Overview

The Chinese Daoist classic the Laozi or Daodejing dates to at least the 4th century BCE and is the second most translated work in human history. Its first complete preserved translation is a Latin manuscript, Liber Sinicus Táo Tě Kīm inscriptus, in Latinum idioma Versus, which is finally published in these pages after almost 300 years. This work is deeply informed by the commentarial tradition and functions as a profound transition point between traditional Chinese Laozegetics and Global Laozegetics. As a product of one or more Figurist Jesuits, most likely Jean-François Noëlas (1669-1740) building on the work of Joseph Henri Marie de Prémare (1666-1736) and Jean François Foucquet (1665-1741), it reveals an extraordinary effort to bridge the gap between the Greco-Christian philosophical and theological traditions and the Daoist ideas present in the Daodejing. Though driven by missionary zeal, these scholars were also sincere and serious mediators of an inter-cultural encounter. This historic translation offers a wealth of materials to reflect on both Daoism and its first contact with the European world. It is a precious treasure of Global Laozegetics.

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