Fenggang Yang

Fenggang Yang (Chinese: 楊鳳崗; born 1962) is professor of sociology and founding director of the Center on Religion and Chinese Society at Purdue University. He was elected and served as the president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion in 2014–15, the first Chinese American, nonwhite president since the founding of the association in 1949. He is also the founding president of the East Asian Society for the Scientific Study of Religion in 2018–2020. Fenggang Yang is openly Christian and has spoken critically and frequently in international media about China's lack of religious freedom. His theories based on the social scientific methods have been criticized as biased in favor of Christianity by many other scholars of Chinese religion who are in religious studies, anthropology or sinology. Quotes about Yang Yang is a follower of the theory of religious economy, mostly developed by American sociologist Rodney Stark. One of its main tenets is that, even for totalitarian regimes, to control religion fully is impossible. As the Roman emperors who tried to suppress Christianity learned before the CCP, the red market is attractive for a limited segment of the population only (although this segment is by no means insignificant) and there would always be those willing to risk their lives to follow a black market religion. On the other hand, not everybody is willing to put life at stake for the sake of religion. Yang maintained that “when people cannot find satisfaction in the red market and are unwilling to risk black-market penalties, a gray market fills the gap. […] The more restrictive and suppressive the regulation, the larger the gray market.” Massimo Introvigne, "“Gray Market”: The Largest Segment of Chinese Religion", Bitter Winter (August 23, 2018) Fenggang Yang is widely regarded as the foremost Chinese sociologist of religion and one of the world’s leading authorities on religion in China. His books shaped an entire field, and generations of scholars, myself included, learned from his work and from conversations with him at international conferences. His presence at academic meetings has always been a guarantee of intellectual seriousness. Massimo Introvigne, "The Fenggang Yang Scandal: US Catholic Organization Silences a Leading Scholar", Bitter Winter (August 4, 2026) External links Category:1962 births Category:Living people Category:Sociologists from the United States Category:Academics from the United States Category:Chinese Americans