Cultural accommodation of Christianity to Confucianism in Matteo Ricci’s Tianzhu ShiyiLee, Haesung (Avtor) Tianzhu ShiyiThe True Meaning of the Lord of HeavenMatteo Riccicultural accommodation of Christianity to ConfucianismburulunMatteo Ricci’s Tianzhu Shiyi (The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven) is a landmark in the Jesuit strategy of cultural accommodation in late Ming China. This article examines Ricci’s programme of Burulun (“Supplementing Confucianism”) by analysing how he appropriates pre-Qin Confucian concepts such as Tian (Heaven) and Shangdi (Supreme Emperor), while at the same time directing a systematic critique against Buddhist emp­tiness (kong), Daoist non-being (wu), and Neo-Confucian notions of Taiji (Supreme Ul­timate) and li (principle). Drawing on Aristotelian-Thomist ontology, Ricci argues that only a personal and transcendent Tianzhu can serve as the ultimate source, governor and end of all beings, and that impersonal principles or “nothingness” cannot fulfil this role. I argue that Ricci’s strategy of “supplementing Confucianism” simultaneously creates a space of conceptual convergence and produces structural misreadings of Chinese meta­physical traditions, especially in his treatment of Taiji and li. By distinguishing Ricci’s interpretive accommodation from his doctrinal critique, the article clarifies the philo­sophical logic of Tianzhu Shiyi and reflects on its significance for contemporary discus­sions of inculturation and intercultural theology.20262026-10-30 12:53:01Članek v reviji190609ISSN pri članku: 2232-5131DOI: 10.4312/as.2026.14.3.143-163sl