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received honorary doctorates from the University of Edinburgh and the University of Aberdeen, his alma mater.
Yet James Legge has, both within his own lifetime and since his death in 1897, been greatly misunderstood and misrepresented. There are seven areas of misunderstanding which are discussed in what follows, as well as seven clues as to why this has been the case.
Seven Misunderstandings of Legge's Work
1. Missionary Rejections
After having taken up his professorship at Oxford, Legge was invited by the missionary community in China to present a paper at the First General Conference of Protestant Missionaries in Shanghai in 1877. “Confucianism in Relation to Christianity" has been cited by later sources as a remarkably sensible and sensitive document which, while affirming the revelational priority of Christian faith, retains a high regard for Confucius and some aspects of Confucianism. However, the speech generated conflict when it was presented in absentia on May 11, 1877.
६
So antagonized were some members of the conference by certain aspects of the speech that they voted in a subcommittee to delete Legge's contribution from the published proceedings. Friends of Legge consequently arranged for it to be published independently in London. A side issue involved in this rejection was that Legge had discussed some aspects of a question, which had been banned from discussion at the conference, the so-called “term question". The question focused on the appropriate terms to be employed in translating the Christian ideas of God, spirits, and the Holy Spirit. Most of the opposition, however, was based upon Legge's claims that original Confucianism did have a limited knowledge of the true God. He went on to explain how Confucianism became sidetracked from its proper understanding of God (Shangdi, 上帝) and so needed to be supplemented by Christian revelation. Legge argued that because Confucianism is not inherently opposed to Christianity (as he felt Buddhism and "Brahmanism" were), missionaries could justifiably learn much by studying the texts of Confucianism and building bridges on Confucian foundations for effective Christian evangelism. A strong attack on Legge's assumptions was soon published in the
181
received honorary doctorates from the University of Edinburgh and the University of Aberdeen, his alma mater.
Yet James Legge has, both within his own lifetime and since his death in 1897, been greatly misunderstood and misrepresented. There are seven areas of misunderstanding which are discussed in what follows, as well as seven clues as to why this has been the case.
Seven Misunderstandings of Legge's Work
1. Missionary Rejections
After having taken up his professorship at Oxford, Legge was invited by the missionary community in China to present a paper at the First General Conference of Protestant Missionaries in Shanghai in 1877. “Confucianism in Relation to Christianity" has been cited by later sources as a remarkably sensible and sensitive document which, while affirming the revelational priority of Christian faith. retains a high regard for Confucius and some aspects of Confucianism. However, the speech generated conflict when it was presented in absentia on May 11, 1877."
६
So antagonized were some members of the conference by certain aspects of the speech that they voted in a subcommittee to delete Legge's contribution from the published proceedings. Friends of Legge consequently arranged for it to be published independently in London. A side issue involved in this rejection was that Legge had discussed some aspects of a question, which had been banned from discussion at the conference, the so-called “term question". The question focused on the appropriate terms to be employed in translating the Christian ideas of God, spirits, and the Holy Spirit." Most of the opposition, however, was based upon Legge's claims that original Confucianism did have a limited knowledge of the true God. He went on to explain how Confucianism became sidetracked from its proper understanding of God (Shangdi, 1:7) and so needed to be supplemented by Christian revelation. Legge argued that because Confucianism is not inherently opposed to Christianity (as he felt Buddhism and "Brahmanism" were), missionaries could justifiably learn much by studying the texts of Confucianism and building bridges on Confucian foundations for effective Christian evangelism. A strong attack on Legge's assumptions was soon published in the
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