Journey to the East: A Philosophical Inquiry into the Early Reception of St. Augustine in China
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 missi...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Articles |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press
2019
|
| Subjects: |
| _version_ | 1877196293463343104 |
|---|---|
| author | Gao, Yuan |
| author_autocomplete | Gao, Yuan |
| author_browse | Gao, Yuan |
| author_facet | Gao, Yuan Gao, Yuan |
| author_sort | Gao, Yuan |
| building | Macau. University of Saint Joseph |
| callnumber-first | h |
| callnumber-label | https://mala.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/1s5jiug/TN_cdi_proquest_journals_2262059650 |
| callnumber-raw | https://mala.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/1s5jiug/TN_cdi_proquest_journals_2262059650 |
| callnumber-search | https://mala.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/1s5jiug/TN_cdi_proquest_journals_2262059650 |
| container_issue | 2 |
| container_issue_str | 2 |
| container_volume | 16 |
| container_volume_str | 16 |
| description | 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. |
| doi_str_mv | 10.1017/S1479591419000135 |
| first_indexed | 2020-12-26T03:22:10Z |
| format | Articles |
| genre | Articles |
| genre_facet | Articles |
| hierarchy_browse | Saint Joseph Seminary{{{_ID_}}}zotero-coll-CSBIYA6A |
| hierarchy_parent_id | zotero-coll-CSBIYA6A |
| hierarchy_parent_title | Saint Joseph Seminary |
| hierarchy_sequence | 0000 |
| hierarchy_top_id | zotero-coll-WX87PJHD |
| hierarchy_top_title | News |
| hierarchytype | Default |
| id | zotero-KB8QBRHW |
| institution | zotero_group |
| issn | 1479-5914 |
| last_indexed | 2025-08-05T15:15:23Z |
| latest_content_date | 2025-08-05T15:15:23Z |
| libraryCatalog | Macau. University of Saint Joseph |
| physical | 117–129 |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publishDateRange | 2019 |
| publishDateSort | 2019 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| publisherStr | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | zotero |
| spelling | Journey to the East: A Philosophical Inquiry into the Early Reception of St. Augustine in China 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. Cambridge University Press Articles https://mala.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/1s5jiug/TN_cdi_proquest_journals_2262059650 Macau. University of Saint Joseph 2019 Gao, Yuan |
| spellingShingle | Journey to the East: A Philosophical Inquiry into the Early Reception of St. Augustine in China Gao, Yuan Macau. University of Saint Joseph |
| title | Journey to the East: A Philosophical Inquiry into the Early Reception of St. Augustine in China |
| title_autocomplete | Journey to the East: A Philosophical Inquiry into the Early Reception of St. Augustine in China |
| title_full | Journey to the East: A Philosophical Inquiry into the Early Reception of St. Augustine in China |
| title_fullStr | Journey to the East: A Philosophical Inquiry into the Early Reception of St. Augustine in China |
| title_full_unstemmed | Journey to the East: A Philosophical Inquiry into the Early Reception of St. Augustine in China |
| title_short | Journey to the East: A Philosophical Inquiry into the Early Reception of St. Augustine in China |
| title_sort | journey to the east: a philosophical inquiry into the early reception of st. augustine in china |
| topic | Macau. University of Saint Joseph |
| topic_autocomplete | Macau. University of Saint Joseph |
| topic_facet | Macau. University of Saint Joseph |
| zotero_collection_key | CSBIYA6A |