St. Augustine and China: A Reflection on Augustinian Studies in Mainland China
Augustine of Hippo was one of the most influential church father in Western Christianity. However, little attention has been paid Augustine's significance for China in the early history of Sino-Western theological and cultural dialogue. This article aims to fill this gap by providing a historic...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
De Gruyter
[2019]
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| In: |
Neue Zeitschrift für systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie
Year: 2019, Volume: 61, Issue: 2, Pages: 256-271 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Augustinus, Aurelius, Saint 354-430
/ Reception
/ China
/ History 1580-2019
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| IxTheo Classification: | FA Theology KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history KBM Asia |
| Further subjects: | B
St. Augustine
B Mainland China B Sino-Western theological dialogue B Augustinus B sino-westlicher theologischer Diskurs |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Augustine of Hippo was one of the most influential church father in Western Christianity. However, little attention has been paid Augustine's significance for China in the early history of Sino-Western theological and cultural dialogue. This article aims to fill this gap by providing a historical and documentary study of the reception of Augustine in China, with particular focus on the issue of how the story of Augustine was introduced into China and how Augustinian studies was developed as an independent discipline at the present stage of Chinese theological studies. Examining the newly discovered Chinese biographies of Augustine, the first section explores the early introduction of the story of Augustine during the Ming and Qing Empires, identifying the Catholic and the Protestant approaches to the translation of Augustine's biography. The second section addresses Augustinian studies in the Minguo period (1912-1949) and analyses various approaches to the study of St. Augustine. The third section proceeds to the stage of the establishment of the new China (PRC), with a careful survey of Augustinian studies after the Cultural Revolution (1976-present). In particular, the new exploration by Chinese Augustinian scholars over the last five years will be highlighted. Based on the above observations, the article concludes with the evaluation that the biography of St. Augustine was adopted by the early Jesuits as an additional advantage for propagating the Christian faith in the Chinese context, in which the policy of cultural accommodation (initiated by Michele Ruggieri and Matteo Ricci) had proved a useful approach for theological contextualization and would continue to serve as a resourceful strategy in the Chinese approach to Augustinian theology as well as an effective method for deepening the Sino-Western theological dialogue. |
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| ISSN: | 1612-9520 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Neue Zeitschrift für systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1515/nzsth-2019-0014 |