Catholic and The Chinese Four Books

[Jestersage]

Based on what everyone knows about the Chinese four books (and possibly five classics), how should one accommodate both side, assuming it is possible?

On a related note, is it easier to accommodate the Chinese four books in terms of Protestant theology, or harder?

 

[midori]

I’m having a great time reading “Creation of the Gods” and “Records of the Grand Historian”, but otherwise, it’s been a long time since I sat down and really read any of the Four Books and Five Classics. Liji has a nice website, but it’s not the easiest to read, but it’s remarkably hard to find unedited, unabridged, full translations of so many major works in print even nowadays. (ISBN recommendations are appreciated!)

Is there a particular aspect of Confucianism that you are curious about/wanting to discuss or draw attention to?

 

[Jestersage]

I’m having a great time reading “Creation of the Gods” and “Records of the Grand Historian”, but otherwise, it’s been a long time since I sat down and really read any of the Four Books and Five Classics. Liji has a nice website, but it’s not the easiest to read, but it’s remarkably hard to find unedited, unabridged, full translations of so many major works in print even nowadays. (ISBN recommendations are appreciated!)

Is there a particular aspect of Confucianism that you are curious about/wanting to discuss or draw attention to?

Well yeah – I am Chinese, so naturally, you cannot avoid pride, cultures, and thoughts that are drawn from them, especially with those from Taiwan and Hong Kong where it is untouched by Communism. And I can read classical Chinese somewhat, so it’s easier for me to think of them as its own philosophical school.

My main concern is whether there are some part of Confucian philosophy that are not able to coexist with Catholic teaching, and how to resolve it. My greatest concern is that based on how many of my Chinese friends, knowing only partially of Confuscian thoughts, drew a conclusion of not needing salvation – that everything of this world is due to your own effort and/or lack of. Also, Confucianism is also extremely agnostic; there are enoguh sayign that pretty much say “One should not be bothered with spiritualism”, which thanks to evolution of language and multi-facet of Classical Chinese, does extend to Religion.

And Creation of the Gods is a novel, like Journey to the west ; however, Creation of Gods is not part of 四大名著(Four Great Classical Novels). I am talking about 四書(The four books)，refering to “Great Learning”, "“Analects”, “The Means” and “Mencius”

(For all the talk about four equals death, Chinese love to use the “four” as a categories.)