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Abstract
Neither the theological perspective of church history nor the “impact–response” framework can sufficiently explain why Catholicism was able to take root in Joseon. Early Joseon converts from Confucianism received a contextualized understanding of Catholicism transformed by Chinese thought. One can describe this as Confucianized or Sinicized Catholicism. The first missionary sent to the Joseon Peninsula was Zhou Wenmo, a Chinese Catholic priest whose interpretation of the development and historical memories of Chinese Catholicism significantly shaped the ways of Joseon’s early converts from Confucianism. China’s historical narrative was so profound that the converted Confucians and other early converts embraced Catholicism, and the vision was constructed from the historical memories of the late Ming and early Qing. Nevertheless, this vision of nationalizing Catholicism was shattered by consecutive persecutions after 1801.
Abstract
Soon after the first contact between sixteenth-century Europeans and the Ming state, European traders, travelers, and missionaries tried to understand the Chinese language. This chapter outlines three models that these earliest translators employed in their attempts to understand Chinese books, maps, and religious texts despite the significant cultural and linguistic barriers. Native Chinese speakers were employed by Europeans; teams of Chinese and European translators worked together outside China; and European missionaries systematically mastered Chinese through extensive “study abroad.” This chapter explores how each of these translation models reflected deeper hierarchical and social relationships between the European and Chinese actors involved—a fact reflected in the accuracy and content of these translated works.