The very name of Confucius is a constant reminder that the “foremost sage” in China was first known in the West through Latin works. The most influential of these was the Confucius Sinarum Philosophus (Confucius, the Philosopher of China), published in Paris in 1687. For more than two hundred years, Western intellectuals like Leibniz and Voltaire read and meditated on the sayings of Confucius from this Latin version. Thierry Meynard examines the intellectual background of the Jesuits in China and their thought processes in coming to understand the Confucian tradition. He presents a trilingual edition of the Lunyu, including the Chinese text, the Latin translation of the Lunyu and its commentaries, and their rendition in modern English, with notes.
Is it possible that the familiar and beloved figure of Confucius was invented by Jesuit priests? Based on specific documentary evidence, historian Lionel Jensen reveals how 16th- and 17th-century Western missionaries used translations of the ancient RU tradition to invent the presumably historical figure who has been globally celebrated as philosopher, prophet, statesman, wise man, and saint. 13 illustrations.
Confucianism and Catholicism, among the most influential religious traditions, share an intricate relationship. Beginning with the work of Matteo Ricci (1552–1610), the nature of this relationship has generated great debate. These ten essays synthesize in a single volume this historic conversation. Written by specialists in both traditions, the essays are organized into two groups. Those in the first group focus primarily on the historical and cultural contexts in which Confucianism and Catholicism encountered one another in the four major Confucian cultures of East Asia: China, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan. The essays in the second part offer comparative and constructive studies of specific figures, texts, and issues in the Confucian and Catholic traditions from both theological and philosophical perspectives. By bringing these historical and constructive perspectives together, Confucianism and Catholicism: Reinvigorating the Dialogue seeks not only to understand better the past dialogue between these traditions, but also to renew the conversation between them today. In light of the unprecedented expansion of Eastern Asian influence in recent decades, and considering the myriad of challenges and new opportunities faced by both the Confucian and Catholic traditions in a world that is rapidly becoming globalized, this volume could not be more timely. Confucianism and Catholicism will be of interest to professional theologians, historians, and scholars of religion, as well as those who work in interreligious dialogue. Contributors: Michael R. Slater, Erin M. Cline, Philip J. Ivanhoe, Vincent Shen, Anh Q. Tran, S.J., Donald L. Baker, Kevin M. Doak, Xueying Wang, Richard Kim, Victoria S. Harrison, and Lee H. Yearley.
Spanning antiquity until the present, Zhao Lu analyses the eclectic and fictitious representations of Confucius that have been widely celebrated by communities of people throughout history. While mainstream scholarship mostly considers Confucius in terms of his role as a celebrated man of wisdom and as a teacher with a humanistic worldview, Zhao addresses the weirder representations. He considers depictions of Confucius as a prophet, a fortune-teller, a powerful demon hunter, a shrewd villain of 19th century American newspapers, an embodiment of feudal evils in the Cultural Revolution, and as a cute friend. Zhao asks why some groups would risk contradicting the well-accepted image of Confucius with such representations and shows how these illustrations reflect the specific anxieties of these communities. He reveals not only how people across history perceived Confucius in diverse ways, but more importantly how they used Confucius in daily life, ranging from calming their anxiety about the future, to legitimizing a dynasty, stereotyping Chinese people, and even to forging a new sense of history.
It is impossible to understand the early history of the Society of Jesus and the Catholic Church in China without understanding the preeminent role played by the island of Macau in the Jesuit missionary endeavor; indeed, it can even be said that Catholicism would not exist in China if there was no Macau. This book seeks to restore Macau to its proper place in the history of Catholicism and the Jesuit missions in China during the Ming and Qing dynasties by offering a unique insight into subjects ranging from the origins of Jesuit missionary work on the island to the history of Jesuit education and Catholic art and music on the Chinese mainland.
Paul A Rule is an Honorary Associate of the China Studies Research Centre, La Trobe University, Melbourne, and is associated with the Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural History, University of San Francisco, and the Macau Ricci Institute for which he is engaged in projects on the Jesuit missionaries in China. Before retirement from teaching he taught history and religious studies at the University of Melbourne and La Trobe University. He is currently editing a four-volume annotated translation of the Acta Pekinensia or Historical Records of the Maillard de Tournon Legation, from a manuscript in the Jesuit Archives in Rome. The first volume was published (The Acta Pekinensia or Historical Records of the Maillard de Tournon Legation) by the Jesuit Historical Institute (Rome, 2015), and the second (Leiden, 2019) in a new Brill series edited by the Ricci Institute at the University of San Francisco, Studies in the History of Christianity in East Asia, with two more forthcoming. At the same time, Paul is also completing a three-volume history of the Chinese Rites Controversy.
The book uncovers the Jesuits’ master-slave relation with Emperor Kangxi. Against the backdrop of this relationship, the book narrates Kangxi-Pope negotiations (1705-1721) regarding Chinese Rites Controversy and redefines the rise and fall of the Christian mission in early Qing China.
"Portraits of Confucius presents a major collection of Western perspectives on Confucius and Confucianism, stretching from the Jesuit missions of the 16th-century to the dawn of modern cross-cultural scholarship in the early 20th-century. With selections from over 100 figures covering the 1580s to the 1950s, this two-volume work features writing from American and European sources including Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Bertrand Russell. Arranged chronologically, they represent methodologies that span philosophy, political science, religious studies, sociology, anthropology, economic theory, linguistics, missionary texts, and works of popular moralism. Together they reveal important ideological trends in Western attitudes toward China-with Confucius becoming positioned at different times as anti-Christian or nearly Christ-like, while Confucianism is interpreted as something positive the West needs to adopt or as something negative that must be opposed. For scholars and students interested in the life, work and teachings of Confucius and the West's reception of Chinese philosophy, this is an indispensable reference resource"--
