Matteo Ricci And Ernst Faber’s Understanding Of Confucian Ideology

After Ming Dynasty, some of the foreigners were attracted by the mysterious Orient, and some of them were missionaries, and they needed to open up a new place to do their missionary work. In history, however, the missionaries have been to China for many times, Christianity has always been drifted away by the mainstream of Chinese, and it was closely related to Confucianism’s entrenched position in China. Confucianism was founded by Confucius, and "benevolence" was considered as the ideological core. After thousands of years, Confucianism became China’s mainstream and considered as the spirit of the Chinese people. According to priority situation of Confucianism, Missionaries began to change their missionary strategies. They tried to get a deep understanding of Chinese traditional customs and exerted their effort to extend their knowledge of Confucianism. They also took the method of "Use the Chinese Way to Attract Chinese People" to pave the way for missionary work.In my thesis, I select two missionaries who came to China in different periods-Matteo Ricci and Ernst Faber. My research will focus on analyzing their understanding of "benevolence" and "filial piety" in Confucianism. By study of The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven, Civilization, China and Christian and Ernst Faber’s Study of Confucian Classics, I want to explore the difference of their views about Confucianism and how their study of Confucianism influenced the communication of Chinese and western culture.The full text is divided into four chapters. The first chapter is the introduction, mainly about the description of the topic, research content, research goal and significance, etc. The second to the fourth chapter is the main part of the thesis.The second chapter mainly discusses Matteo Ricci and his The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven. His views of "benevolence" and "filial piety" were analyzed.The third chapter mainly discusses Faber’s view of Confucianism. Through the study of Civilization, China and Christian and Ernst Faber’s Study of Confucian Classics, I analyzed his ideas of Confucianism.In the fourth chapter, Matteo Ricci and Faber’s views of Confucianism were compared and their similarities and differences and the reasons of them were also analyzed.Through comparative analysis, I found that Matteo Ricci and Faber’s understandings of "benevolence" and "filial piety" in Confucianism have both the similarities and differences.Matteo Ricci came to China in the late Ming Dynasty. He developed a missionary strategy of "Combine Christianity with Confucianism","Add Christianity to Confucianism", which has profound influence. He studied the similarities of Catholicism and Confucianism, For example, Matteo Ricci recognized the Confucian "benevolence", and not against the Chinese tradition of ancestor worship. At the same time, Matteo Ricci added shortcomings of Confucianism to a certain extent.After hundreds years of "Rites Controversy", missionary Young John Allen sumed up the development of Matteo Ricci’s missionary mode and put forward the "Confucius plus Jesus" mode. Faber was the practitioner of this mode. Through analysis, I concluded that Faber’s view of Confucianism in Civilization, China and Christian and Ernst Faber’s Study of Confucian Classics is different from that of Matteo Ricci.Firstly, Faber didn’t agree with China traditional funeral, but the fundamental difference is that their attitude towards Confucianism--Matteo Ricci always with Catholicism with Confucianism, and Faber spent an "awakened Chinese man" as the starting point. In order to change the situation of China in the late Qing Dynasty as his mission, He put forward that only Christ can change China. In his mind, the western ideological system is better than that of Confucianism, and he attempts to change China by the western advanced science and technology and management methods.The reason why Matteo Ricci and Faber’s understanding of Chinese traditional thoughts has similarities and differences can be attributed to the influence of the history background--Matteo Ricci is known as the first man to missionize in China. His attitude determines whether he can dominate in Confucian China to stand firm and not be driven; and Faber came to China after the second Opium War. Then the position of missionaries was improved by the effects of the war, and China is also in decline, so he had the attitude of changing China.Their learning and study of Chinese classics have made an important contribution to the development of Sinology in western. Research missionaries’ understanding of Confucianism is important for Chinese and Western cultural communication.