Birth and Education: Born in Huntly, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, Legge graduated with a first-class degree in classics from King's College, Aberdeen and later trained for the Congregationalist ministry at Highbury College in London. London Missionary Society: Appointed as a missionary, he traveled to Asia in 1839, initially managing the Anglo-Chinese College in Malacca before relocating the institution to Hong Kong in 1843. On-the-Ground Collaboration: Residing in Hong Kong for roughly three decades, Legge worked closely with notable Chinese scholars like Wang Tao to build a rigorous foundation for his translations. Theological Stance: He famously clashed with fundamentalist missionaries by arguing that ancient Chinese texts reflected an archaic recognition of the true God (advocating for the use of the term Shangdi), demonstrating profound respect for Chinese culture and philosophy.
Academic Career at Oxford First Professor of Chinese: Returning to the United Kingdom, Legge was appointed as the first Professor of Chinese at Oxford University in 1876, a position he held until his death in 1897. [1] Sacred Books of the East: He collaborated with Max Müller to co-edit and contribute major translations to the monumental Sacred Books of the East series, helping introduce Eastern philosophies to Western academia.
Major Publications The Chinese Classics (5 volumes in 7 parts), covering the Confucian canonical texts. The Sacred Books of China: The Texts of Confucianism and The Texts of Taoism (part of the Sacred Books of the East series). The Travels of Faxian (A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms).
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