Question cocerning the native term for god(s) and imported Christianity

[William J Poser]

Others may be able to answer the denominational question, but
one place to look for information on this might be the
extensive literature on the "Chinese rites controversy"
within the Roman Catholic Church. This had to do with
the extent to which Catholics could use the terminology
of and practice the rites of Confucianism. The Jesuits
took the position that Confucianism was a philosophy,
not a religion in conflict with Catholicism, and that
"ancestor worship" was merely a form of veneration and
not idolatry. They used Chinese terms such as "heavenly
lord" in reference to the Catholic god. The Dominicans
objected to this. The controversy was ultimately settled
by a bull issued by Pope Clement XI in 1715, who sided
with the Dominicans. This resulted in the Kang Xi Emperor
banning the Catholic church.

I can't find a copy of the bull off the cuff, but as I recall
it actually contains an interesting discussion of the meaning
of Chinese terms in comparison to Latin "deus".

Bill