The first volume of David M. Honeys comprehensive history of Chinese thought offers a close study of Confucius, that traditions proto-classicist. This opening volume examines Confucius traditions that largely formed the views of later classicists, who regarded him as their professions patron saint. Honeys survey begins by examining how these views informed the Chinese classicists own identities as textual critics and interpreters, all dedicated to self-cultivation for government service. It focuses on Confuciuss methods as a proto-classical master and teacher, and on the media in which he worked, including the spoken word and written texts. As Honey explains, Confuciuss immediate motivations were twofold: the moral development of himself and his disciples and the ritual application of the lessons from the classics. His instruction occurred in ritualized settings in the form of a question and answer catechism between master and disciples. This pedagogical approach will be analyzed through the interpretive paradigm of performative ritual, borrowed from recent studies of Greek classical drama. The volume concludes with a detailed treatment of a trio of Confuciuss disciples who were most prominent in transmitting his teachings, and with chapters on his intellectual inheritors, Mencius and Xunzi.