Description: Offers a comparative and deconstructive reading of the cross-cultural encounter between the Jesuits and their Confucian hosts in late Ming China.
Brief description: Dongfeng Xu is Assistant Professor of Chinese at Colgate University.
Review Quotes:
"With his two-faced approach, Xu is giving insight into the dynamics of intercultural and interreligious exchange that takes both sides under scrutiny ... this is an interesting contribution both at the historical, but also at the theoretical level that will be appreciated by historians specialized in this particular phase of early modern history. Likewise, scholars from disciplines such as (intercultural) philosophy and religious studies will have much to gain from this." - Religious Studies Review
"...the deconstructivist analysis of the personal interactions between the Jesuits and the literati with its cultural and political implications truly brings new and important insights." - Chinese Studies