Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T05:52:37.005Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Journey to the East: A Philosophical Inquiry into the Early Reception of St. Augustine in China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 July 2019

Yuan Gao
Yuan Gao*
Affiliation:
Sun Yat-sen University, China
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In modern scholarship, much ink has been spilled over the significance of St. Augustine in the history of Western philosophy and theology. However, little effort has been made to clarify the legacy of Augustine in East Asia, especially his contribution to China during the early Jesuit missionary work through the Maritime Silk Road. The present article attempts to fill this lacuna and provide a philosophical analysis of the encounter of Chinese indigenous religions with St Augustine, by inquiring into why and how Augustine was taken as a model for the Chinese in their acceptance of the Christian faith. The analysis is split into three parts. The first part reflects on the contemporary disputations over the quality of the paraphrasing work of the early Jesuits, analyzing the validity of the allegedly careless inaccuracies in their introduction of Augustine's biography. The second part analyses some rarely discussed Chinese translations of Augustine, which I recently found in the Nanjing Union Theological Seminary, with particular focus on their ideological context. In particular, the paraphrased text concerning Augustine's theory of sin and the two cities will be highlighted. The third part goes a step further in exploring the reason why Augustine was considered an additional advantage in dealing with the conflicts between Christian and Confucian values. The primary contribution this essay makes is to present a philosophical inquiry into the role of Augustine in the early acceptance of Christianity in China by suggesting that a strategy of “Confucian-Christian synthesis” had been adopted by the Jesuit missionaries. Thereby, they accommodated Confucian terms without dropping the core values of the orthodox Catholic faith. The conclusion revisits the critics’ arguments and sums up with an evaluation of the impact of Augustine's religious values in the indigenization of Christianity in China.

Keywords

philosophical inquiryAugustineChinareligious values
Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , July 2019 , pp. 117 - 129
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Research for this article was supported by the following grants: China Ministry of Education National-Level Project: “The Maritime Silk Road: A Study of the First Latin Translations of the Confucian Classics in the Western World” (19YJC720012, China); The Academy of Finland National Project: “The Impact of Religious Values on Chinese Social Life” (FIN–314707, Finland).

References

Dudink, Ad and Nicolas, Standaert (2001). “Number of Christians.” In Handbook of Christianity in China (Volume One: 635–1800), ed. Standaert, Nicholas, pp. 382–83. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Aleni, Giulio (1972). “Fifty Proverbs and the Remnants.” In Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana: Three Volumes of Catholic Documents in the East, vol. 1. Taipei: Taiwan Student Press.Google Scholar
Brown, Peter (2000). Augustine of Hippo: A Biography. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Byers, Sarah Catherine (2013). Perception, Sensibility, and Moral Motivation in Augustine: A Stoic–Platonic Synthesis. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ching, Julia (1968). “The Problem of Evil and a Possible Dialogue between Christianity and Neo-Confucianism.” Contemporary Religions in Japan 9:3, pp. 161–93.Google Scholar
Clark, Amanda R C. (2017). “Adjustment and Advocacy: Charles McCarthy, SJ, and China's Jesuit Mission in Transition.” In China's Christianity: From Missionary to Indigenous Church, ed. Clark, Anthony E., pp. 199–218. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Douglas, Robert K. (1903). Supplementary Catalogue of Chinese Books and Manuscripts in the British Museum. London: British Museum.Google Scholar
Fitzgerald, Allan D. (1999). “Family and Relatives.” In Augustine through the Ages: An Encyclopedia, ed. Fitzgerald, Allan D., pp. 353–54. Grand Rapids, Michigan and Cambridge: Eerdmans.Google Scholar
Harrison, Carol (2000). Augustine: Christian Truth and Fractured Humanity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hsia, R. Po-chia (2016). Matteo Ricci & the Catholic Mission to China: A Short History with Documents. Indianapolis: Hackett.Google Scholar
Laamann, Lars Peter (2006). Christian Heretics in Late Imperial China: Christian Inculturation and State Control, 1720–1850. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Li, Timotai 李提摩太 (Timothy Richard) (1901). “Aoshining liezhuan 奧仕仃列傳” (“Biography of Augustine”). Wanguo gongbao 萬國公報 (The Review of the Times) 152:9.Google Scholar
Lin, Lezhi 林樂知 (Allen Young John) ed. and trans. (1895). Aoshisiding 奧古斯丁 (Augustine). Shanghai: Guang xuehui 廣學會.Google Scholar
Luzbetak, Louis (1988). The Church and Cultures. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis.Google Scholar
Muirhead, William (1884). The Confession of an Ancient Saint. Shanghai: Shanghai Fuyin Tang.Google Scholar
Pelikan, Jaroslav (1971). The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100–600). Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Ricci, Matteo (2014). Catechismus Sinicus, ed. Meynard, Thierry. Beijing: The Commercial Press.Google Scholar
Ruggieri, Michele (2005). Tianzhu shengjiao shilu 天主聖教實錄. In Dong Chuan Fu Yin 東傳福音, eds. Bianfan, Zhou 周變藩 and Meixiu, Wang 王美秀, pp. 2–5. Hefei: Huangshan Shushe.Google Scholar
Ruokanen, Miikka (1993). Theology of Social Life in Augustine's De civitate Dei. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht.Google Scholar
Seah, Audrey (2017). “The 1670 Chinese Missal: A Struggle for Indigenization amidst the Chinese Rites Controversy.” In China's Christianity: From Missionary to Indigenous Church, ed. Clark, Anthony E., pp. 86–120. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Standaert, Nicholas ed. (2001). Handbook of Christianity in China (Volume One: 635–1800). Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Sun, Shangyang 孫尚揚 and Wudan, Zhong 鐘鳴旦 (Nicolas Standaert) (2004). 1840 nianqian de Zhongguo Jidujiao 1840 年前的中國基督教 (Chinese Christianity before 1840). Beijing: Xueyuan Chubanshe 學苑出版社.Google Scholar
Van, Mechelen Johan (2001). “Western Sources.” In Handbook of Christianity in China (Volume One: 635–1800), ed. Standaert, Nicolas, pp. 46–48. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Yamamoto, Sumiko (2000). History of Protestantism in China: The Indigenization of Christianity. Tokyo: The Tōhō Gakkai/The Institute of Eastern Culture.Google Scholar
Zhang, Xingyao (2009). “Inscriptions Eulogising the Sage Teaching.” In Textes chrétiens chinois de la bibliothèque nationale de France, vol. 8, eds. Standaert, Nicolas, Dudink, Ad, and Monnet, Nathalie, pp. 583–87. Taibei: Taibei Lishi xueshe.Google Scholar
Zhang, Xiping 張西平 ed. (2014) Fandigang Tushuguan [Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana] cang Ming Qing zhongxi wenhua jiaoliushi wenxian congkan 梵蒂岡圖書館藏明清中西文化交流史文獻叢刊, Series 1, vol. 20. Zhengzhou: Daxiang Chubanshe 大象出版社.Google Scholar
Zhou, Bianfan 周變藩 and Wang, Meixiu 王美秀 eds. (2005). “Da Qin Si Seng Jing Jing: Da Qin Jingjiao liuxing Zhongguo beisong bing xu 大秦寺僧景淨: 大秦景教流行中國碑頌並序” (“Da Qin Si Seng Jing Jing: Stelae Eulogies on the Propagation of the Luminous Religion [Nestorianism] in China, with an Introduction”). In Dong Chuan Fu Yin東傳福音, pp. 1–7. Hefei: Huangshan Shushe.Google Scholar
Zhou, Weichi 周偉馳 (2017). “Ming Qing Aogusiding Zhongwen zhuanji 明清奥古斯丁中文傳記” (“Chinese Biography of Augustine in Ming and Qing China”). Shijie zongjiao yanjiu 世界宗教研究 (Studies on World Religions) 4, pp. 125–35.Google Scholar
Zhou, Weichi 周偉馳 (2005). Aogusiding de Jidujiao sixiang 奥古斯丁的基督教思想 (Augustine's Christian Thought). Beijing: Zhongguo Shehui Kexue Chubanshe.Google Scholar
Zhou, Weichi 周偉馳 (2001). Jiyi yu guangzhao: Aogusiding shenzhexue yanjiu 記憶與光照: 奥古斯丁神哲學研究 (Memory and Light: A Study on Augustine's Theology). Beijing: Shehui Kexue Wenxian Chubanshe.Google Scholar