"Non-elite Chinese Catholic converts' formation of pragmatic identity in the course of religious interactions : a new analysis of a 17th century manuscript Bingyin huike 丙寅會課 (Teaching sessions in 1686)" / Zhenxu Fan

This article belongs to the Special Issue "Chinese Christianity: From Society to Culture," Religions 16 (2025)

Abstract:

Through a critical analysis of one section of a 17th century Chinese manuscript, this article examines the formation of pragmatic identity of non-elite Roman Catholic Chinese converts, who simultaneously identified themselves as Confucians and Catholics within the culture of “Three Teachings synthesized into one system” (sanjiao heyi 三教合一) in traditional Chinese society. This investigation explores how these converts formed their pragmatic identity during their adaptation of Catholic beliefs and practices into a complex and dynamic context of interreligious interactions. The texts under examination are two essays in the Bian chizhai (辨持齋, Debating on Fasting) section in the Bingyin huike (丙寅會課, Teaching Sessions in 1686), composed in a Chinese Catholic seminarian community established and administered by Jesuit missionaries in Nanjing (南京). This interdisciplinary study not only provides a critical examination of the manuscript, which has not yet been extensively researched, but also offers a novel understanding of non-elite converts’ identity formation through the lens of pragmatic identity theory, drawing inspiration from American Pragmatism. It contributes to our contemporary understanding of non-elite Chinese Christian converts’ quest for identity amidst intercultural interactions between mainstream and marginal religions in 17th century Qing China.

Silent Force : native converts in the Catholic China Mission / edited by Rachel Lu Yan, Philip Vanhaelemeersch.
"....presented to the Eighth Symposium of the Ferdinand Verbiest Institute, held at Vaalbeek, Leuven, from August 31-Sept. 3, 2004" -— preface.
Includes bibliographical references.

Preface / Noël Golvers & Willy Vande Walle -– The life and thought ot seventeenth century Chinese Christians / Paul Rule –- The formation of Chinese Diocesan religious congregations and Sisterhoods in the late Qing: some preliminary observations on an elusive phenomenon / R.G. Tiedemann –- Confucian practices and Christian principles in the Qing period: a Jesuit pastor, Francis Xavier Do Rosario He Tianzhang (1667-1736) / John W. Witek -– Chinese clergy and their European colleagues in Sichuan, 1702-1800 / Robert Entenmann –- Per Pedes Apostolorum: Bishop Johannes Müllener CM in Sichuan / Claudia von Collani –- The Chinese assistants of the Jesuit Procurators from China in Europe: the case of (Dominicus and ) Shen Fu-tsung / Noël Golvers -– The Chinese priests of the College of Naples and the promotion of the indigenous clergy (18-19th centuries) / Gianni Criveller –- Fr. Juan Feng Wenzi, Fuanese, out-and-out missionary in difficult times / Miguel Angel San Roman -– The contribution of the Chinese clergy to the growth of the Catholic Church among the Hakka people of Guangdong Province, 1845-1961 / Peter J. Barry -– On the authenticity and significance of the Pro-Catholic memorial by Censor Huang Entong in 1848 / Weiying Ku –- Samt'andjimba (1816-1900): a faithful servant, a guide and catechist of Vincentian and C.I.C.M. missionaries among the Mongols / Jeroom Heyndrickx -– The missionary as a weather-forecaster: meteorological observations in the Chinese mission stations of C.I.C.M. (1873-1935) / Dirk Van Overmeire -– Banditry in early Republican Gansu: the attacks of Bai Lang on the C.I.C.M. mission stations in Qingshui, Fuqing, Qinzhou, Huixian and Chengxian (1914) / Koen De Ridder –- The difficult growth of the South Shaanxi Vicariate at the end of the Qing Empire / Angelo S. Lazzarotto -– Father Jacobus Zhang Weiqi (1856-1935): an analysis of the De Veris et Falsis (邪正理考 1907) / Patrick Taveirne –- "We have been thrown into the Vicariate". Passionists in West Hunan: the struggle to bring to life a Chinese Voice of Faith, 1922-1926 / Robert E. Carbonneau –- Who inspired Luke Chen, the pioneer Chinese Christian artist? An analysis of old papers and new findings / Anthony Sui-Ki Lam -– "With the Chinese, for the Chinese" : the Hungarian Jesuit mission in Puzi, Taiwan / Péter Vámos -– Dong Guangqing and the Chinese Franciscans of Wuhan in the Fifties / Elisa Giunipero –- Father Didacus Yang Ti: a priest, historian and humanist (Province Anhui, County Jin Zhai 1914-1994) / Mark Fang Zhirong, S.J. –- The Chinese martyrs among the 120 martyrs of China, canonized on the 1st of October 2000 / Arnulf Camps, OFM.