This article aims to define one stage in the long history of spirit-writing production of texts by Chinese elites. This stage concerns the period running approximately between 1700 and 1858, and is characterized by processes of canonization, as evidenced by two interrelated phenomena: the compilation of “complete books,” quanshu, for major savior gods (textual canonization), and their being granted very high-ranking titles by the imperial state (state canonization). Such processes were spurred by the activism of elite groups that promoted their values through their chosen divine saviors and their scriptural canons. Three gods are concerned in particular: Patriarch Lü, Wenchang and Emperor Guan. The article discusses the textual and state canonizations of these gods and examines the social, doctrinal and political dynamics that made it possible.