A Study of Comparative Philosophy of Religion on "Creatio ex Nihilo" and "Sheng Sheng (Birth Birth, 生生)" / by Bin Song.

Dissertation, Ph.D. (Religious Studies)—Boston University, 2018.
Bibliography: p. 432-441.

Alternate title (per ProQuest):  關於“無中生有(creatio ex nihilo)”與“生生”的比較宗教哲學研究

ABSTRACT

The question whether the Ruist (Confucian) idea of Tian (heaven) or Taiji (ultimate polarity) is transcendent in comparison to Christian ideas of the Creator-God remains controversial in the history of Christian-Ru interaction. To tackle the debate, this dissertation investigates the intellectual  histories of “creatio ex nihilo” in the Greek-European Christian tradition and of “sheng sheng” (birth birth) in the Chinese Ru tradition, and compares these ideas with a methodology combining the pragmatist use of “vague category” and the hermeneutical “situational thinking.” The emergence of the idea “creatio ex nihilo” from Plato to Augustine championed the “ontological dependence” of cosmic realities upon the Creator-God. Divine creation was typically thought of as one process whereby divine intelligence implants ideas and forms into an inchoate form of being  so that varying realities are created. However, Descartes’ theory of “created eternal truth” conceptualized divine creation as not being constrained by any rule of intelligence. This Cartesian voluntarism pushes the theistic vocabularies of creation to their limit such that it allows us to delineate a de-anthropomorphic sub-tradition within the main theistic tradition of “creatio ex nihilo.” Descartes’ thought was refined by Schleiermacher and Tillich. 

There were two distinctive ancient Chinese cosmologies: one Daoist pioneered by the Dao De Jing, and the other is Ruist initiated by the Appended Texts in the Classic of Change. When Wang Bi employed the ontology in the Appended Texts to interpret the cosmogony of Dao De Jing, his understanding of Taiji influenced the Ru tradition to reach an idea of creation similar to “creatio ex nihilo.” Accordingly, Taiji’s creativity can be characterized as “generatio ex nihilo,” an unconditioned constantly creative cosmic power without a creator standing behind the scene. Wang Bi’s thought was refined by Zhou Dunyi and Zhu Xi. As this project demonstrates, the Ru tradition of “generatio ex nihilo” provides the most apt comparison to the de-anthropomorphic sub-tradition of “creatio ex nihilo.” If we define transcendence as what is indeterminate and ontologically unconditioned by the existing world, Taiji’s “sheng sheng” conceptualized as “generatio ex nihilo” is even more transcendent than the mainstream theistic Christian understanding of divine creation.  

Link to ProQuest online record

Local access dig. pdf. [Song Bin-Creatio.pdf]

Manuscript letter in two parts. Some pdf frames represent two leaves of the original.
Title from ARSI page link.

Jap-Sin IV, 5 D

[ Editors’ note: When the author described Jap-Sin IV, 5, its folder D was not in the usual place and folder E only contained the Bouvet letters numbered 6–13. At present folder D contains only one document at the end of which is written “collectionem hanc textuum Sinicorum eorumque versionem factam a Patre Joanne Alexio Gollet s.j. et novem paginas continentem, legi et approbo. Kieou Kiang, die 11 octobris 1725, Julianus Placidus Hervieu s.j. - Japonis Missionis PP. Gallorum in Sinis.” Folder E now also contains the Bouvet letters numbered 1–5, which formerly were in the then missing folder D and are not described in this catalogue. ]

Source: Albert Chan, S.J., Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, p. 524.

Local access dig. pdf. in folder ARSI Jap-Sin I-IV folder under Jap-Sin IV-5D.pdf]
Online at ARSI via Internet Archive.

Introduction. Aim ; Sources ; Method ; Previous research ; Motivation ; Structure and notational convention -- The preconditions for the dialogue. The legacy of Matteo Ricci for the Confucian-Christian dialogue ; Confucianism ; The Confucians who have mostly commented on the Christian doctrine of salvation ; The Christian concept of God in Chinese terms -- Confucian ideas of the Saviour in Christianity : the assimilation of God to the Chinese concepts of shangdi and tian. The neo-Confucian ideas of the assimilation; Cultural nationalist Confucian ideas of the assimilation; Modern Confucian ideas of the assimilation -- Confucian ideas of the object of salvation in Christianity : created humanity and its status. Human beings as part of creation; The status of human beings -- Confucian ideas of the means of salvation in Christianity. The existence of transcendence in Confucianism; The transcendece of the Christian God and that of the Chinese heaven; The superiority of the internal transcendence to the external transcendence -- Basic problems in the Confucian-Christian dialogue. The hidden differences between Confucian and Christian ways of thinking; Four obstacles in the Confucian-Christian dialogue; Affirmative elements in the Confucian-Christian dialogue.

Available online via USF Gleeson Library.
Local access dig.pdf. [Huang-Confronting Confucian Christian 2009.pdf]
See also Huang's 2006 work based on his dissertation.

The fascinating God : a challenge to modern Chinese theology presented by a text on the name of God written by a 17th century Chinese student of theology / Nicolas Standaert.
Originally presented as the author's thesis--Fujen Catholic University.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 147-[154])

Introduction: 17th century Chinese students of theology--I. Yan Mo and the Ditiankao: Yan Mo's life, writings--Ditiankao: versions, title, date, arrangement of the text--difference between versions A and B--Translation: list of quotations--personal discussion--Analysis: Idea of God in Personal Discussion--Sources: hermeneutical argument--Attributes of God: proofs in Chinese Classics--God and the human being: historical argument--Without beginning, Trinity, Creation: textual approach--Heaven and Master of Heaven: literary approach--Difference between Yan Mo and the Song commentaries. II: On the idea of the Dieties "Heaven" or "Lord" in the Book of Documents, the Book of Odes, The Analects and the Mencius--Methodology: Question of the texts--Heaven and the human being--Book of Documents--Book of Odes--Analects--Mencius--Classics and the Ditiankao--Bibliography.

"In connection with the Rites Controversy towards the end of the seventeenth century, several Chinese literati wrote important essays explaining the issues from a Chinese perspective .... Yan Mo (baptised as Paul, suigong 1709) wrote ... Di Tian kao 帝天考 (Investigation of Lord and Heaven), a discussion of the usage of Tianzhu 天主 (Lord of Heaven) with the terms Tian and Shangdi as found in the Classics such as Shujing and Shijing, as well as the works of Confucius and Mencius..." Cf. Standaert, Handbook of Christianity in China, v.1, p.434.

"In connection with the Rites Controversy towards the end of the seventeenth century, several Chinese literati wrote important essays explaining the issues from a Chinese perspective .... Yan Mo (baptised as Paul, suigong 1709) wrote ... Di Tian kao 帝天考 (Investigation of Lord and Heaven), a discussion of the usage of Tianzhu 天主(Lord of Heaven) with the terms Tian 天and Shangdi 上帝 as found in the classics such as the Shujing 書經 and Shijing 詩經, as well as the works of Confucius and Mencius.-- Cf. Standaert, Handbook of Christianity in China, vol. 1, p. 434.

本書據梵蒂岡敎廷圖書館藏手抄本編輯整理.
Cover illustration: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. Rac. Gen. Or. III-248 (10)
明末淸初耶穌会思想文献汇编 = An expository collection of the Christian philosophical works between the end of the Ming dynasty and the beginning of the Qing dynasty in China ; 第38册.

Local access dig.pdf. in folder: [Andrew Chung Series].

"In connection with the Rites Controversy towards the end of the seventeenth century, several Chinese literati wrote important essays explaining the issues from a Chinese perspective .... Yan Mo (baptised as Paul, suigong 1709) wrote ... Di Tian kao 帝天考 (Investigation of Lord and Heaven), a discussion of the usage of Tianzhu 天主(Lord of Heaven) with the terms Tian 天 and Shangdi 上帝 as found in the classics such as the Shujing 書經 and Shijing 詩經, as well as the works of Confucius and Mencius.-- Cf. Standaert, Handbook of Christianity in China, vol. 1, p. 434.

Full bio-bibliographical note: Ad Dudink & Nicolas Standaert, Chinese Christian Texts Database (CCT-Database).