The Jesuit Longobardo’s interpretation of the Neo-Confucian concepts of li and qi

Published in Religions 2025, 16(12), 1559

Abstract:
This article addresses the most important translation issue in the first philosophic and religious dialogue between Europe and China: is there a Chinese equivalent for the Christian concept of God? We approach the question from the perspective of comparative philosophy. We start by examining the historical and theoretical context in which the Jesuit Niccolò Longobardo developed his disagreement with Matteo Ricci regarding the question as to whether the Confucianism is an atheism. We then analyse the interpretation that equates li and qi, respectively, with the Aristotelian notions of accident and prime matter. After showing how Longobardo reduces neo-Confucianism to Presocratic atheism in an Aristotelian manner, we propose an alternative perspective that can reconcile Christianism and neo-Confucianism with regard to the concept of first cause.

Western missionaries’ perception of the Confucian notion of Li

Published in Journal of Confucian Philosophy and Culture - Vol. 44 No. 0, pp. 77-101

Abstract:
This study aims to examine the perception of Confucian thought through an analysis of the translation terms of li 禮 in the Western missionaries’ translations of the Four Books. Li is a key concept in Confucian philosophy, as the foundation of the philosophical system, and the procedures supporting it. Furthermore, li has significant religious connotations, particularly in ancestral rites and ceremonies. Therefore, the translation of li was important to the Western missionaries, and they struggled to find an appropriate translation for li. In this study, various translations made in Western languages were examined and classified according to the semantic characteristics of li. In The Doctrine of Mean, the initially translated book, Jesuits missionaries focused on li as an external procedure, translating it as ritus or ceremonia. Later, in The Analects and Mencius translations, diverse translations emerged. First, officium, ratio, modus, and honestas represented that li must be based on ren 仁, requires internal morality, and is a component of human nature, the Four Sprouts. Next, urbanitas and civilitas reflected that li is one of the qualities that
people of high status or social reputation have. Last, decorum and “propriety” emphasized that the ultimate goal of li means harmony. Due to difference in the scope of meaning between the translations and original concept of li, and the tendency of Protestants to avoid philosophical and religious term, “ceremony” and “propriety” eventually became the translation terms for li until today. This study demonstrates the process of translating li and its interpretation in the West, which represents Western understandings of the Confucian culture and the East. 

World-perfection and the first being : introduction of scholastic debates into late Ming China by the Jesuits / Hailin Zhu

Published in Journal of Jesuit Studies vol. 13 issue 1 

Also available through Boston College Libraries

Abstract:
This paper examines the intellectual encounter between Jesuit Scholastic metaphysics and Late Ming neo-Confucian cosmology, focusing on the question of the world’s perfection as introduced in the 1628 work Huanyou quan (Explanation of the great being)—a translation of the Jesuit Coimbra commentary on Aristotle’s De coelo. The introduction of these Western philosophical ideas into Late Ming China, where cosmology was traditionally based on cyclical transformations governed by Li (first principle) and Qi (vital force), sparked a profound intellectual exchange. It prompted Chinese intellectuals to re-evaluate their own metaphysical first being critically. While the Jesuit arguments framed the world’s perfection in terms of divine creation, neo-Confucians emphasized the cosmos’s impermanence and dynamic interplay. The Jesuit emphasis on moral order and theodicy resonated with Confucian concerns about cosmic harmony, leading some Chinese scholars to reinterpret traditional cosmological ideas. This encounter, although it did not reconcile all differences, pushed Chinese scholars to refine their views and contributed to a broader understanding of cosmological perfection that integrated both Western and Chinese thought. Thus, the paper demonstrates that this Sino-Western dialogue was most productive not in achieving doctrinal agreement but in stimulating a sophisticated cross-cultural critique that refined metaphysical arguments on both sides.