JEMC online at Gleeson Library.
Posted on Academia.edu.
DOI: 10.1515/jemc-2014-0005

Abstract:
In the history of the Catholic mission in China from the arrival of the Jesuits in 1582 until the middle of the twentieth century, there was no Catholic Bible translation available. Nonetheless, the presence of various Chinese translations of biblical passages is significant. Among them is the Shengjing zhijie 聖經直解 (Direct/Literal Explanation of the Holy Scripture; ca. 1636–1642), written by the Portuguese Jesuit Manuel Dias (junior) 陽瑪諾 (1574–1659). It is an early translation of the gospel readings from Mass, accompanied with long commentaries and arranged in the order of the liturgical calendar. So far, this biblical, liturgical, and commentarial text has hardly been studied. This paper aims to contextualize the Shengjing zhijie in the history of both the European biblical tradition and the Chinese classical tradition from a cross-cultural perspective. Focusing on the formal traits, this paper associates the textual features of Shengjing zhijie with multiple European and Chinese sources. The scriptures and commentaries composed in the Shengjing zhijie demonstrate that this text is a creative integration of the European tradition and the Chinese tradition.

See also original text (ARSI Jap-Sin I, 70) with Fr. Albert Chan description.
Local access dig.pdf. [Chen Yanrong-Shengjing zhijie.pdf]

“….Exegesis was not excluded, however, as appears from Shengjing zhijie 聖經直解 (1632-1642) composed by Manuel Dias, Jr. This large work (14 juan) translates and comments on the Gospel readings of each Sunday and the major religious feast days. The commentaries are said to be based on Commentaria in Concordiam et Historiam Evangelicam (4 vols; v.1, 1599) composed by Sebastianus Barradas SJ (1543-1615), who was a teacher at the universities of Coimbra and Evora, and who was also a popular preacher. This was an extensive and well-known commentary (34 reprints until 1742). Manuel Dias, however, does not appear to have translated Barradas’ commentary, even though he may have used it as one of his sources. The actual use of Dias’ book is not entirely clear. It is uncertain, for instance, whether it was ever used in liturgy. The difficult style made it inappropriate for public reading. Shengjing guangyi 聖經廣益 (1740), compiled by Joseph Anne Marie de Moyriac de Mailla 馮秉正 nevertheless shows that the same translations could be used in prayer life. It takes its inspiration from Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises in which Biblical texts were used for meditation. The ordinary form of the yearly Spiritual Exercises was an eight day retreat. Shengjing guangyi is a handbook for such a retreat, constructed on the basis of the Sunday readings. These readings were simply copied from Shengjing zhijie.” -- Cf. Standaert, Handbook of Christianity in China, v. 1, p. 623-624.

Jap-Sin I, 70
Shengjing zhijie 聖經直解
Translated by Yang Manuo 陽瑪諾 (Manuel Dias Jr.).
Fourteen juan. Chinese bamboo paper in seven volumes. Published by the Catholic Church of Wulin 武林天主堂印. No date of publication.

The cover bears the title in Chinese with a Latin inscription: “Explicatio Evangeliorum | totius anni.”

Cf. Pfister, p. 109; Hsü 1949, pp. 23–24; Courant 6729–6730 (Hangzhou edition, without date), 6722–6723 (reprint, Peking 1739), 6740–6741 (reprint, Peking 1790); Couplet, p. 13; Sommervogel, vol. III, col. 44, no. 3; JWC 1:175; DMB 1:415.
Source: Albert Chan, Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, p. 123.