Matteo Ricci’s Legacy for Comparative Theology
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...
| 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: |
2022
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| In: |
Modern theology
Year: 2022, Volume: 38, Issue: 3, Pages: 548-567 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Ricci, Matteo 1552-1610
/ Thomas Aquinas 1225-1274
/ Confucius 551 BC-479 BC
/ Heir (Person)
/ Simile
/ Theology
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| IxTheo Classification: | BM Chinese universism; Confucianism; Taoism FA Theology KAE Church history 900-1300; high Middle Ages KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history KBA Western Europe KBM Asia TB Antiquity |
| Online Access: |
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| Summary: | 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. |
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| ISSN: | 1468-0025 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Modern theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/moth.12745 |