Confucius, a Chinese christian prophet? The translation of Chinese classics by the Priest Joaquim Guerra and the religio
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Confucius, a Chinese christian prophet? The translation of Chinese classics by the Priest Joaquim Guerra and the religious dialogue in 20th century Andre Bueno1
Received: 12 July 2020 / Revised: 23 September 2020 / Accepted: 25 September 2020 / Published online: 16 November 2020 © Academy for International Communication of Chinese Culture 2020
Abstract In this essay we will make a critical evaluation of the collection of Chinese classics, translated by the Priest Joaquim José Guerra from 1973–1981, composing the first complete translation into Portuguese of the main texts of the Confucian school, which so far has not surpassed by any other of its kind initiative in the Portuguese-speaking world. The work of Priest Guerra is the first - and only - full version and made directly from Chinese to Portuguese of Shijing 詩經, Shujing 書 經, Yijing 易經, Chunqiu 春秋 and Liji 禮記, and also, the Lunyu 論語, Daxue 大 学, Zhong Yong 中庸, Xiaojing 孝經 and the Book of Mencius 孟子. The question is: What is the dimension given to the figure of Confucius and the Chinese classics, within the Catholic religious perspective defended by Priest Guerra? In the opinion of Priest, Confucius was transformed into a prophet of Christianity, inspired by God, within its own logic of syncretism and conversion proposed, for centuries, by the Jesuit missionary theories. The Portuguese author resizes the understanding of the figure of the old Chinese master, trying to integrate it in the chronology of the biblical history. The translations performed by the Jesuit are absolutely contaminated by imposing a Western cultural concept - specifically Catholic Portuguese; On the other hand, this would not be the most interesting way, the Portuguese-speaking world, to get to know the Confucian thought, and even absorb it and turn it into a kind of Sino-Portuguese ethics, dominated by Christianity? If they are, the work of the Priest, seeking syncretizing both thoughts, under the tutelage of Catholic ideology, would a proposal not only unprecedented, but also accomplish the difficult task of
* Andre Bueno [email protected] 1
Department of History, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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creating a contact means between the Portuguese speaking societies and Chinese, reflecting the importance of Confucianism for global thinking and at the same time, creating a dialog door to religious conversion, a fundamental point of inflexion in Jesuit thought. Keywords Confucianism · Chinese classics · Translations · Lusophone · Dialogue east-west The Priest Joaquim Jesus Angelic Guerra (Jesuit priest, b. 1908 - d. 1993) is still a paradigmatic author in Lusophonic Sinology, as the only translator of the complete works of Confucius into Portuguese. His work was little known outside the city of Macau (China), but is being rediscovered. Priest Guerra was a controversial author: passionate about Chinese culture, and resolutely Anti-Communist, he created the theory that Confucius was a saint sent by God to prepare t
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