隨著利瑪竇等天主教傳教士與中國士大夫的接觸漸多，傳教士的「獨身」生活很快成為儒耶對話的障礙。如何調和兩者之間的張力，成為傳教士在文化宣教過程中亟待解決的問題。利瑪竇在其第一本闡述天主教基本教義的著作《天主實義》中，就「獨身」問題單獨成篇，嘗試解決「獨身」與儒家孝道之間的張力。本文採用文本分析重現利瑪竇對這一張力的處理方法，深入分析利瑪竇的辯論策略，即在天主教的世界觀下，利瑪竇對儒家「修身齊家治國平天下」與「忠孝觀」進行重構，以期達到對「不孝有三，無後為大」這一理念的否定，為修士爭取儒生的尊重與認同。除此之外，本文還將利瑪竇的論說策略置於晚明儒家諸思潮下進行解讀，展現出利瑪竇在「修齊治平」框架下談獨身與晚明實學思潮的興起較好地配合，利瑪竇避而不談《孝經》、養親事親可在晚明儒生踐行《孝經》、陽明後學對孝為性體的強調下得到解釋，利瑪竇突出教化兆民、學道宣道的「大孝」與生養子嗣的「小孝」之衝突可在晚明孟子在孝道中的重要地位及其大孝說中得以理解。

As Matteo Ricci interacted with Chinese literati, the celibate life of the missionaries became an obstacle in communication between Confucianism and Christianity. How to appease the tension between celibacy and filial piety became one of the most urgent problems to solve. In chapter 8 of The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven, his first book presenting the basic doctrine of Christianity, Matteo Ricci argued for the celibacy of the missionaries, trying to address the conflict between celibacy and the Confucian doctrine of filial piety. This article will present how Matteo Ricci dealt with the conflict by textual analysis, that is, how Matteo Ricci, in the world view of Christianity, reconstructed “self-cultivation, regulating the family, governing the country and establishing peace throughout the world (Xiushen, Qijia, Zhiguo, Pingtianxia)” and “loyalty to family and nation (Zhong Xiao)” in Confucianism, in order to reject the view that “to be childless is the highest impiety among three” and to gain the agreement and respect of Chinese literati. What’s more, this article will put the argument of Matteo Ricci under the Late Ming ethos: Matteo Ricci’s argument on single life under the framework of XiuQiZhiPing corresponds with pragmaticism of Late Ming, Matteo Ricci’s avoiding of referring on Annotations of Filial Piety, the maintenance and service on parents could be explained under the background of Late Ming scholars’ admiring Annotations of Filial Piety and Yangming studies emphasis on filial piety as human nature, Matteo Ricci’s highlighting the contradiction between great filial piety and little filial piety could be understood under the background of Mengzi’s important status and his great filial piety doctrine.