明末 楊廷筠(1557-1627)의 天主敎 受容과 補儒易佛論의 시작

Abstract

This study aims to assess the significance of the first generation Chinese Catholic Yang Tingyun, his acceptance of Catholicism and his apologetics, “The Owl and the Phoenix do not Sing Together”, questioning the existing literature has been overwhelmingly focusing on Jesuit missionaries than converts throughout historiography. First of all, the study analyzes implications of his conversion and apologetics from the context of intellectual history and social history. His acceptance of Catholic teaching must be understood as an exemplification of the contemporary intellectual trend of late-Ming elite society, rather than an exceptional case outside mainstream intellectuals. And it must be read as an outcome of agency by a Chinese Catholic who hybridized Chinese intellectual tradition with the western religious teaching, rather than that by a simple, unidirectional conversion. Moreover, the study suggests the Nanjing Persecution in 1616-1617 as a social background of the apologetics text. Between the two challenges of labeling Catholics as Folangji and White Lotus sect, Yang took a position of advocating Jesuit missionaries and Chinese Catholics refuting the latter perception of regarding them as heretics and social threats like White Lotus sect. This point counters most of existing studies which disconnected the text with the phase of the specific persecuting incident. Finally, the study seeks and confirms the points of buru yifo, meaning “Catholicism complements Confucianism and replaces Buddhism,” in the apologetic text. For instance, Yang emphasizes the disciplinary similarities of Catholicism with Confucian thinking, morality and honesty of missionaries, and its disparity with heretic Buddhist teachings like White Lotus. In conclusion, the text “The Owl and the Phoenix do not Sing Together” is understood one of the earliest Christian apologetics and anti-Buddhist polemics written by Chinese Catholics which tells the practice of “evolution of the discourse of buru yifo.”