儒者生活在地方社會，既要面對民間各種信仰習俗，又希望按照儒家經典觀念立身處世和教化鄉里，他們對二者之間關聯的協調，是儒學思想與現實社會互動的基本方式。通過山陽地方文人潘德輿的案例可以看出，他宗主程朱理學，以「理氣」解釋作為反對佛道鬼神觀念的學理依據，但卻無法接受理學家將鬼神擴充到陰陽造化的做法，而是選擇《六經》中將鬼神作為祭祀對象的傳統說法，這一選擇不僅僅是因為對不同經典的信奉，而是地方社會的生活經驗與儒家學說共同影響的結果。帶著這種鬼神觀念，潘氏在地方社會一方面以各種方式宣揚儒家理念，但自身生活中又充滿著「民間式」的求神實踐，這種看似矛盾的態度，正是地方儒者在具體時空下推行儒家觀念的真實反映，它表明，儒家思想與地方社會的互動，包含著相當的複雜性和多面性。儒者基於自身生活做出的這種行為選擇，既為地方社會注入了儒家經典思想的要素，同時也將儒家思想做出了某種改變，以適應地方社會的運作邏輯，通過這樣的方式，儒者自身得以融入地方的文化網，同時又在這一網中努力持守和體現著儒家理想。

The Confucians in local society have to face various folk beliefs and practices on the one hand; on the other hand, they try to educate and change these beliefs according to classical teachings. The coordination of these two sides makes the very interaction between Confucianism and local society. As we can see from Pan Deyu’s example, he believes that Zhu Xi’s interpretations on ghosts and spirits have provided valid foundation for resisting the doctrines of Buddhism and Taoism. However, he cannot accept Zhu’s opinion that ghosts and spirits are equal to the acclimation of Yin Yang. On the contrary, he insists that ghosts and spirits are the objects of sacrifice, which is supported by the Six Classics. This choice is not only because he considers Six Classics more important than Neo-Confucianism views, but owing to his circumstances in local society. In practice, Pan does his utmost to push forward Confucian education among the people on the one hand, but fills with prayers and worships toward folk gods in his own life on the other. This performance seems to be contradictory, but reflects the very situation for local Confucians when they propagate Confucianism in local society. By making this choice of behavior based on their own lives, these Confucians not only inject Confucian classical thoughts into local community, but also make certain changes of Confucian thoughts to adapt to the logic of local society. In this way, Confucians have been able to integrate themselves into the local cultural network, while at the same time striving to hold on to and embody the Confucian ideal within this network.