The Chinese Rites Controversy and its Repercussions
- Format:
- Journal Article
- Year:
- 2009
- Journal Title:
- Japan Mission Journal
- Volume:
- 63
- Issue:
- 1
- Language:
- Abstract:
In the course of the 17. and 18. centuries, as they gradually discovered the complexity of Chinese rites and beliefs, Catholic theologians and missionaries sensed that the intellectual discovery of China could have far-reaching theological consequences. It could easily be exploited, especially by libertine thinkers, to sap the basis of Christian faith, or by Protestants to promote religious divisions. It could even exacerbate political and commercial dissensions among the Potuguese, the French and the Dutch. Unfortunately, the evagelization of China was to become a matter of rivalries and differences of approach among the various missionary orders. Then, when the Dominicans and the Franciscans came to the Chinese mainland and established their missions in Fukien in the 1630s, the controversy about 'Chinese rites' took a more definite, virulent form. The Jesuits argued that the original subsance of Chinese rites was naturally good, but also conducitive to Christianity. It was in the matrix of this culture that Christianity had to be implanted, without supplanting totally the previous traditions. At the time when the Rites controversy was about to erupt violently, the Jesuits remained on the whole faithful to Ricci's attitude: the Rites were not anthitetic to Christian practice, provided that any subsequent superstitious growth was removed. Sadly, judged from afar in the West, the Jesuits' careful attitude could very easily be seen as a breach of Christian principles. In Europe, the 17. century was a time of conservative, narrow-minded christianity. In september 1645 a first Decree, inspired by Dominican misionaries and issued by Pope Innocent 10. condemned the Chines rites. Pope Alexander 7. in 1656 issued a new Decree, offering a revaluation of the Chinese Rites favorable to the Jesuits. In Europe the debate was on: Jansenists and Missions Etrangères de Paris showed great hostility towards Chinese Jesuits and their ' accomadation', and the debate was conducted at he Theological Faculty of the Sorbonne, in Paris. On November 1704 the Pope Clement ii. issued a new decree condamning the Chinese Rites. In 1706 the Chinese emperor decreted that only the missionaries that promised to follow the practices of Matteo Ricci could remain in China. All new missionaries had to be examined at court , where it would be determined if they could be given a certificate (p'iao), allowing them to preach in China. The Papal delegate in Peking, Cardinal Tournon, published in February 1707 a mandate wherein he laid down exactly how missionaries were to respond to the questions in the examination of the p'iao, openly hostile to Chinese Rites. The Controversy was definitively ended by Benedict 14. decree Ex quo Singulari (1742), which confirmed the decree of 1704. In Europe the Chinese Rites' Controversy interested the intellectuals, both Catholics and Protestants. The Huguenot Pierre Bayle openly appreciated the 'virtuose atheism' shown by Chinese emperor, his tolerance towards Jesuits and Christianity, influencing Voltaire's and Illuminist Intellectuals in their religious ideas
- Who (Jesuits):
- What (Subjects):
- Where (Locations):
- When (Centuries):
- Other link:
- Page Range:
- 25–36
- ISSN:
- 1344-7297