A comparison of Catholic and Confucian concepts on relations between God and Man

This archival document is a scholarly treatise titled *A Comparative Study of Catholic Doctrine and the Confucian Concept of the Unity of Heaven and Humanity*, published as *Hengyi Series*, No. 5, and attributed to Zhao Bingshi (also recorded as Zhao Binshi and Chao Pin-shih), identified in the text...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Chao, Pin-shih, Rev.
Format: Books
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Online Access:https://macau-legacy.usj.edu.mo/docs/A8VTU3IX/viewer_A8VTU3IX.html
Description
Summary:This archival document is a scholarly treatise titled *A Comparative Study of Catholic Doctrine and the Confucian Concept of the Unity of Heaven and Humanity*, published as *Hengyi Series*, No. 5, and attributed to Zhao Bingshi (also recorded as Zhao Binshi and Chao Pin-shih), identified in the text as a Reverend holding the degree C.D.D. The work is physically associated with St Joseph’s Seminary and its *Yuan Ruosheng Shu Tu* (Institute of Sacred Scripture and Bibliographic Studies) Library, as confirmed by official seals. Marginal annotations and multiple signatures—including “Submitted by Jia Jingde”—indicate collaborative or institutional submission processes. The treatise engages in a rigorous comparative analysis of the Confucian concept of *tian–ren heyi* (*unity of Heaven and humanity*) and Catholic theological conceptions of the divine–human relationship, with explicit reference to Mencius’s articulation of moral agency, Neo-Confucian developments, and Catholic doctrines of creation *ex nihilo*, grace, Incarnation, and *theosis*. It foregrounds the philosophical question of human agency within divine–human unity, positioning the work as a methodologically grounded, historically informed contribution to interreligious and cross-traditional theological discourse. The document reflects late imperial or early Republican-era Chinese Catholic intellectual engagement with classical Confucian thought, and serves as primary evidence of indigenised theological scholarship in East Asia.
Physical Description:42 pages