The image of a voice in the wilderness evokes an outcast who has
been condemned and banished by society. That image fits the
scholar-priest Joseph de Prémare who spent the last thirty-eight
years of his life (1698-1736) mainly in remote areas of China. He
was condemned to silence by not only his religious superiors, but
also by intellectuals in Europe. He was silenced because his
Figurist theories were regarded as dangerous and implausible. And
yet the irony of this silencing is that Father Prémare was one of
the most knowledgeable Sinologists of all time. As a missionary in
towns in the southern province of Jiangxi, he was freed from many
pastoral duties by an assisting catechist and able to devote
himself to intensive study of Chinese texts. He was practically a
scholar-hermit who left the urban, politicized atmosphere of
Beijing after only two years to return to Jiangxi province. There
he cultivated Chinese literati who helped him assemble a remarkable
collection of classical texts. He was prolific in producing a wide
body of works in philology, history, philosophy, religion and
drama. Faced by critics who were claiming that Chinese culture was
alien to Christianity, Prémare joined the effort led by his fellow
Jesuit Joachim Bouvet to save the Christian mission in China from
destruction. The Figurists were radical in arguing that the ancient
Chinese texts, like the Old Testament, anticipated the coming of
Christ long before his birth. They claimed that Chinese
commentators erred in viewing these ancient texts as records of
history when in fact they were works of metaphorical and figurative
meaning. Influenced by a Chinese scholar, Prémare made a
philological analysis of Chinese characters to explain his theory.
When Figurism was condemned by his religious superiors, Prémare
attempted to circumvent their prohibition by sending his
manuscripts to the proto-Sinologist Etienne Fourmont in Paris,
asking that they be published anonymously. Fourmont criticized
Prémare’s theories and failed to publish them. By the time of
his death, Prémare had sent most of his manuscripts to Paris where
they remained buried for many years.
General
Imprint: |
Lexington Books
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
May 2023 |
Authors: |
D.E. Mungello
|
Dimensions: |
237 x 159mm (L x W) |
Pages: |
154 |
ISBN-13: |
978-1-4985-9566-7 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
1-4985-9566-9 |
Barcode: |
9781498595667 |
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