Beyond Tolerance: The Mongols’ Religious Policies in Yuan-dynasty China and Il-khanate Iran, 1200-1368

Beyond Tolerance: The Mongols’ Religious Policies in Yuan-dynasty China and Il-khanate Iran, 1200-1368Syriaca.org: The Syriac Reference PortalThe National Endowment for the HumanitiesThe International Balzan Prize FoundationDavid A. Michelsoncbsc_adminRecord added to Zotero bycbsc_adminSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference Portalhttp://syriaca.org/cbss/KUY2FMNZ/tei

Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

2024-08-15-04:00

Born digital.

CREATED: This bibl record was autogenerated from a Zotero record.WonheeChoBeyond Tolerance: The Mongols’ Religious Policies in Yuan-dynasty China and Il-khanate Iran, 1200-1368http://syriaca.org/cbss/KUY2FMNZhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/a_comprehensive_bibliography_on_syriac_studies/items/KUY2FMNZhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/4861694/items/KUY2FMNZ2014Since Edward Gibbons designated the Mongols as an example of perfect tolerance in the late nineteenth century, scholars have often repeated his idea that Mongols were one of the earliest example of religious tolerance. However, this study proves how misleading this view is. In China, the Mongols introduced policies to incorporate multiple religious groups - including, but not limited to, the Christians, Buddhists, Daoists, Muslims, Dhuta sect and the White cloud sect - not because they were religiously tolerant, but because the Mongols benefited from supporting the religions. And accordingly each of the religious groups proactively responded and reacted to these policies. Moreover, policies towards the religious groups changed constantly depending on historical circumstances, the role of different religious figures, and the needs of the empire. A close examination of the religious institutions within the Yuan government, tax exemption rules, and the joint court system in China clearly demonstrate that these seemingly tolerant policies resulted from ongoing negotiations and interactions between the Mongol empire and the religious groups, depending on the specific historical circumstances. The close reading of unedited governmental documents and inscriptions has enabled this study to present this new perspective. The Mongols in China wrote these governmental documents and inscriptions in a unique Mongolian-influenced Chinese style, and previously scholarship in English has not always examined these documents thoroughly due to this unique and difficult style. Incorporating these challenging and neglected sources has changed our understanding of the Mongols and the different religions under their rule. In contrast to the Mongols in China, we have a rather different image of the Mongols in Iran. Most studies on the religion of the Il-Khanate have focused on the Islamization of the Mongols, and accordingly, we tend to think that Mongols in Iran were religiously intolerant and only favored Islam. This idea is mostly dues to the limitation of sources, and especially the key sources that have changed our understanding of religion in the Yuan barely survive for Il-Khanate Iran. But a careful read of the Il-Khanate sources on religion, especially comparing the accounts of Christian authors with Muslims sources challenge this idea. We can see that the religious landscape of the Il-Khanate was much more diverse then we tend to think, as Christians and Buddhists flourished and held important positions within the Il-Khanate. Christians and Buddhists had skills to offer to the Il-Khans, and they were willing to cooperate to the Mongol, rule of Iran. Accordingly, the Il-Khans offered their support to these religions to facilitate their rule. Like the Yuan dynasty rulers in China, the Ilkhanate rulers did not announce a policy of tolerance that they tried to enforce. Instead they created policies for the different religions in their realms in response to specific, always changing circumstances, sometimes favoring members of one group, sometimes favoring another. Tolerance, or the lack of tolerance, is not the best way for us to understand the Mongol empire's policies concerning religion. Imagining a religiously tolerant empire neglects the changing policies over time; it overlooks the importance of human actors and historical circumstances that prompted these changing policies. Focusing on the interactions among individuals, specific circumstances, and changes over time is the key to understanding the Mongol empire and religion. Through this examination, my study enriches our understanding of how the Mongols administered the religiously diverse empire, adds insight to comparative studies of empires, and contributes to the recent discussions surrounding the social history of religious tolerance. Cho, Wonhee. “Beyond Tolerance: The Mongols’ Religious Policies in Yuan-Dynasty China and Il-Khanate Iran, 1200-1368.” Ph.D. dissertation, Yale University, 2014. Wonhee Cho, Beyond Tolerance: The Mongols’ Religious Policies in Yuan-Dynasty China and Il-Khanate Iran, 1200-1368 (Ph.D. dissertation, Yale University, 2014).MongolsNestoriansSyriac influence [Central Asia]VII-XVIII CEXIII CEXIV CE