Philippe Couplet

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Confucius Sinarum Philosophus ("Confucius, Philosopher of the Chinese"), by Philippe Couplet.
Confucius Sinarum Philosophus ("Confucius, Philosopher of the Chinese"), by Philippe Couplet.

Philippe Couplet, also Philip Couplet or Philippus Couplet (1623 – 1693) (Chinese name:比利时 柏应理), was a Belgian Jesuit Father who was active in China in the 17th century. He was born in Mechelen, Spanish Netherlands (now Belgium).[1]

Contents

[edit] Career

[edit] Chinese career (1656–1681)

Philippe Couplet entered the Jesuit Order in 1640. His interest in China was aroused by a lecture by Martino Martini, a former Jesuit missionary to China.[1] Couplet initially left for China in 1656 with Ferdinand Verbiest. He took various responsibilities throughout China, but had to take refuge in Canton during the 1665-1670 persecutions.[1]

[edit] Mission to Europe (1681–1693)

He was sent back to Europe in 1681 as Procurator of the China Jesuits in Rome. His mission was to obtain papal agreement for the liturgy to be sung in Chinese.[1] On his visit to Rome he gave the Pope a library of Chinese translations of Christian books.[1] While in Europe, his visit to king Louis XIV triggered plans for the dispatch of five Jesuit "mathematicians" to the Chinese Court.[1]

Philippe Couplet brought with him the first known Chinese man to visit Europe: Michael Shen Fu-Tsung.
Philippe Couplet brought with him the first known Chinese man to visit Europe: Michael Shen Fu-Tsung.

Upon his return to Europe in 1685 Couplet brought with him two Chinese converts including Michael Shen Fu-Tsung, the first known Chinese men to visit Europe, who visited Italy, France and England.[2][3] Soon after Couplet and one of the converts answered questions about the nature of the Chinese language posed by linguists in Oxford, Berlin and Vienna.[2]

[edit] Publications

In 1686 Couplet published in Paris Tabula chronologica monarchiae sinicae, a "chronological table of the Chinese monarchy", in an attempt to show that there was agreement between the Septuagint and the Chinese chronological records.[2] To prove his point he had to add 1400 years to the time period that existed between Creation and the birth of Abraham.[2] This however did not satisfy the European intelligentsia or the missionaries in China.[2] His work nevertheless had a major impact in other areas of European science.[4] Leibniz, for example, was able to establish, after communicating with the Jesuits, that the binary system he had invented also existed in the Yijing.[4]

In 1687, leading a group of Jesuits (Prospero Intorcetta, Christian Herdritch, and François de Rougemont), Couplet published the first known Western translation of a Chinese literary work: Confucius Sinarum Philosophus ("Confucius, Philosopher of the Chinese") and dedicated it to King Louis XIV.[5][2] The preface to the translation highly praised the works of Confucius:

"One might say that the moral system of this philosopher is infinitely sublime, but that it is at the same time simple, sensible and drawn from the purest sources of natural reason... Never has Reason, deprived of Divine Revelation, appeared so well developed nor with so much power."

—Preface to Confucius Sinarum Philosophus.[6]

Prior to returning to China he stayed in Europe until a dispute between the vicars apostolic of the Asian missions and the Portuguese patronado system was resolved.[1] After negotiations that lasted for eight years the two sides were able to reach an agreement and Couplet finally departed for China.[1]

He died on his return trip to China, drowning near Goa in 1693 during a storm.[1]

[edit] Works

  • Confucius Sinarum Philosophus, sive scientia sinensis latine exposita ... (1687), Paris, by Philippe Couplet and Prospero Intorcetta
  • Tabula Chronologica Monarchiae Sinicae (1686)
  • Breve raguaglio delle cose piu notabili spettanti al grand'imperio della Cina (1687)
  • Histoire d'une dame chrétienne de la Chine (1688)

[edit] See also

Christianity in China Portal

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Gerald H. Anderson, Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, p. 155
  2. ^ a b c d e f Dictionary of the History of Ideas
  3. ^ Ballaster, p.262
  4. ^ a b University of Barcelona website
  5. ^ The Dragon and the Eagle: The Presence of China in the American Enlightenment - Page 17 by Alfred Owen Aldridge (1993)
  6. ^ Quoted in Hobson, p.194

[edit] References

  • Anderson, Gerald H. (1999) Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, ISBN 0802846807 [1]
  • Ballaster, Rosalind (2005) Fables of the East: Selected Tales 1662-1785, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0199267340
  • Hobson, John M. (2004) The Eastern Origins of Western Civilization, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521547245