1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910433157603321

Autore

Amsler Nadine

Titolo

Jesuits and Matriarchs : Domestic Worship in Early Modern China / / Nadine Amsler

Pubbl/distr/stampa

University of Washington Press, 2018

Seattle : , : University of Washington Press, , 2018

©2018

ISBN

9780295743813

0295743816

Edizione

[1st [edition].]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (271 pages)

Disciplina

266/.251

Soggetti

Catholic women - Religious life - China - History

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Clothes make the man: the Jesuits' adoption of literati masculinity -- A kingdom of virtuous women: Jesuit descriptions of China's moral topography -- A source of creative tension: literati Jesuits and priestly duties -- Strengthening the marital bond: the Christianization of Chinese marriage -- Praying for progeny: women and Catholic spiritual remedies -- Domestic communities: women's congregations and communal piety -- Sharing genteel spirituality: the female networks of the Xus of Shanghai -- A widow and her virgins: the domestic convents of Hangzhou and Nanjing -- Fabrics of devotion: Catholic women's pious patronage -- Women and gender in global Catholicism.

Sommario/riassunto

In early modern China, Jesuit missionaries associated with the male elite of Confucian literati in order to proselytize more freely, but they had limited contact with women, whose ritual spaces were less accessible. Historians of Catholic evangelism have similarly directed their attention to the devotional practices of men, neglecting the interior spaces in Chinese households where women worshipped and undertook the transmission of Catholicism to family members and friends. Nadine Amsler’s investigation brings the domestic and devotional practices of women into sharp focus, uncovering a rich body



of evidence that demonstrates how Chinese households functioned as sites of evangelization, religious conflict, and indigenization of Christianity.The resulting exploration of gendered realms in seventeenth-century China reveals networks of religious sociability and ritual communities among women as well as women’s remarkable acts of private piety. Amsler’s exhaustive archival research and attention to material culture reveals new insights about women’s agency and domestic activities, illuminating areas of Chinese and Catholic history that have remained obscure, if not entirely invisible, for far too long.