The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven

Written by Matteo Ricci, this treatise argues that Confucianism and Christianity are not opposed and in fact are remarkable similar in key ways. This treatise was important for Ricci in his missionary effort to convert Chinese literati, those men who were educated in Confucianism and the Chinese classics. Ricci hoped to make Christianity understandable and rational to the Chinese mind. The issue that emerged from this and other writings was whether Ricci and other Jesuits had gone too far and changed Christian beliefs in order to win converts. Had Ricci betrayed his own faith?

These questions were part of the Chinese rites controversy and scholars continue to disagree about how dangerous the accommodation of the Jesuits was during the Ming dynasty. As one reads this treatise and studies this issue, it is helpful to note that Ricci uses much of his writing to counter Buddhist thought, which he firmly opposed and hoped Chinese literati would join him in opposing. This means,then, that when Ricci argues for a real Heaven after death for believers, and for the need to look beyond this world's pleasures and travails, he not only was finding common ground with the literati, he was also attacking Buddhism and setting Christianity against Buddhism.