Transcendent emotions: A comparative study of Martin Luther's pietas and Zhu Xi's Cheng-Jing

Both Martin Luther's pietas and Zhu Xi's Cheng-Jing are not purely empirical emotional categories, but transcendent emotional categories of faith. By comparing Luther's pietas and Zhu Xi's Cheng-Jing, this article reveals how Christianity and Confucianism constructed individual emotional and spiritual transcendence in early modernity. By doing so, it highlights both similarities and fundamental differences between Neo-Confucianism and Protestantism in matters of faith, thus revealing their significance for modern society.