| Tianzhu | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Chinese | 天主 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Heaven Master | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Tianzhu (Chinese:天主;Wade–Giles:Tʻien-chu), meaning 'Heavenly Master' or 'Lord of Heaven', is the Chinese word used forGod inCatholicism, designated by theJesuit China missions.[1]
The word first appeared inMichele Ruggieri's Chinese translation of theDecalogo, orTen Commandments.[1] In 1584, Ruggieri andMatteo Ricci published their first catechism,Tiānzhǔ shílù (天主實錄,The Veritable Record of the Lord of Heaven).[2]Matteo Ricci later wrote acatechism entitledTiānzhŭ Shíyì (天主實義,The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven).[1][2]
Following theChinese rites controversy, the termTiānzhŭ was officially adopted by thePope in 1715, who rejected alternative terms such asTiān (天, "Heaven") andShàngdì (上帝, "Supreme Emperor").[3] "Catholicism" is most commonly rendered asTiānzhǔjiào (天主教, "Religion of the Lord of Heaven"). An individual Catholic isTiānzhŭjiào tú;[4]tú includes the meanings "disciple" and "believer."[5] The samehanja characters are used in the Korean words for Catholicism and Catholic believer.