Cultural-Religious Dimensions of the ‘Ritual Issue’ in Pre-Colonial Vietnamese and Western Interactions
Nguyen Quang Hung
nguyenquanghung50@gmail.com
Associate Professor of Philosophy of Religion, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam
Nguyen Dinh Lam
tunglamtongiao@gmail.com
Associate Professor of Culture and Arts, Faculty of Vietnamese Studies and Language, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam [Corresponding author]
Keywords
Christianity/Catholicism; ritual issue; indigenous religions; Vietnam
Abstract

Through a meticulous examination of edicts issued by both imperial courts and Christian missionaries, this article posits that the ‘ritual issue’ – i.e., the divergence in ritualistic practices and values between Christianity and indigenous religions – constituted a principal obstacle to the proliferation of Christianity in Vietnam between the 17th and 19th centuries. Notably, the paper identifies a substantive transformation in the perception of the ‘ritual issue.’ During the 17th and 18th centuries under the Trịnh-Nguyễn lords, the issue was predominantly approached through a cultural-religious lens. However, in the 19th century under the Nguyễn dynasty, the issue acquired a cultural-political character. The imperial court posited that the adoption of Christianity would undermine its rule, which was predicated on Confucian ethical-political norms. The paper argues that the prohibition of Christianity would have been an inevitable policy under the Nguyễn dynasty, even in the absence of the association between missionary activity and colonialism.

DOI
section: Articles
section: Articles

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