<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>The European Enlightenment fostered a sense of progress through a delineation of universal human rights as well as through a reductionist mathematization of nature. Science, technology and religion became a form of cultural currency between Europe and Imperial China. The Jesuits bartered mathematics, geographic surveys and military technology to win religious permissions with Chinese emperors. Other Europeans were convinced ancient Chinese texts corresponded to the Old Testament. China sent to Europe a Confucian model of a social ethic that demonstrated non-Christian civic virtues. This article examines this exchange using the intercourse in science, technology and religion as the metric.</p>
</abstract>

The European Enlightenment fostered a sense of progress through a delineation of universal human rights as well as through a reductionist mathematization of nature. Science, technology and religion became a form of cultural currency between Europe and Imperial China. The Jesuits bartered mathematics, geographic surveys and military technology to win religious permissions with Chinese emperors. Other Europeans were convinced ancient Chinese texts corresponded to the Old Testament. China sent to Europe a Confucian model of a social ethic that demonstrated non-Christian civic virtues. This article examines this exchange using the intercourse in science, technology and religion as the metric.

Science, Technology and Religion: The Exchange Between Enlightenment Europe and Imperial China

HoST - Journal  of History of Science and Technology

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The European Enlightenment fostered a sense of progress through a delineation of universal human rights as well as through a reductionist mathematization of...

Science, Technology and Religion: The Exchange Between Enlightenment Europe and Imperial China

Published Online: Dec 14, 2021

Page range: 149 - 169

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/host-2021-0016

Keywords
Enlightenment, China, science, religion, Jesuits

© 2021 Robert V. Davis, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Science, Technology and Religion: The Exchange Between Enlightenment Europe and Imperial China

Published Online: Dec 14, 2021

Page range: 149 - 169

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/host-2021-0016

KeywordsEnlightenment, China, science, religion, Jesuits

© 2021 Robert V. Davis, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
Enlightenment, China, science, religion, Jesuits