The European Discovery of Confucius: the Interpretation of Classic Confucianism by the Jesuits from the China Mission (17 th century)
China, Jesuits, Confucianism, Christianity
The present research analyzes the process of interpretation and image construction of classical Confucianism for Europe, elaborated by the Jesuits participating in the Chinese mission until the last decade of the seventeenth century, through which Christianity was corroborated as the only “true religion” whose beliefs were supposedly present in Chinese society since the time of Confucius. The Jesuits believed they had found the essence of Catholicism in classical Confucianism, in order to try to prove that the Chinese would have known and believed in the "true religion" (the Christian religion) in Ancient times, but the introduction of Buddhism into China would have degenerated it. In this way, the missionaries advocated a restoration of the basic precepts of classical Confucianism, which would be complemented by Christianity.