Reinvention of Confucianism As Secular Christianity by Gu Hongming

NURT SVD 1 (2020) s. 383-395

Reinvention of Confucianism as Secular Christianity by Gu Hongming

Marek Tylkowski [email protected] SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Warsaw

Obtained master degree in the field of history at Opole University in 2006. During 2008-2010 studied in China at Shandong University. In 2019 became a doctor in the field of culture and religion studies at University SWPS. Currently working as an assistant professor at University SWPS. He is interested in philosophy, religion, history and culture, especially in the context of China.

Introduction

uring the first half of the twentieth century few Asian people were Dwidely known in Europe, like Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) or Kazuko Okakura (1862-1913). Between them stood one Chinese – Gu Hongming (1856-1928). He was recognized as “Chinese sage” or “Chinese philosopher” by European readers of his books, which were written in English. Under his influence many of his readers agreed with him that Confucianism, which he advocated, was as valuable as Christianity. Question risen in this article is how it was possible or how Gu Hongming interpreted Confucian teachings in such a way that they seemed equal to Christian religion for Western readers? In order to answer this question few steps will be made. First, Gu Hongming’s biographical information will be introduced. Then his views will be analysed in the context of liberal theology of the nineteenth century and thought of Matthew Arnold, which were his points of reference when he spoke about Christi- anity. In the end, the logical foundation of his arguments will be exposed and the question made in the beginning will be answered. 384 Marek Tylkowski Life and thought of Gu Hongming1

Although he was mainly associated with China by his Euro- pean readers, in reality Gu Hongming’s origin lies in Malaya’s Penang island. There his family lived by few generations and he himself was born. Turning point in his life came when he was approximately twelve years old. At that time his European patron decided to bring him to Europe and give him European education. For the next dozen years he was attending schools and universities in different European countries. His high level of humanistic education, which he obtained, can be known by his ability to use fluently several European languages and to quote many Western thinkers, poets, philosophers and writers, especially Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Matthew Arnold, Thomas Carlyle, Ralph Waldo Emerson and so on. After coming back to Asia and serving for short time in Brit- ish colonial administration, he decided to become a real Chinaman and resigned from his post. Then after few years he was employed by Zhang Zhidong (1837-1909) – prominent official of Chinese Empire – as his private secretary. He stood by the side of his new patron until his death. During his stay at Zhang Zhidong’s side, Gu Hongming started his writing career. His works were mostly written in English and their target receivers were Western people. He wrote in the defence of ruling Dynasty during the Boxer rebellion (1899-1901), and argued that the Chinese system of government has a rational basis. He also tried to intro- duce to Europe his interpretation of Confucian teachings by being the first 1 For more detailed biographical information about Gu Hongming see: M. Tylkowski, Gu Hongming (1856-1928) prekursorem idei fuzji cywilizacji: koncepcja konfucjanizmu jako ratunku dla Zachodu i świata. Doctoral dissertation under the su- pervision of prof. Krzysztof Gawlikowski, University SWPS, Warsaw 2018. See also: Du Chunmei, Gu Hongming and the Reinvention of Chinese Civilization. A Disserta- tion Presented to The Faculty of Princeton University in Candidacy for The Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Recommended for Acceptance by The Departament of East Asian Studies. Adviser: Benjamin Elman, Princeton 2009. Two dissertations mentioned above are according to author’s knowledge most advanced scientific works concerned with Gu Hongming in the English speaking world. There are many works about him in Chinese language, but most of them are popular works concerned with his lifestyle and personality. Biographies which are best documented are: H. Xingtao, Wenhua guaijie Gu Hongming 文化怪杰辜鸿铭 [Strange Gu Hong- ming], Beijing 1995; G. Lingyin, G. Xiuhua, Gu Hongming yv Zhongguo wenhua 辜鸿铭与中国文化 [Gu Hongming and Chinese Culture], Fuzhou 2008; K. Qin- gmao, Gu Hongming pingzhuan 辜鸿铭评传 [Gu Hongming’s biography], Beijing 2010; L. Zhongshu et al., Gu Hongming yu Zhongguo jindai sixiang wenhua 辜鸿铭与近代思想文化 [Gu Hongming and modern Chinese thought], Beijing 2015. Reinvention of Confucianism... 385 Chinese who translated some of Chinese classics into English. Besides he predicted that the outcome of colonial powers coming to China will be the birth of the new universal civilization, which will synthesize achieve- ments of Chinese and Western people. He wrote about it that: „Under the new civilization freedom for the educated man will not mean liberty to do what he likes, but the liberty to do what is right. […] He does right because he loves to do right; and he does no wrong, nor from motive of abject or craven fear, but because he hates to do wrong […] Therefore, The Chinese call an educated person a 君子 Koen Tzu (君 Koen is the same word as German Koenig or King, a kinglet or little king of men)”2. After revolution in 1911 and establishment of the Republic of China Gu Hongming never came to agreement with the new political order. As a sign of remaining loyal to overthrown dynasty he maintained queue, which was required under penalty of death by Manchu- rian rulers from their Han Chinese subjects. In the time of Republic it became a sign of Han Chinese humiliation for republican elites. But Gu Hongming was stubborn and argued that the only Manchurian dynasty has a moral right to govern China. He expressed his views in The Story of Chinese Oxford Movement, where he wrote: “The Manchus, being the descendants of the only military caste in China, have more than the Chinese heroism or nobility of character, because their fathers were soldiers. […] In short the power of industry of the people in China has to produce; the power of intelligence of the Chinese literati has to educate; and the nobility of the Manchu Aristocracy has to direct the power of industry of the people to a noble national life – to a noble civilization”3. Besides criticizing republican order, he also criticized the West. His most influential work on this field was The Spirit of the Chinese People. It was written during the First World War. In this circumstances his claims that Western civilization is in the crisis found much understanding in European countries. However the most astonishing – was his statement that in order to get out of this crisis European people can learn from the Chinese. He wrote: “I really believe that the people of Europe will find the solution of the great problem of civilization after this war – here in China4”. 2 K. Hung-Ming, Papers from a viceroy’s yamen, Shanghai 1901, pp. 194-195. 3 K. Hung-Ming, The Story of a Chinese Oxford Movement, Delhi 2018, pp. 6-7. 4 K. Hung-Ming, The Spirit of the Chinese People, Peking 1915, Introduction, p. X. 386 Marek Tylkowski After publication of The Spirit of the Chinese People Gu Hong- ming’s popularity in Europe come to its pick. The book mentioned above was translated to several European languages5. He became a famous person. Philosophers and thinkers which made reference to his works included George Brandes, Herman Hesse, Leonard Nelson, Rudolf Pannwitz, Walter Benjamin6, Lew Tolstoy7 and Mahatma Ghan- di8. While he was living in Beijing it was fashionable for European travel- lers to the Chinese capital to search for opportunity to meet him. Some of them, like German philosopher Hermann Keyserling9 and William Somerset Maugham10 left relations of their meetings. From them it can be known that Gu Hongming was a proud person, who emphasized the arrogance of Western people towards China and praised magnifi- cence of the Chinese culture. At the same time Gu Hongming’s reputation among his fellow Chinese was bad. He was perceived as an extreme conservatist. He was called crazy Gu11. Much of this opinion originated from his insisting on having queue and wearing old fashioned clothes in order to manifest his loyalty to Qing dynasty and ideals of traditional China. Besides he defended old customs and institutions, which became intolerable in the

5 For example: K. Hung-Ming, Der Geist des chinesischen Volkes & der ausweg aus diem krieg, transl. O. Schmitz, Jena 1924; K. Hung-Ming, Det goda medborgarska- pets religion och andra essayer, transl. H. Svanberg, Stockholm 1916; K. Hung- Ming, L’esprit du peuple chinois, transl. P. Rival, Paris 1927; K. Hung-Ming, Duch narodu chińskiego, transl. J. Targowski, Kraków 1928. 6 See: Ch. Du, Gu Hongming as Cultural Amphibian. A Confucianist Universalist Critique of Modern Western Cyvilization, “Journal of World History”, vol. 22, nr 4, 2011, p. 739. 7 Letter of Tolstoy to Gu Hongming see: 12. Tuoersitai yv Gu Hongming shu 托尔斯泰与辜鸿铭书 [Letter of Tolstoy to Gu Hongming], [in:] Gu Hongming wenji 辜鸿铭文集 [Collected Works of Gu Hongming], vol. II, Haikou 1996, pp. 603-607. 8 M.K. Gandhi, A Parallel from China, “Young India”, 9 II 1928, [in:] S. Ganesan (ed.), Young India 1927-1928, Madras 1935, pp. 604. 9 H. Keyserling wrote about his impressions from meeting with Gu Hongming in his book about his voyage to the East: H. Keyserling, The Travel Diary of a Phi- losopher, vol. II, transl. H. Reece, New York 1925. 10 W. Somerset Maugham also left relation from his meeting with Gu Hong- ming. It is viable as an attachment to Gu Hongming’s Collected writings edited in Chinese translation: M. Mu Gu Hongming fangwenji 辜鸿铭访问记 [Notes from interview with Gu Hongming], [in:] Gu Hongming wenji 辜鸿铭文集 [Collected Works of Gu Hongming], vol. I, Haikou 1996, pp. 593-602. 11 H. Xingtao (ed.), Kuangshi guaijie – mingren bixia de Gu Hongming 旷世怪杰 – 名人笔下的辜鸿铭 [Unique Queer – Gu Hongming in relations of famous people], Shanghai 1998, p. 20. Reinvention of Confucianism... 387 eyes of modern elite. For example he was defending the foot binding of Chinese women, arguing that females with crushed foots were by this maltreatment freed from the necessity of physical work12. But his most famous controversial statement was concerned with the defence of polygamy and concubinage. He claimed that man is like a teapot and woman is like a cup. There can be only one teapot, but it can be used to fill many cups13. Somewhere between 1912 and 1915 Gu Hongming started to work at Peking University, where he taught courses connected with English. As his students recall, during his lessons he spent most of the time praising monarchy and criticizing republican government. Last years of his life Gu Hongming spent giving lectures in Japan. He came there in 1924 and went back to China in 1927. He was popular because he emphasized that the traditional Japanese culture was the key to Japanese success in becoming powerful country which stays on equal footage with European powers. However he also claimed that Japanese traditional culture was really a traditional Chinese culture, and its mission was to reintroduce traditional cultural values to modern China. He wrote: “If Japan uses tools of contemporary Western civilization in order to maintain Japanese as well as Chinese national spirit, it will not only not westernize itself, but also stop westernization of China, and in the end industrious Japanese people will prese- rve clean ancient Chinese culture, and give it back to China”14. Claims of this kind had become less and less popular since the growth of Japanese nationalism. And so Gu Hongmig had to go back to China. There he died on 30th April 1928.

12 G. Hongming, Ri E zhan zhen de daode yuanyin 日俄战争的到的原因 [Et Nunc, Reges, Intelligite! The Moral Cause of the Russia-Japanese War], Shanghai 1906, Chinese transl. [in:] idem, [Collected Works of Gu Hongming], vol. I, Haikou 1996, p. 201. 13 Wentan guaijie Gu Hongming 文坛怪杰辜鸿铭 [Queer in the World of Litera- ture – G. Hongming], Changsha 1988, p. 54. 14 G. Hongming, Zhongguo wenming de fuxing yu Riben 中国文明的复兴与日本 [Resurrection of Chinese culture and Japan], [in:] Gu Hongming suibi. Dongfang Zhihui 辜鸿铭随笔。东方智慧 [Gu Hongming’s notes. Wisdom of the East], Beijing 2010, p. 108. 388 Marek Tylkowski Confucianism as secular Christianity

One of Gu Hongming’s life goals was to convince Europeans that Chinese culture is as worthy as European one. He believed that if only Chinese culture were properly understood by European people, then they would appreciate it and as a consequence start to respect China: “Foreigners will not respect us more, will not cease to think that we are only Chinese, simply because we have cut off our queues and put on European clothes […] The people of Europe and America will respect us and cease to think that we are only Chinese – only when they know what we, Chinese, really are – a people with a somewhat different but as wonderful civilisa- tion as theirs and not a whit inferior”15. In order to achieve his goal of introducing Chinese culture to Europe he made few translations of Confucian classics and wrote books and articles where he made comparisons between China and Europe. He tried to prove that Confucian teachings were as good as Christian religion or maybe even better. For doing this he had to answer the question: what is Christianity? Which Church or which school of theological thought is closest to its essence? Gu Hongming’s answer was pointing to liberal theology, made by liberal Protestant theologians and Catholic modernists as an essential content of Christian religion. They contained ideas which made possible to compare Confucianism with Christianity in such a way that made him able to elevate Confucianism to the same level as the Christian gospel. In presented article liberal theology is pointing to the movement in the nineteenth and twentieth century theology which strived to adjust theological knowledge to predominant philosophical and scientific views of European intellectuals. It was connected to developing critical Biblical studies in the field of history and mostly acknowledged Kant’s critique in the field of philosophy. These two factors by themselves were enough for liberal theologians to challenge traditional Christian notions of the inerrancy of the Bible, divinity of Christ, miracles and so on16. While doing this they developed their own visions of what Chris- tianity is and what it should be. However, even if their theories differed 15 K. Hung-Ming, The Story..., op. cit., Delhi 2018, p. 124. 16 See: A. Harnack, What is Christianity? Lectures Delivered in the University of Berlin During the Winter-Term 1899-1900, transl. Th. Bailey Saunders, London 1902. Reinvention of Confucianism... 389 somehow, they mostly accepted presupposition that nothing behind historical phenomena can be known in a scientific orrational way about the matters of religion. It is worth to mention that precisely this point of view was condemned by the pope Pius X in his encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis, which objects assertion that: “Science and history […] are confined within two limits, the one external, namely, the visible world, the other internal, which is consciousness. When one or other of these boundaries has been reached, there can be no further progress, for beyond is the unknowable”17. The possible conclusion of the nineteenth century liberal theology is a doubt about the Divinity of Jesus Christ, at least in the sense, that asserts that He, while living as a man, has no knowledge of His Divine origin and was prone to doubts and mistakes or was not able to transcend the bounds of human life. In other words, because nothing behind the phenomena is knowable to the human intellect in itself, the content of religion is not given by objective knowledge of the Godhood, but it spreads form human religious experience, which is not rational in kind. And from this point of view it is possible to compare all founders of the great religions as people, who have had this kind of religious experiences. And it was precisely that what was done by Gu Hong- ming, when he compared Jesus Christ and Christianity with Confucius and Confucianism as two human founders of religions and their respec- tive teachings. In order to convince his readers that Confucius was worthy creator of the Chinese religion of the good citizenship, as he called it, Gu Hongming had to prove that Confucianism came in to existence in a similar way as Christianity. According to liberal theology it was made by an extraordinary man – Jesus Christ – who was exceptionally in his ability to experience the divine. Hence in the Gu Hongming’s writings there is a passage which make this kind of assertion. He wrote: “the founders of all great religions in the world, as we know, were all of them men of exceptionally or even abnormally strong emotional nature. This abnormal strong emotional nature made them feel intensely the emotion of love or human affection, which, as I have said, is the source of inspiration in the religion,

17 Pascendi Dominici gregis [on-line], http://w2.vatican.va/content/pius-x/en/ encyclicals/documents/hf_p-x_enc_ 19070908_pascendi-dominici-gregis.html [access: 17.09.2019]. 390 Marek Tylkowski the soul of religion. This intense feeling or emotion of love or human affection enabled them to see what I have called the indefinable, absolute essence of right and wrong or justice, the soul of justice which they called righteousness, and this vivid perception of the absolute essence of justice enabled them to see the unity of the laws of right and wrong or moral laws. As they were men of exceptionally strong emotional nature, they had a powerful imagination, which unconsciously personified this unity of moral laws as an almighty supernatural Being. To this supernatural almighty Being, the personified unity of the moral laws of their imagination, they gave the name of God, from whom they also believed that the intense feeling or emotion of love or human affection, which they felt, came”18. In the quotation made above Gu Hongming equated the experience of the divine with an experience of objective moral order of the universe. It was idea which, as he admitted, came to him from the writings of Matthew Arnold. This British thinker assumed that the essence of religion is to teach people how to behave morally, and morality is identified by him with “the law of our being”, “the will of God” and the “moral order”19, while the dogmas and institutions played only secondary role. They were „matters of machinery and outward form”, which „have not only nothing essentially to do with the sincere milk of Christianity”20. Gu Hongming admitted that in Confucianism there is no personal God as in Christianity but nevertheless he claimed that Confu- cian teachings are pointing to the same moral order as Christian religion and that having an idea of personal God is not necessary to follow it21. Hence, following the example of Matthew Arnold’s interpretation of Christianity, Gu Hongming claimed that the essence of Confucian- ism also consists in letting people behave according to moral order or the law of our being: “Religion tells us in obeying the law of our being we must obey the true law of our being, not the animal or carnal law of our being called by St. Paul the law of the mind of the flesh (…) but the

18 K. Hung-ming, The Spirit..., op. cit., pp. 57-58. 19 M. Arnold, Saint Paul and Protestantism With an Essay on Puritanism and the Church of England, London 1875, Project Gutenberg E-book, Release Date May 27, 2017, loc. 818. 20 Ibidem, loc. 254-259. 21 K. Hung-ming, The Spirit..., op. cit., p. 48. Reinvention of Confucianism... 391 true law of our being called by St. Paul the law of the mind of the Spirit and defined by Confucius as the law of the gentlemen”22. According to Gu Hongming, the moral order emphasized by Matthew Arnold, manifest itself in Confucian teachings by the fact that they led people to be good family members and good citizens. To be good family member meant for him to love one’s parents and in the case of wife being faithful to her husband, while to be good citizen meant being loyal to the emperor. Because of emphasize put by him on relations between subjects and their ruler he called Confucianism religion of good citizenship. In his own words: “The Religion of good citizenship teaches that the law of law means to love father and mother. The Religion of good citizenship teaches that the law of justice means to be true, to be faithful, to be loyal; that the woman in every country must be selflessly, absolutely loyal to her husband; that the man in every country must be selflessly, absolutely loyal to his sovereign, to his King or Emperor”23. It should be noticed that Confucian values as presented by Gu Hongming aren’t religious values in the sense, that they have no reference to supernatural and that they aim on achieving earthly goals such as harmonious family and well-ordered state. However, if one takes measure of Matthew Arnold, who interpret Christianity as concerned only with morality in earthly world, then Gu Hongming’s arguing, that Confucian values are in accordance with an essence of Christian religion, is plausible. By using Matthew Arnold’s views as a point of reference Gu Hongming got undeniable advantages in arguing that Confucian- ism is not worse than Christianity. First, he didn’t have to struggle with authority which Christ would have if recognized as a God in full meaning of this term. This way Confucius could be put on equal footage with Him. Secondly, by interpreting religion as something primarily concerned with universal morality, he could downplay the importance of Christian Church and sacraments, which according to more traditional (Catholic or Orthodox) interpretations were indispensable sources of grace. By doing this he reduced the role of religion to pure morality and he could point out, that Confucianism also is teaching people how to obey the rules of moral conduct. In this way it appeared

22 Ibidem, pp. 52-53. 23 Ibidem, Introduction, p. X. 392 Marek Tylkowski as essentially the same as Christianity, and the differences between the two could be viewed as something secondary. Adopting Matthew Arnold’s interpretation of Christianity gave Gu Hongming one more argument for worthiness of Confucianism. It is because of Hebraism and Hellenism theory developed by this British thinker. This theory stated that European culture has to source Hebrew religion which changed into Christianity and Greek thought. The first source gave it impulse to strive for righteousness while the second provided love of beauty and science24. Gu Hongming accepting the theory mentioned above argued that Confucianism contains both Hebraism and Hellenism in proper equilibrium and, in this sense, it can be even viewed as superior to Christianity. He wrote: “The Religion in the civilization of the Hebrew people taught the people of Europe the knowledge of Right, but it did not teach Tact. The civilization of Greece taught the people of Euro- pe the knowledge of Tact but it did not teach Right. But the Religion in the civilization of China teaches us Chinese both Right and Tact – das Recht und die Schicklichkeit […] In short, Religion in Europe says: «Be a good man». But the Religion in China says: «Be a good man with good taste»”25. Another connection of Gu Hongmings views with liberal theology of the nineteenth century was admission that the religion is evolving and developing itself. This view was commonly held by liberal theologians, especially those who were interested in making research on the Bible. They thought that the Christianity as found by Christ and His apostles and Christianity of their own times were different, and that this difference was a result of development of religion. And the main principle of this development was making it more fitting to circumstances from one side and more rational from the other. Views of Adolf Harnack – famous nineteenth century Biblical scholar – can be used as an example. He wrote: “It is not a question of a «doctrine» […] it is a question of a life […] Christ himself and the apostles were convinced that the religion which they were planting would in the ages to come have a greater destiny and a deeper meaning than it possessed at the time of its institution; they trusted to its

24 M. Arnold, Saint Paul and Protestantism..., op. cit., loc. 310-319. 25 K. Hung-ming, The Spirit..., op. cit., pp. 16-17. Reinvention of Confucianism... 393 spirit leading from one point of light to another and developing higher forces”26. It is also worth to notice, that Matthew Arnold was also convinced that the natural way of religion is its development. He claimed that the doctrines of Christianity developed and changed with the development of philosophy27. Gu Hongming argued that Confucianism is also a product of development of Chinese native religion. According to him it was born through transformation of it, which was forced by crisis created by the development of rational thought28. The way out of this crisis, according to Gu Hongming, was found by Confucius, who created a secular religion of good citizenship which was more rational then previous believes, because it was not based on supernatural powers, which are characteristic for all religions in the strict sense of this word. And so, as he claimed that “the great- ness of Confucianism is that, without being a religion, it can take place of religion; it can make man do without religion”29. From the context of his views presented above it is clear that Confucianism takes the role of religion, because it teaches obeying rules of right conduct – which according to him and Matthew Arnold are an essence of religion. Furthermore, by abnegation of the elements of religion, which, according to them, are secondary importance, Confucianism became rational and developed substitute for religion in the strict sense. Hence Gu Hongming gained ground to argue that Confucian- ism, as more rational than Christianity, is more suitable to the needs of people not only in China, but also in the West. He argued that this can be proved by the fact that Christianity wasn’t able to prevent the First World War, and because of this it is „ineffective as a moral force”30. And so Western people, according to him, should search for a new moral force, and they “will find this new moral force in China, –in Chinese civilization”31. It is possible now to summarize Gu Hongming’s strategy in proving that Confucianism is as valid as Christianity or even suppress it. First, he reduced Christianity to moral force binding people to behave

26 A. Harnack, What is Christianity?..., pp. 11-12. 27 M. Arnold, Saint Paul and Protestantism…, loc. 1809-1814. 28 K. Hung-ming, The Spirit..., op. cit., pp. 21-22. 29 Ibidem, pp. 16-17. 30 Ibidem, Introduction, p. III. 31 Ibidem. 394 Marek Tylkowski morally. Then he pointed out that Confucianism do the same. So in this aspect, according to his views, they are equal. However, as he claimed, Christianity had many features of secondary importance such as believing in God and miracles. These kind of features, as he admitted, were absent from Confucianism, which made it more rational than its Christian counterpart. And this rational character, according to him, was its advantage, because it made it more fitting to contemporary culture characterized by scientific development. Christianity wasn’t so fitting, because, as he pointed out, it stated to lose its moral power over people and the first World War was for him undeniable evidence of the truth of this conviction. Hence he could claim that Confucian- ism is superior, because its teachings do not contradict contemporary science. Furthermore, he argued that there is empirical evidence that Confucianism as religion is more effective than Christianity, because in China social order was maintained without endless preparing for war and without employment of police. It should be emphasized that Gu Hongming’s reasoning maintain its validity only if Christianity as portrait by liberal theologians in general and by Matthew Arnold in particular is recognized as valid Christianity. That is so because reducing content of Christian religion to morality and putting its dogmas and institutions as something with only secondary importance, which is possible in the climate of liberal theology, is crucial for interpretation of Confucianism as its counterpart. For if we consider Catholic Church or Orthodox Church teaching or even some teachings of more conservative Protestant churches, than Godhood of Christ, necessity of the sacraments cannot be interpreted as something of secondary importance, and because of this Christian religion cannot be reduced to morality, and in result Confucianism cannot stand as its counterpart.

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Marek Tylkowski Reinvention of Confucianism as Secular Christianity by Gu Hongming

Abstract The question asked in this article was: How Gu Hongming attained to interpret Confucianism in such a way that it seemed for Europeans as equal to Christianity or even suppressing it? Gu Hong- ming interpreted Confucianism in such a way that it was fitting to Reinvention of Confucianism... 395 understanding of religion promoted by liberal theology. He introduced Confucianism as religion in a sense, that it was concerned only with pure morality, just like Christianity was in its essence, as in Matthew Arnold’s writings. Then he claimed that having no supernatural elements, Confucianism is more compatible with contemporary Euro- pean thought than Christian religion. Furthermore, he not only stated the compatibility of Confucian teachings with contemporary European thought, but also pointed out that if religion has to be valued according to its performance on the field of morality, then Confucianism is working better than Christianity, because Chinese people live in peace. In the end it is worth to notice that the nineteenth century liberal theology lost its popularity after the Second World War. Gu Hongming was forgotten even earlier. Keywords: Christianity, Civilization, Confucianism, Gu Hong- ming, Matthew Arnold.

Marek Tylkowski Reinterpretacja konfucjanizmu, jako świeckiego chrześcijaństwa, według Gu Hongminga

Streszczenie Pytanie przewodnie tego artykułu brzmi: Jak udało się Gu Hongmingowi zinterpretować konfucjanizm w taki sposób, że Euro- pejczykom wydawał się równy chrześcijaństwu, a nawet go przewyż- szał? Gu Hongming interpretował konfucjanizm w taki sposób, aby pasował do rozumienia religii propagowanej przez teologię liberalną. Przedstawił konfucjanizm jako religię zainteresowaną przede wszyst- kim czystą moralnością, czyli tak, chrześcijaństwo było w swojej istocie, a wszystko tak, jak w pismach Matthew Arnolda. Następnie twierdził, że nie mając elementów nadprzyrodzonych konfucjanizm jest bardziej zgodny z myślą europejską niż religia chrześcijańska. Co więcej, stwierdził nie tylko zgodność nauk konfucjańskich z ówczesną myślą europejską, ale także wskazał, że jeśli religię trzeba docenić zgodnie ze swoimi osiągnięciami na polu moralności konfucjanizm działa lepiej niż chrześcijaństwo, ponieważ Chińczycy żyją w pokoju. Na koniec warto zauważyć, że dziewiętnastowieczna teologia liberalna straciła popularność po II wojnie światowej. Sam Gu Hong- ming został zapomniany nawet wcześniej. Słowa kluczowe: chrześcijaństwo, cywilizacja, konfucjanizm, Gu Hongming, Matthew Arnold.