Missionary Yijing in Qing China: Dialogues between the Yijing and the Bible
Talks are delivered in Mandarin, followed by bilingual Q&As
The multifarious symbolism of the 64 hexagrams in the Yijing (The Book of Changes), the highly venerated and influential Chinese classic, attracted substantial attention from leading Christian missionaries in late imperial China. This talk compares and contrasts three distinctive perspectives of missionary interpretation of the Yijing during the Qing period, including the Figurist approach of the French Jesuit Joachim Bouvet (1656-1730), the mythological reading of the Irish Anglican Thomas McClatchie (1814-1885), and the moralistic/philosophical interpretation of the Scottish Presbyterian James Legge (1815-1897). These pioneering attempts at translating and introducing the Chinese classic to the West engendered profound inter-religious encounters and dialogues between the Yijing and the Bible.
Date: 12 November 2021, 13:00 (Friday, 5th week, Michaelmas 2021)
Venue: Online
Speaker: Professor John T. P. LAI (Chinese University of Hong Kong)
Organising department: Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Organiser: Dr Annie Hongping Nie
Organiser contact email address: hongping.nie@orinst.ox.ac.uk
Host: Dr Annie Hongping Nie
Part of: Mandarin Forum
Booking required?: Required
Booking email: hongping.nie@orinst.ox.ac.uk
Cost: Free
Audience: Public
Editor: Clare Orchard