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Confucianism, Christianity, culture
By Wan Lixin |
September 26, 2009, Saturday
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IF human beings are to survive, they have to go back, some 2,500 years, to the era of Confucius, according to professor Xavier Walter.
This is the belief Walter shared with an audience of 300 Chinese at a forum titled "Confucius' Influence on Western Philosophy and Culture," sponsored by the Wenhui Daily on Tuesday.
Walter believed that many Chinese are still unknowingly practicing Confucian doctrines, and many Westerners are still under the wrong impression that Chinese live under the tyranny of patriarchy.
He believed that the central ideas of filial piety and fraternity as emphasized by Confucius connote a kind of responsibility based on experience and studies, and are eminently superior to individualism as enshrined by the West.
Walter explained that from the perspective of Christianity, Confucian doctrine is full of beliefs, hope and mercy, which are universals that should be morally exemplary for the whole world today.
Walter said contemporary dismissal of Confucianism as ossified can be refuted by a Confucian tenet that junzi zhou er bubi, or "a gentleman can see a question from all sides without bias."
He spoke highly of the achievements of Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), who had spent 20 years turning himself into a xiru, or Confucian Westerner, speaking the Chinese language, studying Confucian classics, and adopting Chinese dress.
But Ricci's intention was still to spread Christianity, and his observation that Christian doctrine is actually compatible with Confucianism proceeded ultimately from that intention.
Ricci confirmed that the Chinese people always believed in god, and that Christianity (in his view) is simply the most perfect manifestation of that faith, going so far as to suggest that the Chinese shangdi, literally "Lord of Heaven," is identical with Jesus Christ.
Ricci owed his success, and failure, to his "accommodation method" -- an attempt to harmonize the Christian doctrine with the Confucian teachings.
Ricci simply regarded Confucianism as a set of moral codes, and this approach was consistent with the Catholic Church's attitudes towards anything non-Christian.
Zheng Ruolin, Wenhui Daily's France-based correspondent, commented at the forum that in France there are two kinds of Sinologists, those who know Chinese and those who don't, and Walter belonged to the latter category.
Zheng observed that ironically the latter kind of Sinologists can often better grasp the essentials of Chinese culture, while the Chinese-reading Sinologists are often bogged down in energy-sapping details.
Professor Gao Xuanyang from Tongji University, another speaker at the forum, commented that Walter's interpretation of Confucianism marks a transition from traditional Western perspective based on Western cultural superiority and ethno-centrism, to a new stance of dialogue with Chinese culture and Confucianism.
This restores hope for resuscitation and reconstruction of Confucianism in a chaotic world.
But Gao did not think that "universals" are the right terms to describe Confucian doctrine, as the term universal is more evocative of some Christians' ardour of aggressively Christianizing the world.
As a matter of fact, in the past the Westerners have been diligently propagating Western values as universals, and seeking to reconfigure the world in terms of these values-universals.
Here Gao cited French philosopher Jacques Derrida's (1930-2004) observation that Western Caucasian ethnocentrists are sparing no efforts in bleaching the whole of human history, and today's Asia has been bleached as "east" by Westerners against their standards, and further designated "far east, middle east, and near east" as measured against their distance from the "center."
This approach is typical of the ardour of missionaries in spreading of Christianity.
Gao confirmed the value of Confucianism in a world devoid of beliefs and ideals.
But for that to happen Confucianism must not be confined to the museum and library.
That's a formidable task, considering that Confucianism had been repeatedly battered, particularly since the New Culture movement about a century ago.
This is the belief Walter shared with an audience of 300 Chinese at a forum titled "Confucius' Influence on Western Philosophy and Culture," sponsored by the Wenhui Daily on Tuesday.
Walter believed that many Chinese are still unknowingly practicing Confucian doctrines, and many Westerners are still under the wrong impression that Chinese live under the tyranny of patriarchy.
He believed that the central ideas of filial piety and fraternity as emphasized by Confucius connote a kind of responsibility based on experience and studies, and are eminently superior to individualism as enshrined by the West.
Walter explained that from the perspective of Christianity, Confucian doctrine is full of beliefs, hope and mercy, which are universals that should be morally exemplary for the whole world today.
Walter said contemporary dismissal of Confucianism as ossified can be refuted by a Confucian tenet that junzi zhou er bubi, or "a gentleman can see a question from all sides without bias."
He spoke highly of the achievements of Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), who had spent 20 years turning himself into a xiru, or Confucian Westerner, speaking the Chinese language, studying Confucian classics, and adopting Chinese dress.
But Ricci's intention was still to spread Christianity, and his observation that Christian doctrine is actually compatible with Confucianism proceeded ultimately from that intention.
Ricci confirmed that the Chinese people always believed in god, and that Christianity (in his view) is simply the most perfect manifestation of that faith, going so far as to suggest that the Chinese shangdi, literally "Lord of Heaven," is identical with Jesus Christ.
Ricci owed his success, and failure, to his "accommodation method" -- an attempt to harmonize the Christian doctrine with the Confucian teachings.
Ricci simply regarded Confucianism as a set of moral codes, and this approach was consistent with the Catholic Church's attitudes towards anything non-Christian.
Zheng Ruolin, Wenhui Daily's France-based correspondent, commented at the forum that in France there are two kinds of Sinologists, those who know Chinese and those who don't, and Walter belonged to the latter category.
Zheng observed that ironically the latter kind of Sinologists can often better grasp the essentials of Chinese culture, while the Chinese-reading Sinologists are often bogged down in energy-sapping details.
Professor Gao Xuanyang from Tongji University, another speaker at the forum, commented that Walter's interpretation of Confucianism marks a transition from traditional Western perspective based on Western cultural superiority and ethno-centrism, to a new stance of dialogue with Chinese culture and Confucianism.
This restores hope for resuscitation and reconstruction of Confucianism in a chaotic world.
But Gao did not think that "universals" are the right terms to describe Confucian doctrine, as the term universal is more evocative of some Christians' ardour of aggressively Christianizing the world.
As a matter of fact, in the past the Westerners have been diligently propagating Western values as universals, and seeking to reconfigure the world in terms of these values-universals.
Here Gao cited French philosopher Jacques Derrida's (1930-2004) observation that Western Caucasian ethnocentrists are sparing no efforts in bleaching the whole of human history, and today's Asia has been bleached as "east" by Westerners against their standards, and further designated "far east, middle east, and near east" as measured against their distance from the "center."
This approach is typical of the ardour of missionaries in spreading of Christianity.
Gao confirmed the value of Confucianism in a world devoid of beliefs and ideals.
But for that to happen Confucianism must not be confined to the museum and library.
That's a formidable task, considering that Confucianism had been repeatedly battered, particularly since the New Culture movement about a century ago.
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