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The Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), is the fruit of the work of the XIII Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, held in the Vatican, from 7 to 28 October 2012, on the theme “The New Evangelisation for the Transmission of the Christian Faith”. In it, pope Francis encourages pastoral ministers to inject more missionary spirituality to what is known as their ordinary pastoral ministry. He mentions several important church institutions which aid pastoral ministry: parish (EG 28), diocese (EG 30), and papacy (EG 32), and analyses each of them in the context of missionary pastoral ministry. Church’s mission originates in the peripheries, not in the centre. The pope urges pastoral ministers to disaffiliate themselves from thought patterns, because “(...) a missionary key seeks to abandon the complacent attitude that says: We have always done it this way” (EG 33).
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In the history of the Church of the 20th century, there are characters inscribed in letters of gold not only in the history of the local church, but the universal one as well. Among them can be included two great Poles, giants fighting for the freedom of the Church – Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński and Pope John Paul II. John Paul II gave Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński a by-name – the “Primate of the Millennium”, because during the years of political enslavement of Poland he proved to be a staunch pastor, spiritual and moral authority for the millions of Catholics. Despite the communist dictatorship, Cardinal Wyszyński was considered as a “statesman” – personality endowed with the charism of a leader and the ability to make an objective assessment of the situation. He was faithful to the Gospel, the Church and the homeland. He had a great devotion to Mary, whom he entrusted the fate of the country and the Church. His spirituality was a factor in mobilising the Polish society of believers to the uncompromising fidelity to the Christian roots in Eastern Europe. At his side formed his character and spiritual profile the future Pope John Paul II, who introduced the Church into the new millennium.
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Since the time of the domination of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkan territories (2nd half of the 16th century), this area has been a source of numerous and complex territorial conflicts, national, ethnic, social, economic, or political in nature. Analysing the multifaceted history of this area, one cannot resist the impression that religious intolerance is largely the source of the conflicts mentioned above. The Balkan mosaic of nations, ethnic groups, or regional minorities consists mainly of the followers of Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity, and Islam. This division practically reflects the national division: Croats, Serbs, and Muslims (the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina who profess Islam). In this case religion, instead of linking and alleviating customs – strengthens and fuels national or ethnic hatred. The present article attempts to describe a peaceful co-existence of these religions during the Ottoman Empire period, breaching the popularly promoted idea that the Ottoman Turkey was the only source of oppression and discrimination of the conquered Slavic peoples inhabiting the Balkans. The article consists of two main parts. The first contains reflections on religious diversity in the Balkans in a historical context, the second – an analysis of the issue of the presence of Islam and the Muslim religion in this part of Europe.
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Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki (1870-1966), mostly known for his publications on Zen, studied also Japanese Shinshū (jap. shin-shū) Buddhism. Among the many topics in the area of Shinshū – his interpretation of nembutsu, or the pious call of Amida Buddha, seems particularly interesting.Suzuki’s original contribution to the dialogue between Zen and Shinshū was situating his contemplation in a strictly defined philosophical and religious perspective. Recognising the fact that originally (supra-culturally) there is only one religious experience and that the psychological process of accumulation of saturation and explosions (in the mainstream of Zen unmistakably evident in the Gong’an practice) is a perfect description of this experience – Suzuki sought to show that this particular process is developed in nembutsu. The present author focused on only one type of nembutsu practice – the so-called vocal nembutsu. This type of nembutsu allowed Suzuki to present the recitation in the form of implementing subsequent psychological phases: 1) directing the mind to new tracks, 2) investigations, 3) identification, and 4) self-realisation.In his interpretation of the nembutsu, Suzuki ignored the believed-in world of Shinshū Buddhism. This cutting-off from the cultural expression and remaining only at the level of universal, content-less psychology, seems to be the main drawback of his analysis. The limitation of reflection to the vocal nembutsu only – was also biased.
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Michał Piotr Boym and Jan Mikołaj Smogulecki, two seventeenth-century Polish Jesuits, differed in almost every aspect: the origin, property, education, interests, personalities. Their fates became intertwined, however, when, inspired by the desire to carry the Gospel of Christ to the peoples of the Far East, they both joined the Society of Jesus. During the two-year theology studies in Cracow, they prepared together for a future missionary work in China. Their paths diverged, however, when Smogulecki went to Rome, where even before graduation he was promised a trip to the East. Boym, on the other hand, remained in Cracow, from where he persuaded in letters to the Society’s General of his missionary vocation, accusing even Smogulecki of disloyalty. The testimony of the both Jesuits’ efforts to receive the referral to a mission, as well as of the animosity that arose between them, is comprehended in the letters, currently in the Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu (Pol. 79), which they both headed to the then General of the Order, Mutio Vitelleschi. While, eventually, both Boym and Smogulecki exercised missionary service in the Middle Kingdom or even lived there at the same time – it seems their paths never met anymore.
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The author’s intent is to analyse the Biblical references in the genesis of the Ewe people on the basis of oral traditions about the King Agokoli. In 1960s, when Western African countries gained independence, in Togo a pan-Ewe mono-ethnic movement became active that aimed at the uniting of the Ewe people and the creation of a single state, regardless of the existing political border between Ghana and Togo. In support of its claims, the leaders of the movement referred to the historicity of King Agokoli – the father of the Ewe people.Depending on the methods of interpreting the historical sources and oral tradition, the researchers set out several hypotheses concerning to Genesis of the Ewe people. R. Pazzi, pointing to the similarity of terminology in Egyptian and Ewe languages, claims that the Adja-Ewe people comes from Ethiopia. R. Cornevin, basing on archaeological research, situates the beginning of the Ewe people in Nigeria, among the Yoruba people. J. Spieth and C. Reindorf, basing on the analogy to message of the Decalogue and traditions of the Nyiko-Ewe peoples, indicate the Biblical origin of the Ewe people (Israel in Egyptian slavery). A. Kobla Dotse also argues that the Ewe’s customs and rituals come from the Egyptians and the Hebrews.H. Kwakume, analysing the remittances of the oral tradition, situates the origins of the Ewe people in Nigeria (Ketu). The researcher also shows that the people did not glorify King Agokoli due to his tyranny. Only the ideological reinterpretation of the history of King Agokoli in the 1960s – in the context of the claims for independence – exalted him to the galaxy of the great, mythical Black African chefs.
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Bardaisan († 222) is the first Syrian language Christian philosopher who, in the light of the criticism of Ephrem the Syrian († 373), is considered a heretic.The present author explains the peculiar phraseme used by Ephrem the Syrian to indicate Bardaisan’s error: the “blasphemous hymns.” This original formula contains criticism of astral polytheism, in various forms present in Bardaisan’s thoughts. The term “hymn” itself indicates the content in connection with the religion of the Persian Magi – especially the “verbalisation of thought” and the cosmological concepts. Meanwhile, the mentioned semantic figures occur already in Christian literature of the 1st and 2nd century; in this essay they shall be construed as a positive influence on the young Christian polytheistic astral worship, prevalent in various forms in Hellenistic and Eastern cultures – even in Judaism. As a result, the original Christian thought crystallised itself in the intellectual and spiritual climate of Jewish mysticism, Platonic philosophy and polytheistic astral worship. In the context of encounters with Persian religious traditions the Syrian Christians formulated (and preserved for centuries) the original theological formulas – later considered heretical. A typical example of the overlap of religious subjects and their independent interpretation is the idea of “the universe in the form of a cross,” which we may often discover among the Gnostics, Bardaisan’s students, and especially among the Church’s Fathers: Justin Martyr and Irenaeus of Lyons.
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The article presents Martin Buber’s († 1965) critique of selected lines of philosophical and psychological concept of the Absolute. The present author executes this task by introducing the distinction between objectified God (the idea of the Absolute present in certain system of thought) and the living God (the God of experience and dialogue). This article cites M. Buber’s criticism of thinkers’ concepts: B. Spinoza’s (the objection of reducing God to the realm of thoughts and the denial of His personality), I. Kant’s (the criticism of reducing God to moral principles and to the position of a guarantor of human happiness), G.W.F. Hegel’s (the objection of identifying God with the concept), F. Nietzsche’s (the criticism of the death of God – the moral legislator – and the deification of man), H. Cohen’s (the objection of reducing God to the idea of truth), H. Bergson’s (the critique of the idea of God – the “creative effort”), M. Heidegger’s (the complaint of shifting God to the human realm of subjectivity and treating Him as an idea), J.P. Sartre’s (the critics of descripting the relationship between God and man in a subject-object form and of denying the basic fact of the human existence: “being given”), and C.G. Jung’s (the complaint of psychologising God and of reducing the religious experience to a psychological one).
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The author puts forward a thesis that Lebanon is a country that plays a key role in the issue of ecumenism of the Eastern Churches. He first describes the Christians in Lebanon, i.e. the communities inscribed in the history of this land from the times the Christian faith emerged – these are: the Maronites, Melkite, Jacobites, the Assyrian Church of the East, the Chaldean Catholic Church, and the Armenian Catholic Church. The invitation to the ecumenical Communion is a new ecclesial challenge for them. Next, the author analyses the actions taken by the Patriarchs of the Middle East to ensure the unity peace, expressed particularly by the following documents: A New Hope for Lebanon, Orientale Lumen, Orientalium Dignitas, Orientales omnes Ecclesias, Orientalium Ecclesiarum, Unitatis redintegratio, Ecclesia in Asia, Orientalium. The subsequent article’s chapter is devoted to the synods dedicated to the Middle East. In this area, great merit should be attributed to John Paul II, who made the first steps towards ecumenical Christian communities in the Middle East and towards the peace in Lebanon. The first Special Synod of Bishops for Lebanon (1995), for outstanding ecumenical overtones, and then, the convened by Pope Benedict XVI Special Synod of Bishops for the Middle East (2010) – were the capstone of these efforts.
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The twentieth century was a period of the greatest persecutions in the Catholic Church’s history. Millions of Christians were killed. No wonder then that for John Paul II the problem of persecution and martyrdom became one of the leading topics during the celebration of the Great Jubilee of 2000 years of Christianity. The Holy Father asked the whole Church to collect documents about the martyrs. His calls did not remain unnoticed. The episcopacies of many local churches prepared catalogues of their martyrs. Orders acted similarly. Canonisation processes of the martyrs began to take place at a largescale. Polish SVD-missionaries joined these processes, presenting their candidates, and Pieniężno become a blissful place for their promotion. Three rogatory processes were held here under the auspices of the Archbishops Metropolitans of the Warmia Diocese. Two nationwide processes took place in Włoclawek (1994) and Peplin (2011), which dealt with the martyrs who suffered death from the hands of Hitler’s henchmen, and one in Warmia (2011), comprising Warmia citizens (Poles and Germans) from the area of Mazury, Warmia and Powisle, who were martyred from the hands of the Eastern aggressor, that is the Red Army of the Stalin’s Russia.Incidentally, to the bunch of martyrs, not involved in any process of beatification, belong three former citizens of the Pieniężno municipality who, as missionaries, in 1943, were martyred in New Guinea at the hands of the Japanese.
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In the face of increasing persecutions of Christians in the world, the question of ecumenical attitude towards this phenomenon becomes more and more legitimate. Ecumenism – both in its essence as well as in the method of interaction – forms the basis for Christian education platform to oppose discrimination of Christians. According to many observers, the institutional ecumenical movement employs their potential not sufficiently enough. The place of great ecumenical institutions is occupied by small, created in most of the cases on down-the-roots basis, organisations which in many ways carry aid to the persecuted Christians. The present article introduces the topic of the persecution of Christians, tends to outline the ambivalent attitude of the World Council of Churches, recognised as the institutional representative of the ecumenical movement, towards this problem and introduces the examples of grassroots ecumenical organisations: The Voice of the Martyrs and Open Doors.
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The present article is devoted to the subject of Pope’s understanding of freedom of religious prisoners and their personal dignity. The author first examines John Paul II’s relation towards freedom, including the freedom of religion and conscience, then the question of Pope’s approach towards the issues of punishment (including the death penalty). The present author drew attention to the fact that John Paul II from the human dignity of prisoners derived their right to religious freedom, whereas the punishment, including imprisonment, declared admissible if it is done with the recognition of prisoners’ subjectivity. Separate considerations are devoted to the Papal teaching addressed to prisoners, especially those young ones, and prison staffs. The Pope, with fatherly care, treated juvenile offenders to whom the penalty performance systems should allow a chance to return to normal society. The whole article is summarised by remarks on a timeless dimension of Papal recognition of the religious freedom of people who were deprived of their liberty.
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The names of sovereigns, ancestors, officials, teachers, were taboo in China – it was prohibited to pronounce or record them. This custom had an enormous impact on Chinese culture and serious consequences for the daily lives of many Chinese as well as for Chinese historiography. Because of such name tabooing many given names, titles and geographical names were changed. People had to stop their careers or change their lifestyle in order to maintain a naming taboo. Some of them were even killed in relation to the tabooing of names.The tabooing of names was an expression of courtesy and respect, fear and anger, legitimisation of power. It existed as an important element of Chinese culture and was perceived by the Chinese as a significant social factor. Chinese traditional culture cannot be contemplated without the tabooing of names taken into account.
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In the present article (part one and two), the author explains the problem of the idea of truth in classical China. In this, the two cultures, the Western and the Chinese, differ from each other in this sense that the for the former the category of truth is self-evident, while in the latter it seems not to occur whatsoever. Therefore, the author of this contribution first (part one) attempted to work out the methodical and methodological horizon to look at the idea of truth in classical China, then (part two), on the example of the Analects of Confucius – to introduce the Confucian idea of junzi, the noble people as the dao-truth bearers. It is beyond doubt that the Confucian idea of truth, similarly to ancient Greece, was based upon the category of compliance (the correspondence theory of truth). What we deal here with is first of all the correspondence theory of individual and moral truth, that is junzi as a compliance with ren-humanity (human nature) and li-ritual (the appropriate expression of ren-humanity and other moral attitudes in a society) as well as with the correspondence theory of social and political truth, that is the compliance with Tiandao – the heavenly order which, according to Confucius, was executed as soon as in the ancient Chinese history. The both forms of this correspondence idea of truth belong to the ethical and moral dimension of truth. Moreover, from the language philosophy’s point of view, the so-called rectification of names (zhengming 正名) is a pragmatic – not semantic category. That means that the language is perceived here as an especially functional convention passed on by copying the “experts’” activities. By the exact modelling of linguistic differences, the social and political authorities make efforts so that we would act according to traditional cultural codes. If, however, the rectification of names means the knowledge of one’s own social role, with the knowledge (as Confucius and his disciples believed) resulting from the heavenly order (Tiandao 天道) and its execution leads to the social harmony – then what we deal here with is the sociology of knowledge which means sociology – not epistemology or logic.
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Creating names in Chinese is guided by rules different than in the West. The very category of a “name” and a “surname” is a kind of a carbon copy of the Western concept of personal names, applied to the Chinese. Both the formation of names (名字 míngzì) and surnames (姓氏 xìngshì) as well as nicknames (hào 号) has its own tradition. The Chinese use about 200 surnames and an infinite number of names. While creating personal names – the character image is an important element which carries the contents of defining a person called in a specific way, not only the phonetics. The “converting” of the European names into Chinese, using phonetics, can lead to a series of misunderstandings in meaning. The character image often communicates content related to the nature, sensitivity, desires and person’s personality. This has been shown on the example of Roman Malek (马雷凯 Mǎ Léikǎi) and Dariusz Klejnowski-Różycki (柯达 理 Kē Dálǐ).
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The author recounts the events connected with the exhibition entitled The Chinese Faces of Jesus Christ, organised in 2005 in Poland, on the initiative of the then director of the Societas Verbi Divini Monumenta Serica Sinological Institute in Germany, Fr. prof. Roman Malek SVD. The 130th anniversary of the Divine Word Missionaries order foundation was the main theme of this initiative. The exhibition was made accessible to the public at the following institutions: the Pope John Paul II’s European College in Gniezno, State Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw, the Diocesan Museum of Opole and the Lublin Castle Museum. During the one-year tour of the exhibition around Poland, several thousands of visitors got acquainted with the theme of Christianity in China. Father Malek was not only the exhibition’s founder, but he also collected more than 300 exhibits, wrote the exhibition’s scenario as well as the symposia’s schedule on the Church in China. The exhibition was widely commented on in the media; journalists and radio and television presenters sought an opportunity to interview Fr. Malek, a sinologist and a specialist in religious studies. Selected entries in the chronicle, which was available during the Exhibition at the National Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw, contain entries and comments of a truly particular significance.
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The article by K.J. Rivinius concerns the foundation and development of the Christian mission in China (16th century), its determining factors which influenced their spread and activity, and especially the role that was played by Fu Jen University. In the introductory remarks, the author gives a brief history of the mission work undertaken in China by the Jesuits (M. Ricci), who – from the very beginning – followed the principle that faith should be conveyed alongside with general knowledge. The aim of such procedures was to prove the superiority of Christianity to the native world of religious thought. At that time, Europe became increasingly interested in China and kind of cultural exchange – missionaries offered Christian faith to the Chinese, and their reports about their missionary activities, descriptions of the land and its people were reflected in the works of the outstanding writers of the Enlightment. The so-called Opium War (1840-1842) put an end to that exchange. Since it was over, the originally fruitful and interesting exchange had acquired a rather commercial character. Merchants spread a rather negative image of China. In that spirit, also the Church contributed a lot to spreading western culture and science in China (mainly philosophy and sociology); protestant mission posts undertook criticism of Confucianism, suggesting its replacement with western pragmatism and practical attitude. As a result of the Boxers’ Uprising a particular attention was paid to China’ backwardness in comparison to Japan for instance, which – at that time – was influenced to a high extent by European culture and way of life. The so-called “100 Day-Reform” was initiated. The whole country felt the need of modern education, which was satisfied by protestant and catholic missions. They attempted to exert influence on China by means of higher schools’ graduates’ activities. All that created an appropriate atmosphere for the foundation of China’s first catholic university. Vincent Ying Lien Chih (1867-1962), a dedicated Catholic, turned to Pope Pius X (1835-1914) with a petition to consent to establishing a Catholic university, which both Catholics and non-Christians would be granted an access to. In the beginning, there was no reaction to this proposal on the part of the Holy See, which was apparently caused by an inconvenient political situation (the World War I); only after it had been ended, Pope Benedict XV, in agreement with the apostolic visitator Jean-Baptiste Budes de Guebriant, focused on that issue in his mission encyclical Maximum illud. He also expressed a conviction that China desperately needs Catholic schools; he expressed his concern as well.Establishing a university was entrusted to American Benedictines, George Barry O’Toole was to become its first rector, and Vincent Ying Lien Chih – its president. On October 1, 1925, the “Academy of Chinese Studies” – MacManus – was solemnly inaugurated, a school which was supposed to be a kind of preparatory stage of the new university. Later it was developed, new faculties were added, until, in 1931, it was officially recognised by the state. In 1938, a faculty for women was established; it was then that the Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit joined the University. The political situation at that time was quite convenient as to foster a further development of the University and broadening its didactic sector that gradually embraced more and more teaching disciplines, such as theology, philosophy, Chinese studies, liberal arts and literature, sciences – China maintained good relations with the Holy See. At that time the school got its official name Fu Jen Da Xue (Fu Jen University). The further period was characterised by many difficulties of mainly financial nature which was connected with the world economic crisis at the beginning of the thirties. In 1933, the management of the University was passed over to the Society of the Divine Word by Pope Pius XI. Joseph Grendel was the SVD Superior General by then. Although there were quite a few personal problems and tensions, the school was undergoing continuous development. Two years after, it had been taken over by the SVD, the bulletin „Monumenta Serica” started to be published (Magazine of Oriental Studies); earlier, it was preceded by the “Peking Catholic University Bulletin.” The aim of the missionaries involved in initiating both the bulletins was to combine the missionary activities with ethnological and cultural research. Publishing those two periodicals was a proof of the Fu Jen University’s high level.The bulletin „Monumenta Serica” had to undergo all kinds of vicissitudes – before the communists seized power in 1949, the publishing house and library had been transferred to Japan first, and later, via the USA, to Sankt Augustin in Germany (1972).Apart from the bulletins mentioned above, the SVDs wanted to publish a Catholic encyclopedia as well, wishing to serve the needs of educated people in China. To better explain the Christian doctrine of faith, some suitable elements of the Chinese religious thought were used in order to reach that goal.A considerable influence on the development of the mission activities in China was exerted by Wilhelm Schmidt, who arrived here in 1935. He assessed the situation in Fu Jen University. He hoped to attract young Chinese scholars to cooperation. It was supposed to help face challenges as miserable linguistic and cultural preparation of European and American missionaries, as well as the rather low level of the native Chinese clergy. Wilhelm Schmidt often met with strong criticism and misunderstanding of his attempts which is why only a part of them could be put into practice.The year 1949 marks the end of Fu Jen University’s activity in connection with the seize of power by the communists. Up till that moment, however, some 13,000 young people managed to graduate from the University and get a degree. In 1961, it was decided to continue University educational activity in Taiwan. The official opening of the new school took place in 1963. It is being run commonly by Jesuits, SVDs and the Taipei Diocese. Students from the Mainland China are also granted access.
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The article is based on the memoirs whose authors are the Divine Word missionaries in China: Fr. George Stenz, Fr. Bruno Hagspiel, Fr. Clifford King, Fr. Johann Bromkamp, Fr. Joseph Henkels. Their texts contain personal experience of missionary work and the description of the socio-cultural missionary activity in the Middle Kingdom. Referring to the diaries, the author presents four issues: 1) the historical context of the Divine Word mission in China; 2) missionary life; 3) missionary work, and 4) meeting with the Chinese. The historical context takes into account Boxer Rebellion, the transformation of the political system (the transition from Empire to the Republic), and the division of the state as a result of civil wars. In spite of the dissolution of the Communist Party (1927), communism strengthened its position during the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1941). The vicissitudes of the establishing and development of the mission were closely related to the political situation. The dominant elements are here: a general confusion, uncertainty, social and natural disasters. From the diaries we learn about the most difficult aspects of the missionary life: learning a foreign language, loneliness, traveling with an exposure to a meeting with the gangs of robbers. Missionary work was multitasking: pastoral care, catechesis, charity work and construction. An important element was the formation of catechists. They played an important role of intermediaries between the missionary and the local community. From the writings of missionaries it occurs that a particular impact on the stabilisation of living in a country, engulfed in ideological and economic chaos, had the educational system. In this regard, a number of initiatives were implemented on the basis of foreign funds. A separate chapter is the meeting of a missionary with the implacable China’s reality: the barriers and cultural stereotypes, hostile attitude underpinned by the Chinese communist ideology, the treating of the missionaries as the emissaries of Western imperialism. By taking these challenges, the missionaries have contributed to a better understanding of the Chinese history, culture, religion, and mentality. They adapted the Chinese way of life, trying to remedy the current social problems: infanticide, polygamy, injustice, illiteracy, natural disasters, and poverty. They also sought friendly relations with the Mandarins and the local authorities. Generally, the missionaries’ diaries are a valuable historical source.
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