May 2015: New Trilingual Translation of Confucian Text

Thierry Meynard’s The Jesuit Reading of Confucius: The First Complete Translations of the Lunyu (1687) Published in the West has been published as part of Brill’s Jesuit Studies book series. According to the publisher, “The very name of Confucius is a constant reminder that the ‘foremost sage’ in China was first known in the West through Latin works. The most influential of these was the Confucius Sinarum Philosophus (Confucius, the Philosopher of China), published in Paris in 1687. For more than two hundred years, Western intellectuals like Leibniz and Voltaire read and meditated on the sayings of Confucius from this Latin version. Thierry Meynard examines the intellectual background of the Jesuits in China and their thought processes in coming to understand the Confucian tradition. He presents a trilingual edition of the Lunyu, including the Chinese text, the Latin translation of the Lunyu and its commentaries, and their rendition in modern English, with notes.”

In addition to the trilingual edition of Lunyu, with notes, The Jesuit Reading of Confucius also provides an extensive appendix, vocabulary guide, and bibliography.