From Sacred Doctrine to Confucian Moral Practice
"Giulio Aleni's Cross-Cultural Interpretation of "Goodness and Evil of Human Nature
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3686072 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Xianhui Che (0000-0003-2302-9706), Xiangqian Che (Northwestern Polytechnical University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 8 |
| Pages | 1007 |
| Publication date | 2024-08-18 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Religions (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444 |
| Publisher | MDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT) |
| DOI | 10.3390/rel15081007 |
| OpenAlex | W4401707067 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 12 |
This paper explores the cross-cultural interpretation of "the goodness and evil of human nature" by Jesuit missionary Giulio Aleni in the late Ming Dynasty, and it examines the intersections and complementarity between Catholicism and Confucianism in moral ethics based on Aleni's integration. The study finds that Aleni, while basically adhering to the Catholic "original sin", connected the "spirituality" endowed to humans at the beginning of God's creation with the Confucian ontological concepts such as "ultimate good" (zhishan 至善); centering on "self-mastery" (zizhuan 自專), "sharpening" (dili 砥礪), and "overcoming nature" (kexing 克性), he actively guided the goodness-evil debate towards a Confucian practical morality, and sacred doctrines are served as an impetus of moral practices. The redemption, together with reward and punishment of God, further intensifies the ultimate concern and the way of transcendence. Aleni's bridging and synthesizing of the two traditions is highly significant: concerning both sanctity and practicality of ethics can to some extent overcome the risks brought by the instrumentalization of ethics or the illusory issues of existence. This has important implications for the self-development and integration of Christian and Confucian morality
Doctrine · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Good and evil · Morality · Political ponerology · Sociology · Spirituality · Theology · Chinese history and philosophy · Indian and Buddhist Studies · Philosophy · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices
Scholastic Metaphysics in Late Ming China
The Moral Powers
Three Streams
Giulio Aleni, Kouduo richao, and Christian–Confucian Dialogism in Late Ming Fujian
Neo‐Confucianism
Transwriting in Aleni’s Xingxue cushu
Dialogues on the Issues of Theodicy in Late Ming Fujian
In Communion with God
The Soul and Buddha-Nature in Jesuit-Buddhist Debates in the Late Ming Fujian-Zhejiang Regions
| Citations per year | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Highly cited | No |