Transforming the East

Compendium Doctrinae Christianae (Marsh 456)

Item

Full title

Compendium Doctrinae Christianae

Year

1628

Translator(s)/Commentators(s)

Heurnius, Justus

Book type

Manuscript

Language(s)

Latin

Chinese text

Characters and transliteration

Place of preparation

Batavia

Archive

Bodleian Library, Oxford

Shelfmark

Marsh 456

physicalDescription

This manuscript is a single volume of 264 folia (page size 33 x 21 cm). The foliation follows traditional Chinese order, numbered from right to left. The majority of the text is arranged in a consistent three-column format per page: Chinese characters in the central column, flanked by a Latin translation on the right and a romanization on the left.

The contents are diverse, encompassing:

1. Christian texts, such as a Compendium of Doctrine, collections of prayers, and a translation of Chapters 5 and 6 of the Gospel of Matthew.
2. Non-Christian materials, including commercial and legal documents, alongside extracts from Chinese classics.
3. Earlier draft versions of several included texts.

Classical source(s)

Analects (论语)

Xiao'er lun (小兒論)

Sections

Confusy Doctrina Morales

Confutij Philosophi Sinensis Primarij liber 2

Colloquium Confusy cum Puero

Summary

Heurnius' Compendium consists mostly of Christian texts, but also includes an incomplete translation of the Analects, and of the Xiao'er lun 小兒論. The text is based on the Jesuits' writings, and uses a common terminology, especially with regard to Christian texts.

URLs

Digital Bodleian

Secondary Sources

V. Bottanelli, ‘La versio latina della Dottrina Morale di Confucio in Heurnius: uno studio linguistico e confessionale', in A. Balbo, E. Della Calce, S. Mollea eds. Classica Serica, Pisa : Pacini Editore, Documenta Orientalia, 2026, pp. 67-92.

K. Kuiper, ‘The earliest monument of Dutch sinological studies. Justus Heurnius’s manuscript Dutch-Chinese dictionary and Chinese-Latin Compendium Doctrinae Christianae (Batavia 1628)’, in Quaerendo 35 (2005), p. 95-186.

Trude Dijkstra, Thijs Weststeijn, “Constructing Confucius in the Low Countries“, in De Zeventiende Eeuw 32 (2016) 2, pp. 137-164.

religiousDenomination

Calvinist

Item sets

Translations