Abstract
The growth of local Chinese Christian communities in the seventeenth century highlighted the importance of directly addressing the issue of miracles. For Giulio Aleni (1582–1649), the most respected Catholic missionary to China after Matteo Ricci, this issue presented two interrelated agendas: to criticize divination and to preach Christian miracles. Aleni’s empirical approach to refute divination as a feeble observational science seemed to contradict his belief in miracles. Focusing on how Aleni negotiated the tension between empirical inquiry and the ineffable and interpretive qualities of acts of faith, this study shows that Aleni’s robust empiricism can be justified and forms the basis for cross-cultural hermeneutics based on a two-tier theory of the truth.
Published Version
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