明末耶穌會士來華引入西方基督神學，對東林人士熊明遇 (1579-1649) 產生的衝激及影響，與晚明政治息息相關。萬曆後期他與耶穌會士交遊，接觸基督神學，但在萬曆末年 (1620) 完成的《則草》中似未留下明顯影響。天啟年間，遭受魏璫徇私的政治迫害，使他嚮往基督宗教性神學中天主在人死後對其世間善惡的至公審判，反映在擴增的〈則草二〉(1626) 中，但未入教。他也接受自然神學，並以中國事例加以儒學化。當思宗即位後，拔除閹黨，平反受害東林人士，在擴增的《格致草》中，熊明遇調整先前吸納的基督神學，刪改或移除宗教性神學部分，但保留自然神學部分，將其轉化為「格致學」的一部分。 質言之，他對在世政治審判的關切超過來世，加上自然神學是通過理性的推論來認識造物主所創的自然，不必然具有宗教性的信仰，二者對他為何不是位天主教徒提供一個另類解說。

In late Ming, Jesuits introduced Catholic theology to China. Xiong Mingyu 熊明遇 (1579-1649) was very close to the Jesuits during the end of the Wanli 萬曆 period (1573-1620). As such, he most likely read works concerning Catholic theology, but did not write anything on this topic in his Ze Cao 則草 (1620). During the Tianqi 天啟 period (1621-1627), after having experienced the political oppression that Wei Zhongxian 魏忠賢 and members of his party inf1icted on the Donglinists (that is, members of the so-called Donglin group 東林黨), Xiong came to be interested in God’s message. Xiong touched on Catholic teachings in his sequel to Ze Cao, which was published in 1626; however, he never did convert to Catholicism. He was also influenced by natural theology and modified it with Confucian examples. After the Chongzhen 崇禎 reign (1628-1644), the emperor reversed earlier political sentences by exonerating those of the Donglin group and punishing the members of Wei Zhongxian’s party. At this time, Xiong adjusted his response to Catholicism. In 1628, he started a revision of Ze Cao and expanded it and retitled it Gezhi Cao 格致草; in this later text, he deleted the part on Catholic teachings, but kept the part on natural theology, which he developed into a section dealing with ‘learning about gezhi’ 格致學. In brief, the impact of Catholic theology on Xiong and his reaction has something to do with the political situation in 1620s. Xiong’s example represents the view of the members of Donglin group, who were more concerned with political affairs rather than with a religious message. Even though he believed that one can go through natural theology to know Nature as created by the Creator, his acceptance of natural theology did not lead to his becoming a Catholic.