This research intends to understand the Confucian view of the Absolute Being and explore the possibility of communication between the Confucian and Christian views of the Absolute Being. In Confucianism, the Absolute Being, i.e., the Ultimate Existenc...
This research intends to understand the Confucian view of the Absolute Being and explore the possibility of communication between the Confucian and Christian views of the Absolute Being. In Confucianism, the Absolute Being, i.e., the Ultimate Existence, is designated “Heaven” (天) or “Sovereign on High” (上帝), and in Christianity is called “God” (Deus). Confucian and Christian ideology possess the common point of venerating the Ultimate Existence as a personal Absolute Being. If we look at the nature of “Heaven” and the “Sovereign on High” that appears in the Confucian scriptures centered on the Book of Poetry and the Book of Documents, it appears first as the Source of all existence and Creator, and as the Overseer who oversees natural phenomena and all human affairs. Also, as a personal Being who possesses volition, emotions and clear spirit, it appears as an object of faith whom humans honor, fear, serve and to whom they pray. And it appears as an immanent and ethical Being manifesting through human nature at the same time it is a transcendent, overseeing Being. Confucius and Mencius inherited this view of a personal God of the Confucian scriptures and developed it into a theory of self-discipline. Confucius generalized as applying to all people the concept of “the will of Heaven” and “virtue” that originally applied only to rulers, and presented “benevolence” as the duty of serving Heaven and humans. Mencius proposed the path of interior and ethical heavenly works, serving Heaven, by maintaining the original heart bestowed by Heaven and cultivating human nature. The Jesuit missionaries who went to China in the latter half of the 16th century excluded the view of the impersonal Ultimate Existence of Buddhism, Taoism and neo-Confucianism, made the Sovereign on High of Confucianism and the God of Christianity coincide, and propagated Catholicism by way of the “theory of complementing Confucianism”. They demonstrated Christianity’s concept of the Lord of Heaven and main doctrine
through the Confucian scriptures, introduced the Lord of Heaven as the Great Sovereign and Great Father, and presented the duty of humans toward the Lord of Heaven as “great loyalty and great filial piety”. The Jesuit mission method grounded in the theory of complementing Confucianism gained great results in the Chinese mission, but it had the limitations of not being able to advance in Christianity’s essential truth of revelation and of being inclined toward academic dialogue and intellectual acceptance. Compared to this, we can see that the acceptance of the
Catholic Church in Joseon, though it began from the ideology of the Catholic Church complementing Confucianism, its form did not remain there but completely accepted and continued deepening Christianity’s truth of revelation from the first generation of entrants into the Church. The understanding of Catholic doctrine did not remain simply at the academic and intellectual level but from the beginning shows the distinction of advancing to the spiritual, faith and practical level. Most of all, since the most distinct feature of the faith of the Catholic Church in Joseon was “martyrdom faith”, the faithful of Joseon showed remarkable faith leading to martyrdom because of their human duty
toward the Lord of Heaven who is the Great Sovereign and Great Father, and their love for and desire to emulate Christ, even in the midst of severe persecution. This is an entirely different aspect from the acceptance of faith in China of the Lord of Heaven.