1st Edition
Der ursprüngliche Sinn der Himmelslehre (Tianxue benyi) Joachim Bouvets (1656–1730) frühe Missionstheologie in China. Analyse, Transkription und Übersetzung der lateinischen Fassungen
The author focuses on one of the most fascinating texts of the 17th and 18th century China mission – the Tianxue benyi 天學本義 (The Original Meaning of the Heavenly Teachings) and the more elaborate Gujin jingtian jian 古今敬天鑒 (Mirror on the Worship of Heaven in Ancient Times and Nowadays), both written and compiled by the Jesuit Joachim Bouvet (1656–1730) with the assistance of Chinese converts. The two works were even translated into Latin in order to support the Jesuit position in the Chinese Rites Controversy in the Roman Curia. Through them, Bouvet presented the Jesuit missionary strategy of accommodation in a nutshell: He aimed at introducing Christianity in the terms of Chinese traditional culture. Thus, Bouvet’s approach can be characterised as an early attempt at a contextualized theology which is meaningful even for contemporary discussions. The present study offers an introduction to Bouvet’s thoughts and works and their respective historical and theological context, a transcription of the Latin texts – the Cœlestis Disciplinæ vera notitia and the De cultu cœlesti Sinarum veterum & modernorum – with an annotated German translation.
Danksagung
Vorbemerkung zum Forschungsstand
Abkürzungsverzeichnis
Dynastietafel
1. Einführung: Von Europa nach China
2. Die Textgeschichte des Tianxue benyi: Manuskriptfassungen und Quellen des Tianxue benyi und des Gujin jing Tian jian
3. Der historische Kontext
4. Joachim Bouvets Missionstheologie
5. Die Texte
6. Literaturverzeichnis
Glossarium der alten zur Pinyin-Umschrift
Glossarium der Kapiteltitel von chinesischen Klassikern und Namen der Trigramme/Hexagramme
Index
Biography
Claudia von Collani is an adjunct professor for Missiology and Dialogue of Religions at the Faculty for Catholic Theology of the University of Würzburg, Germany. Her research focus is on East Asian missionary history, in particular the Jesuit China mission and Chinese Figurism. Besides ten books (recently a two-volume edition of Kilian Stumpf’s Acta Pekinensia, co-edited with Paul Rule) she has published numerous articles, on topics such as Jesuit theatre and Jesuit Yijing studies, and contributed biographies to the Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche (3rd edition) and to the Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon.
The hybridity of this text reflects the broadest historical context for its compilation. The search for “proofs” in the Confucian classics for Christian evangelization began with Matteo Ricci and was continued by three generations of missionaries after him, mostly Jesuits but also a few Franciscans. In addition to textual authority, Jesuit defenders of their accommodation also referred to the contemporary authority in the sayings and writings of the political and intellectual elites in the reign of Kangxi. Hence, a revised and expanded version of the Tianxue benyi became the Gujin jing Tian jian, sometimes, but not always associated with Bouvet’s name.
R. Po-chia Hsia
History Department, Penn State University, State College, PA, USAJournal of Jesuit Studies 10 (2023), 537-538
