De-constructing the Name(s) of God: Matteo Ricci's Translational Apostolate
- Format:
- Journal Article
- Year:
- 2013
- Journal Title:
- Translation Studies
- Volume:
- 6
- Issue:
- 3
- Language:
- Abstract:
The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven, Matteo Ricci's Chinese catechism, first published in 1603, embodies a very particular context: that of a Jesuit missionary and his intellectual engagement with Neo-Confucian scholars in China during the late sixteenth/early seventeenth century. Ricci transformed and translated a Western idea of God into this Other context. His immersion in this context allowed him to negotiate between the tradition he came from and anOther in China. By looking at Ricci's translational journey through the prism of deconstruction we can uncover the importance of context for translation as he supplements the original Confucian Shangdi [The Sovereign on High] with a Christian interpretation-cum-translation, Tianzhu [the Lord of Heaven]. Deconstruction can be used as a methodology that helps us to understand, in this context, how Ricci de-constructed “God” through Other names with new (im)possibilities.
- Who (Jesuits):
- What (Subjects):
- Where (Locations):
- When (Centuries):
- Publisher URL:
- Page Range:
- 293–308
- ISSN:
- 1478-1700
- DOI: