Jesuit on the Roof of the World: Ippolito Desideri's Mission to Eighteenth-Century Tibet by Pomplun, Trent

Jesuit on the Roof of the World: Ippolito Desideri's Mission to Eighteenth-Century Tibet (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780195377866)

Vendor: Trent Pomplun
Product type: Books
Format: Hardcover
$53.00
$53.00
$53.00
Subtotal: $53.00
Jesuit on the Roof of the World: Ippolito Desideri's Mission to Eighteenth-Century Tibet by Pomplun, Trent

Jesuit on the Roof of the World: Ippolito Desideri's Mission to Eighteenth-Century Tibet

$53.00
Jesuit on the Roof of the World: Ippolito Desideri's Mission to Eighteenth-Century Tibet by Pomplun, Trent

Jesuit on the Roof of the World: Ippolito Desideri's Mission to Eighteenth-Century Tibet

$53.00
Format: Hardcover
Description
Description
x
Jesuit on the Roof of the World is the first full-length study in any language of Ippolito Desideri (1684-1733), a Jesuit explorer and missionary who traveled in Tibet from 1715 to 1721.

Based on close readings of a wide range of primary sources in Tibetan, Italian, and Latin, Jesuit on the Roof of the World follows Desideri's journey across the great Western deserts of Tibet, his entry into the court of the Mongol chieftain Lhazang Khan, and his flight across Eastern Tibet during the wars that shook Tibet during the early-eighteenth century. While telling of these harrowing events, Desideri relates the dramatic encounter between his Jesuit philosophy and the scholasticism of the Geluk monks; the personal conflict between his own Roman Catholic beliefs and his appreciation of Tibet religion and culture; and the travails of a variety of colorful characters whose political intrigues led to the invasion of Z?ghar Mongols of 1717 and the establishment of the Chinese protectorate in 1720.

As the Tibetans fought among themselves, the missionary waged his own war against demons, sorcerers, and rival scholastic philosophers. Towering over all in the mind of the missionary was the "fabulous idol" Avalokitesvara and its embodiment in the Sixth Dalai Lama Tsangyang Gyatso. In describing his spiritual warfare against the Tibetan "pope," the missionary offers a unique glimpse into theological problem of the salvation of non-Christians in early modern theology; the curious-and highly controversial-appeal of Hermetic philosophy in the Asian missions; the political underbelly of the Chinese Rites Controversy; and the persistent European fascination with the land of snows.

Author: Trent Pomplun
ISBN-10: 0195377869
ISBN-13: 9780195377866
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Language: English
Published: 11/11/2009
Pages: 320
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.25lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.30w x 1.10d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 06/01/2010
By Trent Pomplun
By Trent Pomplun
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Trent Pomplun is Associate Professor of Theology at Loyola University Maryland. His research interests include late medieval and early modern Catholicism, missions history, and Indo-Tibetan religion and culture. Jesuit on the Roof of the World is his first book.

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