Search Results (9)

The work Xingli zhenquan tigang (Sing lii jen ciyan bithei hešen) was written in Chinese and Manchu by the French Jesuit Alexandre de la Charme (1695–1767) and published in Beijing in 1753. The first two sections of this paper provide an introduction to de la Charme’s work biography and to further textual and historical contexts, explore the peculiarities of the subsequent early German reception of the work almost 90 years later, and introduce the content from an overview perspective. The third section explores the most essential contents of Book 1 (of 3) of the Manchu version. The investigation is based on Hans Conon von der Gabelentz’s (1807–1874) German translation from 1840. Camouflaged as a Confucian educational dialogue, and by blurring his true identity in his publication, de la Charme criticizes Neo-Confucian positions from an implicitly Cartesian and hidden Christian perspective, tacitly blending Cartesian views with traditional Chinese concepts. In addition, he alludes to Manchu shamanic views in the same regard. De la Charme’s assimilating rhetoric “triangulation” of three different cultural and linguistic horizons of thought and spirituality proves that later Jesuit scholarship reached out into the inherent ethnic and spiritual diversity of the Qing intellectual and political elites. Hidden allusions to Descartes’s dualistic concepts of res cogitans and res extensa implicitly anticipate the beginnings of China’s intellectual modernization period one and a half centuries later. This work also provides an example of how the exchange of intellectual and religious elements persisted despite the Rites Controversy and demonstrates how the fading Jesuit mission influenced early German sinology. I believe that this previously underexplored work is significant in both systematic and historical respects. It is particularly relevant in the context of current comparative research fields, as well as transcultural and interreligious intellectual dialogue in East Asia and around the world. Full article

Spanish Dominican Fernández de Navarrete played a pivotal role in the Chinese Rites Controversy. Not only did he bring the controversial manuscript by Nicolò Longobardi to wider attention, thereby intensifying the debate over Chinese rituals, but he also further interpreted and reinforced its contents, amplifying the manuscript’s influence. This, in turn, attracted both internal and external forces within the Church to challenging the Jesuits. In addressing the issue of Chinese rituals, Fernández de Navarrete relied on Thomas Aquinas’ theological framework to evaluate Confucian practices, categorizing the act of offering sacrifices to ancestors and to Confucius as idolatrous. He subsequently demanded that believers refrain from participating in Chinese ritual practices. Full article

This study explores the previously overlooked influence of Qiu Jun, a renowned mid-Ming dynasty scholar, on Jesuit missionaries and Chinese Catholic believers. Although Qiu’s impact on Confucian scholars of the mid-to-late Ming period is well established, his role in shaping formalized Chinese ritual systems and Chinese Catholicism has received little attention. A closer examination of Jesuit missionaries’ translation of Confucian classics and Chinese Catholic texts from the late Ming and early Qing periods reveals that Qiu’s works were frequently cited, particularly in relation to the abolition of divine titles, the worship of Confucius, and the establishment of the City-god system. Qiu’s responses to these issues, informed by Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang’s efforts to centralize power and establish authority in both secular and religious spheres, served as key references for mid-Ming reforms. Moreover, Jesuit fathers and Chinese Catholic adherents drew on Qiu’s perspectives in their writings to address various issues during the Chinese Rites Controversy. This research uncovers the profound impact of Qiu Jun’s ideas on the cultural exchange between China and the West in the 17th–18th centuries. Full article

In 1622, a counter-reformist concept of the mission led to the foundation of Propaganda Fide, a congregation to which the Supreme Pontiffs entrusted various tasks at the global level, including the reassertion of the pope’s authority over missionary activities, which had previously been dominated by European secular powers using the patronage system. In carrying out its mandate, the new Congregation also charged apostolic nuncios, almost entirely Italian, with collecting information from and establishing direct contacts with the states of Catholic Christianity and of missionary territories beyond. These nuncios not only performed activities of a religious nature but also served as diplomats and representatives of the pope, endowed with particular powers and faculties. This article introduces the role of apostolic nuncios and analyzes the results of the first of these sent by the Propaganda Fide to China, Charles Thomas Maillard de Tournon. It will show that, as the first papal legate to China, he was not entirely successful in his objectives, but his mission can be seen as a turning point in the history of relations between the Holy See and China and as an important episode which helps us to understand not only early Sino–papal relations but also the development of the new global vision of the Catholic Church as it was formulated by the Propaganda Fide. Full article

Studies on the Rosary in the late Ming and early Qing usually focus on works written by Jesuits and mostly stem from an artistic aspect. This article, however, shifts the focus to The True Peace of Humankind, a manuscript written by the Dominican missionary Arcadio del Rosario in the seventeenth century, the first comprehensive book on the Rosary in Chinese. It first summarizes the early-stage propagation of the Rosary in China by the Jesuits and then examines the structure and content of The True Peace of Humankind. It is noteworthy that the manuscript repeatedly uses an analogy with flowers to highlight Mary’s intercession. Dating back to the Catholic tradition in Europe, the propagation of the Rosary through analogy with flowers resembles the propagation of reciting Buddhist prayers in Chinese society. This article applies contextual studies to explore two main questions: how is del Rosario’s manuscript different from the previous texts on the Rosary written by the Jesuits? What is the significance of the manuscript in the context of the Chinese Rites Controversy? Full article

The papal Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide, founded in 1622, marks a milestone in the history of Christianity by promoting a new way of organizing “apostolic missionaries”, which represented a major shift from colonial missions to purely ecclesiastical missions. The emphasis on the indigenization of clergy was a central element in its vision right from the founding documents. Propaganda Fide, bypassing the old patronage system, sought to extend the indigenization policy worldwide, though it faced difficulties and obstacles from religious orders and secular powers. This article introduces the history of the development of Propaganda Fide’s indigenization policy and analyzes the early attempts to apply the policy in China, evaluating both its effectiveness and limitations across the first 120 years. Full article

During the late Ming Dynasty period, the Jesuits carried out a cultural accommodation strategy in China, commonly known as Ricci’s Strategy, due to the significant role played by Matteo Ricci (1552–1610) during this process. This strategy encompassed three elements: evangelizing through science and technology, establishing connections with the upper class, and compiling books to spread evangelism, all of which helped Catholicism to be promoted in China and be accepted by the Chinese people collectively. But the strategy also drew a lot of opposition within and outside of the Society of Jesus, some of which even led to the Rites Controversy. The extant literature primarily focuses on the conflicts that arose between the Society of Jesus and other religious orders, as well as the divergent viewpoints within the Society itself, like Niccolò Longobardo (1559–1654)’s well-documented anti-Riccian position. However, this approach largely ignored the disputes that arose within the Jesuit community in Beijing during the 17th century, mainly involving Ludovico Buglio (1606–1682) and Adam Schall (1592–1666) as two key figures on opposing sides. These disputes primarily centered around three points: the inclusion of superstitious elements in the calendar, the identities of the Jesuits in Early Qing, and the approach to inculturating theology. Although these historical events offered new perspectives and materials for the study of Ricci’s Strategy, they have received limited scholarly attention. This paper focuses on the disputes between Buglio and Schall, analyzing how Matteo Ricci’s Strategy was investigated during that time. Full article

From the Late Ming to the Republican period, Chinese Catholics living in Jiangnan (present-day Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Anhui) progressively appropriated the sacramental doctrine and practices of the Church. This study examines the implementation and evolution of the sacraments of baptism, marriage, and extreme unction, and it focuses on each of them at a different moment in the process of acculturation. The latter can be analyzed in terms of both localization and globalization: on the one hand, the religiosity displayed by the grassroots communities integrated elements proper to Chinese tradition and sensitivity. On the other hand, local believers developed a consciousness of their participation in the global Church through active sacramental practice. Sacramental acculturation and identity building were mediated by a “ritual rhetoric” that provided communities with topoi through which to endow their existence with accrued meaning and blessings. Full article

The Istoria della spedizione del Cardinale Carlo Tommaso Maillard de’ Tournon is a collection of manuscripts produced for and circulated within the Roman Curia in the early 18th century. It contains letters and reports from Maillard de Tournon, the first papal legate to China, and records his mission and the early efforts of the Holy See to establish direct contact with the Qing court, bypassing the patronage system and locally entrenched religious orders (the Jesuits in particular). For various reasons, these manuscripts were never fully published and, in spite of their interest, remain relatively unknown to scholars. This article introduces these manuscripts, edited by Giovanni Giacomo Fatinelli, procurator of Maillard de Tournon in Rome, and demonstrates their value in allowing a greater understanding of the relationship between the Holy See and China, as well as the general relationship between the Holy See and Catholic missionaries throughout the world. Full article