Matteo Ricci’s Legacy for Comparative Theology
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20460481 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Peng Yin (0000-0002-4977-6155, Candler School of Theology Emory University Cannon Chapel 309, 1531 Dickey Drive Atlanta GA 30322 USA, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 38 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 548-567 |
| Publication date | 2022-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Modern Theology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0266-7177 • E-ISSN: 1468-0025 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/moth.12745 |
| OpenAlex | W3194346661 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
Matteo Ricci is widely recognized as the pioneering figure in East‐West dialogue, but his theology is rarely discussed in its own right. This article offers a first reading of Ricci as a serious theologian who brings Thomas Aquinas into conversation with classical Confucian texts. I demonstrate how the Riccian legacy presents a potential alternative to the two dominant methods in comparative theology: the Lockean language of toleration (which tends to devalue distinctiveness) and the multiculturalist emphasis on difference (which tends to downplay commonality). By attending to how Ricci rewrites Stoic ethics on contingency and fortune, and invents “intellect” and “will” as moral categories in China, this article locates his achievement at the theological juncture of a Thomist‐Ignatian synthesis. What results is a generous account of “pagan” virtue, an overcoming of the dichotomy between infused and acquired virtue predominant in post‐Reformation Europe, and a new conception of chief theological and cardinal virtues. Cut short by the Chinese Rites Controversy, Ricci’s legacy is yet to be recognized as a vital contribution to perennial debates in Christian theology
Conversation · Linguistics · Optimal distinctiveness theory · Theology · Virtue · Virtue ethics · Chinese history and philosophy · Medieval Philosophy and Theology · Philosophy · Psychology · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,5 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2024 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |