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‘Encheridion’of Mateo Ricci and Epictectus: An Encounter between the Western Ethics and the Eastern

Ji Seok O 1

1숭실대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This research paper delves into the meaning of ‘Korean Christian ethics.’ People usually think that Christian ethics is only based on the Western tradition; however, it is impossible to think of Korean Christian ethics without the conception of other Asian religious traditions. Jesuits’ endeavors were prominent in that they used their own methodology, called, ‘the accommodation mission method.’ Matteo Ricci was the frontier of this since he tried to teach about morality with the short sentences of the Stoic philosophy, Encheridion, wirtten by Epictectus, to the Chinese nobles and scholars. Ricci learned this book as he studied ethics, so he could introduce Encheridion to Chinese because they were interested in their personal economic welfare and individual moral development. The Book of 25 Paragraphs(or Twenty-Five Saying) designed as an story-telling anthology instead of dogmatics, as it was dealing with virtue as it tried to communicated with Chinese society. Ricci altered Enchridion to the Chinese contexts as he switched Greek philosophical concepts into the Chinese examples. Therefore, The Book of 25 Paragraphs is not a simple Chinese translation of Encheridion; rather, it is a new work which cited Chinese classics as it expressed the idea of ‘respecting Confucianism but rejecting Buddhism.’ such that it is perfectly fit into the Confucian tradition in terms of the practical wisdom of virtue. Thus, Ricci showed the two different religious traditions can be compatible with each other as such that both traditions have the common ground in terms of the moral philosophy and the practice of virtue.

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* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.
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