non-Action Teachings as seen from a Western Perspective" (in Chinese)(Shanghai Normal University, October 9, 2013)
  • "State and sangha in the Qing period: A new look at old figures" (“Buddhism and State in the Medieval World”, October 10-11, 2013, Fudan University, Shanghai
  • "Emperor Guan: From Exorcist General to Moral Arbiter" (National University of Singapore, 1 February 2012)
  • "Zur Verfolgung religioeser Gruppen im alten und neuen China" (China-Zentrum, Sankt Augustin, 19 April 2012)
  • "Where are China's witches" (Lund University, 30 August 2011)(Taiwan National Central Library, 1 October 2012) (Leiden, University, 5 december 2012) (Bonn University, 11 December 2012) (University of Oxford, 17 January 2013)(Cambridge University, 6 February 2013)(Fudan University, 8 October 2013; in Chinese)(Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Korea, 20 March 2014)
  • "Chinese new religious groups and religious freedom" (Conference on Religious Diversity in Chinese Thought, Muenster University, 27-30 October 2011)
  • "On the use of the concepts 'stereotype' and 'label' to analyse China's new religous groups: the example of the so-called White Lotus Teachings", "The religious origins and contents of the Heaven and Earth Gathering (Triads)", "Understanding the influence of oral stories on history" (three lectures in Chinese at the City University of Hong Kong, 25, 28, 29 January 2010; all three have been recorded, see http://www.cciv.cityu.edu.hk/lecture/speaker.php?speaker=barend_haar)
  • "Violence in Chinese religious culture?" (Incheon University, Korea, May 26, 2010)
  • "Increasing religious freedom in China: the responsibilities of Christian missionaries and foreign governments" (Hanyang University, Korea, May 27, 2010)
  • "The Non-Action Teachings and Christianity: confusion and similarities"
  • (Leipzig University, October 1, 2010)
  • "The history of a reading experience" (Toyo gakkai, Tokyo, May 15 2009) (revised version, Oxford, February 3 2011)
  • "Divine violence to uphold moral values: The casebook of an Emperor Guan temple in Hunan province in 1851-1852" (paper for the conference "Empires and Law", Utrecht 7-9 November 2008; lecture Monumenta Serica Institute/Sankt Augustin, 14 November 2008); lectures Taisho University and Gakushuin, Tokyo, May 16 and 18, 2009)
  • "King Guan's Huizong miracle" (The Guangong Conference, Zhenli University, Danshui, 28-29 October 2006)
  • "The Teachings of the Dragon Flower as a continuation of Song-Yuan activist lay-Buddhism" (The Fourth Fu Jen University International Sinological Symposium: Research on Religions in China: Status quo and Perspectives, 24-25 November 2006; also presented at Princeton University, 21 November 2006)
  • "Witchcraft in Chinese history" (Weingarten, 29.09.2005-02.10.2005)
  • "The impact of the demonological messianic paradigm on 'religious uprisings' in traditional China" (Religion and Violence Symposium, University of Washington, 12-14 May 2004)
  • "Did the Hakka come from the North" (10 April 2003, 7th SoY Seminar, Leiden)(Institute for Hakka Studies, Hsin-chu, Taiwan, 4 October 2012)
  • "The continuities of early Chinese myth in later imperial Chinese history" (lecture at Harvard University, 15 April 2002)
  • "Non-Action Teachings: the lay search for meaning and significance " ("Historical Perspectives On Popular Culture And Popular Religion In Post-Mao China", conference on the Falun Gong in historical perspective, 18-19 May 2002, Universite de Montreal)
  • "Yongzheng and his abbots" (Conference in honour of the retirement of prof. dr. Daniel Overmyer, 15-16 September 2002, University of British Columbia, Vancouver)
  • "The normative place of violence in Chinese culture" (21 October 2002, College de France, Paris; again in Leiden on 6 November 2002)
  • Convenor of and contributor to the IIAS seminar "Falun Gong: Threat or Challenge" (June 7, 2001, Amsterdam)
  • "The importance of studying Luoism" (American Association for Asian Studies, Chicago, April 2001).
  • "The 'burning of the books' under the First Emperor of the Qin" (talk at the University of Leiden,  February 21, 2000)
  • "Rethinking 'sectarianism' in Chinese religious culture", (paper for the Conference "Religion and Chinese Society: The Transformation of a Field and its Implications for the Study of Chinese Culture," May 29-June 2 2000, Hong Kong)
  • "Myth in the shape of history: Elusive Triad leaders" (paper for symposium on the Triads, January 29-30 1999, Singapore History Museum, Singapore)
  • "Aspects of the Falun Gong" (talk at the University of Leiden,  November 30, 1999)
  • "Cosmic and Vernacular Time in Messianic and Millenarian Traditions" (paper for the second conference on Chinese historiography „Religion, Ritual, Myth“, 14-17 December 1999, Wolfenbuettel)
  • "Images of Outsiders: the Fear of Death by Mutilation"   (focussing on the 1891 panic, panel "Christianity in China: Persecution, Confession and Survival in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries," first ICAS Conference, Noordwijkerhout, June 1998)
  • "Migration narratives: history and identity" (paper for the first conference on Chinese historiography, "Collective Identity, Experiences of Crisis, and Traumata," Essen, June 1998)
  • The political nature of Daoist ritual" (paper for the  conference on Daoism and Modernity, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung/Monumenta Serica Institut, Sankt Augustin, October 1997)
  • "The study of the Chinese Triads" (talk at the University of Copenhagen, workshop on "Religious Practice in East Asia," March 1996)
  • "Archival materials for the study of new religious groups" (talk for the Workshop on Chinese Archives, Universities of Heidelberg and Tubingen, February 1996)
  • "Buddhism in lay people's lives" (paper for the conference on Buddhism under the Song, State University of Illinois, Urbana/Campaign, April 1996)
  • Lecture series on Chinese Religion at the Sinological Institute of Leuven University (January -February 1995)
  • "Violence in Chinese society" (paper for the conference on "The Ambiguity of Violence", University of Goeteborg, June 1995)
  • "Religious heresy, whose heresy?" (University of Heidelberg, October 1995)
  • "Knowledge without meaning" (North Carolina State University, Raleigh, January 1994)
  • "Gesellschaftliche Struktur und religioese Kulte" (Heidelberg University, Germany, February 1994)
  • "Social organisation and religious cults"  and  "Non-elite knowledge of imperial legitimation" (two lectures at Copenhagen University, Denmark, March 1994)
  • "Some remarks on the cult of Guan Yu" (second meeting of the Goeran Aijmer European Anthropology Network, Zurich, December 1993)
  • "Het ernstig nemen van vreemde culturen: een punt van interdisciplinair belang" ("Taking foreign cultures seriously: a matter of interdisciplinary importance"; Groningen University, April 1993).
  • "Taking over from the monks: Chinese lay believers in charge of ritual and of religious interpretation" (Seminar on lay Buddhism, organized by Prof. Dr. T. Vetter, Leiden University, May 1993).
  • Erasmus Seminar "Political protest movements in modern China" (Copenhagen University, Denmark, August 1993)
  • "The Chinese Triads as a Religious Phenomenon", (University of Amsterdam, CASA, October 1993; University of Leuven, February 1995; University of Kiel, January 1996)
  • "Chinese Ideals of Equality and Equity until the Late Ming" (conference on pre-modern communism organized by Dr. Patricia Crone, Cambridge University, April 1992).
  • "Ancestorworship in China" (Seminar on ancestorworship in Asia, organized by Prof. Dr. T. Vetter, Leiden University, June 1992).
  • "Children as Mediums and Food" (European Association for Chinese Studies, Paris, September 1992).
  • "Images of Outsiders: the Fear of Death by Mutilation" (Leiden University, February 1991, and Harvard University, March 1993)
  • "Sources of the Heaven and Earth Gathering Tradition" (American Association for Asian Studies, New Orleans, April 1991).
  • "The White Lotus movement and the White Lotus Teachings: label or reality" (Chicago University, April 1990)
  • Bookreviews:

    The White Lotus Teachings in Chinese Religious History:

    Choice Nov. 1992 (L.L. Lam-Easton; brief notice)
    Journal of Asian Studies (1992) 908-909 (Daniel Overmyer)
    Journal for Peasant Studies 20: 3 (1993) 543-546 (Ulrich Stackmann)
    T'oung Pao LXXIX (1993) 367-374 (Valerie Hansen)
    Jindai zhongguoshi yanjiu tongxun ( Newsletter for Modern Chinese History) 18  (1994) 185-203 ( Paul Katz)
    Journal of Chinese Religions 22 (1994) 177-179 (Randeau Nadell)
    Monumenta Serica 42 (1994) 521-529 (Hubert Seiwert)
    Numen 42 (1995) 201 (Zwi Werblowsky; brief notice)
    Archives de sciences sociales des religions 93 (1996) 129-131 (Francoise Aubin)
    China Review International 3: 1 (1996) 274-277 (Richard Shek)
    Journal for Sung and Yuan Studies,  26 (1996) 251-263 (Robert Hymes)

    The Ritual and Mythology of the Chinese Triads: Creating an Identity:

    Journal of Chinese Religions 27 (1999)  (Philip Clart)
    Revue Bibliographique de Sinologie  (1999) 458-560 (Vincent Goossaert)
    Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 60: 1 (2000) 324-333 (David Ownby)
    China Review International   7:1 (2000) 36-45 (Dian Murray)
    Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 11:2 (2001) 313-314 (T. H. Barrett)
    Archives de Sciences Sociales des Religions 114 (2001) 81-3 (Francoise Aubin)
    Jindaishi yanjiusuo jikan 40  (2003) 271-284 (Paul Katz)
    Crime, Law, and Social Change 41 (3): 283-288, April 2004 [Hua-Lun Huang] (http://www.kluweronline.com/article.asp?PIPS=5265516&PDF=1)
    China Review International   11:1 (2004) 180-181 (Michael Saso)

    Telling Stories: Witchcraft and Scapegoating in Chinese History

    The China Quarterly, Volume 187, September 2006, 804-806 (T.H. Barrett)
    Journal of Asian Studies 65: 4 (2006) 811-812 (Kang Xiaofei)
    Journal of Chinese Religions 34 (2006) 156-158 (Donald Sutton)
    Asian Folklore Studies 66/1?2 (2007) 267-269 (Lee, Pearce)
    China Review International 14: 1(2007) 239-243 (Hilde de Weerdt)
    Asian Studies Review (2008) 267-269 (Victoria Cass)
    Jindaishi yanjiusuo jikan 61 (2008) 285-292 (Paul Katz)
    T'oung Pao 94: 4/5 (2008)(David Ownby)
    Orientalistische Literaturzeitung 103 (2008: 3) 423-428 (Ylva Monschein)

    Practicing Scripture: A Lay Buddhist Movement in Late Imperial China

    Studies in Chinese Religions 1: 2 (2015) 197-201 (James Benn).
    H-Buddhism, October 2015 (https://networks.h-net.org/node/6060/reviews/88318/mcguire-haar-practicing-scripture-lay-buddhist-movement-late-imperial)( Beverley McGuire)
    Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 79:1 (2016)216-217 (Gregory Scott)
    Journal of Chinese Studies 61 (July 2015) 323-325 (Daniel Overmeyer)
    T'oung Pao, 102: 1-3 (2016) 258 – 261 (Philip Clart)
    Review of Religion and Chinese Society 3: 2 (2016)265-269 (Jiang Wu)
    Études chinoises vol. XXXV-1 (2016) 280-284 (Daniela Campo)
    Journal of Chinese Religions 45:2 (2017) 222-224 (Thomas Jansen)
    The Journal of Asian Studies 76.3 (2017) 771-773 (Katherine Alexander)

    Guan Yu: The Religious Afterlife of a Failed Hero

    Journal of Chinese Religions, 46:2 (2018), 219-221 (Noga Ganany)
    Bulletin of the School of Oriental and Afrian Studies 81:3 (2018), 563-565 (Shin-yi Chao)
    Journal of Religion and Violence 6:3 (2018), 388-391 (James Bonk)
    Journal of Asian Studies 78: 2 (2019), 437-440 (Paize Keulemans)
    The English Historical Review, 134: 569 (2019), 942–943 (Daniel Burton-Rose)
    Bulletin de l'Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient 105 (2019), 402-406 (Marianne Bujard)
    T'oung Pao, 106 (2020): 721-725 (Vincent Goossaert)
    Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 80, no. 2 (2020): 520-526 (came out in 2021) (Philip Clart)

    Religion and Violence

    Journal of Chinese Religions, 48: 1 (2020), 138-141 (Jimmy Yu)
    Journal of Religion and Violence Volume 8: 1 (2020),111-113 (Don J. Wyatt)