Thomas Phillips Exhibition
17th Century
Athanasius Kircher. China monumentis. Amsterdam, 1667.
In May 2002, a group of distinguished scholars, writers and historians gathered at the New York Institute of the Humanities to address a burning question: "Was Athanasius Kircher the coolest guy ever, or what?" German Jesuit Kircher (1602-1680) would have replied in the affirmative. No false modesty for him. His comment on the public reception of China Monumentis was that “it earned considerable praise from intelligent readers, who were astonished by the novelty of its subject matter”, but that there was no lack of “malicious, evil critics who attacked it with sarcastic arguments”. Many critics attempted corrections that were “stupid or obtuse”. In the book Kircher sought to explain the origins of “oriental customs, ceremonies and idols”.
