ABSTRACT
The Jesuit Figurists had their Chinese theology in their Christianized Yijing. They found in the Yijing a precious treasure, a bridge linking the gap between Christianity and Chinese civilization. This group of Jesuit Figurists made changes and maintained non-changes not only in the Jesuit accommodation policy but also in their re-interpretation of the Yijing. The changes and non-changes in the Jesuit Figurists’ accommodation strategies and in their re-interpretation of the Yijing, just like the Yin and Yang of the Taiji they advocated, are two sides of one coin. What remained unchanged was that the Figurists were still accustomed to Chinese classics and culture; the changes in their accommodation included their transformation of some concepts in the Bible to provide a better fit with the interpretation of the Yijing, including such concepts as the Holy Trinity, numbers and triangles, and the image of Jesus Christ, who was represented as a Confucian sage. On the other hand, the figures, lines, and hexagrams of the Yijing were also modified to fit the timeline and stories of the Bible. This chapter serves as the introduction to the historical background of the Jesuit Figurists and discusses what has been left unexplored in past scholarship.
