François Noël’s Contribution to the Western Understanding of Chinese Thought: <Emphasis Type="Italic">Taiji sive natura</Emphasis> in the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Philosophia sinica</Emphasis> (1711)

Jesuits in China adopted key Confucian terms to express Christian notions; for example, Tian 天 or Shangdi 上帝 was considered an equivalent for God, and guishen 鬼神 for angels. A Terms controversy started among the Jesuits and other missionaries and developed into the famous Rites Controversy. However, all the missionaries agreed in rejecting the Neo-Confucian concept of Taiji 太極, which was believed to be materialistic, pantheistic, or atheistic. The Flemish Jesuit François Noël (1651–1729), after a careful study of Neo-Confucian texts, interpreted Taiji with the Western concept of nature, and even claimed that it held theistic meaning. We shall analyze and evaluate here this early Western attempt in giving a positive meaning to Taiji.     

Is Liang Shuming 梁漱溟 Ultimately a Confucian or Buddhist?

Liang Shuming has been proclaimed the forerunner of Contemporary Neo-Confucianism. However, assessing Liang’s identity appears a much more complicated task. Taking a closer look at his copious writings on religion, this paper shows how Liang conceived the role of religion at the different steps of humanity’s quest. Applying this frame of understanding to twentieth century China, Liang saw a discrepancy between the task required in our present time and what the future was holding. Therefore, while he engaged the world in a certain way, he was still holding privately another belief. This “secret” of Liang reshuffles traditional boundaries between the secular and transcendence.     

从法国马克思主义看基督宗教的价值——试论伽罗蒂的《从诅咒到对话:一个马克思主义者向大公会议说话》

马克思主义与基督宗教之间的对话已经有了很长的历史.在欧洲上个世纪60年代发生了共产党与天主教会的官方对话,两方派谴他们自己的最高知识分子来进行对话.通过伽罗蒂<从诅咒到对话:一个马克思主义者向大公会议说话>(1965年),本文介绍这种对话的历史思想背景,并分析这个对话在理论上所面对的困难.虽然对话在时间上比较短,不过,它有了长远的影响,在理论上有很高的价值.