Translating catechisms, translating cultures : the expansion of Catholicism in the early modern world /  edited by Antje Fluchter and Rouven Wirbser.

"The present volume is the proceedings of the Conference "Comparing Catechisms - Entangling Christian History" (14-16 May 2014) organized by Antje Fluchter"--ECIP galley.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Part 1. Cultural translation, missionary linguistics, and Catholic catechisms in the early modern age. Translating catechisms, translating cultures : an introduction /  Antje Flüchter -- Reflection on language in Christian mission : the significance of communication in the linguistic concepts of José de Acosta SJ and Antonio Ruiz de Montoya SJ /  Renate Dürr -- Wholesome milk and strong meat : Peter Canisius's catechisms and the conversation of Protestant Britain /  Alexandra Walsham -- ǂg Part 2. Translating Christian terms. Inventing new words : Father Jean de Brébeuf's Wendat catechism of 1632 /  John Steckley -- The writing catechism and translation strategies of three Jesuits in south India : Henrique Henriques, Roberto de Nobili and Joseph Beschi /  Anand Amaladass -- ǂg Part 3. Translating Christian practices. António Fernandes and his book on the Virgin Mary : a contribution to the Jesuit-Ethiopian debate over asceticism and matrimony /  Leonardo Cohen -- Roberto Nobili's Vivāha dharma : a case of cultural translation /  Giulia Nardini -- A law too strict? The cultural translation of Catholic marriage in the Jesuit mission to Japan /  Rouven Wirbser -- Christian catechisms and practice in Japan in the era of the Jesuit mission : an intercultural approach /  Takao Abé -- ǂg Part 4. Translating the Christian faith with pictures. From catechisms to prayer books in the early Jesuit China mission : tracing the images the Chinese "should and should not venerate" (16th-17th centuries) /  Ana Carolina Hosne -- Preaching with pictures, transforming memories : catechisms and images as contact zones in sixteenth century new Spain /  John Ødemark.

Translating Catechisms, Translating Cultures' explores the dimensions of early modern transcultural Christianities; the leeway of religious negotiation in and outside of Europe by comparing catechisms and their translation in the context of several Jesuit missionary strategies. The volume challenges the often assumed paramount Europeanness of Western Christianity. In the early modern period the idea of Tridentine Catholicism was translated into many different regions where it was appropriated and adopted to local conditions. Missionary work always entails translation, linguistic as well as cultural, which results in a modification of the content. Catechisms were central instruments to communicate Christian belief and, therefore, they are central media for all kinds of translation processes. The comparative approach (including China, India, Japan, Ethiopia, Northern America and England) enables the evaluation of different factors like power relations, social differentiation, cultural patterns, gender roles etc.

Local access dig.pdf. [Translating Catechisms.pdf]