Dr Chris Hartney Chris's research interests at Sydney University's Centre for Studies in Religion mainly involve religion and culture in the 20-21st century. His doctoral studies concentrated on the phenomenon of Cao Dai, a 'uniting' religion that has flourished in Vietnam since the 1920s. Chris was not only interested in the growth of this faith (currently Vietnam's third largest) but how Caodaists relocated their religion to Sydney after the communist take-over of the south in 1975. The study of Caodaism's East-Asian roots led Chris into the area of studies on Chinese religious systems from the Han Dynasty onwards including a special interest in Daoist and Buddhist millenarian movements (expected 1000-year transitions in society).
