Cultural accommodation of Christianity to Confucianism in Matteo Ricci’s Tianzhu Shiyi

Lee, Haesung (author)

Matteo 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.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Tianzhu Shiyi, The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven, Matteo Ricci, cultural accommodation of Christianity to Confucianism, burulun
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: Str. 143-163
• Numbering: Vol. 14, no. 3
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-190609
• ISSN on article: 2232-5131
• DOI: 10.4312/as.2026.14.3.143-163
• Publication date in RUL: 05.11.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Asian studies = Azijske študije
• Publisher: Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 2232-5131
• COBISS.SI-ID: 265206272

Licences

• License: CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Description: This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Kulturna prilagoditev krščanstva konfucianizmu v delu Mattea Riccija Tian­zhu Shiyi

Abstract

Delo Mattea Riccija Tianzhu Shiyi (Pravi pomen gospodarja Neba) predstavlja mejnik v jezuitski strategiji kulturne prilagoditve v poznem obdobju dinastije Ming na Kita­jskem. Prispevek preučuje Riccijev program Burulun (»Dopolnitev konfucianizma«) in analizira, kako si Ricci prisvaja konfucijanske koncepte iz obdobja pred dinastijo Qin, kot sta Tian (Nebo) in Shangdi (Vrhovni cesar), hkrati pa usmerja sistematično kritiko budistične praznine (kong), daoističnega nebitja (wu) ter neokonfucijanskih pojmov Tai­ji (Vrhovno pranačelo) in li (struktura). Ricci, ki se opira na aristotelovsko-tomistično ontologijo, trdi, da lahko le osebni in transcendentni Tianzhu služi kot končni vir, vla­dar in cilj vseh bitij, medtem ko neosebna načela ali »praznina« te vloge ne morejo izpolniti. Trdim, da Riccijeva strategija »dopolnjevanja konfucianizma« hkrati ustvarja prostor za konceptualno zbliževanje in povzroča strukturno napačne interpretacije kita­jskih metafizičnih tradicij, zlasti v obravnavi Taijija in lija. Z razlikovanjem Riccijeve interpretativne akomodacije od njegove doktrinarne kritike članek pojasnjuje filozofsko logiko Tianzhu Shiyija ter razmišlja o njegovem pomenu za sodobne razprave o inkul­turaciji in medkulturni teologiji.

• Keywords: Tianzhu Shiyi, Pravi pomen gospodarja Neba, Matteo Ricci, kulturna prilagoditev krščanstva konfucianizmu, burulun