A Research On The Interaction Of Christianity And Confucian Under The Vision Of Chinese Philosophy

This paper stood in the position of Chinese philosophy, to research into the historical process and main contents of "the interaction of Christianity and Confucian", by the methods of "the unification of history and logic","the unification of theory and practice" and "the unification of macro and micro".From a historical perspective, its historical process is divided into three period, Tang and yuan dynasty,Ming and qing dynasty and early Modern period.In the Tang and yuan dynasty, there was few interaction of the Christianity and Confucian, So I focus on summarizing Christian activities at that time,there were two successful experiences,"top-down missionary route" and "outside-inside expression",there were two failure lessons,"the uniqueness of Christian doctrine was not clear"and "the uniqueness of Christians'behaviour was not bright". In the Ming and qing dynasty, the comprehensive interaction went on in two ways, one was the mutual confluence between Christianity and Confucian started from Matteo ricci,with the theme of "add to Confucian" and "adapt to Confucian", hold a belief that "there is the same heart and same truth between east and west"; the other was the conflict of Christianity and Confucian started from Nicolas Longobardi, with the theme of "theocratic power" and "imperial power",as a result of "if names are not rectified,what is said will not sound reasonable;if what is said does not sound reasonable,efforts cannot culminate in success".In the early Modern period,China's social changed dramatically,social trend was unpredictable,and also did "the interaction of Christianity and Confucian", so it should be further subdivided into four stages of development,The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement,the Reform Movement including the Westernization Movement and the Boxer Movement and the Wuxu Reform Movement,the Xinhai Revolution and earlier stage of National Republic of China including the Confucianist Movement and the New Culture Movement and the Anti-Christianity Movement,the Christian Indigenization Movement and the Modern New Confucian Movement.From the view of the logic,"the interaction of Christianity and Confucian" was divided into four philosophical development stages,"adaptive philosophy" by Matteo Ricci which "based in Christianity, use the Confucian","reformative philosophy" by Kang Youwei and Tan Sitong which "based in Confucian, use the Christianity","revolutionary philosophy" by Hong Xiuquan which "Mix Christianity and Confucian, anti-Christianity and anti-Confucian"and by Sun Yat-sen which "based in Christianity and Confucian, carry forward the Christianity and Confucian","indigenized theology" by Zhao Zichen and Xie Fuya which "based in Christianity, adapt Christianity to Confucian", by Xu Songshi and He Shiming which "based in Christianity, adapt Confucian to Christianity". From beginning to end Christian aspects had hold thought initiative, after a logic evolution of "adaptive—reformative—revolutionary—indigenized", the"adaptive philosophy" had got a higher degree of development in the theory form of "indigenized theology".From the macroscopic point of view,the main contents of "the interaction of Christianity and Confucian"were divided into three parts.The first part "from the outside to the inside" to discard the dross and select the essential. Focus on the reason of the integration and conflict between Christianity and Confucian on "Ideas on God and sacrificial" which is the first face of different faiths in mainstream society and the landmark performance that most easily detected.The reason includes the differences or similarities of the following three aspects, Trinity or "three destiny,one morality",monotheistic or polytheistic,Christ centered or China based.The second part "from the inside to the Core",focus on the theory of original sin or good nature which is the central and the most difficult to reconcile of the conflict between Christianity and Confucian on the following three aspects,divine love or the love of humanity,heteronomy ethics or self-discipline ethics, theological ethics or moral theology. After the major theoretical problems and their possible solution were fully revealed,the third part "eliminate the false and retain the true" from within to go out.Focus on the view of this life or afterlife in the social practice between Christianity and Confucian on the following three aspects,"body and soul separated" or "unity of mind and matter", individualism or collectivism,enlightenment by religion or enlightenment by education.With the systematic analysis of the differences and similarities of Christianity and Confucian from the macroscopic point of view,on the one hand,it can help us to understand the overall ideological background of "the interaction of Christianity and Confucian in Chinese history" and get a strategically advantageous position to grasp the specific interactive content, on the other hand,it can help us to get a comprehensive judgment of the advantages and disadvantages of interactive contents between Christianity and Confucian in Chinese history,help us to continue the past and open the future.From the microscopic point of view, I select a representative figure or philosophical system of the main contents of the three parts respectively to expand a more detailed study.Closely related with the first part is Matteo Ricci's "adaptive philosophy", with the theme of "add to Confucian" and "adapt to Confucian".There are three leading cause of his "adaptive philosophy",his perseverance mentation and flexible strategy in order to achieve the ambitious goal, his humanism in background and the Jesuit identity,his discovery and confirmation of the top-down missionary route.There are four aspects of its main content,behavior cater for knowledge, knowledge cater for intent, replace Buddhism to add to Confucianism,replace Neo-Confucianism to add to Confucianism before the Qin Dynasty.It has three main successful experience,virtue is more important than knowledge,the same point is more important than the differences,quality is more important than quantity.In addition,I also analyzed the "revolutionary philosophy" by Hong xiuquan and Sun yat-sen.As the leader of Democratic Revolution in modern China,both applied Confucianism or Christianism to revolutionary practice,but Hong Xiu-quan take the way as "old wine in the new bottle", Christianism just as a "new bottle"and these "old wine"were imperial autocracy and folk religio for him;and Sun Yat-sen take the way as "new wine in the old bottle", Confucianism was an "old bottle"and these "new wine"were people's principles and the theory of "difficult to know and easy to do" for him.Closely related with the second part is the "indigenized theology" by Zhao Zichen, Xie Fuya, Xu Songshi and He Shiming.I think that there were two ways to Integrate "the theory of original sin"with "the theory of good nature" in the Indigenize theological movement of the20th century, one is the "Bottom-up" design from ethics to religion with "personalism" in zhao zichen's indigenized theology,China-based, support "there is a theory of good nature in Christianism" with advocating personality-create and self-salvation; the other is the "top-down" design from religion to ethics with a theory Of "double conscience" and "miss the bulls-eye" in Xu Songshi and He Shiming's indigenized theology,Christ-centered, support "there is a theory of original sin in Confucianism" with the hope for God's grace and Jesus's redemption.The two ways converge at the filial piety which Can breakthrough the Christianity and Confucian:the "top-down" design highlights father's mercy while the "Bottom-up" design highlights children's filial obedience.Closely related with the third part is the "reformative philosophy" by Kang Youwei and Tan Sitong.From a horizontal perspective, with the "harmony of nature and human beings" of agricultural civilization updated to "harmony of planet and human beings" of industrial civilization, and with the truth of management "under the sun" in the traditional sense updated to the truth of management "above the earth" in the modern sense,Kang Youwei refreshing the space of cultivate oneself in traditional Confucianism.At the same time, from a longitudinal perspective, with the "air monism" of the natural world updated to "air monism" of the mechanical world, and with the self-sacrifice in the traditional sense updated to the self-sacrifice in the modern sense, Tan Sitong activating the time of thoroughly transform oneself in traditional Confucianism. For replying the theoretical challenge comes from Christianity, both Kang Youwei and Tan Sitong had been taken the way "based in Confucian, use the Christianity", although they prophetic spirit and the religious feelings are very similar with the faith in pursuit of standing aloft from worldly affairs of Christian, they philosophy mainly reflected Confucian spirit of active social participation.From the theoretical point of view, on the one hand, I conduct a systematic study of the main contents of "the interaction of Christianity and Confucian" not confined to the history of China, but to reach a comprehensive spread to the whole philosophical background of Christianity and Confucian, with "explicit comparison" and "external criticism" by "intrinsic compare" and "immanent critique". On the other hand, the systematic study of the historical process of "the interaction of Christianity and Confucian" not confined to stage division, but try to dig In-depth and recognize prudently on the "representative" of the representative figure and thinking of each stage, on this basis, I hope to be able to sum up the experiences and lessons of each stage.From the practical point of view, there are three practical goals in this dissertation. Firstly, I conduct a systematic study of "the interaction of Christianity and Confucian in Chinese history" as a problem awareness to provide my personal opinion upon system planning of the discipline construction and writing paradigm of Chinese philosophy in Chinese academic circles, and to provide a reference reading material for them to digest Christianism and respond to contemporary problems by ideological creation. Secondly, fully expand the conflict and integration "the interaction of Christianity and Confucian" it would be conducive to two groups, one is the christian or other religious ethics practitioner, the other is ordinary worker related to the field of Christianity and Confucian, I hope to help them solve certain physical and mental distress or confusion hardship, if they can be inspired while reading this study. Thirdly, looking back at history is to promote prosperity and harmony of the community in the future, after the logic evolution of "Adaptive—Reformative—Revolutionary—Indigenized","the interaction of Christianity and Confucian" entered a new period of dialogue among civilizations in the world, Christianity and Confucian and other religions will join hands to build a Global Ethics,"the interaction of Christianity and Confucian in Chinese history" teaches us that when we are in the dialogue among civilizations all of the world and in the building of Global Ethics, in the theoretically we should be holding a open mind of the dictum that "find your traditional truth, and that of others, share the traditional truth, and achieve unity" and in practice adhere to a code of conduct of the dictum that "find your beauty, and that of others, share the beauty, and achieve unity".