Overview

Though a minority religion in Vietnam, Christianity has been a significant presence in the country since its arrival in the sixteenth-century. Anh Q. Tran offers the first English translation of the recently discovered 1752 manuscript Tam Giáo Chu Vong (The Errors of the Three Religions). Structured as a dialogue between a Christian priest and a Confucian scholar, this anonymously authored manuscript paints a rich picture of the three traditional Vietnamese religions: Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism. The work explains and evaluates several religious beliefs, customs, and rituals of eighteenth-century Vietnam, many of which are still in practice today. In addition, it contains a trove of information on the challenges and struggles that Vietnamese Christian converts had to face in following the new faith.Besides its great historical value for studies in Vietnamese religion, language, and culture, Gods, Heroes, and Ancestors raises complex issues concerning the encounter between Christianity and other religions: Christian missions, religious pluralism, and interreligious dialogue.

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9780190677602

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Anh Q. Tran's Gods, Heroes, and Ancestors is a significant contribution to the study of religion in early modern Vietnam. His translation and analysis of the Tam Giao Ch(u V.ong offers an invaluable perspective on the dynamic between Catholicism and the religions it encountered in the Vietnamese realm. Tran's book, with its detailed historical contextualization, will become indispensable for understanding both Catholicism and Vietnam's rich existing religious landscape. * George Dutton, author of A Vietnamese Moses: Philiphe Binh and the Geographies of Early Modern Catholicism * Gods, Heroes, and Ancestors establishes Anh Tran as one of the foremost authorities on eighteenth-century Vietnamese Catholicism. Focusing on a recently discovered manuscript, Tran offers a meticulously researched introduction to how a scholar-missionary views the tam giao [three religions] in relation to Christianity. Thanks to Tran's linguistically sophisticated translation of this apologetical work, readers will be able to gain a deep understanding of Vietnamese Christianity in its historical context. * Peter C. Phan, Ignacio Ellacuria Chair of Catholic Social Thought, Georgetown University * Studies on the encounter between Christianity and Asian traditions from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century have been a well-trodden path for scholars of religion. Nevertheless, scant attention has been paid to the Vietnamese context compared with that of China, Japan, and India. Anh Tran's Gods, Heroes, and Ancestors: An Interreligious Encounter in Eighteenth-Century Vietnam, tries to fill the vacuum by interpreting and translating a newly-discovered eighteenth century manuscript entitled Tam Giao Chu Vong (Errors of the Three Religions; hereafter referred to as Errors)...[T]he translation of Errors provides a unique lens to see both the Vietnamese and Chinese religious landscapes of the eighteenth century. * Amy Yu Fu, Reading Religion *

Tran...provides a richly researched and exciting translation ...This is a recommended reading for specialists of missionary and translation studies. -- Jeremy Jammes, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Religious Studies Review This work is a major contribution to the religious history of premodern Vietnam and to the study of relations between Christianity and traditional religions.a --Pascal Bourdeaux, Moussons An Tran has written a valuable book which gives us insight into the religious beliefs and practices in eighteenth-century Vietnam, and of Christian missionary responses to and understandings of those beliefs and practices His book provides one of the fullest accounts of Vietnamese religions available in English, which is a boon for the religious studies scholar. --Judith A. Berling, Asian American Theological Forum Studies on the encounter between Christianity and Asian traditions from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century have been a well-trodden path for scholars of religion. Nevertheless, scant attention has been paid to the Vietnamese context compared with that of China, Japan, and India. Anh Tran's Gods, Heroes, and Ancestors: An Interreligious Encounter in Eighteenth-Century Vietnam, tries to fill the vacuum by interpreting and translating a newly-discovered eighteenth century manuscript entitled Tam Giao Chu Vong (Errors of the Three Religions; hereafter referred to as Errors) [T]he translation of Errors provides a unique lens to see both the Vietnamese and Chinese religious landscapes of the eighteenth century. --Amy Yu Fu, Reading Religion Gods, Heroes, and Ancestors establishes Anh Tran as one of the foremost authorities on eighteenth-century Vietnamese Catholicism. Focusing on a recently discovered manuscript, Tran offers a meticulously researched introduction to how a scholar-missionary views the tam giao [three religions] in relation to Christianity. Thanks to Tran's linguistically sophisticated translation of this apologetical work, readers will be able to gain a deep understanding of Vietnamese Christianity in its historical context. --Peter C. Phan, Ignacio Ellacuria Chair of Catholic Social Thought, Georgetown University Anh Q. Tran's Gods, Heroes, and Ancestors is a significant contribution to the study of religion in early modern Vietnam. His translation and analysis of the Tam Giao Chu Vong offers an invaluable perspective on the dynamic between Catholicism and the religions it encountered in the Vietnamese realm. Tran's book, with its detailed historical contextualization, will become indispensable for understanding both Catholicism and Vietnam's rich existing religious landscape. -George Dutton, author of A Vietnamese Moses: Philiphe Binh and the Geographies of Early Modern Catholicism

Anh Q. Tran's Gods, Heroes, and Ancestors is a significant contribution to the study of religion in early modern Vietnam. His translation and analysis of the Tam Giao Ch(u V.ong offers an invaluable perspective on the dynamic between Catholicism and the religions it encountered in the Vietnamese realm. Tran's book, with its detailed historical contextualization, will become indispensable for understanding both Catholicism and Vietnam's rich existing religious landscape. * George Dutton, author of A Vietnamese Moses: Philiphe Binh and the Geographies of Early Modern Catholicism * Gods, Heroes, and Ancestors establishes Anh Tran as one of the foremost authorities on eighteenth-century Vietnamese Catholicism. Focusing on a recently discovered manuscript, Tran offers a meticulously researched introduction to how a scholar-missionary views the tam giao [three religions] in relation to Christianity. Thanks to Tran's linguistically sophisticated translation of this apologetical work, readers will be able to gain a deep understanding of Vietnamese Christianity in its historical context. * Peter C. Phan, Ignacio Ellacuria Chair of Catholic Social Thought, Georgetown University * Studies on the encounter between Christianity and Asian traditions from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century have been a well-trodden path for scholars of religion. Nevertheless, scant attention has been paid to the Vietnamese context compared with that of China, Japan, and India. Anh Tran's Gods, Heroes, and Ancestors: An Interreligious Encounter in Eighteenth-Century Vietnam, tries to fill the vacuum by interpreting and translating a newly-discovered eighteenth century manuscript entitled Tam Giao Chu Vong (Errors of the Three Religions; hereafter referred to as Errors)...[T]he translation of Errors provides a unique lens to see both the Vietnamese and Chinese religious landscapes of the eighteenth century. * Amy Yu Fu, Reading Religion * An Tran has written a valuable book which gives us insight into the religious beliefs and practices in eighteenth-century Vietnam, and of Christian missionary responses to and understandings of those beliefs and practices...His book provides one of the fullest accounts of Vietnamese religions available in English, which is a boon for the religious studies scholar. * Judith A. Berling, Asian American Theological Forum *

Anh Q. Tran's Gods, Heroes, and Ancestors is a significant contribution to the study of religion in early modern Vietnam. His translation and analysis of the Tam Giao Ch(u V.ong offers an invaluable perspective on the dynamic between Catholicism and the religions it encountered in the Vietnamese realm. Tran's book, with its detailed historical contextualization, will become indispensable for understanding both Catholicism and Vietnam's rich existing religious landscape. * George Dutton, author of A Vietnamese Moses: Philiphe Binh and the Geographies of Early Modern Catholicism * Gods, Heroes, and Ancestors establishes Anh Tran as one of the foremost authorities on eighteenth-century Vietnamese Catholicism. Focusing on a recently discovered manuscript, Tran offers a meticulously researched introduction to how a scholar-missionary views the tam giao [three religions] in relation to Christianity. Thanks to Tran's linguistically sophisticated translation of this apologetical work, readers will be able to gain a deep understanding of Vietnamese Christianity in its historical context. * Peter C. Phan, Ignacio Ellacuria Chair of Catholic Social Thought, Georgetown University *

Author Information

Anh Q. Tran is Assistant Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley. He is a co-editor and contributor of World Christianity: Perspectives and Insights.

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