The author focuses on one of the most fascinating texts of the 17th and 18th century China mission - the Tianxue benyi (The Original Meaning of the Heavenly Teachings) and the more elaborate Gujin jingtian jian (Mirror on the Worship of Heaven in Ancient Times and Nowadays), both written and compiled by the Jesuit Joachim Bouvet (1656-1730) with the assistance of Chinese converts. The two works were even translated into Latin in order to support the Jesuit position in the Chinese Rites Controversy in the Roman Curia. Through them, Bouvet presented the Jesuit missionary strategy of accommodation in a nutshell: He aimed at introducing Christianity in the terms of Chinese traditional culture. Thus, Bouvet's approach can be characterised as an early attempt at a contextualized theology which is meaningful even for contemporary discussions. The present study offers an introduction to Bouvet's thoughts and works and their respective historical and theological context, a transcription of the Latin texts - the Coelestis Disciplinæ vera notitia and the De cultu coelesti Sinarum veterum & modernorum - with an annotated German translation.

Autorentext

Claudia von Collani is an adjunct professor for Missiology and Dialogue of Religions at the Faculty for Catholic Theology of the University of Würzburg, Germany. Her research focus is on East Asian missionary history, in particular the Jesuit China mission and Chinese Figurism. Besides ten books (recently a two-volume edition of Kilian Stumpf's Acta Pekinensia, co-edited with Paul Rule) she has published numerous articles, on topics such as Jesuit theatre and Jesuit Yijing studies, and contributed biographies to the Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche (3rd edition) and to the Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon.