Matteo Ricci's teaching on the goodness of human nature: its Thomistic and neo-Confucian sources
The Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci's teaching on the goodness of human nature in The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven represents the fruit of the first encounter between Catholicism and Confucianism. This article will consider the Thomistic and neo-Confucian sources in Ricci's enunciatio...
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
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Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
2024
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In: |
Heythrop journal
Year: 2024, Volume: 65, Issue: 2, Pages: 138-151 |
RelBib Classification: | BM Chinese universism; Confucianism; Taoism CC Christianity and Non-Christian religion; Inter-religious relations KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history KDB Roman Catholic Church NBE Anthropology VA Philosophy |
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Summary: | The Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci's teaching on the goodness of human nature in The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven represents the fruit of the first encounter between Catholicism and Confucianism. This article will consider the Thomistic and neo-Confucian sources in Ricci's enunciation of the Catholic doctrine on the goodness of human nature in this Chinese catechism. It will illustrate that Ricci developed his teaching, which is fundamentally Thomistic, with the help of terminology borrowed from the Chinese philosophical tradition. His distinction between the good of nature and the good of virtue leads to prioritising the cultivation of human nature. Ricci's teaching reflects the early modern Jesuits’ appreciation of human freedom. It also displays a Catholic reaction to the sixteenth-century neo-Confucian intellectual trend that ignored the importance of moral cultivation. |
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ISSN: | 1468-2265 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Heythrop journal
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/heyj.14291 |