For whose greater glory?
Résumé
From the very beginning of their mission, the Jesuits, and only them among the religious orders present in China, used the teaching of the sciences as an aid to the proselytization of learned elite. With their integration into the bureaucracy as professional astronomers, as well as the advent of the Manchu dynasty, their role and the demands put on them underwent significant changes. Their scientific background and training also changed following the evolution of Jesuit colleges in Europe, rather than the evolution of European science as a whole. This paper discusses various understandings of the links between religion and science during the early Qing period, and especially during the Kangxi reign. It relies on various types of sources: Jesuit correspondence, and Jesuit works published in Europe; scientific textbooks written in Chinese (sometimes in Manchu) by the missionaries; other treatises written or compiled by Chinese scholars; and various essays in which they express their view on Western learning and the Jesuits' teachings. In considering these materials, two issues are addressed: to what extent and in what ways were religious convictions reflected in the Jesuits scientific writings in China? How did these convictions, and more generally religious issues, influence the reception of these writings at the imperial court and among Chinese scholars?