Tianzhu ( zh, s=天主, pinyin=Tiānzhǔ, links=no), meaning "Heavenly Master" or "Lord of Heaven", was the Chinese word used by the Jesuit China missions to designate

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

.''Manufacturing Confucianism: Chinese traditions & universal civilization'' by Lionel M. Jensen p.73
/ref>

History

The word first appeared in

Michele Ruggieri Michele or Michael Ruggieri (1543– 11 May 1607), born Pompilio Ruggieri and known in China as Luo Mingjian, was an Italian Jesuit priest and missionary. A founding father of the Jesuit China missions, co-author of the first European–Chinese di ...

's Chinese translation of the '' Decalogo'', or ''Ten Commandments''. In 1584, Ruggieri and Matteo Ricci published their first catechism, ''Tiānzhǔ shílù'' (天主實錄, ''The Veritable Record of the Lord of Heaven'').''The Jesuits: cultures, sciences, and the arts, 1540-1773, Volume 1'' by John W. O'Malley p.365
/ref> Matteo Ricci later wrote a catechism entitled ''Tiānzhŭ Shíyì'' (天主實義, ''The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven''). Following the

Chinese rites controversy The Chinese Rites controversy () was a dispute among Roman Catholic missionaries over the religiosity of Confucianism and Chinese rituals during the 17th and 18th centuries. The debate discussed whether Chinese ritual practices of honoring fa ...

, the term ''Tiānzhŭ'' was officially adopted by the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

in 1715, who rejected alternative terms such as ''

Tiān ''Tiān'' () is one of the oldest Chinese terms for heaven and a key concept in Chinese mythology, philosophy, and religion. During the Shang dynasty (17th―11th century BCE), the Chinese referred to their supreme god as '' Shàngdì'' (, "Lo ...

'' (天, "Heaven") and '' Shàngdì'' (上帝, "Supreme Emperor"). "

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

" is most commonly rendered as ''Tiānzhǔjiào'' (天主教, "Religion of the Lord of Heaven"). An individual Catholic is '' Tiānzhŭjiào tú''; ''tú'' includes the meanings "disciple" and "believer.""tú" in ''Collins Chinese Concise Dictionary'' (2006), New York: HarperCollins. The same ''

hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, ...

'' characters are used in the Korean words for Catholicism and Catholic believer.

History

See also

References

Further reading