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Vietnamese Moses: Philiphe Binh and the Geographies of Early Modern Catholicism
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A Vietnamese Moses is the story of Philiphe Binh, a Vietnamese Catholic priest who in 1796 traveled from Tonkin to the Portuguese court in Lisbon to persuade its ruler to appoint a bishop for his community of ex-Jesuits. Based on Binh s surviving writings from his thirty-seven-year exile in Portugal, this book examines how the intersections of global and local Roman Catholic geographies shaped the lives of Vietnamese Christians in the early modern era. The book also argues that Binh s mission to Portugal and his intense lobbying on behalf of his community reflected the agency of Vietnamese Catholics, who vigorously engaged with church politics in defense of their distinctive Portuguese-Catholic heritage. George E. Dutton demonstrates the ways in which Catholic beliefs, histories, and genealogies transformed how Vietnamese thought about themselves and their place in the world. This sophisticated exploration of Vietnamese engagement with both the Catholic Church and Napoleonic Europe provides a unique perspective on the complex history of early Vietnamese Christianity."
A Vietnamese Moses is the story of Philiphe Binh, a Vietnamese Catholic priest who in 1796 traveled from Tonkin to the Portuguese court in Lisbon to persuade its ruler to appoint a bishop for his community of ex-Jesuits. Based on Binh s surviving writings from his thirty-seven-year exile in Portugal, this book examines how the intersections of global and local Roman Catholic geographies shaped the lives of Vietnamese Christians in the early modern era. The book also argues that Binh s mission to Portugal and his intense lobbying on behalf of his community reflected the agency of Vietnamese Catholics, who vigorously engaged with church politics in defense of their distinctive Portuguese-Catholic heritage. George E. Dutton demonstrates the ways in which Catholic beliefs, histories, and genealogies transformed how Vietnamese thought about themselves and their place in the world. This sophisticated exploration of Vietnamese engagement with both the Catholic Church and Napoleonic Europe provides a unique perspective on the complex history of early Vietnamese Christianity."
350 pages, Paperback
Published December 12, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 29, 2026
It is a little hard to follow and you have to activate active reading to get some of the details
From what I was able to parse:
Some background info, before we go into the book contents. The Portuguese had just been kicked out of Japan, once Japan discovered that all white people weren't the same and that they could get European technology without converting to Catholicism by trading with the Dutch. The Portuguese Jesuits need somewhere to go and land in nearby North Vietnam/Tonkin. South Vietnam did not have the population density to run missions there yet.
The main focus is that as European colonization spread to Asia and the Europeans brought their faith, that it led to a global Catholicism, where colonized people gradually gained the power to influence the religion as well.
Eventually, the French MEP missionaries and Spanish Dominicans make their way to Tonkin. They are working on trying to get a foothold, while in the meantime, the Jesuits get suppressed. There was a minor schism in the Vietnamese church due to the Spanish Dominicans and French MEP missionaries supplanting the local Portuguese Jesuits, who just had been suppressed. The Jesuits remain popular with the Vietnamese because they allow Confucian rites to take place alongside Catholicism, producing a sense of indigenous Vietnamese Catholicism that the other Europeans do not allow, since they want to scrub all the Confucian elements out of Vietnamese Catholic spirituality.
A lot of Vietnamese communities were more loyal to Jesuit spirituality and did not like seeing the Jesuits go away. (The Portuguese-Vietnamese Catholics were called Padroado Christians and they were persecuted by Spanish Dominicans and French MEP to bring them in line). This religious instability went on at the same time as the Tay Son-Chinese conflicts. On paper, outsider priests now ruled over these formerly Jesuit communities, but there were insider priests and other community leaders who were more beloved because they were more in touch with the interests and needs of these communities. Now, they just needed to get more Portuguese Jesuit priests to replace the ones dying of old age to keep their strain of Catholicism alive.
The main character of the book is Father Philiphe Binh, who basically Forrest Gump'd his way from Vietnam to Macau, to the Malay Peninsula, and to Lisbon, where he kept trying to petition the king to send more replacement priests to protect the strain of Portuguese-Vietnamese-Catholicism in Tonkin, since the Jesuit priests were aging out. He lives for decades at an oratory, trying to convince the king to send more priests. Unfortunately, then Napoleon invades and the King and nobles flee to Brazil on a boat. Father Philiphe Binh gets on a rowboat to join them on the larger ship and is turned down. He gets trapped in Lisbon, where he marvels at the institutions of things like hospitals, postal systems, book stores, the lottery, police and fire departments. Then the problem that he worried so much about solved itself in 1814, when the pope restored the Jesuits... sort of. Remember, the pope had no real power at the time over missionaries, the kings were the actual ones who sent out missionaries, and the European countries kept expelling the Jesuits, seeing them as a threat. The Portuguese monarch still did not like the Jesuits at the time and when he returned from Brazil to Portugal, he was too busy to focus on external affairs. After Napoleon, a lot of countries moved towards liberal revolutions and liberal reforms of the government, forcing domestic-level focus to quell the protesters and rebels.
Father Philiphe Binh basically becomes Vietnamese Moses as he keeps petitioning a king living in luxury to help his people and save them from persecution... perpetrated by other Catholics.
After Napoleon, states started decoupling from their religious organs. Right after Father Philiphe Binh died, in 1834, Portugal dissolved all religious orders and congregations in Portugal. Good news, Father Philiphe Binh did not have to become homeless, because he was already dead. With him died Portuguese-Vietnamese Catholicism.
From what I was able to parse:
Some background info, before we go into the book contents. The Portuguese had just been kicked out of Japan, once Japan discovered that all white people weren't the same and that they could get European technology without converting to Catholicism by trading with the Dutch. The Portuguese Jesuits need somewhere to go and land in nearby North Vietnam/Tonkin. South Vietnam did not have the population density to run missions there yet.
The main focus is that as European colonization spread to Asia and the Europeans brought their faith, that it led to a global Catholicism, where colonized people gradually gained the power to influence the religion as well.
Eventually, the French MEP missionaries and Spanish Dominicans make their way to Tonkin. They are working on trying to get a foothold, while in the meantime, the Jesuits get suppressed. There was a minor schism in the Vietnamese church due to the Spanish Dominicans and French MEP missionaries supplanting the local Portuguese Jesuits, who just had been suppressed. The Jesuits remain popular with the Vietnamese because they allow Confucian rites to take place alongside Catholicism, producing a sense of indigenous Vietnamese Catholicism that the other Europeans do not allow, since they want to scrub all the Confucian elements out of Vietnamese Catholic spirituality.
A lot of Vietnamese communities were more loyal to Jesuit spirituality and did not like seeing the Jesuits go away. (The Portuguese-Vietnamese Catholics were called Padroado Christians and they were persecuted by Spanish Dominicans and French MEP to bring them in line). This religious instability went on at the same time as the Tay Son-Chinese conflicts. On paper, outsider priests now ruled over these formerly Jesuit communities, but there were insider priests and other community leaders who were more beloved because they were more in touch with the interests and needs of these communities. Now, they just needed to get more Portuguese Jesuit priests to replace the ones dying of old age to keep their strain of Catholicism alive.
The main character of the book is Father Philiphe Binh, who basically Forrest Gump'd his way from Vietnam to Macau, to the Malay Peninsula, and to Lisbon, where he kept trying to petition the king to send more replacement priests to protect the strain of Portuguese-Vietnamese-Catholicism in Tonkin, since the Jesuit priests were aging out. He lives for decades at an oratory, trying to convince the king to send more priests. Unfortunately, then Napoleon invades and the King and nobles flee to Brazil on a boat. Father Philiphe Binh gets on a rowboat to join them on the larger ship and is turned down. He gets trapped in Lisbon, where he marvels at the institutions of things like hospitals, postal systems, book stores, the lottery, police and fire departments. Then the problem that he worried so much about solved itself in 1814, when the pope restored the Jesuits... sort of. Remember, the pope had no real power at the time over missionaries, the kings were the actual ones who sent out missionaries, and the European countries kept expelling the Jesuits, seeing them as a threat. The Portuguese monarch still did not like the Jesuits at the time and when he returned from Brazil to Portugal, he was too busy to focus on external affairs. After Napoleon, a lot of countries moved towards liberal revolutions and liberal reforms of the government, forcing domestic-level focus to quell the protesters and rebels.
Father Philiphe Binh basically becomes Vietnamese Moses as he keeps petitioning a king living in luxury to help his people and save them from persecution... perpetrated by other Catholics.
After Napoleon, states started decoupling from their religious organs. Right after Father Philiphe Binh died, in 1834, Portugal dissolved all religious orders and congregations in Portugal. Good news, Father Philiphe Binh did not have to become homeless, because he was already dead. With him died Portuguese-Vietnamese Catholicism.
August 29, 2026
The book amounts to a reverse travelogue of a Vietnamese priest on a life-long mission from Tonkin to Lisbon to find a bishop for his community around 1800. As is the case for many reverse travelogues, it is best enjoyed with a thorough background in world history, but the author clearly makes sure that even a US freshman with limited background can use the book as side reading in introductory course; very little is treated as a matter of course, and practicalities of the time are explained with care. There are informative illustrations and maps, and useful bibliography. A great tome.
December 29, 2022
It's a history book.
O should have read the "about". Some interesting items as lot of history. The only reason I have it 2 stars is the epilogue is the most interesting part
O should have read the "about". Some interesting items as lot of history. The only reason I have it 2 stars is the epilogue is the most interesting part
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews