The Reception History of The Seven Victories and the Localization of The Seven Victories Spiritual Cultivation

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The argument is difficult to follow. I suggest rewriting. It is necessary to provide the Chinese names of the Chinese people and the Chinese texts  mentioned in the text.

The text is not interesting to read. Please change the prose of the text.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Needs proofreading

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The case study of the Seven Victories is interesting, and the author has done a good job of summarizing the history of it. However, the Seven Victories is a well-known book and this article shows few new discoveries from an academic point of view. The extensive background information in the first pages, which adds little to this article, could be reduced so that the article could have more space to engage in more interpretive analysis. One particular suggestion is that more information on the "localization" should be highlighted. Although the author makes good use of an extensive bibliography, there are certain works missing, as such those on Wang Zheng from Baichun Zhang, Ruizhong Ding, Rui Zhang, which would help here.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The author should consider submitting the text to an English native speaker for proofreading and add the Chinese characters of names if available.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Overall, this paper is clearly written and offers a rich historical account of the Sinicization (or localization) of an important Catholic text and its impact on the Chinese interpretation of the Christian tradition as well as China's own tradition. The content is succinctly described and contextualized with respect to the intellectual and religious exchange between Christianity/Catholicism and the Chinese tradition, Confucianism in particular (e.g., institutionalization of Confucianism as a religion).  

Suggestions for some revisions:

1. In the abstract, the author needs to indicate clearly the intention or the aim of the paper.

2. Footnotes are needed to indicate the dates of the works mentioned in the paper. 

3. Some references are missing, such as Dante's Comedy (p. 3, line 118; date, translator, publication).

4. For citation, the author, date, and page number (i.e., Pantojia 1962, 520) are added with brackets to the cited passage instead of using footnotes (for example, see p. 5. Two cited passages).

5. For the conclusion, cancel the part from lines 844 to Line 850. Starts with “With the introduction of Catholicism into China…”

 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Since there are grammatical errors and ambiguous sentences, moderate editing of English language required.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Reviewing the general reception history of the Chinese society in the past few centuries to the works by Catholic missionaries from the late Ming is a very meaningful innovation to our understanding of the development of Catholicism in China and the late imperial Chinese intellectual history. It is an important topic in the history of the book and Chinese Christianity. Moreover, the Seven Victories is a relatively neglected part of the body of Catechism to the Chinese Catholics compared to those noted works such as The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven. But this task can also be a hauntingly ambitious one as it covers the intellectual development of a foreign religion in a massive civilization with an extremely rich literary heritage. The studies on the reception of the non-Catholic Chinese to the ideas of the Seven Deadly Sins, not to mention the Seven Victories, requires a comprehensive investigation to the writings of all major religions and popular sects, as well as the literary works of the intelligentsia from the last few centuries.

In the recent paper, however, the above basic requirement of general review is by no means attempted. The treatment to sources and topics related to the The Seven Victories from the late Ming down to the contemporary period is random and fragmentary that hardly founded a coherent narrative to the impact of this book to the Chinese society from different periods: the representative of late Ming non-Christian reception is Liu Zongzhou, then the focus turned to the “village compact” by the late Ming Catholic Han Lin, and the discussion then all a sudden changed to the interpretative work on the Seven Victories by the Republican Catholic leader Wu Leichuan. The thoughts and deeds of missionaries, Chinese Catholic believers and non-Catholic intellectuals related to the Seven Deadly Sins and the Seven Victories from the High Qing persecution, the legalization of Catholicism after the Treaty of Beijing (1860) and the Religious Incidents up to the Boxer Uprising (1900) are all regrettably overlooked.

The most obvious weakness of this paper is the treatment on Liu Zongzhou’s thoughts on sin and repentance. The main argument that Liu’s ideas presented in the Human Genealogy is basically inspired by the late Ming philosopher’s reading of the Seven Victories is almost groundless. The foundation of this point is the similarities comparing the terms and concepts the Seven Victories against Liu’s work, whose unique translation is provided by current paper, instead of claimed or even hinted by the own words of Liu Zongzhou. Indeed, this questionable idea that supported the section 3 “Confucian Scholars’ Reference to the Seven Victories” is employed from He Jun’s The Division between Western Learning and Late Ming Thought (The name of this critical scholar appeared in the paper is inconsistent, however. For example, in note 35 of page 9, it is “Can Hejun”), as the paper argues that,

“Liu Zongzhou had a certain understanding of Catholicism and clearly stated that Catholicism was a heretical religion like Buddhism and Taoism. Xu Dashou, who was the most active opponent of Catholicism at that time and criticized The Seven Victories, was the son of Liu Zongzhou's teacher Xu Fuyuan. He Jun therefore deduced that Liu Zongzhou knew something about Catholicism and its sinful ideas, and probably even read The Seven Victories as well. He also believed that Liu Zongzhou's Human Genealogy draws on The Seven Victories ideas in its content and ethical paradigm.”

It is not impossible that Liu’s thoughts could have been influenced by the Seven Victories, but the main arguments of He Jun must be fully quoted, discussed and further supported by evidences directly related to the Seven Victories. The problem here is that those ethical ideas of Liu Zongzhou could also be influenced by many other competing sources, such as the Four Lessons of Liaofan by the popular Buddhist sect leader Yuan Liaofan. In short, it is almost impossible to prove the connection of development of moral ideas in this period, unless the philosopher himself clearly stating the sources of his thoughts.

        Another issue found in this paper is that it mixes the ideas and reception of the Seven Deadly Sins with the Seven Victories in the first few sections. The merit of this paper is the distinguishing treatment of the Seven Victories from all other parts of the Catholic Catechism, and the extensive involvement of issues related to the Seven Deadly Sins certainly distorts the readers’ attentions to Pantoja’s work and ideas.

Having mentioned the problems of this paper, I am not ruling out its merits for publication: the ideas on the Chinese application of the Seven Victories by Wu Leichuan is well presented and clearly elaborated. As only Wu’s ideas on humility is presented in the current paper, I would suggest the author to give up the general treatment of the reception of the Seven Victories since its publication, and cut away all the problematic sections concerning the Seven Deadly Sins, the Ming non-Catholic receptions and Village Compacts, then concentrate on the elaboration of Wu Leichuan’s interpretations on the Seven Victories and the popular receptions of Wu’s ideas during the Republican period. This would be a well-controlled and moderate work good enough for a journal article.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The English presentation of this paper is in a very high standard. But I do not understand why the English/Western language works quoted by the footnotes are their Chinese translations instead of the original version.

By the way, the more well-established translation of the Chinese terms “本色化/本土化” should be “indigenization” instead of “localization”. Please consider revision.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 5 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This is an enticing article, which builds on a body of primary sources, which by themselves have already been studied, but not yet (at least in article format) in such a comparative manner.

My sole reservation is the academic English. It is generally well presented and has no major errors, though without warning, who sentences can end up in the air. This already starts in the abstract: "It is a necessary spiritual exercises in the 10 Jesuit, which to this day become an integral part of the Catechism of the Catholic Church". Also beware of repetition, esp. of the term The Seven Deadly Sins (p. 4, third paragraph).

Footnote 38: Is the apology intended for a reviewer?

What are the Chinese terms for “The Imperial Edict in Six Words”? (p. 13, bottom)

Is the personal wish of the author in the last paragraph perhaps too personal for an academic article?

All Chinese characters should be in 繁體字, since this is an article on pre-modern texts.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

My sole reservation is the academic English. It is generally well presented and has no major errors, though without warning, who sentences can end up in the air. This already starts in the abstract: "It is a necessary spiritual exercises in the 10 Jesuit, which to this day become an integral part of the Catechism of the Catholic Church". Also beware of repetition, esp. of the term The Seven Deadly Sins (p. 4, third paragraph).

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 6 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

There are several flaws in this paper that prevent it from being effective:

-The author displays admirable erudition in citing the works of other scholars. However, this erudition is a form of exhibitionism in the sense that it is more intellectual than substantial because the author is weak in developing his/her own arguments from the substance of The Seven Victories. Apart from one brief and helpful section (lines 71-88, quoted as follows),

The title of The Seven Victories, which accurately means “Seven Victories,”1 is a 71 spiritual work on victory over the “Seven Deadly Sins.” Before the main text of The Seven 72 Victories, Diego de Pantoja briefly described the basics of the book: 73 

The Catholic Church speaks of the “Seven Deadly Sins”: the first is pride, the 74 second is jealousy, the third is stinginess, the fourth is wrath, the fifth is gluttony, 75 the sixth is lust, and the seventh is sloth. It is also said that there are seven holy 76 virtues to overcome the seven deadly sins: first, humility overcomes pride; sec- 77 ond, kindness overcomes envy; third, charity overcomes stinginess; fourth, pa- 78 tience overcomes wrath; fifth, temperance overcomes gluttony; sixth, abstinence 79 from desire overcomes lust; and seventh, diligence in the works of God over- 80 comes sloth.2 81 

It has been shown above that, according to Catholic doctrine and the spiritual 82 cultivation tradition, the “capital sins” of a person is attached to his or her behavioral 83 patterns and habits, and thus becomes the cause of all other sins committed by the person, 84 and can be said to be the essence or dominant player of the other sins.3 The Seven Victories 85 was written to help people in their spiritual life to break through the “Seven Deadly Sins” 86 caused by “original sin” in human nature and to cultivate “The Seven Holy Virtues” in 87 order to overcome the head of these sins. 88

 the substance of The Seven Victories is nearly always referred to in an indirect way, that is, through the responses of other authors rather than through the author’s direct comments on passages from The Seven Victories to which the reader is given only the vaguest and most indirect references. In this way the author perpetuates the tendency of superficial research which he/she criticizes.

-The article is not effectively written and is poorly organized. The reader would value a more effective argument and a more carefully edited stream of citations. Keywords like Seven Deadly Sins and Seven Holy Virtues are assumed to be understood but never fully explained. There seems to be an assumption that all the readers are Catholics who are well versed in the catechism. Continuing in this vein, the author lacks a clear sense of his/her audience. Given the subject matter of the essay, one would assume that a significant proportion of the readers would be native Chinese speakers and yet the author rarely uses Chinese characters for Chinese technical terms, for Chinese names, or for the citation of Chinese articles.   

-The author confuses multiplicity of citations with substance of argument. The citations in this paper are extensive, but the basic argument is poorly grounded in the text of Pantoja’s Seven Victories.

-The article suffers from verbosity and the author’s unrestrained tendency to digress from the text of Pantoja’s Seven Victories in explaining the reception history of the Seven Victories. Only 5 of the 73 footnotes cite Pantoja’s work. One is left with the impression that the author is far more interested in the reception and localization phenomena than in Pantoja’s text. This imbalanced interest fosters an imbalanced argument. 

-Radical revision of the paper is needed with the aim of creating a  greater balance between, on one hand, explaining the contents of Pantoja’s Seven Victories and, on the other hand, delineating the link to the generation of the ecumenical spiritual tradition of ascetic repentance.

 

 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

An improvement of the last version. 

Author Response

Thanks to the reviewer. We have added the basic elements of the text of Seven Deadly Sins to complete the structure of the article.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

It could be accpeted after the revision if the author's intention is to introduces the rich history of the formation and development of
the Seven Victories of Spirituality in this special issue.

Author Response

Thanks to the reviewer for reminding us that our aim is to introduce in this special issue the basic content of The Seven Deadly Sins, the history of its formation and development, and the history of its reception and localization in China. We have added the basic contents of the text of The Seven Deadly Sins to complete the structure of the article.

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The newly added or heavily revised concluding paragraphs in the earlier sections help explaining the meanings of different parts of the paper and linking them together into a more coherent presentation. 

The removal of weaker and doubtful examples from Ming China is useful to keep the paper focusing on proved cases clearly influenced by the Seven Victories. Less is more. The doubtful issues like the thoughts of Liu Zongzhou and the Seven Victories deserves individual treatment. It is not wise to handle all key problems in one go.

 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The original article is thoroughly revised to present the main ideas of the authors much more clearly. The current version is far easier to comprehend.

Please use less "at the same time" if possible. "Meanwhile" or "On the other hand" could be good substitutes for this over-employed phrase. 

Author Response

Thanks to the reviewer's pertinent comments, we have used "at the same time" or "on the other hand" as a good replacement for the overused phrase "at the same time". We have made the appropriate changes!

Reviewer 6 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

While the author has made certain improvements of the manuscript in response to my first evaluation, I regret to say that the fundamental problem of the manuscript has not been resolved. This major problem remains the  essay's ineffective organization, namely, the firm separation and discrepancy  between a three-paragraph summary of the contents of Diego de Pantoja's Qike 七克 (Seven Victories) (1614) and the detachment of the following 18-19 pages of theological and philosophical analysis. It is a flawed structure. It is understandable that the author's prime interest is in presenting the results of these analytic studies of the Seven Victories but his/her method of doing so is not an effective way of achieving that intention. Contrary to the claim in the author's addendum, the paper does not explain the essential contents of the Seven Victories except in the most cursory fashion. The author needs to establish clear and coherent logical connections between the contents of the Seven Victories and its reception history. In order to do this the author needs to incorporate (that is, intersperse and integrate) throughout the paper a more substantive treatment of the seven cardinal sins and the seven opposing virtues. (Contrary to the author's claim that scholars have widely studied these seven opposing sins and virtues, they are not widely understood outside of Catholic catechetical spheres. A standard reference work like Nicolas Standaert's Handbook of Christianity. Volume One. 635-1800 (2001) does not discuss them in any detail. But there is a need not only to expand the treatment of the work's substance, but also to better integrate this treatment with the material from the analytic study. The latter material needs to be reorganized into sections that focus more individually around the seven opposing cardinal sins and virtues. [One very effective passage in which the author achieves this is in section III.1 "Reflection and Contemplation on 'The Seven Victories'" (lines 393-425).] This more focused approach on the individual sins and virtues would allow for readers to better assimilate the contents of the author's argument. Unfortunately, in its present form, much of the essay is more bibliographical and informational than substantive in nature and it often flows like the cascade of a waterfall of detail which overwhelms the reader. Fr. Pantoja's Seven Victories is a significant work and its reception and localization in China is an important topic. I hope this essay can be revised to reach its full potential in elucidating this topic.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

There are only a few minor errors.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 3

Reviewer 6 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The author's revisions of parts 2 "The Theoretical Basis of the Seven Victories (lines 22-217) and 3 "Basic Elements of the Seven Victories Victories" (lines 218-362) satisfy my previous criticisms. Pantoja's Seven Victories 七克 (1614) is an important work of the early Jesuit mission in China and it merits far more attention than it has heretofore received. This paper represents a significant contribution to scholarship.