Subject: Nestorian monument--China--Translation--History and criticism

Jesuit fish in Chinese nets: Athanasius Kircher and the translation of the Nestorian Tablet
AuthorBillings, Timothy James, 1963-
PlaceBerkeley
PublisherUniversity of California Press
CollectionRicci Institute Library
Edition
LanguageEnglish
TypeExtract (PDF)
Series
ShelfDigital Archives
Call NumberBX154.C4 B566 2004d
Descriptiondig.pdf [42 p. : ill.]
NoteJesuit Fish in Chinese Nets: Athanasius Kircher and the Translation of the Nestorian Tablet / Timothy Billings.
Extract. Originally published in: Representations, No. 87 (Summer, 2004), pp. 1-42.
Local access dig.pdf. [Billings-Kircher Nestorian Tablet.pdf]
Online (Subscription) at JSTOR.

ABSTRACT: "This essay offers a 'sinographic' reading of Athanasius Kircher's bilingual critical edition of a famous Tang dynasty monument (discovered in 1625) about Nestorian Christians, which frames the material in China Illustrata (1667). The author argues that Kircher's mode of translation is a doctrinal polemic that attempts to reconstruct an imaginary originary text from the Chinese inscription in order to contain unorthodox meanings that interfere with the Jesuit identity that is positively projected onto the stone."--JSTOR note.

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