Christianity and imperial culture : : Chinese Christian apologetics in the seventeenth century and their Latin patristic equivalent / / by Xiaochao Wang.

• Superior document: Studies in Christian mission, v. 20
• Author: Wang, Xiaochao.
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, 1998.
• Year of Publication: 1998
• Language: English; Chinese
• Series: Studies in Christian Mission 20.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (280 pages) :; illustrations, tables.

This book is a study of the writings of a group of Chinese Christian apologists in the seventeenth century, focussing on Xu Guangqi. Eleven of his shorter writings are included in Chinese and in translation. The first part of the book is devoted to a study of Latin Christian apologists within the Roman Empire to provide a comparison for the analysis of Xu Guangqi's work. Minucius Felix, Tertullian and Lactantius are shown to have faced, in regard to imperial power and Graeco-Roman culture, a situation comparable to that of Xu Guangqi, Li Zhizao and Yang Tinqyun in regard to imperial power and culture in the late Ming period. The final chapters of the book reconsider general issues of confrontation and adaptation in the inculturation of Christianity.

Table of Contents

Preliminary material -- INTRODUCTION -- CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS AND APOLOGISTS -- CONFRONTATION BETWEEN CHRISTIANITY AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE -- RECONCILIATION OF CHRISTIANITY AND GRAECO-ROMAN CULTURE -- THE LATIN APOLOGISTS’ ROLE IN CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION -- THE CHINESE EMPIRE AND CHRISTIANITY -- XU GUANGQI'S RELIGIOUS WORKS -- A DISPUTATION ABOUT RECTITUDE AND FALLACIES -- THE COMPARISON BETWEEN CHINESE AND WESTERN CULTURE -- COMPATIBILITY BETWEEN CHRISTIANITY AND CHINESE IDEOLOGY -- CHRISTIANITY AND NATIONAL CULTURE -- THE INCULTURATION OF CHRISTIANITY -- GLOSSARY OF CHINESE TERMS -- APPENDIX -- SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY -- STUDIES IN CHRISTIAN MISSION.