Book Description

Excerpt from A Dissertation on the Theology of the Chinese: With a View to the Elucidation of the Most Appropriate Term for Expressing the Diety, in the Chinese Language The following Dissertation, as the title imports, Ta written with the view of elucidating the views of the Chinese on the subject of theology, in order to enable Christian writers, and translators of the Scriptures, to ascertain what would be the best tern by which to express the name of. God, in Chinese. To set the question in a true light, it was thought necessary to refer to the classical writings, and especially those of the Confucian school; because these always have, and still do, exercise the greatest influence over the mind of China; and notwithstanding the addition: of foreign religions, and (in the estimation of the Literati) heretical notions, the classics must and will form the basis of thought and expression throughout China for ages to come. This method of conducting the argument has necessarily drawn attention to the identical opinions of Chinese philosophers; and thus, independent of the discussion which called for the present essay much is brought forward that will no doubt be interesting to the public in general, particularly to those who are enquiring into the opinions and religious sentiments of so peculiar a people as the Chinese. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.