由入華耶穌會士柏應理等人編譯、1687年在巴黎出版的《中國哲學家孔子》中首次使用「現代解釋者」一詞來指稱程朱理學家，由此派生的近代Neo-Confucian(ism)概念，在19世紀末20世紀初為入華基督教傳教士以及岡倉天心（1903-1906）和胡適（1917）等學者所受容，在1926年首次被馮友蘭翻譯為中文新儒家（學）概念，其後經過卜德、陳榮捷、狄百瑞等人的推廣而成為海內外通行的專有名詞。Neo-Confucian(ism)概念在其流傳與受容過程中經歷了從程朱理學（狹義）、到道學（基本義）、再到宋學（廣義）的意義演變，意味著必須從歷史脈絡與思想體系出發界定其意義和範圍，同時也體現了宋明新儒學的研究視域從宗教觀念、哲學義理到思想文化領域的擴展。

The term “Neoterici Intérpretes” was first used to refer to Cheng Zhu Neo Confucian (ism) in Confucius Sinarum Philosophus, compiled by Philippe Couplet, a Jesuit in China, and published in Paris in 1687. The derived Modern Neo Confucian (ism) concept was accepted by British and American Christian journals in China and scholars such as Kakuzo Okakura (1903-1906) and Hu Shi (1917) in the late 19th and early 20th century, In 1926, Feng Youlan translated the concept of “Neo Confucianism” into Chinese “Xin Ru Jia (Xue)” for the first time. Later, it became a proper term commonly used at home and abroad through the promotion of Derk Bodde, Wing-Tsit Chan, William Theodore de Bary. The concept of Neo Confucian (ism) has experienced the meaning evolution from Cheng Zhu Li Xue (narrow sense), to Dao Xue (basic sense), and then to Song School (broad sense), which means that its significance and scope must be defined from the historical context and ideological system. At the same time, it also reflects the expansion of the vision and position of the study of Neo Confucianism from religious concept, philosophical theory to the field of ideology and culture.