WIll Abrahamson
3/23/18
History
Matteo Ricci Article Critique In the Intricacies of Accommodation: The Proselytizing Strategy of Matteo Ricci, the author, Yu Liu creates the argument that the importance of Matteo Ricci in being an exchange of cultures, which were east and west, came accidently through him being a missionary. I find this argument by Yu Liu to be very compelling, for two reasons. The first reason is that gives credit to Matteo Ricci as being successful in the sense that he bridged cultures, but as a missionary he lacked results, the second is that the source provides great detail into the journey of Ricci, starting with his arrival in China in 1583. The second reason is related to the first, in that it seems that …show more content…
The author shows this when she brings up all the ways Matteo Ricci attempts to change his dress in order to gain popularity in China. More specifically, when he dresses up as a monk, but then realized that they were not going to be effective. This shows that he was able to blend in with the local community. This also becomes evident when Yui Liu talks about how he was able to see that it wasnt working and changed clothes again, the clothes he changed into were from “confucian scholar” because they had better standing. From doing that he got more respect and basically had more of an audience. This is a very interesting thing for Yu Liu to point out because she says even with this that it “did not make it much easier to promulgate a religious faith that was not only different but also foreign”. Yui Lui then supplements this particular quote with acknowledging the subjects that Matteo Ricci was very well taught in and they were “theology and philosophy” along with math and other sciences and was able to bring crowds with teaching these subjects. This shows that he was able to bring something that was not necessarily religious and generated interest. This is why I think this part of Yui Liu’s argument is very interesting, because she …show more content…
He clearly did have an effect in terms of spreading christianity. When I mentioned people would watch him talk about theology and philosophy, I can imagine he brought in some large crowd interested in his faith, also Yu Liu talks about how the portuguese were more “coercive”. Ricci was not like that, and I think that was one of the reasons he gained followers and made it that far. If what he was preaching was completely rejected he would have been unsuccessful like the missionaries (such as the ones from portugal). This would imply that he had a healthy number of followers, I don't believe the article addresses that very well. The author is very focused on what he brought in terms of cultural aspects. It did mention that Ricci tried to bridge Christianity and Confucianism at one point by saying that they could be “compatible”.That could be seen as the author giving some credit too Ricci as a missionary, but it still seems more geared toward him as bringing cultures together. This is why I don't think the article gives a lot of credit towards him as an actual missionary.
As you can see this article is very solid and provides a really interesting account of his journey and for the most part it is very well done, it gave him credit as being successful in bridging the two cultures, but did not give him a lot of credit in terms of his missionary work, which would be my
3/23/18
History
Matteo Ricci Article Critique In the Intricacies of Accommodation: The Proselytizing Strategy of Matteo Ricci, the author, Yu Liu creates the argument that the importance of Matteo Ricci in being an exchange of cultures, which were east and west, came accidently through him being a missionary. I find this argument by Yu Liu to be very compelling, for two reasons. The first reason is that gives credit to Matteo Ricci as being successful in the sense that he bridged cultures, but as a missionary he lacked results, the second is that the source provides great detail into the journey of Ricci, starting with his arrival in China in 1583. The second reason is related to the first, in that it seems that …show more content…
The author shows this when she brings up all the ways Matteo Ricci attempts to change his dress in order to gain popularity in China. More specifically, when he dresses up as a monk, but then realized that they were not going to be effective. This shows that he was able to blend in with the local community. This also becomes evident when Yui Liu talks about how he was able to see that it wasnt working and changed clothes again, the clothes he changed into were from “confucian scholar” because they had better standing. From doing that he got more respect and basically had more of an audience. This is a very interesting thing for Yu Liu to point out because she says even with this that it “did not make it much easier to promulgate a religious faith that was not only different but also foreign”. Yui Lui then supplements this particular quote with acknowledging the subjects that Matteo Ricci was very well taught in and they were “theology and philosophy” along with math and other sciences and was able to bring crowds with teaching these subjects. This shows that he was able to bring something that was not necessarily religious and generated interest. This is why I think this part of Yui Liu’s argument is very interesting, because she …show more content…
He clearly did have an effect in terms of spreading christianity. When I mentioned people would watch him talk about theology and philosophy, I can imagine he brought in some large crowd interested in his faith, also Yu Liu talks about how the portuguese were more “coercive”. Ricci was not like that, and I think that was one of the reasons he gained followers and made it that far. If what he was preaching was completely rejected he would have been unsuccessful like the missionaries (such as the ones from portugal). This would imply that he had a healthy number of followers, I don't believe the article addresses that very well. The author is very focused on what he brought in terms of cultural aspects. It did mention that Ricci tried to bridge Christianity and Confucianism at one point by saying that they could be “compatible”.That could be seen as the author giving some credit too Ricci as a missionary, but it still seems more geared toward him as bringing cultures together. This is why I don't think the article gives a lot of credit towards him as an actual missionary.
As you can see this article is very solid and provides a really interesting account of his journey and for the most part it is very well done, it gave him credit as being successful in bridging the two cultures, but did not give him a lot of credit in terms of his missionary work, which would be my