Asian Mission Research Articles

Gaoli Zhiming Shilüe: An Intercultural, Interlaced Text between the Jesuits in Shanghai and the Missions Etrangères de Paris in Seoul

Abstract In 1900, as the Boxer Uprising raged in China, two Chinese translations of the work Histoire de l’Eglise de Corée (Gaoli zhiming shilüe and Gaoli zhuzheng) were published to encourage Chinese Catholics, given the difficult history of persecutions faced by Korean Catholics. A close examination of these translations, along with the translator of Gaoli zhiming shilüe’s earlier work on the history of Korean martyrs, reveals that they relied on different Korean source texts and even embellished the original narrative in places. These modifications, in turn, demonstrate the complex chain of translation and information within East Asian missions, working between several languages and incorporating a variety of sources for information. In particular, a study of these texts highlights connections between the Catholic mission in Shanghai and Korea throughout a period when both faced intense opposition and the latter outright suppression. This article is part of the special issue of the Journal of Jesuit Studies, “Jesuits in Modern Far East,” guest edited by Steven Pieragastini.

Mongolian Migrants in a Korean Missional Church:

Ever since Lesslie Newbigin’s missional ecclesiology was introduced to South Korean churches in 2000, Korean scholars and pastors have been reaching beyond church growth theory to explore alternative and practical models. Missional ecclesiology led them to refine their ecclesiology and to restore the essence of the Korean church. This paper examines Nasom Community for Mongolian Migrants as a model of missional church in Korea. This study first describes the situation of Mongolian migrants in Korea. Secondly, the missionary vision and missionary strategies of Nasom Community, and how they are implemented in practice, are explored. Finally, the mission of Nasom Community is reviewed. This case shows the missionary potential of the Korean church for Asian mission.

Рим и Каппадокия накануне Митридатовых войн: от бездействия к вмешательству

the article examines the relations between Rome and the Kingdom of Cappadocia on the eve of the First Mithridatic War. Although allied relations between them had existed for several decades, Rome showed little interest in events in this remote region. Only the rise of Pontus and the desire of Mithridates Eupator to strengthen his influence here prompted the Senate to take more active action. It is generally accepted that Gaius Marius studied the situation in the East on the spot during his trip to Pessinunt; the article suggests that it is more likely to associate this with the Asian mission of the Princeps Senatus M. Aemilius Scaurus. Little is known about it, but this does not give reason not to take into account this fact itself. The direct intervention of Rome occurred in connection with the election of a new monarch after the suppression of the Ariaratid dynasty. This intervention was carried out by L. Cornelius Sulla in the interests of Ariobarzan, who was elected king. The article accepts the opinion that Sulla, fulfilling the task entrusted to him, was in the East not for one year, but for two or three. However, the success of his mission was temporary, since later Mithridates, in alliance with Tigranes the Great, king of Armenia, again invaded Cappadocia. The result of all these events was the war of Rome with Mithridates. Ariobarzan had no opportunities for independent politics and was completely dependent on the support of Rome, without which his kingdom would simply disappear from the political map.

청말 벌링게임사절단에 관한 연구현황 소개 -글로벌 히스토리의 관점에 주목하여-

Anson Burlingame was the first American minister accredited to Beijing and the first official envoy of the Qing government to Western countries in 1868. The Burlingame mission visited 11 Western countries, and relevant records of their activities have remained to this day. Since its wide scope of activity had a negligible effect on the history of many countries, the Burlingame Mission has been studied in various fields of international academic circles. The article deals with the studies and trends of research on the Burlingame mission from a global historical perspective and organizes them by field. The article divides the research fields of the Burlingame mission into three categories. The first field is the history of politics and diplomacy. Anson Burlingame arrived in Washington, D.C., and as a representative of the Chinese side, signed The Burlingame Treaty with the United States, which greatly affected the politics and diplomacy of both countries. The research trend of the treaty reflects changes in political and diplomatic relations between China and the United States, which shows the varying tendency of Sino-American relations. The second one is cultural history. Zhigang(志剛) and Zhang Deyi(張德彝), members of the Qing’s first diplomatic corps, wrote journals that provide a rich description of Western countries in the nineteenth century, which made the journals attracted as one of the areas of the cultural history research. It is remarkable that the journals have been studied from the maritime history, one of the global historical perspectives. Last but not least, the third one is comparative history. Some scholars have been interested in studying comparing the Burlingame mission with the Iwakura mission of Japan in that both of them were sent to the West around the same time. In particular, analyzing English-language newspapers, the studies, which read the viewpoint of Western countries regarding the missions of both countries at that time and compared both missions from the maritime history as well, opened a new horizon for the research of the East Asian missions. It can be evaluated that these studies revealed the value of the Burlingame Mission in global historical research and offered the possibility of interdisciplinary studies on this subject.

In the Shadow of Francis Xavier: Martyrdom and Colonialism in the Jesuit Asian Missions

Abstract This article focuses on the violent deaths of the Jesuit missionaries Rodolfo Acquaviva, Marcello Mastrilli, and Diego Luis de San Vítores, who were killed in the course of their evangelical endeavors in India, Japan, and the Mariana Islands, respectively. It elucidates the ways in which the figure of St. Francis Xavier intersected with the Jesuit ideal of martyrdom, while situating the three martyred Jesuits within the history of Iberian imperialism and colonialism. Xavier became the dominant Jesuit image of apostolic sanctity, and he greatly energized the evangelical zeal of many Jesuits, eager to missionize in distant East Asia. At the same time, the Jesuit evangelical impulse in the early modern period became closely intertwined with the desire for martyrdom. In their efforts to create saintly figures of the three slain missionaries, Jesuit authors would establish a special connection between St. Francis Xavier and the martyred Jesuits, Mastrilli and San Vítores being described as almost perfect replicas of the saint, even though Xavier never experienced martyrdom.

Assessing Jesuit Intellectual Apostolate in Modern Shanghai (1847–1949)

The various endeavors led by Jesuits under the auspices to the Plan Scientifique du Kiang-Nan (Scientific Plan for the Jiangnan region) constituted a defining moment in the history of their mission in modern China. The Jesuits aimed to found a scientific capital that would also constitute the base of their East Asian mission, a project that led to a far-reaching engagement in education and sciences. The multiple projects they undertook were located within the framework of Western knowledge. The traditional Jesuit strategy adapted itself to a new context by encouraging a constructive and fruitful interaction between religion and science. Jesuit intellectual apostolate included not only research but also the dissemination of technologies and knowledge central to the rise of modernity in China. The entry into this country of well-educated, deeply zealous Jesuit missionaries along with their observations on the social and political changes taking place decisively contributed to the modernization of Shanghai and to the emergence of multi-perspective narratives about the destiny of the city. Assessing the Jiangnan-based Jesuits’ continuous efforts as well as the challenges and contradictions they met with help us to integrate the seemingly conflicting ethos of Christian mission and scientific quest into a reframed perspective of global history.

코로나19 펜데믹 상황과 아시아 선교

이 연구의 목표는 코로나19 펜데믹이 아시아 선교현장에 미치는 다양한 영향을 분석하고 한국교회의 아시아 선교 대응책을 제시하는 것이다. 코로나19는 아시아의 경제 · 사회 · 문화 · 교육 · 종교 전반에 큰 위기와 변화를 가져왔으며 문명사적 전환을 요구하고 있다. 코로나19는 신자유주의 경제체제를 뒤흔들고 세계질서를 재편하고 있다. 온라인 비대면 방법으로 이루어지는 재택근무 · 원격근무는 시공간의 제약을 넘어서 사역할 수 있는 선교의 툴을 제공하며, 자기개발과 본국과의 연결을 용이하게 해주며, 시공간을 넘어서는 연대의 틀을 제공하여 떨어져 있으나 서로를 연결해주는 강력한 선교의 도구가 된다. 이를 위한 선교사 계속 교육과 지원이 필요하다. 위험지역에 있는 코로나 중증질환 고위험군 선교사를 본국으로 부르는 선제적 조치가 필요하다. 장기간 학교 휴교로 인하여 어려움에 처해있는 기독교 학교와 자신을 지켜주던 울타리와 사회안전망인 학교를 잃어버린 학생들에 대한 선교적 지원과 관심이 요청된다. 코로나19는 부의 불균형 · 계층간 격차 · 실업자 폭증 · 사회적 약자나 비주류에 대한 혐오와 공격성 그리고 감시를 심화시키고 있다. 행동백신과 생태백신은 아시아 선교현장에서 큰 비용 없이 실천 가능하며 코로나19와 여러 질병들을 효과적으로 예방할 수 있다. 코로나19 위기는 민주적이고 투명하고 효과적인 방제로 세계의 부러움과 칭찬을 받고 있는 한국과 선교적인 한국교회가 활발하게 아시아를 섬길 수 있는 좋은 선교의 기회가 될 것이다.

Japan, a Separate Province From India? Rivalries and Financial Management of Two Jesuit Missions in Asia

Abstract This article analyzes the organization of the Jesuit missions in Asia in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries through the case of the relationship between the Indian mission and the Japanese mission, which was subordinate to it. It highlights the management and control methods which were specific to the Asian missions. It thus demonstrates the growing autonomy of the Japanese mission, which was trying to free itself from Indian administrative and financial supervision. In doing so, the deep-seated nature of the rivalries and tensions between missions within a single Jesuit province are brought into focus, despite Roman arbitration. The article is thus an invitation to reassess the regional dimension to Jesuit governance, which is sometimes ignored in favor of the global aspect.

The Issues in the Asian Mission of the Korean Church

The Issues in the Asian Mission of the Korean Church

한국교회의 아시아 선교 이슈들

한국 교회는 타문화권 선교 초기부터 아시아 선교에 자원을 집중해 왔다. 아시아 선교를 위한 지역 연구도 비교적 일찍부터 있었다. 한편, 전 세계 인구의 약 60퍼센트가 집중된 아시아는 인종적 다양성도 매우 클 뿐 아니라, 정치, 외교, 경제, 문화, 종교도 매우 다양하다. 아시아에 한국 교회의 선교 자원이 집중되는 추세는 한국 선교 인력의 증가가 멈추더라도 당분간 계속될 것으로 전망된다. 아시아 대륙에서 가장 큰 선교 자원을 제공하는 교회는 미국 교회나 영국 교회가 아니라 한국 교회이다. 이런 점에서 한국 교회는 아시아 선교를 더욱 책임 있는 자세로 수행해야 한다. 한국 교회의 아시아 선교의 이슈들은 다음과 같다. 아시아의 규모를 고려할 때, 아시아에 있는 한국 선교사의 수는 충분하지 않다. 한국 선교사들은 협력 선교를 추구하는 한편, 물량 선교는 지양해야 한다. 또한 선교사의 추방과 입국 거부의 위협을 적절히 대처하는 노력이 필요하다. 자국민 종교 활동을 제한하는 여러 아시아 국가들의 환경을 효과적으로 대처할 방안을 모색할 필요가 있다. 한국 선교사들은 아시아에서 선교의 마중물 역할을 감당해야 한다.

China, Japan and Christian Emissaries to Muslim Lands

ABSTRACTThis article explores Christian–Muslim relations in East Asia during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries through a description of the lives and journeys of three Roman Catholics – Petro Kasui Kibe (Jesuit), Nicholas the Iruman (Augustinian), and Bento de Góis (Jesuit) – to predominantly Muslim lands. Their journeys display the different ways in which Christian–Muslim relations and communication were viewed at that time, and the varying levels of impact that inter-religious dialogue had. Kibe appears to have placed little importance on Christian–Muslim relations and his journey to Jerusalem remains little more than an interesting historical footnote. Nicholas played a background role in the tale of his superiors and travel partners who helped to establish European–Persian relations. And de Góis, through his journey and interactions with Muslims, was able to contribute to a paradigmal shift in European geographical knowledge that changed contemporary understandings of East Asia. The article illustrates that, although Christian–Muslim relations at that time took an array of forms and had a variety of results, episodes from the East Asian mission field that have often been overlooked were highly influential in shaping the early modern world on a regional and global level.

Conquests of Memory: Franciscan Chronicles of the East Asian Church in the Early Modern Period

This essay examines the ways in which Franciscan authors recounted the history of their missions in East Asia from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. Key differences between Franciscan authors and those of other orders are highlighted, with special emphasis placed on disputes over precedence in the Asian mission field, over privileges accorded by the papacy for missionary activity, and over the prestige secured by acts of pious heroism and appointments to high ecclesiastical offices. Chronicles served as important adjuncts to the face-toface rivalries of Catholic religious orders, with the Franciscans dueling their peers for pride of place in historical memory. The publication of Franciscan histories in Europe ensured that the conflicts between orders extended around the globe, while their original intention was to consolidate the memories of distant efforts to plant and grow the church.

Book Review: The Spiritual Expansion of Medieval Latin Christendom: The Asian Missions

Book Review: The Spiritual Expansion of Medieval Latin Christendom: The Asian Missions

Forming, transfer and globalization of medical-pharmaceutical knowledge in South East Asian missions (17th to 18th c.) – historical dimensions and modern perspectives

From the 17th to the 18th centuries, missionaries in Southeast Asia dedicated themselves to providing and establishing a professional medical-pharmaceutical supply for the local population and therefore explored the genuine Materia medica for easily available and affordable remedies, especially medicinal plants. In characteristic medical-pharmaceutical compendia, which can be classified as missionary pharmacopoeias, they laid down their knowledge to advise others and to guarantee a professional health care. As their knowledge often resulted from an exchange with indigenous communities, these compendia provide essential information about traditional plant uses of Southeast Asian people. Individual missionaries such as the Jesuit Georg Joseph Kamel (1661–1706) not only strove to explore medicinal plants but performed botanical studies and even composed comprehensive herbals. The Jesuit missionaries in particular played roles in both the order’s own global network of transfer of medicinal drugs and knowledge about the application, and within the contemporary local and European scientific networks which included, for example, the famous Royal Society of London. The results of their studies were distributed all over the world, were introduced into the practical Materia medica of other regions, and contributed significantly to the academization of knowledge. In our article we will explain the different intentions and methods of exploring, the resulting works and the consequences for the forming of the pharmaceutical and scientific knowledge. Finally, we will show the options which the works of the missionaries can offer for the saving of traditional ethnopharmacological knowledge and for the development of modern phytotherapeutics and pharmaceutical supply. The publication is based on a comprehensive study on the phenomenon of missionary pharmacy which has been published as a book in 2011 (Anagnostou, 2011a) and shows now the potential of historical medical-pharmaceutical works written in the Asian missions of the 17th to 18th century and influenced by ethnopharmaceutical knowledge and the relevance of historical studies for modern investigation in phytotherapy.

O Budismo como Sistema de Mediação Missionária no contexto asiático dos séculos XVI- -XVII: necessidades, possibilidades e limites hermenêuticos

O contexto missionário asiático da primeira Idade Moderna revelou aevidência de uma perspectiva e, sobretudo, de uma consciência hermenêutica, entendida como “consciência de uma problemática do contexto”: uma reflexão consciente sobre ela tornava-se fundamental para poder enraizar uma obra designificação da mensagem evangelizadora cristã e da sua peculiaridade que se desprendia, justamente, no interior de contextos e de percursos históricos bastante distintos daquele da civilização ocidental. Esse texto pretende apontar para uma análise comparativa inédita desta problemática para a época, entre o Japão, a China e a Índia, tentando desvendar como, nesse percurso, o Budismo se impôs, necessariamente, enquanto possibilidade privilegiada de mediação missionária, mesmo entre seus próprios limites hermenêuticos.

Russia as the “Western Other” in Southeast Asia: Encounters of Russian Travelers in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century

This article explores an intriguing and unexplored angle of the evolution of Russia's Asian Mission in the second half of the nineteenth century. In 1869 the opening of the Suez Canal increased Russian shipping to the Far East and brought more Russian travelers to Southeast Asia where in an interesting coincidence of local interests and imperial views they interacted with the local rulers, officials in the region. As scholars, naval officers or government officials/advisors they wrote literary accounts or reports of their journeys and sometimes gave public presentations on their experiences which informed the Russian public and government about British and French expansion in the region and the local perception of Russia as a European power. One of these travelers included the heir to the throne and future tsar of Russia, Nicholas II and his mentor E. E. Ukhtomskii, later a prominent exponent of Russia's Asian mission. By examining the contact of Russian travelers with the rulers and officials of Burma and Siam this article reveals how the interpenetration of Russia's imperial myth of an Asian Mission with an Occidental view of Russia in Burma and Siam helped confirm the empire's notion of a “civilizing mission” and its claim of moral and cultural superiority to other Western powers.

Disrupted by Luke–Acts

This study of the Luke–Acts corpus recounts the continually expanding inclusiveness of the Christian faith from Jerusalem to Europe and to the whole world. This reading includes the disruption of a basic Jewish exclusivist orientation in the choosing of the disciples, through redefinitions of “neighbor” in Samaritans, a supernaturalism-infused incident on the road to Gaza with a eunuch of ambiguous gender/sexuality, a metaphor of the sheet let down from heaven leading to table fellowship with a Roman centurion, to Paul’s disrupted Asian mission that took him to Macedonia and the inclusion of Europe.

French Jesuit missionaries in China in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries

The content of this book is more limited than the title suggests. Firstly, it deals with Jesuit scientific activity in China from ca. 1688 (F. Verbiest’s death) to A. Gaubil’s early work in Beijing (since 1723) and assumes that it ceased with the Society’s suppression in 1773 (p. 4). However, the Jesuits were scientifically active in China soon after Matteo Ricci’s arrival in 1582 and continued to be so until after that suppression (J. B. de Almeida was in the staff of Beijing’s observatory until 1805). Although vague, the expression ‘‘Late Imperial China’’ denotes more than a half century. Secondly, until 1687 Jesuit missionaries in China belonged to the Society’s Portuguese Assistance, although nearly all those engaged in scientific work came from other European countries. Hsia, however, focuses on the French missionaryscientists, who arrived in Beijing in 1688, considering the Portuguese mission’s work only for the pre-1688 years, and solely as background to some distinctive traits of the French missionaries, whose scientific work is also dealt with partially, since some of them remained after the Society’s expulsion from France (1762–1764). Another basic aspect of Hsia’s book, not reflected in the title, concerns her methodology. She does not describe events, but ‘‘the historical emergence and fortune of [the] puzzling figure’’ of the Jesuit missionary-scientist (p. 2). That figure, she says, was a ‘‘personation’’ produced by the Society’s strategy to infiltrate all levels of human society (p. 4). So the book tries to determine how the scientific ‘‘persona’’ came into being and was progressively shaped in the Jesuits’ Asian missions (Chapters 1–3). Then, it considers the French mission in China as representing the most advanced stage of this process, due to the circumstances surrounding the mission’s origins and its institutionalized link with French academic science. Finally, Hsia investigates why the French Jesuits’ scientific results did not match expectations, in quantity and in quality. Hence, the book is ‘‘less concerned with evaluating

Noble Patronage and Jesuit Missions: Maria Theresia von Fugger-Wellenburg (1690-1762) and Jesuit Missionaries in China and Vietnam (review)

Reviewed by: Noble Patronage and Jesuit Missions: Maria Theresia von Fugger-Wellenburg (1690-1762) and Jesuit Missionaries in China and Vietnam Liam Matthew Brockey Noble Patronage and Jesuit Missions: Maria Theresia von Fugger-Wellenburg (1690-1762) and Jesuit Missionaries in China and Vietnam. Edited by Ronnie Po-chia Hsia. [Monumenta Historica Societatis Iesu, Series Nova, Volume 2.] (Rome: Institutum Historicum Societatis Iesu. 2006. Pp. 365.) The history of the overseas missions conducted by the Catholic religious orders in the early modern period has been fertile terrain for scholars during the past two decades. New analyses of evangelization efforts in the Americas, Africa, and Asia have enriched a field which had long been the province of chroniclers from the orders involved, or other participants in missionary efforts. As the study of the mission churches has expanded, however, the history of the European networks which supported the enterprises has largely been eclipsed. Noble Patronage and Jesuit Missions, a volume that combines an introductory essay with transcriptions of correspondence between Europe and China in German, French, and Latin, is a highly useful contribution toward helping to balance out this burgeoning field of study. In addition to examining the global flow of information in the 1700s, this book gives valuable insights into the little-studied (albeit crucially important) subject of mission finance. Moreover, R. Po-Chia Hsia has skillfully edited and annotated the correspondence between one patroness and a set of Jesuits in Asia for the benefit of other scholars to examine. The documents found in this volume come from the Fugger-Archiv in Dillingen and were primarily written by Maria Theresia von Fugger-Wellenburg, Florian Bahr, and Johann Siebert. Hsia's introductory essay places [End Page 188] these three individuals in the context of Catholic Germany in the mid-eighteenth century, showing how the Countess von Fugger-Wellenburg encountered the two Jesuits during the early stage of their voyage to Asia (Bahr eventually arrived in China and Siebert worked in Cochinchina). He examines the patterns of female devotional life of Southern German Catholics and explains why Maria Theresia sustained her correspondence with these distant friends over the course of more than two decades. Hsia also explains the mechanics of global finance in the eighteenth century, showing how it was possible—though never easy—for a patron to offer material support to clients on the other side of the globe. After tracing the history of the relationship between Maria Theresia and her correspondents, especially Bahr, he presents transcriptions of her letters and their responses (with intervals of months or years), as well as related documents such as Annual Letters and other reports from the Asian missions. The figure that emerges most clearly from this volume is Maria Theresia, whose letters reveal a great deal about her character and personal piety. We learn that she was especially moved by reports from China about the plight of abandoned infants at the imperial capital, perhaps as a result of her personal misfortune of losing a child. With the help of Bahr in Beijing and other Jesuit agents in Paris, Maria Theresia sent funds to China to help support of a corps of lay assistants organized by the missionaries who visited the city's gates in search of children to deliver to orphanages (or at least to baptize). Yet the countess also showed concern for the well-being of the missionaries and the dignity of the divine cult and Jesuit enterprise in far-off China. She inquires after boxes of European objects that she sent to Asia and seeks to defend the good name of the Society of Jesus among her peers at the courts of Munich and Paris. Maria Theresia also reveals herself as an avid reader of devotional books, as well as reports of the global missionary efforts printed in works such as the Welt-Bott and the Lettres Édifiantes et Curieuses. In sum, Hsia paints a portrait of her that is far more complex and textured than one would have imagined. How many other such scenes of patronage lie hidden in the archives, waiting to be discovered? Liam Matthew Brockey Princeton University Copyright © 2008 The Catholic University of America Press

St. Petersburg's Man in Siam

RésuméL’homme de Saint-Pétersbourg au Siam : A.E. Olarovskij et la Mission de la Russie en Asie, 1898-1905Pendant les années 1890, par suite de l’expansion des intérêts de la Russie impériale en Chine et de son commerce maritime en Extrême-Orient, des consuls russes furent nommés dans les ports les plus importants de l’Asie du Sud-Est. Leur mission première consistait à protéger les intérêts commerciaux et maritimes de la Russie tout en entretenant des relations diplomatiques avec les puissances coloniales en place. Selon les périodes, ils furent chargés de prospecter la région pour rechercher tant des zones de stockage du charbon pour approvisionner les navires que de nouveaux marchés et d’observer de près les dirigeants coloniaux. Mais en aucune façon ils ne devaient se mêler des affaires de ces derniers ! Il ne s’est produit qu’une seule exception à cette règle, quand A.E. Olarovskij fut nommé ministre résident au Siam par le gouvernement russe. L’histoire des activités de ce diplomate dans le rôle croissant de la Russie en Asie du Sud-Est constitue l’un des épisodes les plus intéressants de l’histoire des consuls de la région et nous fournit une nouvelle approche des rêves tsaristes pour la mission de la Russie en Asie au tournant du siècle, à savoir l’extension des ambitions impériales en Asie du Sud-Est et en Chine et l’établissement de relations avec l’Empire colonial français en Indochine.