The Concept of the Soul During the Chinese Rites Controversy: The Example of Xia Dachang
Soon after Matteo Ricci started his missionary work in China, he realized that there was no Chinese term equivalent to the Christian concept of the anima—a human soul that is individual, spiritual, and immortal. To develop this concept in Chinese, Ricci creatively invoked Chinese ancestral sacrifice...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Johns Hopkins University Press
2021
|
| In: |
Journal of Chinese religions
Year: 2021, Volume: 49, Issue: 2, Pages: 169-190 |
| Further subjects: | B
利瑪竇
B 艾儒略 B Giulio Aleni B the Chinese Rites Controversy B the anima B 靈魂（亞尼瑪） B 夏大常 B Matteo Ricci B Xia Dachang B 中國禮儀之爭 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Soon after Matteo Ricci started his missionary work in China, he realized that there was no Chinese term equivalent to the Christian concept of the anima—a human soul that is individual, spiritual, and immortal. To develop this concept in Chinese, Ricci creatively invoked Chinese ancestral sacrifices, arguing that the sacrifices are made to the individual, immortal souls (linghun 靈魂) of deceased ancestors. Ricci’s strategy, after enjoying decades of success, was called into question during the Chinese Rites Controversy, when mendicant missionaries condemned ancestral rites as idolatrous. Chinese converts, who hoped to continue practicing ancestral rites, argued that the rites were merely an expression of gratitude, which does not involve the "reception" of sacrifices by the ancestors. But the question is, how should they then explain the concept of the anima to fellow Chinese?, In this article, I examine the conception of the soul by Xia Dachang 夏大常 (before 1624-after 1686), a Confucian literatus who converted to Christianity at the turn of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. A close reading of Xia’s treatise On the Soul suggests that he uses the framework of Mencius’s xing shan 性善—that human beings are by nature good—to explain the concept of the soul. Xia’s conception of the soul represents one way in which the concept of the soul could be received by Christians who were deeply influenced by Confucianism. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2050-8999 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of Chinese religions
|