jesuit science thru korean eyes

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Jesuit Science through Korean Eyes

Author(s): DONALD L. BAKERSource: The Journal of Korean Studies, Vol. 4 (1982-83), pp. 207-239Published by: University of Washington Center for Korea Studies

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Jesuit Science

through Korean Eyes

DONALD L. BAKER

Four centuriesago Michael Ruggieri 1543-1607) and Matteo Ricci

(1552-1610), two Italian priestsfrom he Society ofJesus,arrivedn

southeasternChina and began preaching he merits f European civil-ization and religion o a bemusedChineseaudience.Within couple ofdecades wordofthisCatholicmissionary resence nChinahad traveledthousandsof miles to Korea in the northeast.Thoughno JesuitpriestfromChina everreachedKorea,Jesuit publicationsdid. As early s thefirstquarter of the seventeenth entury,Koreans were readingandcommentingn printon works on religion nd natural cienceby Euro-pean authors.Two and a halfcenturies eforetheHermitKingdomwasforcedto open its land to the Westernworld,the Korean responsetotheWesthad

begun.Fr. Ruggieri oon returned o Europe to obtain moresupportforthe mission. Ricci stayedand learned thathe could makehisChristianmessagemore palatable to Chinese taste by packagingChristianitynConfucian colors and furthertrengtheningts appeal through ssocia-tion with Westernaccomplishments n cartography, stronomy, ndmathematics.The Riccian approach of cultural accommodation toChinese Confucian moreswas partiallycurtailedby papal decrees inthe early eighteenth entury.1The other feature of Ricci's plan forbringingheChineseto Christ,his borrowing f European advances in

science and technologyto promoteWesternreligion, vercame nitial1. Fora detailed ccount fthedisputever owtomaintainhe urityf

theChristian essagena Chinesenvironment,eeAntonio. Rosso,ApostolicLegationso China f theEighteenthenturySouthPasadena, alif.: .D. andlonePerkins,948).

207







208 Journal fKoreanStudies

oppositionwithin he church nd survived.2By 1644 theGerman esuitAdam Schall had been appointed directorof the ImperialBureau ofAstronomy n Peking. Except fora briefhiatus in the 1660s,Jesuitscontinuedto serveas China's official stronomers ntilRome orderedthe global suppressionof the Society ofJesusin 1773.3 This Riccianpresentationof Catholicism as compatible with Confucianismandcloaked in scientific nd technological xpertise s theversion fWest-ern earning hatKoreansfirst ncountered.

Over the last fewdecades much has been written n theWestonthis

earlycross-cultural ontact between Sino-Confucian ultureand

Western uropean civilization.The 190-yearJesuitmission s generallyadjudged a failure, inceChina did notbecomeChristian. he scholarlydebate over the reasons behind that failureusually revolves roundcompetingevaluations of thevalidity f adaptingCatholicism o Con-fucianlanguageand customs. Donald Treadgold,forexample,arguedthat "The Jesuitsof the sixteenth nd seventeenth enturieshad anopportunityto convert the Chinese empire." If the authorities nRome had notblunderedby condemning heJesuits' ompromiseswithConfucian terminology nd tradition,the Jesuits' proselytizing, n-

hanced by the popularityof Western cience,mighthave generatedChinese Christian ivilization.4George Dunne agreedthat theJesuitscould have converted substantial egment f theChinesepopulationif theyhad been allowed to preach a synthesis lendingthe "partialtruthsof Confucianism" with the "supernatural evelationof Chris-tianity," ust as theirpredecessors n the earlychurchhad done withGreekphilosophy.5

The papal rejectionofJesuitflexibility as had itsdefenders.Ken-neth Scott Latourette, n his monumentalHistoryof Christians nChina suggested hatwhether rnottherites nd

terminologyisputeshad arisen it is unlikelythe Society of Jesuswould havewon lastingacceptance forits alien religion n China. "No largebody of Christianmissionaries ould have lived and worked in China at this time,no

2. George . Dunne,GenerationfGiants: he toryfthe esuitsnChinain theLastDecades ftheMing ynastyNotre ame, nd.:UniversityfNotreDamePress,963), . 123.

3. Fora conciseummaryftheJesuit se of stronomyogain cceptancein China, eeJonathanpence,To Change hina:WesterndvisorsnChina1620-1960NewYork: enguinooks, 960), p.3-33.

4. DonaldTreadgold,heWestnRussia ndChinaCambridge:ttheUni-versityress),:31,33.

5. Dunne,GenerationfGiantsp. 369.Dunneminimizeshe adicalltera-tionofHebraic hristianityhat esultedromheencounterith heHellenicworld. eeJohnHerman andall, ellenistic aysfDeliverancendtheMakingoftheChristianynthesisNewYork:Columbia niversityress,970).







Baker JesuitScience through oreanEyes 209

matterwhat their attitudetoward the term forGod and the ritestoancestorsand Confucius,withouteventually rousing ntenseopposi-tion." Moreover,Latourette added, the church's refusalto bend toChinese culturalpressurepreserved he purityof Christian ruthandthe standardsof its adherents.6Arnold Rowbotham echoed Latour-ette's assessment,writingthat if Ricci's policy of accommodationhad been thoroughly mplemented, the Catholic Church in Chinamight ooner or laterhave lost its identity nd become merged n therelatively ormlesshaos of nativephilosophical hought."7

The dispute over the soundnessof Ricci'scompromise

withCon-fucianism ftenoverlookedthe other ide of theJesuit trategy. icci'sassumptionthat he could use science and technologyto sell religionwas seldom questioned.Only recentlyhave Western cholarsbeguntopoint out that respectforJesuittechnicaland scientific chievementsdid not necessarily ead to respectforChristianphilosophyand the-ology.Jacques Gernetcontended na recent rticle hat neither ciencenor culturad ccommodationcould bridgethe large gap between theChristian and Chinese visions of the world.8 If Gernet is correct,whetheror not Chinese Catholics had been permitted o honor their

ancestorswithtraditional ituals nd to call uponGod withtitlesdrawnfromthe Confuciancanon, externalassimilationof Confucianwordsand ways could not have disguised heCatholicchallenge o the funda-mental assumptionsthat shaped Confucian thoughtand civilizationwithin.

Some lightmight e shedon thequestionofradical ncompatibilityof Christianitynd Confucianism y directing urvisionbeyondChinato theKorean peninsula.Korea in the seventeenthnd eighteenthen-turies was a staunchlyNeo-Confucian tate,evenmoresteadfast n itsallegianceto Chu Hsi (1130-1200) thanMingandCh'ingChina.Korea,too, was first ntroduced o Western ivilizationby Jesuitmissionaries.Prior to the nineteenth entury,Western ivilizationmeantCatholicismto Koreans.Except for SpanishJesuit haplainwith nvading apaneseforcesat the end of the sixteenthcentury nd a few strandedDutchseamen in the seventeenth, herewere no Westerners n Korea untilthe nineteenthcentury.Koreans, however,received copies of manyJesuitworks in Chinese soon aftertheywere publishedin Peking.AfewKoreans nChinaon official usinesswere able to meetbrieflywith

6. KennethcottLatourette,

heHistory f

Christian issionsn China(reprint;aipei:Ch'eng-wen,975),pp.153,154-55.

7. ArnoldH. Rowbotham, issionaryndMandarin: heJesuitst theCourtfChinaBerkeley:niversityfCaliforniaress,942), . 296.

8. JacquesGernet,ChristianndChinese isionsftheWorldnthe even-teenthentury,"hinesecience1980,no.4,pp.1-17.








Jesuitsthere,but by and large the Korean reactionto Catholicism nboth the seventeenthnd eighteenth enturieswas a reaction o books,not people. This initialKorean responseto theWest hus offers istor-ians an opportunity o studycross-culturalnteraction n a settingnwhich the clash of ideas and values can be examined n relative sola-tion,freefrom hedistractionsntroduced y thepersonalities rpoliti-cal entanglementsfWesternmissionaries hataffected ther nstancesof earlycontactbetweenEurope and East Asia.

The Korean responseto Catholicismwas as diverseas theJesuit

scholarship heywere

respondingo.

Jesuitwritingsn Catholic

ethics,philosophy,theology,world geography, stronomy, nd othernaturalsciences all provokedcomment,eliciting raise by some and criticismby others. t would be impossible o coveradequately the entire pec-trumofKoreanreactionswithin he imited cope ofthis hort rticle.9A surveyof theirreactions to some of the startling cientific deasintroducedby the missionaries romEurope can, however,giveus aglimpseof the impressionthe Jesuitpictureof Western ivilization,Western eligion, ndWesternciencemade on Koreanminds.

Not long after heir rrivalnChinaat theendofthesixteenth en-

tury,Ricci and Ruggieri nnounced that "the earth s roundand hasinhabitantsiving ll aroundit."10The Chinese,whobelievedthattheylived in the centerof the world,were surprised y this challengetothe popular East Asian belief that heaven was round but the earthwas square.11 Koreans,who received a copy of a Jesuitmap of theworldas early s 1603, were ust as surpriseds theChinese.12

For the next century nd a halfKoreans debated this Europeanassertion.Some rejectedoutright he claimthat theearthwas a sphere;others cceptedJesuit eography ithout rawing romttheconclusionsthe Jesuitshoped theywould draw. The Jesuitmap of the heavens,

9. ThereactionoCatholicheologyndScholastichilosophysdescribedbyPakChonghong,Sogusasangi toippipankwa opch'ui"The ntroduction,criticism,ndassimilationfWesternuropeanhought]Sirhakasang i tamgu(Seoul: Hyoama,1974),pp. 172-277. ora studyfthe esponseo thenaturalscience aughtnJesuit ooks, eePakSongnae,Han'guk unse isogugwahaksuyong" Westerncience n Korea,1700-1860],Tongbangakchi20 (Dec.1978):257-92.

10. From heprefaceoMatteo icci'smapoftheworld,ited yKennethCh'en, MatteoRiccis Contributiono,and nfluencen,Geographicalnowl-edgenChina," ournalftheAmericanrientalociety1939, 9:327.

11. See, forexample,

henote n the Ssu-k'uh'ùèan-shusung-mui-yao[Notes n theworksisted ntheSsu-k'uh'üan-shuatalogue] 06:67, nSab-

bathin e Ursis, iao tuShuo [Thegnomon]1614): "Talk hat he arthwassmallpherehockedgreatmanyeoplewhen irsteardnChina."

12. Yi Sugwang, hibong usol [Miscellaneousssays y Chibong i Su-gwang]2:34b-35a.








with its twelve solid crystalline pheressurroundinghe roundearth,was equally controversial, inning cceptance from ome but rejectedby others.

Ricci presentedhimself s a scientist nd a scholar s wellas a priestto win legitimacyforhis presence n China, to overcometheChinesetendencyto view all non-Chinese as barbarians,and to converttheConfucianworld to Christianity. n important artof themissionarystrategy e adopted was to use thoseelements nthe natural cienceofhis time n whichtheWestsurpassedChinato "season withan intellec-tual flavoring" is religiousmessage.13Ricci was actingon two assump-tionssharedby most oftheJesuitswho followedhim n theChina mis-sion from he end of theMingthrough he first entury nd a half ofthe Ch'ing dynasty.Those missionary riestswho servedas officialsin China's ImperialBureau of Astronomy elt hattheir ecularrespon-sibilitiescomplementedrather than hindered their spiritualmission.They believed thatChinese,as well as otherEast Asians influenced yConfucian values, would be drawn by admirationforJesuitskill inpredicting elestial phenomena to trust n Western osmology. Theyexpected furtherhatacceptance of theCatholic pictureof thephysi-

cal structure f theuniversewould lead to belief n theCatholic doc-trines.The Jesuits n China assumed that once theyhad won respectforJesuit reasoningregarding ature,respectforJesuitauthority nfaith ndmoralswould naturally ollow.

The missionariesneverattemptedto hide the theological assump-tions behind theirscientificwork. On the contrary, heywould oftenprefacetheirwritings n astronomywith the argumenthat an orderlyuniverse ndicates theexistenceof an Orderer, Lord ofHeaven (T'ien-chu). For example, in a 1615 introduction o Ptolemaic astronomy,Then-wen ileh (A Catechismof theHeavens, EmmanuelDiaz (1574-1659) wrote

Ifyouenter great legantndmajesticalace nd find henteriorrrangedquitetastefullynd all the taffworkingrderlynddiligently,venfyoudon't eethemasterfthat alace, ou anbe ureomeoneowerful,ealthy,and wise s in chargehere. hink owmuchmoremajestics theCelestialVault,howmuchmore eautifuls thearrangementftheSun,themoon,andthefive lanetsn the kyhowmuchmore rderlysthe otationftheseasonsndthefecundityfthe osmos.Who anbehold uch magnificentspectaclendyetdeny heLordwho reatedndrules ver eaven,arth,ndthemyriadhings ithin.14

13. LouisGallagher,rans., hinan the ixteenthentury:heJournalsfMatthewicci1583-1610NewYork:Random ouse, 953), . 325.

14. Emmanueliaz,T'ien-wenüeh Acatechismf he eavens]T'ien-hsuehch'u-hanAn ntroductionoheavenlyearning]1628Taipei eprint;965), :2631.








The Jesuits earnedsoon after heir rrival nChina thattheycouldpredict solar and lunar eclipses as well as other celestial movementmoreaccurately han theChinese.They assumedthat their alendricalcalculationswere more exact because theywere based on a moreac-curate geometricmap of the universe, eflectinghe actual constitu-tion of physical reality.15Practical success in applied astronomyprovided confirmation hat theircosmologicaltheorieswere correct.Precisepredictionof celestialphenomenawas possiblebecause the uni-verse itselfwas orderly nd amenableto mathematical epresentation.This

regularityn

empyrealmovement,n

turn,was

possiblebecause the

universewas regulatedby a Regulator, heChristianGod who createdtheuniverse nd continued o governt.16

In theWest, t least forthe last four enturies,heory nd practicein natural ciencehave become inseparable.The modern cience oftheheavenswas born in the sixteenth enturywith the oiningof cosmo-logical theorywith astronomicalpractice.Nicolaus Copernicus 1473-1543) marriedthe astronomicaldata contained n Ptolemaictables tothe philosophicalpresuppositions f Aristotelian osmology.For cen-turiesnaturalphilosophers n Europe had taught hattheuniversewas

composed of twelve concentriccrystalline phereswith the earth m-mobile at the center.Celestialbodies weredepictedas moving n uni-formcircles on those spheresat constantrates of speed. Practicingastronomers, n the otherhand,based theirpredictions n a model ofthe heavens in which all motionwas charted long forty ircles,botheccentrics "circularorbitswhose centers ie a shortdistancefrom hecenter of fixed tars")and epicycles "circleswhosecentersmovealongthe eccentricorbits").17These eccentrics nd epicyclesweretreated smathematicalfictionsrather han as cosmologicalclaims.18Astrono-mers refrainedfrom interferingwith the philosophers'

theorizing.15.Jesuit onfidencen theirAristotelianosmologyppearsmisplacedomodernbservers.iccimade he mugommenthat heChinesenever new,infact, hey adnever eard,hat he kies re omposedf olid ubstances,hatthestars refixed ndnotwanderinground imlessly,hat herewere ence-lestial rbs nvelopingneanother,ndmoved ycontraryorces.heir rimitivescience fastronomynewnothingfeccentricrbitsndepicycles." allagher,Chinanthe ixteenthentury,p.325-26.

16. See, forexample,MatteoRicci's nfluentialntroductiono Catholicteachings, ien-chuhih-iThetrueLordofHeaven] "If therewerenogreatLord bovedirectinghemovementfthe un, hemoon,nd he tars,ow ouldchaos eavoided?"

reprint:eoul:Kwanerdoksa.972Ln. 49' г*- "17. Aleksanderirkenmajer,Astronomerf theAgeof Transition,"heScientific orldfCopernicused. Barbara ienkawksaDordrecht,heNether-lands: . Reidal, 973), .40.

18.Arthur oestler, heSleepwalkersNewYork:Penguin ooks,1964)pp.76-80.







Baker:JesuitScience through oreanEyes 213

Copernicuswas botheredby the inaccuracies n the ephemeridesavailable to astronomers f his day and by the nconsistencies etweenwhat astronomers ecorded and what naturalphilosophers aught.Heattempted o reconciletheory nd practiceby devising model of thecosmos that would allow both more accuratepredictions o be madeand the Aristotelian ssumptions f how celestialbodies moved to bepreserved.He did so, as we all know today, by pushing he earthoutof the center ftheuniverse nd putting hesun n itsplace.19Coperni-cus believed thathis heliostatic ystemnot onlyprovided betterbaseforthe mathematical ormulaeused in calendricalcalculationbut wasalso an accurate descriptionof how the universewas constructed.

The first esuits n China did not adopt Copernicus'sdisplacementof the earth,but taught nstead theAristotelian octrine fgeocentriccelestial spheres. Nevertheless,they appropriated the tie betweentheory nd practice,whichCopernicushad established, o arguefor hetruth f Catholic cosmology,naturalphilosophy, nd religion rom heaccuracyofJesuitcalendars nd theprecisionwithwhichJesuit stron-omerspredicted he onset and durationof solar eclipses.The responseofJoão Rodrigues 1561?-1633), when challengedby one Korean on

some specificsof his Aristoteliandescription f the heavens, s repre-sentative ftheJesuit rgument. odrigues epliedthaterrors ad creptinto Chinese ephemeridesbecause Chinese astronomers id not knowwhy celestialbodies moved theway theydid and therefore ould notgroundtheircalculations on reality.Rodriguesassuredhis questionerthat once theJesuitshad reformed heChinesecalendar, t would neverneed corrections gain,proving hatCatholiccosmologywas correct.20

The linkbetweenastronomy, osmology, nd theologywas arguedimplicitly y the publication nPeking n 1626 of T'ien-hsiieh h'u-han(An Introduction o HeavenlyLearning),a collectionofJesuit

writingswith equal space devoted to ethicsand religion, n the one hand,andastronomy nd mathematics, n the other. The termt'ien-hsiiehtselfwas probablyselected for tsfruitfulmbiguity,ince t can refer itherto the studyof the heavens (i.e., astronomy)or the studyof Heaven(i.e., God). Although the actual link in Jesuit astronomybetweentheory nd practicegrewtenuousas theneed to display dvanced tech-nical skill compelledJesuitastronomers o use the latestCopernicantables fromEurope at a timewhen church uthorities orbade hemtoteach Copernican cosmology,the missionarieshid that embarrassing

19. Copernicus'systemwas notpreciselyeliocentric.he center f hisuniverseas ocated nempty pace,usta short istanceromhe tationaryun.

20. JoãoRodriguess replyoYi YonghuanbefoundnChinese,longwithYi's etter,nYamaguchi asayuki,hoseneikyõshiTokyo: üzankaku,967),p.46.








discrepancy s best they could and continued to present heir stron-omy, cosmology, nd religion s a coherent nity.

They continued to claim knowledgeof the true structure f theuniverseeven after the crystalline phereshad dissolved and been re-placed by the modifiedgeocentrism f Tycho Brahe (1546-1601).The Jesuit dream was that Chinese impressedwith Western ciencewould also be impressedwith the Western eligionthataccompaniedit. Joseph Needham has unveiled the presuppositionsbehind thatcampaign. "The implicit ogic was that only Christendom ould haveproduced [the new science] Every correct eclipse predictionwasthus an indirectdemonstration f the truth f Christian heology."21

SuchJesuithopes were based on a misreadingfEuropeanassump-tions into Sino-Confucian ulture.DuringtheT'ang dynasty,Chinesedivorcedcosmologyfrom stronomy.22 romthenuntilmodern imes,East Asian astronomers imitedthemselves o providingmaps of theskies and precisepredictions f the movements f the sun,themoon,the planets,and the stars o thataccurateephemerides ould be com-piled. It was not theirob to concoct theories hatexplainedwhytheheavenlybodies movedtheway theydid. Consequently, s Nakayama

has observed,Chineseastronomers raditionally isplayed ittle nterestin the mechanistic eometricmodelscharacteristic fPtolemaicastron-omy. "Chinese astronomy howedno concernforprojection n space;forall purposesofmeasurement,eavenwas two-dimensional."23Whatshapethecosmostookwas leftforphilosophers o decide.

The Sung philosopherswho revivedConfucian thought in theeleventhand twelfthcenturiestook up the challenge.Though theylacked specialized knowledgeof the techniquesof astronomers r ofthe data astronomershad gathered,Chang Tsai (1020-77) and ChuHsi (1130-1200) debatedtherelativemerits fthevarious osmologicaltheoriesfound in Chinese tradition. n Neo-Confuciandiscussionsofthe hun-t'ien theoryof a sphericalheaven that surrounds he earthlike the white of an egg surrounds he yolk or of the more popularkai-t'ien theory n whichthe earth s conceived of as a roundedbowlthat s square at the base and has theskyas a hemisphericaloveroverit, we findno signsof the commonWestern orrelation f theoreticalwith xperimental ata.Thisseparation fcosmological heory ndastro-nomicalpracticemeantthatmoretimethantheJesuitshad anticipated

21. JosephNeedham,cience ndCivilisationnChina Cambridge:t theUniversityress,959), :449.22. Nathan ivin, Cosmos ndComputationnEarly hineseMathematicalAstronomy,"'oung ao 55,nos.1-3;1-73.

23. ShigeruNakayama, HistoryfJapanese stronomy:hinese ack-groundnd WesternmpactCambridge:arvard niversityress, 969),p. 68.







Baker:Jesuit cience through oreanEyes 215

was requiredto coax Koreans to take even the first tep in the two-stageprogression rom stronomy oChristianity.he Confucian radi-tion allowed skepticism egardingWestern osmologyto coexistalong-sideadmiration orWesternstronomy.

The missionarieswere eventually uccessful n gaining ecognitionof theirclaim to describe hecosmosas accurately s theypredicted tsmovements, o know not onlywhereand when celestialobjectswouldmove but also whyand how such movement ccurred.By the end ofthe seventeenthcentury,most knowledgeable Chinese and Koreanscholarswere convincedthattheworldwas indeed round.The match-ingconcentric pheres lso won acceptance,to suchan extent hatoneEuropean observerof Chinese culture n the nineteenth entury idi-culed the popular belief in those spheresas outmoded remnants fChinese tradition.24 he twelvecrystalline rbsalso survived s explan-atory tools in the astronomy ection of the Chungbomunhõnpigo,Korea's official ncyclopedia,printedn 1908.25

PersuadingKoreans to take the next step,from osmologyto reli-gion, proved more difficult.Most Korean and Chinese Confucianswho accepted the Catholic diagramof the structure f the cosmos as

factual ignored nd rejectedtheJesuitassumption hatsuch facts hadphilosophical or theological implications.A late eighteenth-centuryChinese comment on Diaz's T'ien-wenliieh, found in the Ssu-k'uch Uan-shu sung-mu Ч-yao, s probablyrepresentativef the nformedConfucianreactiontwo centuries fter heJesuitmissionbegan.Diaz'sexplanations and calculationsearnedpraise as superiorto those pre-viouslyavailable, but his insertionof theology nto hishandbook onastronomywas damned as deceptivelyborrowing he validityof hismathematicsto counterarguments gainstthe existence of his God."Let us set aside those absurditieshe is trying o foiston us and keeponly those techniques which are precise and well-grounded."26YiIk (1681-1763), a Korean scholarwriting n the T'ien-wen iieh a fewyears earlier, imply gnoredthe religious lements n Diaz's workand

24. Needham,cience ndCivilisation3:442. Nathan ivin oints ut thata popularntroductionoastronomyublishednChinan1819containedchartofthe en ayersfthe elestialpheresaken rom iaz'sT'ien-wentieh"Coper-nicusnChina,"tudia opernica [1973] 85).

25. This section ppears o havebeen implyarriedver, nrevised,romtheoriginal770edition.t containshewarninghat thereren't

eallywelve

spheresn thesky.Wetalkofspheresnly s a wayto describehedifferentpaths elestialbjects ollow.

26. Ssu-k'u h'ùan-shusung-mu'i-yao>06:69.A partialranslationfthisnote ntheT'ien-wenüeh sprovidedyGernet,ChristianndChinese isions,"p. 15.








confinedhis approbationto its Aristotelianosmology.27 esuit stron-omy and cosmologywerewidely adopted only after heywerepurgedof theChristian octrines,whichwere the missionaries' easonsforof-feringhem.

The Jesuitswho came to China were followersof the medievalScholastic philosophyof Thomas Aquinas and studentsof the naturalscienceof earlyRenaissanceEurope.They represented periodoftran-sition n Western hought,ust after he linkbetweentheory ndprac-tice had been established nd just before the linkbetweenscience and

religionwas severed.TheirScholasticism

ppearedin Ricci's introduc-

tory apologia for his faith,where he presentedthe argumentfromAquinas that logic and naturalreason,unaided by divinerevelation,can guidemen from herecognition hat there s order n theuniverseto the realizationthat there s an Orderer, SupremeBeingwhom allmankindmust ove and respect.28

The leap fromthe existential laim that God exists to the moraldemand that all men worshipGod is an example of the derivation fan "ought" froman "is" that the BritishphilosopherDavid Hume(1711-76) complainedhad marredall moralreasoning n theWestup

to his time.29This assumptionof a logicalbridgebetweentheworldof factand the realmof value has oftenmeant npractice hatchangesin the way the naturalworld is interpreted an threaten raditionalmoral principles.Ethics grounded n natureis vulnerableto shifts nman's perceptionof thatground.Men mayrushto defend heirvaluesby denyingnew discoveries r theories nsciencethatappearto under-minethem.

The Jesuitmissionaries o China intendedto produce the oppositeeffect.They believed that the undeniable superiority f the Westernscience theybroughtwould undermine raditionalEast Asian scienceand the Neo-Confucianism ssociated with it. Justwhen science wasbeginning o encroachupon Christianityn the West,these Christianmissionariesplanned to use science to weaken the hold Neo-Confu-cianism nd Sinocentrism ad on theEast.

In recentcenturies,we have grown ccustomed to the spectacleofconflictbetweenscienceand religion.Religiousvaluesrooted n cosmo-logical beliefsgalvanizedtheCatholic church n 1616 into suppressingheliocentric cosmology and today incite Christian fundamentalistattacks on the teachingof evolution.Whenman's claim to a special

27. Yi Ik, SonghoonsaenghonjipThecomplete orksfYi Ik] 55:30a-31b.

28. T'ien-chuhih-iespeciallyp.48-50, 0-62, 28.29. DavidHume,A TreatisefHumanNatureed.L.A.Selby-BiggsOxford

1888),pp.469-70.







Baker JesuitScience through oreanEyes 21 7

place in the universe s challenged,whetheras the inhabitantof thecenter roundwhichall else revolves r as the unique productof crea-tion in the imageof hisMaker,the notion ofman'sspecialrelationshipto God, with all the moralobligationson man thatentails, ppearstogrowproblematic.

The Jesuits represented,however,a Roman Catholic civilizationthat denied any possible contradictions etweenthe teachings f truereligionand the findings f true science. Science, to them,was thestudyof God's handiwork nd, unless abused, would lead to greater,not less, respect and love for the Creator. When properlyhandled,science would remain a loyal servantof the churchand a legitimatetool in thepromotion fChristian octrines.

The particularrelationshipthat theJesuitssaw between science,religion, nd morality nderlies heir ssumption hatcosmology eadsto Christianity. cience produces statementsabout causation that,when turned over to philosophers, re transformed nto statementsabout God as FirstCause. The philosophers hen become theologianswho build the foundations f the Catholic religion nd Catholicethicsfrom he statement hatGod exists.Morality n theChristian radition

has been derivative f and dependenton religious octrine.TheJesuitspresumedthat once theyhad convincedConfuciansthatGod existedit wouldbe relativelyimpleto persuadethemthatthey houldworshipthatGod through heCatholicchurch.

Catholic religiousdiscourse can be interpreted o be largelyvaluejudgments masqueradingas factual assertions. The claim that Godexists demands more than intellectualassent. Religious dogmas areinseparablefromand incomprehensible ithout the moral mperativesthey mply.WhentheJesuitspreachedthat thereexisted a God abovewho would judge men afterdeath and consignthemeitherto heaven

or hell dependingon theirconduct in this ife,theyweretrying o in-fluence the behavioras well as the beliefsof theiraudience. As thetwentieth-centuryhilosopherLudwig Wittgenstein as pointed out,statements f religiousbelief are morelike pictures ntendedto regu-late conduct thandescriptions freality.30

The Jesuits, f course,saw their heologyas more thanregulatorymetaphor.They believed that God, heaven, and hell reallydid existand thereforemenwere obligedto take those facts ntoaccount whendecidinghow to act. This dual role of theology,making laims aboutwhat existedas well as about whatmen should

do, allowed it to serve

30. LudwigWittgenstein,Lectures n Religious elief,Lecturesnd Con-versationsnAesthetics,sychologyandReligiouseliefed.Cyril arrettBerke-ley:UniversityfCaliforniaress,966), p.53-72.








as the bridge fromscience to Christianmorality.Jesuitapologeticscould move fromdiscussionsof the cosmos to declarations f ethicalimperatives ithout ppearing o leap any arge ogicalchasms.

The Jesuitsdid not realize thatConfucianthoughtdid not followWestern hannelsor make the sameconnections. n theNeo-Confucianphilosophythat dominated intellectual ife n China and Korea at thetime of the Jesuitmission to China, ethicsenjoyed an autonomyitlacked in the Catholic West.Rather thanreligiongeneratingmorality,in Confucian traditionmoralitydominated religion.Religious ideashad to pass the test of

compatibilitywith Confucianvalues before

winning espectability.31In the Sung repudiation fBuddhism, or xample,Ch'eng (1033-

1107), one of the founders of Neo-Confucianism, ondemned Bud-dhismforbeing immoral,not forbeing contrary o reason or experi-ence.He enjoinedhisdisciples o beware a detailedexamination fBud-dhistarguments ut encouragedthem nstead to judge Buddhismonlyon the merits f itspractices, n whether r not it promotedor hind-ered suchConfucianvirtues s loyalty nd filialpiety.32

Whenmorality aspriority verreligion, actual ssertions,whether

religiousor scientific, ose theirpower over values. Whether r notGod as Creatorexistedwas irrelevanto theConfucianmoralfocusonman's relationshipwith his fellowman. Afterall, Confuciushimselfhad said, when asked about worshipof spirits, Till you have learntto serve men, how can you serve ghosts?"33 Moreover,belief thatheaven and hell awaited men afterdeath should, in the Confucianview, play no role in moral decisions, since fear of punishment rdesire forrewardcould temptmen into caringmoreforpersonalgainthanforthegood ofsociety.34

Unaccustomed to drawingethical conclusions fromastronomical

practiceor cosmologicaltheorizing,uspiciousof theologicaltalk,andrejecting ny attemptby religion o definemorality,fewConfuciansfollowedtheJesuit path from rystalline elestial pheres o theCath-olic church. Traditionally,debates over the meritsof cosmological

31. C.K. Yang,ReligionnChineseocietyBerkeley:niversityfCalifor-niaPress,961), speciallyp.278-93, Religionnd heTraditionaloral rder."

32. ErhCheng h■an-shuThe omplete orks fCh'eng andCh'eng ao]Ssu-pu ei-yaodition,5:5a,10b.

33. AnalectsXI, 11,trans. rthur aleyNewYork:Vintage ooks, 938)p. 155.

34. Two anti-Catholicritersn eighteenthcenturyoreaare especiallystrongn thispoint. ee An Chongbok,Ch'onhakmundap,"unamjipThecollected orks fSunamAnChongbok]17:8a-26a; inHudam,Sohak yon,"Pyogwipy'onIn defense f orthodoxy],i Manchae,ed.,Seoul:Yolhwadang1971reprint,p.38-103.








we do not know who read them or whathappenedto them or to thegunsand otherpresents.Around a centuryaterYi Ik noted thatonlyDiaz's T'ien-wen ileh and theChih-fang ai chi (On WorldGeographyby JuliusAleni (1582-1649) survived.38 ll else, theguns, hesundial,the telescopes,and thestrikinglock,disappearedfromKoreanrecordsbeforetheseventeenthenturywas out.

Chöng's assistant,Yi Yünghu,sentRodrigues letter hanking imfor those presents and requestingfurther nformationon Westerntechniques of calendar calculation. Yi's letterand Rodrigues's replyprovideour first ecord of an exchangeof views between a Korean of-ficialand a Europeanmissionary nd show us how far parttheywerein theirthinking.n Yi's letterwe see the same Sinocentrismnd thesame respectforthe accuracyof theWestern alendarcombinedwithskepticism toward Westernastronomicaltheory that characterizedmuch of the early Korean attitude toward Western cience. In Ro-drigues's nswerwe see the sameattempt o arguefrom hesuperiorityof the Westerncalendar to the superiority f Westernreligionthatmarked o muchJesuitmissionary ritingnChina.39

Yi praised theJesuitsfortheir bilityto ascertain xactly"where

the sun and themoon will be at any giventime,with the fiveplanetsfalling nto theirproperplaces like pearlson a string."40He confessedthathe was impressedwhenhe learnedthatWesternersould producemore accurate ephemerides hanthose compiledby Chinese. He wenton to say,however, hat he could not acceptthecosmologicalbaggagethataccompaniedJesuitastronomy. n particular, e objected to theirdescriptionof the earth as a round ball at the centerof a universeconsisting f twelveconcentric rystallinepheres,withthemoon,sun,planets, nd stars ll affixed irmlyo their espective rbs.

Yi appears to have had some difficultyomprehendinghe signifi-cance of the earth'srotundity.He complainedthat,on themapof theglobe, theJesuitshad placed China slightly ffto the right f centerinstead of precisely n themiddlewhere t belonged.China belongs nthe middle,he wroteRodrigues, o showthat itoccupiesthecenter fthe pellucid ch'i (ether) at the heart of the world. That ch'i, which"sweeps roundand, twisting ack upon itself, nvelopsChinain a two-foldblanket," s responsible orChina'sgreatness, aving timulated he

works fKimYuk] (Seoul:Taedongmunhwaon'gusoeprint,975),p. 398;Jeon, cience ndTechnologynKoreap. 163.38. Yi k, Songhoaesol Minor ritingsfYiIk] 4:2.

39. Yamaguchi,hõseneikyõshi,p.44-46.40. Ibid., .45.








birthof a successionof sages overthe ageswho created a civilizationunmatched nywheren theworld.41Rodrigues responded to Yi's assertion f Chinesesuperioritywith

the retortthat it didn't reallymatterwhereChina was on the map,since "on a sphereany countrywhatsoever anbe the center."Besides,he added, China had no monopolyon wisdom. There had been saintsand sages in the West as well. As proof, he offered he "HeavenlyLearning"of theWest,boththeastronomy-cosmologynd thereligion.

Yi gives no clues in his letter to his evaluation of the Christian

religion,althoughwe can surmise t was

probablynot favorable.He

does sharply riticize heJesuitcosmological chematic.Yi objectedtothe spheresforseparating he fiveplanetsfrom he fixed tars.Koreanastronomers, ollowingChinesepractice,plottedthemovement f thesun,themoon, and theplanets nto constellations longtheequatorialline norder o calculatethedivisions fthecalendrical ycle.However,theJesuitsplaced the fixedstarson one of the outermost pheres ndgave the sun, the moon, and the planets theirown separate spherescloser to the earth so that theirpaths nevercrossed. This renderedmeaningless he traditional oordinatesof suk (С. hsiu, constellations)

and chya C. tz'u, Jupiter tations),used to identify egments f thecalendaryear in East Asia. Yi fearedthatifWestern osmologywereaccepted Jupiter ould notbe seenas moving hrough hestars, nd thesun and the moon could not be seen as dwelling n sequence in thetwenty-fouronstellations hat marked theirprogress cross the sky.

Yi also protested hattheJesuitshad moved the equatorial inetoheaven's apex, though by definition t should run right hrough hemiddleoftheheavens.Aristotelian osmology ocated theequatorialontheprimummobile thehighestmaterial phere,with no stars f itsownbutturninghestars nd planetsbelow itas it made onecomplete evolu-tion a day. Placingthecelestialequator beyondthestars viscerated heequatorial coordinatesthatwere the heart of East Asian astronomy.

In the astronomypreached by the Jesuits,the ecliptic assumedmore importancethan the equatorial.The ecliptic,whichtheChineseand Koreans took to be the meanpath of thesunand theplanets,wasthe line along whichJesuitastronomers alculated the movementofthe zodiac. In Yi's critical yes,this eft the planets,on their eparatespheres,withno pathsto follow.

41. Ibid. Yi describeshe h4enveloping

hinawith phrase an Yu (768-824)used odescribehehome egionfa Taoist riesterespected.ong,s Yi

doeshere, ttributeduperiorpiritualnd ntellectualiftsoanenvironmentfunusuallylean h'i.SeeHanYu,HanCh'ang-lihi Collected ritingsfHanYu](Shanghai:hanghaiinshugwan,936), . 1.








Rodriguesbrushed side all of Yi's objectionswiththerejoinder hatthe successful pplicationof Western stronomywould provetheva-lidityofJesuitcosmology. ronically, oday Yi's supportof thepolar,equatorial astronomyof the Chineseplaces him in a better ightthanRodrigueswith hisfixed tars longecliptical oordinates n crystallinespheres. According to Joseph Needham, "the systemof celestial co-ordinatesused throughout hemodernworld is essentially hinese."42European astronomers, eginningwith Tycho Brahe in the sixteenthcentury,have found equatorial coordinatesmoreconvenient n devis-ing astronomical instruments,

omethingChinese astronomers,with

their greaterexperience in observing he heavens,had long known.Yi's questioning f the concentric pheres n space also places him

closer to modernscience than Rodrigueswas. The modernworldhasabandoned the spheresforthe ancientChinesepicture fstarsfloatingin infinite,mptyspace.43However,Yi was not so muchinterestedndefending hinesecosmology n hisexchangewithRodrigues s hewasin protecting he integrityf astronomy.n effect, e charged hattheJesuits were forcingthree-dimensionalosmology onto astronomywheretwodimensionswould suffice.

Chinese and Korean astronomerswere concerned less with thestructure f the heavensthanwithwhathappenedthere.The specificphysicalcontours of the cosmos were rrelevanto whattheyperceivedas themaintask ofastronomy:predictinghemovement fthesun,themoon, the planets,and the stars. It is hard to find n thedevelopmentof Chinese astronomy any notable tendency towards conceptualschemes or mechanisticor geometricalmodels. The approach of theChineseofficial stronomerswas to represent umericallyhecourseofthe celestialbodies withoutdepending upon a geometricalmodel."44East Asian astronomersould forecast stronomical ventswithrelativeaccuracyby treating elestialobjects as movingpoints n the sky,set-tingaside any consideration fwhat externalforcesmade thosepointsmove or what shape or dimensions he sky and its occupants took.Standing firmwithinhis tradition,Yi saw astronomy s a practical,not a theoretical, cience. He rejectedthe spheresas an unnecessary

42. Needham,ciencendCivilisation3:270.43. Ibid.,pp. 438-42;Needhamrgueshatmore han oincidence aybe

involved.e suggestshat he ransmissionfChineseosmological

deas oEuropemight avebeenone oftheelementsesponsibleor hedissolutionfmedievalviewsnd he irthfmodernstronomy.

44. Shigeru akayama,CopernicnismnJapan," tudiaCopernico:154.For more n thispoint, eeNakayama'sCharacteristicsfChinese alendricalScience*JapanesetudiesntheHistoryfScience (1965): 124-31.







Baker:Jesuit cience through oreanEyes 223

complicationof the astronomers'work and an unwarranted ntrusionby cosmology nto the domain where bare mathematics houldprevail.The Jesuitstrategy f arguing rom he accuracyof theircalendarstothe validityof their naturalphilosophyfailed to persuadetraditionalthinkers uch as Yi, who thought n termsof a divisionof labor thatdrew no automatic connectionbetween astronomicalprecisionandcosmological ruth.

Thirty-twoyears afterChöng reportedto his government n hismeetingwith Rodrigues,the Yi dynasty officially dopted Westernmethodsof calendrical calculation. In 1653 the Sihtín

C. Shih-hsien)calendarreplacedthe old-style alendars,datingback 365 yearsto KuoShuo-chingof the Yuan dynasty n China,on the advice of Kim Yuk,then the directorof the Bureau of Astronomy nd Meteorology.Kim

arguedsuccessfully hat the reliability f theJesuit ephemerides ndthe formulaefromwhichtheywere derivedmerited heir doption.45

This embrace of the Jesuit calendar by the Yi dynasty n theseventeenth enturydeservesour close attention.Korean acceptancewithoutmuch debate of a calendarclearlyWesternnorigin howsthattraditionalKorea had few misgivings bout accepting products of

non-Confuciancivilization if they were compatible with traditionalgoals and values. Whenone official stronomer omplainedin a me-morialto the throne n 1650 thattheWestern alendar was based onalien methods,he was not objectingto the eventualuse of that cal-endar. He was merelyexplainingwhy he was havingdifficulty ullyunderstanding ll the details of the new methodsof calendricalcal-culation and needed more time to studytheJesuitbooks on astron-omy. Court recordsreportfew challengers o the astronomer's tate-mentthat the old calendarofKuo Shuo-chingwas out of date and thatthe new calendar devised by Westernerswas the most accurate one

availableto replace t.46Of course, Koreans had Chinese precedents for learningfrom

foreign stronomers.A Persianastronomerhad prepared calendarfortheMongolrulersof China in 1267. When heChineseregained ontrolof theircountry n 1368, the first mperorof theMingdynasty stab-lished a Muslim Astronomical Bureau alongside the Chinese Astro-nomical Bureau so that his regimecould benefitfrom Arab math-ematical and astronomicalexpertise.47 n 1629, after theJesuitshaddemonstratedthat they could predict more accuratelythan either

Chinese or Muslim astronomers he onset and duration of eclipses,45. Chosonwangjo illok,njo 23.12pyongsin1645); Chungbomunhon

pigoI, 5a-b.46. Ibid.,Hyojong.7kyong'o1650).47. Needham,ciencendCivilisation3:49.








the lastMingemperor sked the missionaries o advise theCalendricalBureau n a revision fthe official alendar.48WhentheManchuscapturedPeking n 1644, establishingheCh'ing

dynasty,Jesuitastronomerswere asked to continuetheirwork. TheGermanJesuitAdam Schall was promotedto the directorshipf theBureau of AstronomicalObservation.Soon afterwards,chalPs calen-drical calculations became the basis for the officialcalendar of theCh'ing dynasty.49

So the absorptionof alien technicians nd technology nto Confu-cian culturewas

nothingnew.

Accordingto the

eighteenth enturyscholarYi Ik, "From days ongpast,astrological alculation,mathemat-ics, the fashioning f utensils, nd the like have been fields n whichmen from heWestexcelled. That is whytheChinese haveturned versuch matters o foreignpriests.You can findthis confirmed y ChuHsi himself."50The adoption of the Sihtincalendarby theCh'ingin1644 and by the Koreans in 1653 was a continuationof Confuciantradition, ot a breakwiththepast.

In the seventeenth entury, ewChinese,Manchu,or Koreans sawthe superiortechnicalskill of Westerners s a threatto thevalues of

theirsocieties or the stability f theirgovernments.n thenineteenthcentury,Confuciansdefending heirheritage gainst uperiorWesternmilitary nd economicmightfoundthattheycould not followthead-vice of ChangChih-tung1837-1909) to adopt Western echniquesforpracticalapplicationwhile preservingraditionalConfucianvalues un-changed. By thenWestern echnology nd science had grownstrongenough to dominate and reshapenon-Westernultures.Two centuriesearlier, t was a differenttory.The imbalancebetweenEast and Westhad not yet grownso greatthat the admissionof Western uperiorityin one field mplied otalEast Asian nferiority.

Not yet on the defensive gainstEuropeanmilitary hreats o na-tional sovereignty r Western conomic challengesto social stabilityand self-sufficiency,governmentn Pekingcould employ Europeanastronomerswithoutappearing o slight heworthof Confuciancivili-zation. Similarly, he Korean governmentwas able to adopt Westernmethods of calendricalcalculation, ust as it was able a century arlierto considerusing hipwreckedeamento manufacture irearms, ithoutseeing in such actions an admissionthat the Westhad any claim to

48. Dunne,Generationf Giantsp. 209; Pasquale

M.deElia,GalileonChinaRelationshroughheRomanCollege etween alileondthe esuitcien-

tists-Missionaries1610-40), rans. ufus uter ndMatthewciasciCambridge:Harvardniversityress,960), p. 2-21, 1.49. Dunne,GenerationfGiantsp. 321.50. Sunamjip17:36a-b.








equality,much less superiority, iththe East.51 Even theJapanesein1720, despite a record of harshanti-Christianersecutions, xemptedcalendrical nd astronomical reatises rom ban on We ternauthoredworksso that theirofficial stronomers ould avail themselves f thelatest nd most reliable echniques.52

Not all Chineseagreedthat the Western ontrol of theirBureauofAstronomicalObservationwas harmless. n the1660s, a smallgroupof

xenophobes led by Yang Kuang-hsien1597-1669) was successful ora shorttimein havingthe missionariesn Peking ailed and their stro-nomical

accomplishments emporarilyisallowed.

Yang arguedhatthe

European priests nd theirChinese followerswerea potentially ubver-siveforceand should not be allowed so near to the heartof theempire.Afterhisattempts o proveJesuit stronomynferior o traditional hi-nese methodsfailed and the priestastronomers erereinstated, angcontinuedto complain that it would be better to have an inaccuratecalendar than to permitWesternerso stay in China. "Even with aninaccuratecalendar,the Han dynasty till asted for over fourhundred

years."53Despite its reputationformorerigid dherence o Confucianortho-

doxy thanChina itself,Korea had no such vocal anti-Western inorityin the seventeenth entury.Koreans followed the Ch'ing in discon-tinuinguse of the Western alendarduringYang's ascendancyat theChineseAstronomicalBureau, thoughthe Koreans appear to have be-lieved that the Ch'inghad abandoned the Western alendar because of

possible inaccuracies,not because of its alien roots. King Hyünjongordered that a calendar prepared according to Westernmethods bemaintained to see how it compared to those being promulgated nPeking.54He apparentlywantedto decide forhimselfwhether eking'stemporary eversal fastronomical olicywas ustified.

Korea was not blindlyfollowing he lead of the rulers n Pekingwhen it made the decision to adopt the Western alendar in 1653.Quite the contrary.Korean officials went againstthe wishes of theCh'ing court in altering hat calendarto make it moreappropriate oconditions n thepeninsula.Koreans believed thattherewasanintimate

51. Formoreon thoseunfortunateutch eamen,eeGariLedyard, heDutch ome oKorea Seoul:RAS,1971), speciallyp.46-57.

52. Nakayama,istoryfJapanesestronomyp. 122.53. YangKuang-hsien,u-Te-I foundnHsü

Kwang-ch'i,t al.,ed.,ТЧеп-

chu-chiaoung-chuanen-hsiensii-pienAdditional aterialn the Catholicmissiono theEast]Taiwan eprint,. 1249);John . Young,AnEarly onfu-cianAttack n Christianity:angKuang-hsiennd hisPu-te-i,"ournalftheChinese niversityfHongKong3,no. 3 (Dec.1975):185.

54. SillokHyonjong.12pyongjin1666).








connection between events in the heavens and events on earth. Acomet streaking hrough he sky had more than purelyastronomicalsignificance.f predicted y the official alendar, hat cometconfirmedthe monarch's status as the link between man and earth and thusstrengthened is right o rule.A cometthatappearedwithoutwarningbecame an ominousportentproclaiming eaven'sdispleasurewiththerulinghouse.55 The Korean court needed reliablenotification f im-pending celestial events. The Sihõn calendar calculated and promul-gated in Pekingcould not suffice, or tforetold nlywhat wouldhap-pen in Chineseskies,andwas notdesigned o forecastwith

equal preci-sion whatKoreanswould see whentheyturned heir yesheavenward.A perfunctorymplementation f the new Chinese calendar that

did not take into account the changes n longitude nd latitude fromPekingto Seoul could have broughtmore harmthan good to the Yidynasty.Total subservience o Pekingastronomersmight trengthenthe claim of the emperorof China to be therulerof all underheaven,but it would thusunderscoreKorean dependencyon China.Moreover,an eclipse or the appearance of a cometoverKorea not predictedbyastronomers n Peking could threatenthe legitimacyof the Korean

king.Whenthe Ch'ing government orwarded copyofthenew calen-dar to Korea, theydid not includeinformationn how thatcalendarhad been calculated.Koreans had to findout forthemselvesheformu-lae needed to adjust the calendarto Korean conditions, ust as theyhad done for the previous calendars since the time of King Sejong(r. 1418-50).56

Obtaining hatinformation as not easy. As KimYuk pointedoutin his 1645 memorialurging doption of the Western alendar, inceChina did not permit ributary ations o drawup their wn calendars,Korea had to be discreet n sendingmento Peking o learntheWesternmethods.57Discretion,plus substantial uantities fsilver laced in therighthands, enabled Korea to circumvent h'ing restrictionsnd ob-tain enough information n the means of calculatingthe movementof the sun and themoon to promulgate ts own versionof a calendarbased on Western echniques n 1653.58 Ch'ingbarriers o the releaseof astronomicaldata to foreigners reventedKoreans from earningthe additional information n planetarymovementnecessary o fully

55. ParkSeong-rae,PortentsndNeo-Confucianoliticsn Korea,1392-1519,JournalfSocial ciencendHumanities9 (Tune 979): 53-118

56. Chungbomunhonigo [OfficialncyclopediafKorea, evised]. 908.I, 5b.57. Sillok,njo23.12pyongsin1645).58. Sillok Injo 24.6 muin1646); Jeon, cience ndTechnologynKorea

p. 83.








implement heirown Sihon calendar until 1708, however*59 o keepabreastof laterrefinementsf theastronomers' rt ntroduced rom heWest,Korea added an occasional astronomer o the entourageof offi-cial tribute missions to Peking. As late as 1823, despite an officialpolicy of suppressionof Catholicismat home, Korean recordsrevealthat court astronomerswere still seekingout Catholic astronomersnPekingwith theblessing f the Korean court.60

A modernreader s struckby how seldommention fWestern eli-gion or cosmologyappears in the officialaccounts of discussionsonWesternmethodsof calendricalcalculation. Until well into the

eight-eenth century,Koreans continuedto treatastronomy s a matter fmathematical formulae barren of any theoretical or metaphysicalovertones.For example,as late as half a century fterKorea endorsedWestern alendricalscience, resistance o Jesuitcosmologyremained.In 1720 we still findsome oppositionto the notion that the earth sround.

Yi Imyüng (1658-1722), a Korean envoy to the Ch'ing court in1720, met a couple of theJesuitmissionarieswhile he was in Peking.Following that meeting,Yi wrote Frs. IgnatiusKoegler (1680-1746)

and Joseph Suares (1656-1736) for further nformationon theirmethodsfor calculatingthe movementsof the stars and the planets.In his letterYi informed he European priests hat his high regardfortheirtechnicalexpertisedid not mean thathe gave equal credence totheircosmologicaland geographical heories.He wrote thathe had noquarrel with their statementthat heaven is curved.Everyone agreesthat t can be seen to rise n the middle above us and to dropdown atthe edgesoff n the distance.However,onlymen from heWestclaimthatthe earth, oo, is round. "I don't knowon whatgroundsyou makesuchan inference."61

The missionaries pparentlygave Yi some religioustracts, longwiththe astronomicalhandbooks,whenhe visited them. Yi told themhe foundthe writings f Ricci and Aleni quite interesting. e had noobjections to the little he had learned of Catholic ethics. "Your ap-proach of living s if always in the presenceof Sangje [C. Shang-ti]and of striving o recoveryour originalnaturedoes not seem muchdifferent romour Confucianapproach.Unlike theTaoists,withtheirnihilism,and the Buddhists,with theirquietism,not once do youthreatenmoralityor deny principleby blockingthe path to loyalty

and filial piety." To the missionaries'dismay,Yi praised Catholic59. Jeon, cience ndTechnologynKorea p. 84; Chungbo unhonigo

I,6b.60. Chungbo unhonigo,, 6a-10b.61. Yi Imyong,ojaejip [Collectedwritingsf Sojae Yi Imyong] 9:2b.








teachings only where he found them supportiveof his Confucianvalues. When the Jesuits tried to lead himbeyond Confucianism oCatholic theology,he demurred."Your storyof the descent of theLord of Heaven resemblesthose told of the Buddha's birth.Yourdoctrine of reward in heaven and retribution n hell-how can thatbe? If you thinkyou can transform he entireworldwith such non-sense,you facequite a difficultask."62Detachingreligion rommoral-ity and cosmologyfromastronomy,Yi dismembered heJesuitargu-ment that the accuracyof the Western alendarsvalidatedChristiantheology.

There were those who followed theJesuits part of the way andaccepted a link between reliable astronomy nd trustworthyosmol-ogy. Nevertheless, ew werewilling o climb thenext step and acceptthe religiouscore of theJesuitmessage.One of the firstKoreans topublicly declare support for Westerncosmologywas the writer ndofficial Kim Manjung (1637-92), who wrote that the Westernhypo-thesis of a sphericalearth compelled belief, as it far surpassedthetraditionalkai and hun theories n consistencynd explanatory ower.He criticizedthose who doubted that men could actually live on a

sphereas havingthe proverbial imitedvisionof a frog n a well. Hewent on to suggestthe possibilitythat the sphericalearthrotated,dismissing he objections that a revolving arth would leave peoplehanging upside down as no more a valid refutation f the rotationof the earth than it was of the earth'ssphericity. espite his admi-ration forJesuit astronomyand cosmology,Kim did not feel thatthe effectivenessf Western cience enhanced the appeal of Westernreligion.Catholicismappeared to him to be merelyan offshootofBuddhism.63

We do notknowwhichworks n EuropeancosmologyKimhadread.The earliestJesuitwritingswere complete with illustrations f thetwelve crystalline pheresencasinga stationaryearth. In the 1630sthe missionary stronomers uietlydroppedthose spheres, longwithPtolemy's epicycles, n favorof the theologically cceptable variationon Copernicanism fTychoBrahe.Jesuits eganteaching hroughheirChinese anguagepublicationsthattheplanetsrevolved roundthesunrather hanaroundthe earth.The sun itselfwas placed inorbit roundthe immobileearthstillat its post in the centeroftheuniverse.Helio-

62. Ibid., . lb.63. KimManjung,Sop'omanp'il,"op'ojip Collected ritingsfSop'oKimManjung]Seoul:Tongmun'gwaneprint,971), p.580-81; 14.








centrismwas not mentioned,havingbeen condemnedas heretical n1616. Not untilCopernicus'sDe Revolutionibuswas removedfrom hechurch's ndex of forbiddenbooks in 1757 could the scientist-priestsin China dislodge the earthand send it in motion aroundthe sun.64

Though forbidden o mentionthe annual revolutionof the eartharoundthe sun,theJesuitswere allowed to discussthe globe'sdiurnalrotation.Unlike heliocentrism,hat hypothesishad not been brandedas contrary o the scriptures.Consequently,James Rho (1590-1638)broughtup the earth'sdaily rotation on its own axis as one theoryheard in the West but

immediatelyefuted t with

arguments upport-ing the orthodox doctrine that the earthremainedstationary t themiddleofa revolving niverse.65

The eighteenth-centurycholarYi Ik admiredWestern cienceandaccepted withoutquestion that the earth was round,despite the ob-jections of some among his contemporaries.66 i also weighed thesoundnessof the conjecturethat the earth rotated.He endedup agree-ingwithwhathe had read inJesuitbooks.

Yi read and wrotemorewidely bout natural ciencethan did mostof his fellow Neo-Confucian iterati.67 everal short ssays dealingwith

astronomy nd cosmologycan be foundin his Sõnghosaesiïl a multi-volumecollectionof miscellaneousmusings.He had nothing utpraiseforthe Western alendar,whichhe said was so accuratethateventheSages would follow t if theywere still alive. His onlycaveatwas thatthe Western alendar dealt solelywith the world of phenomenaanddid not plumb the hidden meaningsbehind celestial events. It was"a calendar formen,not a calendar of heaven." Astrologerswho readmen's fate would do better to refer o old-style alendars.Yi refusedto grant astrologicalor metaphysical ignificance o Western dvancesin calendrical cience.68

Yi Ik was not and did not intend to be a scientist.He was a Con-fucian scholardisposed to analyzingand evaluatingwhat otherssaidabout nature nsteadofpersonally ngagingndirect mpirical xamina-tion of the materialworld.Yi standsout in eighteenth-centuryoreafor the depth and breadth of his discussionsof both Western cienceand Westernreligion. n his excursionsinto naturalphilosophyand

64. Sivin,CopernicusnChina," p.63-103.65. Ibid., p.78-79, iting hos Wu-weii-chih,:7b-8a.66. Yi Ik,Songho aesol, :532b.

67. Yi Wonsun,SonghoYi Ik ui sohak egye" Yi Ik'sview fWesternLearning]Kyohoesa on'guno.1 (1977),pp.2-39.

68. Yi Ik,Songhoaesol2:43b; :51a-b.








Jesuitpublications,Yi wielded the twintools of a formidablentellectwell-honed on moral, metaphysical, nd political issues and a vaststore of knowledgeacquired fromwide-ranging eading n both Con-fucian nd non-Confucian ources.69

For example, on the hypothesisof the rotation of the earth,Yireached back beyondJesuit tatements n thatquestionto note that nthe fourth-centuryhinese state of Chin one YU Hsi had proposedacosmology of a stationaryheaven and a rotatingearth.70 He alsoobserved that Chuang-tzu nd Chu Hsi, too, had raised the possibilitythat it

mightbe the earthrather hanheaventhatmoved in one com-

plete turneveryday. He pointed out furtherhatno matterwhetherthe figures he Westprovidedor those givenby Chineseastronomersfor the size of the empyreanwere correct, herewas no doubt thatheavenwas extremelyargeand must move ncredibly astto completea full revolutionevery day.71 Nevertheless, espite the supporthefound for the earth'srotation,he concludedthat the evidencethat twas heaventhatwas turningwas evenstronger.

Whatwas thatevidence?First,Yi cited classicalConfucian uthor-ity: the Book of Changes said, "the movementof heaven is full of

power."72 Therefore,Yi reasoned,heaven does have enoughstrengthto make one fullrevolution veryday despite its greatsize. Second,Westerners aid that heavenrevolvesaround the earth.The accuracyof their calendar attested to the truthof that assumption.Third,borrowingan argumentfromChu Hsi, Yi Ik wrote that traditionalcosmologydemanded that the earthremainstill. The earthwas heldin place in the middle of the universeby the constantrotation ofheaven around it. If the earth moved, it would throw tselfout ofbalance and dropout ofposition.73

On questions of naturalphilosophy,Yi sided withwhatappearedmost rational.Rationalitydid not mean rigid dherenceto thewords

of the foundersof Neo-Confucianism.He rejectedCh'engYi-ch'uan'sexplanation of the tides as the resultof evaporation n favorof theWesternexplanation that the pull of the moon caused the seas to

69. For a detailed iscussionfYi's reactionoJesuit ublications,eeYiWonsun,Songho i Ik." Anauthoritativentroductiono Yi Ik'soverallhilo-sophys HanUgun, onghoYi Ikyon'guA studyfYi Ik] (Seoul:SeoulUni-versityress, 980).

70. YiIk,SonghoaesoL :36a: 3:47a.71. Ibid., :47b-48a; 4a-15a.72. I Ching,RichardWilhelmrans.; nglish yCaryBaynesPrinceton:

Princetonniversityress,969), . 6.73. Yi Ik,Songho aesol, :47b-48a 14a-15a; :35b;3:48a;Chu-tzuu-lei

1:4a.








rise and fall, for example. Nor did rationalitymean unquestioningacquiescence to the claims of Jesuit science. Yi spurnedthe twelfthunmovingsphere of Aristotelian-Scholasticosmology as detractingfrom he motionoftheheavensneeded to maintain arth n itsplace.74

Rationality n Yi Ik's philosophymeantagreementwiththe moral

message of the Confucian Classics and compatibilitywith sense ex-

perience.Yi Ik was open to theWest when it offered etterexplana-tions of sensory phenomena than Confuciantradition ould furnish.However, he turned his back when theJesuitsclaimed the right oeitheralter or add to Confucianethical

principlesnd moralpractice.

Yi's respectfor the achievements f Western cience as practicedby theJesuitsdid not have theeffect he missionaries ssumed t wouldhave. It did not shake his faith n his own tradition.Quite the con-trary.The findings fJesuitscience seemed to him at times o supportthat tradition, s we saw in his linkingof the Book of Changes, heWestern alendar,and Chu Hsi in the argument gainstthe rotation fthe earth.Nor did admiration orJesuit ccomplishmentsn calendricalcalculation ead himto embraceWestern eligion.Yi read manyof the

Jesuitbooks on ethics and theology nd was favorably mpressedwith

the highmoralstandards he missionaries pheld in theirwritingsndintheir ives,but was not as impressedwithCatholicreligious octrines.He describedtalk of God and of spiritualbeing in Jesuit writingss"grainsof sand and pieces of grit"that marwhat would otherwisebeorthodoxpublications.75

Esteem for the Western ommand of scientific act did not moveYi to accept Western uthorityn religiousdogma.As he told his dis-ciple An Chüngbok 1712-91), he trustedwhat themenfrom he Westsaid about the sky and about the earth but not what theysaid abouttheir"Lord of Heaven."76The traditional elegation fcosmology nd

religionto separate spheressubordinateto the moralityof the Con-fucian traditionto which Yi was heirguaranteedYi that no cosmo-logicalchallengefrom he Westwould affecthismoralobligations.Hecould not be convincedthathe shouldworshipa foreignGod by menhe viewed as mere technicians- alentedtechnicians, t was true,buttechniciansnonetheless.He was susceptibleto no Copernicanrevolu-tion n valuesthroughhe nfluence fJesuit cience.

For all his interest n naturalphilosophy nd scientific heory,Yishowed little nterestn scientific ractice.He did not realize that the

74. Yi Ik, Songho onsaenghonjip,3:24a-27a.ForCh'engYi's position,seeErhCh'engh'uanhu, 5:4b-5a; i Ik,Songhoaesol, :48a.

75. See Yi Ik's commentsn theCh'ik'e [Seven ictories]f DedacusdePantojo,onghoaesol 11 2a-b.

76. Yi Ik,Songho onsaenghonjip,6:19b.








celestialspheres o importantn the earlyJesuitworkshe read did notappear in latercosmologicaltreatises, inceby the middleofthe seven-teenthcenturyJesuitastronomerswereplottingplanetary rbits longellipticalrather han circular rbits. Nordoes he appearto haveknownthat two official stronomersn Korea, in the latterhalf of the seven-teenth century,had constructedgeocentricorreries, emonstrationalarmillary spheres, that suggest the earth's diurnal rotation. Theseastronomicalclocks,made by Song Iyfcngnd Yi Minch'81, ach con-tained an innerterrestrial lobe thatwas connected to thepolar axisof the

armillarypheren such a

waythat theterrestrial

phererotated

one full turneach day.77 In this lack of attention o thepracticeofastronomerseven in his own country,Yi resemblesHong Taeyong(1731-83), a minorgovernmentfficial nd scholarwho also dabbledin cosmological peculation.

In Korea today,Hong is admiredforbeingan early dvocateof thediurnalrotationof the earth.Hong and hisfriendshought hatHong'sdiscoverythat the earthmade a completeturn on its own axis once aday was original o him.78They wereapparently nawareoftheastro-nomicalclocks builtby their ountrymen century arlier.Nor,despite

meetingwithJesuitastronomersn Pekingthree times in 1766, doesHong indicate any knowledgeof Copernicancosmology,thoughthepriestswereby thattimefreeto teachtherotation ftheearth s wellas heliocentrism.79 n fact,Hong criticizedthe West forrecognizingthat the worldwas roundwithoutdrawing he inescapableconclusionthat the worldtherefore annotbe immobile, ince it is the natureofroundobjectsto rotate.80

Hong, ikeYi Ik, admired heprecision fJesuit stronomers. nlikeYi, he did not take thatprecision s proofthatWestern osmologywasan accurate descriptionof physicalreality. nstead, he looked with acriticaleye at both Western nd traditionalChinese cosmologiesandcame up with what he thoughtwas an originalhypothesis hat im-provedon whateither ivilization ad offered reviously.

Hong was a philosopher,not a practicing stronomer, ut unlikeotherKorean Confucianscholars,he kept a set of astronomicalnstru-ments at his home. However,they ppearto havebeen onlyfor muse-ment,as he leftno records of everhavingused themforsystematicobservation f theheavens. * Hongacknowledged hatWesterncience

77. Jeon, ciencendTechnologynKoreap. 19.78. PakChiwon,onamjipCollected ritingsfYonam akChiwon 2:48b.79. Hong's ecord fhisconversationith hetwoJesuitsanbefoundn

hisTamhonso,aejip WritingsfTamhon ong aeyong]7:9a-15a.80. PakChiwon,onamjip2:47b:HonerTaevonff.amnonso.aeiiù4:22a-h.81. PakSong-nae,Han'gukunse isogugwahakuyong,". 272.








had built its great accomplishments n a foundationof mathematicssupplementedby carefulobservations,yet he himselfdid not adoptthatWesternpproach.82

Hong's rotatingearth theoryresemblesthose suggestedby Hera-kleides in ancient Greece and Nicholau Oresme n fourteenth-centuryFrance,menwho also speculatedthatmaybeoureyesdeceiveus and itwas reallythe earth thatwas turningnsteadofheaven. All threefoundtheirrevolvingglobe in their imaginations,not in the astronomers'data. No more than Yi Ik did Hong see the need to combinetheorywith

practiceor to test his

hypothesis gainstreality.Both

Hongand

his friend ak Chiwön (1737-1805) confess the abstractmpracticalityof his cosmologicalvision,admitting hat it was more convenientforcalendrical alculation and astronomical bservation o assumethattheearthwas stationary nd heaven alone was moving han that the earthrotatedon its axis once a day.83

WhenHong visited Frs. Augustinevon Hallerstein 1703-74) andAnton Gogeisl (1701-71) at the South Churchin Peking,the priestsnaturally ried to have Hong adopt the same interestn theirreligionhe had shown toward their cience.Hong's record of his conversation

withthose two missionarieshows, however, hathe asked only a fewperfunctoryuestionsabout the priests'religiousbeliefs.He was moreinterested n seeing the Jesuits' astronomicalapparatus and hearingtheirviews on the structure f the heavensthan he was in learningabout the nature of theirGod or their thics.Catholictechnology, otdoctrine,was what brought Hong Taeyong to the South Church.Steeped deeply in Confuciantradition,he saw no logical connectionbetweenthe successof Western cienceand the claimsof theCatholicfaith.84

The reaction n Korea to Hong's suggestion hat mankind ivedona revolving pherewas the same yawn of indifference e himselfhadshown towardChristian heology.Whether he earth under man's feetwas static or in constantmotionwas of little mport n a culturethatelevatedmoral and politicalphilosophy bove science. In thisrespect,Korea's responseto Hong resemblesChina's equallydispassionate eac-tion to heliocentrism, hen it was finally ntroducedby theJesuits nthe second half of the eighteenth entury.85 n the Neo-Confucianuniverse,values and moral principleswere beyond cosmologicaldis-putes and philosophers ould look with insoucianceupon competing

physicalmodelsofthe earth nd theheavens.82. Hong, amhonso,aejip, :9b.83. PakChiwon,onamiip,4:8a;Hong, amhonsonaejip4:22a-b.84. SeeHong, amhonsowaejip7:9a-15a.85. Nakayama,istoryfJapanese stronomyp. 172.







234 Journal fKorean Studies

As long as naturalphilosophyand technology emaineddetachedfrom he realm of ethicsand value,Koreans could continue o expressadmirationforWestern cienceevenafter heybegana violent ondem-nation of Western eligion. n 1784, Catholicism,hitherto eenonlyasthe faithof foreignersafelydistant n Peking,reachedthe peninsula.Yi Sunghun (1756-1801) was the carrier.Yi went to Peking ate in1783 to assist his father on a tributemission to the Ch'ing court.While nPeking,hemetsomeoftheCatholicmissionaries here ndwasconverted o Christianity.Whenhe returned ome earlythe nextyearas Peter Lee, he began

preachinghis new faith o his friends nd rela-

tives. In 1785 a makeshiftCatholic servicewas discoveredby the au-thorities n Seoul. The yangban nvolved, ncludingYi Sünghun,weretakenin briefly orquestioning nd reprimanded ordangerousnvolve-ment nheterodoxpractices. he chunginThomasKimPöm'u, at whosehouse the servicehad been held, was treatedmore severely nd diedwithin yearofthewoundshe receivedwhileunderdetention.Despitethis early setback,Catholicismspread quickly. Then, in 1790, thoseneophyte Catholics learned for the firsttime, via a letter fromtheFrenchbishop of Peking,that theirchurchforbadepossessionof the

ancestralmemorialtablets thatwere essential o Confucianmourningritual.The stagewas set forbloody conflict.86In the fall of 1791 two ofKorea's first atholicswereexecuted for

destroyingheir ncestral ablets.87Theirdefiance ofhallowed KoreanConfuciantradition ed to a flood of memorials o the court n SeoulcondemningCatholicism s a perniciousheterodoxy hat, funchecked,would undermine he moral foundationsof Korean society. In thosememorials, Catholicism was described as an unmitigatedevil thatthreatened o sweep aside thequintessential irtues floyalty nd filialpiety,turning hepeninsula nto a land onlyofwildbeastsand barbar-ians, unfitforcivilizedhumanbeings.88Nevertheless,n themidstofthisdelugeof heated denunciations f Western eligion, herewas stillrespectforWesterncience.

In the months immediatelyprior to the royal decision to make

86. Thebestoverallurveyfthefirst ears ftheKorean atholic hurchis stillCharles allet,Histoire e L'Eglise e Coree Paris:Victor alme, 874),reprintedy RoyalAsiaticociety, orean ranch,975.

87. Seemy ThemartyrdomfPaulYun:WesterneligionndEastern it-ual in Eighteenthentury orea,"TransactionsRoyalAsiatic ocietyKorea

Branchy4 (1979): 33-58.AlsoAkaki inbi,Chosen ookeru enshukyôyûnyûto sonotenreimondai itsuite"The ntroductionfCatholicismntoKorea ndtherites ontroversy]Shigakuasshi 1 (1940),no.6:707-26; o.7,pp.847-81;no.8,pp.1023-62.

88. Many fthosememorialsrecollectednPyogwipy'on,d.,YiManchae,pp.122-223.








Paul Yun Chich'ungandJamesKwön Sangyün pay with their ivesforplacing heauthorityf their atholicchurch bove theauthorityf theirConfucianstate,we findrecordsof discussionsat courton acquiringthe latest information romChina on the Westernmethodsof calen-drical calculation. Officialsresponsiblefor formulatinghe calendarwere particularly nterested n obtainingcopies of Shu-liching-yiina workby Mei Ku-cheng 1681-1763) introducingWesternmathemat-ics, and Li-hsiangk'ao ch'enghou pien a sequel to a compendiumoncalendrical science and astronomyprepared by IgnatiusKögler andother

Jesuitscientists.No concern is

expressedabout the Catholic

pedigree fthose works.89In the wake of Yun and Kwon's execution,one junior official n

the Officeof Special Counselorssuggested o KingChöngjo (r. 1776-

1800) thatallWesternearning hould be condemned.SinHSnjo arguedthat the term Westernearning tself was improper, ince nothing oimmoraldeservedto be called hak (learning), n appellationalso usedfor heteachings fConfucius ndMencius.Sin demandedthatall ideasand techniquesfrom heWestbe labeled Westernractices nstead.For

practices, in used theword sul which refers oth to thetechnical kill

of artisans nd to the occult arts of shamansand was clearly ntendedby him to indicate thatwhich was unworthy f the attentionof thetrueConfucian cholar.

The kingrejectedSin's suggestion s narrow-minded. e declaredthat there was nothingwrongwithusinghak to name both orthodoxscholarship nd heterodoxy.He pointed out that otherwordshave asimilarambiguity.Li (principle) is nature sõng). Ki (materialforce)is nature, oo. Still,mendo not oftenconfusetheir nnategood nature

(ponsõng) with theirphysicalnature chilsõng),which s the sourceofmoral frailty. onsõng remains i and chilsongremainski despitethe

lexical coincidence.KingChöngjodismissed in's complaintbecause hebelieved it unlikelythat men would be fooled into rankingWesternscholarship longsideConfucianscholarship implybecause theybothlaid claim to being called schools of learning.Furthermore, atholicscience could be safely studied by Confucian scholarsand officials,since it dealt only with ki and "ki had no power to muddytheCon-fucian moral values enshrined s li." Therefore, o harmwould resultfrom alking fJesuit stronomy s yanghak foreignearning) rsö hak(Western earning).Thoughthekingdidnotspecifically ayso here,he

certainlygranted,however,that care should be taken to distinguishCatholic science fromthe Catholic religion,which carried the desig-nation ahak (evil earning).90

89. Sillokyhongjong5.10 mia, 5.10muiin1790).90. Ibid., 5.10, imyo.








King Chöngjo accepted the distinction hat also shaped the reac-tions of Yi YSnghu, Kim Manjung,Yi Ik, and Hong Taeyongto theJesuit missionarywritings romChina. Theirrefusal o concede a nec-essary connectionbetween cosmologyand theology explains at leastpartiallywhy only a small minority f Confucian scholars were con-vertedto Catholicism.The Jesuitswentto China well aware thatCon-fucians held beliefs different romtheirs but thinking hat all menreasonedfundamentallyhe same. Such was not the case. The assump-tions that channeled Catholic thoughtwere radicallydifferent romthose of Confucianism.The link between science and

religion,which

appeared so natural to the Jesuits fromEurope, broke apartwhenconfrontedwith the logic of Korean Neo-Confucianism. ingChüngjostood solidly in the mainstream f his country's ntellectual raditionwhen he decided to ban the Catholic religionwhileprotecting esuitsciencefrom ensure.

We can find more evidence forthe failure n Korea of theJesuitattemptto fuseastronomyndCatholicism nto an inseparable ackagein a 1786 memorialby Pak Chega (1750-1815). Pak was a dissidentvoice in eighteenth-centuryorea, advocatingdevelopingthe Korean

economyby promoting ommerce nd acquiring he latesttechnologyfromCh'ingChina. One yearafter he first proarover iterati nvolve-ment withCatholicism,Pak dared to propose formally hat the courtinvitesome Jesuitsto come and live in Korea. He arguedthatthosepriestscould teach Korea much about astronomy,mathematics, hemanufacture f firearms,heconstructionfcitywalls andbridges, ndmuch more. "It is true that, ust like the Buddhists, heyare ferventbelievers n heavenand hell. However,theyalso knowhow to improvethe livelihood of the people and that is something he Buddhists donot know anything bout. If we could learn the varioustechniquestheyhave to offer,we could benefitfrom heirpresencehere. Wehaveto be careful o treat hemwell,though.Otherwise, heywillnot comehereeven fwe invite hem."91

In 1786 no one condemned Pak Chega for uggestinghatCatholicmissionariesbe officially nvitedto Korea. Even after a major anti-Catholic persecutionbroke out in 1801, Pak was not among thoseexiled or executed forpro-Catholic entiments. lthoughhewas forcedout ofpublicoffice nd ntoexilebypolitical nemies, is 1786memorial

91. Pukhag'uireprint;eoul:Ul'yumunhwasa,971), .372.Note hat re-print f a nineteenth-centuryollectionfPakChega'swritingsncludesheme-morialnwhich esuggestednvitingheJesuitsut eaves ut he pecificectionwhere heJesuitsrementioned.hongyujipupukhag'uiSeoul:Tamgudang,1974), . 334.








was not at issue.92At the timePak made his proposal,the distinctionbetweenWestern cience and technology ndWestern eligionwas clearinmostKoreanminds.

The Confucian nclination o disassociate ciencefrom heologydidnot blind Koreans to theJesuit plan to turn their cientific xpertiseinto a proselytizingool. In 1790, on theeve of themartyrdomfPaulYun andJamesKwon,Yi Hon'gyông 1719-91) warnedthattherewerea few foolishenoughto let the technical talentsof theJesuitastrono-mers in China trick them into believingeverynonsensicalstatementthose

Jesuitsmade. To counter that

alarmingdevelopment,i wrotea

shortessayon thedangers fCatholicismnwhichhe contended hat twas important o remain wareof thediscrepancy etweenthevalidityofJesuit stronomy nd theabsurdity fJesuitreligion.93

In a letter to a friend bout to departon a diplomaticmissiontoChina,Yi alertedHong Yangho (1724-1802) to thepresenceofCatho-lics in China and cautionedhimto remember hatWesternearning x-cels only ncalculations nd instrumentation.How can anyone ook atsuch limitedexpertise nd thenbelieve thatWesternerslso knowtheTrueWay?"94Yi need not haveworried.Althoughmore thana hundred

literatiwere convertedto Catholicism n the last fifteen earsof theeighteenth entury, heyremainedonly a minuteminority mongtheConfucian scholars and officialswho dominated Korean state and

society.95Korea held firmgainst heCatholiconslaught.The Jesuit missionaries, s successful astronomerswith a fully

developed cosmology, eventuallyconvincedmany Confucians,bothChineseand Korean, thatperhaps heory nd practice hould be linkedin scienceand technology.Despite theirown inconsistency, orcedonthemby theologicalbarriers o heliocentrism, esuitastronomers on-vertedmany through he accuracyof theirephemerides o theirvision

of the physical structure f the universe.Wheretheyfailed,with butfew exceptions,was to induce Confuciansto take the next step,theleap fromtrust n Western cience to belief in Western eligion.ThemissionariesfromEurope discoveredin two frustratingenturiesofproselytizing n the East Asian mainlandhow hard it is to convincepeople who do not shareyourbasic presuppositions hattheyshouldbelieve what you have to say. Contrary o the assumptionsof some

92. KimYongdok, ChongyuakChegaïiyon'guA study fPakChega]Choson ugi asangsa on'guSeoul:Ul'yumunhwasa,977),pp.89-94;111-18.

93. YiHon'gyong,anongjip,3:39a-44b.94. Ibid., 9:27a.95. On thenumberfyangban atholics,eeChoKwang,Sinyu akhae

ui punsokokkochal" [An analysisf the1801persecution]Kyohoesa on'guno.1 (1977),pp.41-74, specially. 58.








twentieth-century estern cholars,the Jesuit approach to the civ-ilizationsof China and Korea was fatallyflawed. The vastdifferencebetween theCatholicWest and the Confucian East could not be over-comeby dressing hristianitynthe robes ofscience.

GLOSSARY

An Chongbokeh a

ChangChih-tungщ ¿

ChangTsai ggft

Ch'englg®

[Ch'engYi-ch'uan]

ch'i %Chih-fang ai chi Ш 9'-#E

chilsongg

Chin§

Chongjo iE ffi

ChčngTuwôn -4BS

Chu Hsi Ц

Chuang-tzuChungbomunhõn

pigo ттъмт^

chungin A

hak

HongTaeyong Щ

HongYangho

hun Щhun-t еп 5Ç

Hyônjong Ш Ш

hai gg

kai-t4enЦ 5Ç

и ц

KimManjung фЦЦKim PSm'u Ф $ЙЙ

[ThomasKim]KimYuk ïЙ

Kuo Shuo-chingЩKwön Sangyün

[JamesKw6n]и m

Li-hsiang ao eh eng

bou-píen M Ш Щ 0CfêШ

MeiKu-cheng

Pak ChegaPak Chiwön# fit®

ponsong $

sahak

Sejongshih-hsien

Shu-liching-y'ùn ШЩ Ш

SinHönjo ФЙ®sShakffiЩ

sihontëfШ

song ^







Baker Jesuit cience through oreanEyes 239

Songhosaesol Ж ШШ ШSongIyongЯЩЩ

Ssu-kyu h■Uan-shu sung-mu

t'i-yao Ш iffilìlS

suk Ш

sul Ш

T'ien-chu

ТЧеп-hsüehh fu-han3Ç #3ЙТЧеп-wen ueh B§

yanghakЩ-Щ-

Yang Kuang-hsienЩ

YiHSn'gySngYi Imyong^gg^Yilk

Yi Minch'ol ф Ш m

Yi Sunghun

[PeterLee]

Yi Yftnghu^ ^ ^

YUHsi ifYun Chich'ung

[Paul Yun]

JournalfKorean tudies (1982-83): 07-39.

jesuit science thru korean eyes

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