Chinese Theology

Karl Barth has been variously received among evangelicals. At first, the reception was mostly negative, but in the past couple of decades more evangelicals have been favorable to Barth's theological project. This article begins by listing reasons why come evangelicals find Barth useful. The bulk of the article explains in detail why most evangelicals, for a variety of reasons, still criticize Barth. The article closes with a brief discussion of how Barth's theology fits, or does not fit, into the Chinese context.

Haven't managed to rework this chapter as a Cognitive Linguistics paper. But essentially, it is a comparative study of Chinese and Western medical metaphors. This is Chapter 8 from my book , the Dao of Healing.
See: https://www.amazon.com/Dao-Healing-Christian-Perspectives-Medicine-ebook/dp/B07H2B3SSX/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=dao+of+healing&qid=1556361762&s=gateway&sr=8-1

This paper presents the role that nuns have played in the Catholic Church in China and discusses their underlying theology of ministry. 1 As numerous as diocesan priests, and belonging to diocesan orders that share similar structures and functioning from place to place, nuns are deeply involved in the pastoral care of Chinese dioceses. But how can one best describe their ecclesial role? What does it say about the Church as a whole? To answer these questions, this article elaborates on ethnographic material collected between 2015 and 2017 and presented in the article, 'Chinese Catholic Nuns and their Organization of religious Life in Contemporary China' (Chambon 2019). In continuity with this socio-historical analysis of Chinese religious orders, the present article argues that the Church in China has generated a consensus on ministry that is quite distinct from the rest of the worldwide Catholic Church and rooted in its particular history and context. In the People's Republic of China, nuns are a constitutive part of the diocesan clergy and their collective position is best described as a diaconal ministry. This Chinese consensus on ministry does not necessarily contradict the Catholic Tradition but manifests one localization of the Church.

In Professor Alexander Chow’s book Theosis, Sino-Christian Theology and the Second Chinese Enlightenment (2013), he criticizes theological classifications, such as Ralph R. Covell’s. In response, Chow proposes a tripartite classification to help scholars to understand the different theological trajectories in twentieth-century China. However, Chow’s classification is not helpful in distinguishing the differences among theologians of the same theological type. This is especially so in the case of Jia Yuming (1880–1964), who was considered the “Dean of China’s Theological Academy.” Jia made significant theological contributions—particularly his publication of the first Chinese systematic theology. Though Jia’s theology falls under Chow’s type-A theology, this paper argues that it was Jia’s spirituality that distinguishes him from other conservative pastor-theologians, such as Wáng Mingdao (1900–1991), John Sung (1901–1944) and Watchman Nee (1903–1972). Using a theological-spiritual approach (which complements Chow’s classification), this article demonstrates that Jia is a Chinese Keswick-style theologian.

The question of which name to use to translate biblical words for “God” has vexed both Roman Catholics and Protestants for a long time. In Protestant Bibles, “Shen” and “Shangdi” have been used. This paper reviews the case for each of these terms. The ancient Chinese understanding of “Shangdi” bears some resemblance to the Biblical “Elohim,” and “Theos,” but has serious problems. These include: Major differences between the ancient Chinese “Shangdi” and the biblical “Elohim” or “Theos,” and the inability of “Shangdi” to express the plurality of “Elohim” and of the New Testament’s expression of “God” as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. “Shen,” on the other hand, most closely translates the Greek “Theos,” and allows for the plurality involved in the biblical presentation of the Trinity.

Title of MA Thesis:

Captivating God’s Heart: A History of Independent Christianity, Fundamentalism and Gender in Chin Lien Bible Seminary and the Singapore Christian Evangelistic League, 1935-1997

Supervisor: A/Prof Bruce Lockhart

University/Department: NUS History Department

Completed: Oct 2015

Click on link for direct access to the dissertation.

本文梳理趙紫宸在一十年代末至二十年代的神學論述，從普世基督教的研究視野，重新解讀其早期本色神學。本文論證，趙紫宸的本色神學與普世願景之間關係密切。他倡議基督教中國化，旨在推動基督教普世化。他重視基督教的普世性，中西基督教皆是普世基督教的一部分，且有合作、互補的關係。雖然他致力融通基督教與中國文化，但是基督教始終是融通的主體。他構想的中國基督教將是「基督為體，儒學為用」。

This article reinterprets T. C. Chao's early indigenous theology from the World Christianity perspective based on his writing from the late 1910s to 1920s. This article argues that his indigenous theology and ecumenical vision were closely related. Chao advocated Christianity's sinicisation to contribute to its catholicisation. He emphasised the catholicity of Christianity. Both Chinese and Western Christianity are parts of World Christianity with a cooperative and complementary relationship. Although he advanced the reconciliation between Christianity and Chinese Confucian culture, Christianity should be the essence. In his mind, Chinese Christianity ought to be "Christian Essence and Confucian Utility".

基督教学术 (Christian Scholarship)
14 (December 2015)
pp.82-97

1610年，在利玛窦逝世后不久，他的接班人龙华民用他的论文开启了一场争论：龙华民对于利玛窦和其追随者对于基督宗教的神和天主教神学关键词语的中文译名产生疑窦。被流放到澳门的日本耶稣会士对此持有更为强烈的批判态度。尽管在耶稣会传教士中对于译名的争论产生了妥协，接受了利玛窦所提出的几个译名的可能性，但是这也带来了更为深远的影响：一篇耶稣会内部的论文，约在1623-1624年由龙华民撰写而成，于1701年在巴黎出版。通过该论文的法文版，莱布尼茨在他的论文Discours sur la théologie naturelle des Chinois中得出一个与龙华民截然不同的结论，他在龙华民所访查的中国基督教文人的观念中发现了“自然神学”，而他认为这样的“自然的神学”比笛卡尔更接近基督教信仰的精神。为建立中国神学的谱系学，龙华民论文中对于经书注释的研究很有价值：龙华民非常真诚记录了中国基督教文人向他坦言的有关术语和教义的问题，但他个人显然无法全然理解中国文人的 “心灵神学”：他们的感受性与龙华民长期所接受的西方经学的思考方式截然不同。然而，具有讽刺意味的是：对于现代读者而言，中国的皈依者所使用的神学方法更倾向于罗耀拉式的灵修内观，而不是龙华民所使用的神学方法。
关键词：译名之争 ;利玛窦 ;龙华民 ;莱布尼茨 ;经学注解 ;中国神学


Niccolò Longobardo and the Genealogy of Chinese Theology
——The Terms Controversy, the Memoir of Longobardo and the Invention of Chinese “Natural Theology”
Benoît Vermander
(Translated by SHEN Xiuzhen and CHEN Wenfei)
Abstract：Soon after the death of Ricci (1610), his successor as head of the Jesuit mission of China, Niccolò Longobardo, opened a debate among his confreres: he was feeling very much ill at ease with the terms that had been adopted by Ricci and Jesuits close to him to refer to the Christian God and to other theological notions. Jesuits from the Japanese mission exiled in Macao were even more critical. Though the quarrel among Jesuits was settled through a compromise that confirmed several of the choices made by Ricci, it had long-term consequences: an internal Memoir by Longobardo, probably written around 1623-1624, was published in Paris in 1701. Leibniz wrote his Discours sur la théologie naturelle des Chinois (1716) on the basis of the French translation of Longobardo’s Memoir while reaching conclusions opposite to the ones of the Sicilian Jesuit, finding in the opinions of Chinese Christian Literati surveyed by Longobardo a « natural theology » that was, he asserted, closer to Christianity than the one expounded by Descartes. The hermeneutical study of Longobardo’s Memoir remains extremely interesting for discussing the genealogy of Chinese theology: Longobardo relates very honestly what Chinese converts tell him about terminological and doctrinal questions, but he is obviously unable to understand the kind of “spiritual theology” they are developing: their sensitivity is very different from the scholastic way of reasoning he had been trained to utilize. The irony is that, for the modern reader, Chinese converts are using a way of theologizing which recalls much more Loyola’s spiritual insights than the theological style used by Longobardo himself does.

29. To oversimplify a bit the distinction between "systematic theology," and "biblical theology," one might say that systematic theology begins with the reader's questions on a topic (i.e. Church, end times, Holy Spirit, etc.). By contrast, biblical theology begins with the authors' own questions, seeking to find some unity to the biblical authors' perspective as conveyed by his language within his original context. The two cannot be separated so neatly in actual practice. Theoretically, biblical theology should form the basis for sound systematic theology. 4 To make this assumption would equally discredit traditional western theology since western theologians have used a "Western" lens to exegete Scripture.

This paper sits within the field of Christian-Buddhist Comparative Theology and will explore the concept of the crucifixion in relation to Chinese Buddhist images of suffering bodhisattvas. While the bodhisattva is normally portrayed as placid and serene and to have transcended suffering, I will argue that some form of suffering is either implicit or demonstrated within various stories associated within specific figures, focusing especially on Dizang (Kshitigharba) and Guanyin (Avalokiteshvara). The way that these Bodhisattvas suffer may be an area for profitable exploration in terms of Christology in Comparative or Intercultural Theology. Given the limits of space the paper does not proceed to develop a new Christology, but rather presents the argument that the image of a suffering savior is not alien to the Buddhist world, at least in its Sinitic portions, and so opens the potential for developing such speculation.

American missionary William Newbern (1900–1972), one of the first C&MA missionaries to China, is known as the father of the Hong Kong Alliance Bible Seminary. Newbern, a successful evangelist and educator, also made a major contribution to Chinese hymnology in the mid-twentieth century, especially in his editorial role in preparing Youth Hymns, whose hymns are still used in Chinese churches today. As primary sources, I use mainly his autobiography (The Cross and the Crown), his articles in Alliance Magazine, and his music commentaries Narrating Hymns (Shengshi mantan).

À partir d’une rencontre avec la «sino-théologie», l’auteur tente
une double ressaisie: du rapport entre sagesse et révélation tel qu’il nous est loisible de le penser aujourd’hui; du régime de la sagesse chinoise et, par extension, d’autres expressions de la «sagesse des peuples» à la lumière d’une herméneutique renouvelée. Il suggère quelques chemins par lesquels «sagesse» et «révélation» peuvent être comprises comme des catégories «ouvertes», ne recevant sens et pertinence que d’être référées à une constante reprise à neuf. En parallèle, le régime épistémologique de la sagesse chinoise se découvre avoir vocation à former un type d’homme en qui l’humanisation est inséparable du sens de la perte et de la quête, et du retournement des sens vers l’intérieur. Le passage par la tradition chinoise nous permet de saisir comment la catégorie de «révélation» ne fait sens qu’en relation à une «sagesse» qui seule en permet la réception par l’interprétation vivante dont elle fournit la trame.

本文聚焦汪維藩早年神學思想的啓蒙與傳承，選題集中於抗戰時期大學生福音運動、學聯會，以及楊紹唐和賈玉銘等保守派/福音派神學家對汪維藩神學思想形成的影響，試圖於歷史發展的脈絡裏探討和梳理汪維藩神學思想中福音派元素的形成、傳承與發展。首先本文旨在彌補現有研究之不足，探討在學聯會和南京黃泥崗教會的崇拜和生活，對汪維藩神學思想走向的影響究竟表現在哪些方面。其次，就福音派學生佈道運動的研究而言， 過往研究多集中於趙君影、于力工、艾德理等領導角色，本文希望透過汪維藩的個案，從一 個側面考察學生運動對於受者的影響，並由此折射出抗戰時期學生佈道運動在之後半個世紀中國福音事工發展方向上所扮演的角色。再次，本文希望通過對汪維藩早年神學思想形成和發展的研究，引起對歷史發展動態性的注意。既有研究中時常出現的非此即彼式的歸類，特別是在梳理二十世紀新舊神學之爭的歷史脈絡時，容易忽視個體的獨特性及思想形成的複雜性。

In his 1934 overview of Chinese Bible versions, Marshall Broomhall observed that the translators of the Chinese Union Version (CUV) into Mandarin surprisingly found Wenli easier to work with than vernacular Mandarin. Their struggle in using Mandarin is belied by the fact that the Mandarin CUV produced by the translators is a work of literary beauty which Chinese Christians still esteem today. However, it also means that its linguistic limitations in using Mandarin have remained an under-examined area of research. Thus, this article explores the CUV's translation methodology at the intersection of semantics and pragmatics, particularly in its renderings of irony, sarcasm, and rebuke-three communicative devices which require consideration of both semantic and pragmatic elements to understand correctly.

In this article I use Chinese culture to demonstrate what it means to do “cultural contextualization.” In order to avoid abstraction, the essay assumes a specific social setting. Each of the major sections considers a different question. How does one understand Chinese culture in view of Scripture? What are the “false gospels” of Chinese society? The article shows one way to share the true gospel in a way that is both faithful to the Bible and meaningful to Chinese people. The essay suggests merely one possible example of cultural contextualization. Therefore, people from different cultures can apply the process it uses to fit their own ministry context.

This text is part of a Master Thesis dissertation in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Sacred Theology from the School of Theology, Fu Jen University (Taiwan) in 1996. The remaining part constituted of Chinese paintings by the author associated with and commenting a number of Gospel parables.

Karl Barth has been variously received by evangelicals. At first, they were mostly critical. Recently, Barth has been much more favorably received by major evangelical theologians, while continuing to be sharply criticized by others. This article first gives some of the reasons for Barth's welcome by some evangelicals, then shows in detail why he is still considered a poor theological guide by most evangelical theologians. Finally, Barth's reception among Chinese is briefly discussed.

Chinese Theology. Cultural factors of the trynitarian notions.
Language is the basis of each culture. Language mirrors the world’s image which is created by each civilization responding to the questions vital for a human being, for the everyday life as well as for his/her final destiny. The Chinese language is exceptional among world languages as it is a painted world. Those signs possess their own history which is two thousand years older than Christianity. However, Christianity in order to record their faith’s dogma in the Chinese language has to make use of those signs which refer to other image of the world than the one in which Christianity came into being, the world of shaman’s rituals, taoistic energy, Confucian virtues and Buddhist anthropology.
The Holy Trinity belongs to the vital truths of Christianity. Particular persons of the Holy Trinity has been recorded by means of signs available in the Chinese language, entangled in specific philosophy, ontology, ethics as well as magic. Christian’s efforts aiming at recording in Chinese in the best possible way what Christianity is, lasted until the 7th century. In addition, Catholics and Protestants recorded in a different way who the Father and the Holy Spirit is. What is more, beyond those signs not also a painted world is hidden abut also meanings which are denoted nowadays and which functioned in the ancient texts as well as the variety of Chinese philosophy.
To the First Divine Person refer the following notions connected with the Chinese culture: Heavens, the Father, God in the Highest. Those are notions connected with a vital role which is played by Heaven’s Will in the Chinese image of the world, the role of a father in the Confucian vision of society and cult of a person who rules the world.
To the Second Divine Person refer other notions: the Son, the Way, yin-yang, a man, human nature, Jesus Christ. The notion of Son is connected with the Confucian filial piety, the Way – with the basic taoistic category, yin-yang – with transformations which are at the basis of reality, man and human nature – not with ontology (as it is in the West) but with ethics. The name of Jesus Christ recorded in the Chinese language also has got its long history and different variants.
To the Third Divine Person refer such notions of Chinese culture as: God, Spirit, Saint, Breath. Those are words connected with cosmic energies which are at the basis of the cosmic order with which a human being ought to live in harmony in order to become saint.
Many different words function in Chinese culture to which Christian theology refers to such as harmony, happiness, meditation, kenosis as well as emptiness and non-activity. Those are directions in the development of the theological and trynitarian notions.

« Bonheur chinois, salut christique », Studia Missionalia, Roma, vol.52, 2003, pp.391-399.
La découverte du salut apporté en Christ ne peut se produire
que si l'annonce de ce salut rejoint une expérience existentielle
préalable, expérience elle-même transcrite au travers
de cadres culturels, d'un vocabulaire donné, d'une thématisation
préexistante du salut, du bonheur, de la santé, de la plénitude...
Réciproquement, la culture touchée par la découverte
du salut christique apporte à son tour des références et des
récits qui enrichissent et interprètent à frais nouveaux la
conception traditionnelle du salut apporté en Christ. Le présent
article s'interroge donc sur certaines des harmoniques
qu'éveille dans la culture chinoise l'annonce de l'accomplissement
intervenu en Christ.

Christian theology in general, and Chinese theology in particular, has remained reticent toward the Needham Question originally posed by Joseph Needham in the 1930s. After a brief survey of the Christian response to the theory of evolution introduced into China in 1898, I address the Needham Question from a theological perspective. Then, building on Jürgen Moltmann's trinitarian proposal, which places science and theology on the common life plane of wisdom, I propose a pneumatological-trinitarian Chinese theology of science by integrating the natural wisdom and the revealed wisdom, the Chinese wisdom and the wisdom of other cultures.

Karl Barth has been variously received by evangelicals. At first, they were mostly critical. Recently, Barth has been much more favorably received by major evangelical theologians, while continuing to be sharply criticized by others. This article first gives some of the reasons for Barth's welcome by some evangelicals, then shows in detail why he is still considered a poor theological guide by most evangelical theologians. Finally, Barth's reception among Chinese is briefly discussed.

In this essay, we will consider the question––what is “Chinese” theology? Christians’ theological perspective will substantially influence their practice. We will explore the meaning of “Chinese.” What is “Chinese” and who decides? Although these questions seem broad, our focus will specifically concern Chinese theology. What is Chinese theology and who are its representatives? And what is the role of “foreigners” and/or non-Chinese people?

Karl Barth has been variously received by evangelicals. At first, they were mostly critical. Recently, Barth has been much more favorably received by major evangelical theologians, while continuing to be sharply criticized by others. This article first gives some of the reasons for Barth's welcome by some evangelicals, then shows in detail why he is still considered a poor theological guide by most evangelical theologians. Finally, Barth's reception among Chinese is briefly discussed.

As one of the founders of modern Chinese aesthetics, Liang Zongdai is also a representative of Sinicization of Christianity in aesthetics. He established a system of theological aesthetics and was heavily involved in modern Chinese Christian debates, including science-faith debate, pacifism debate and dispute in image of Jesus. His contributions include integrating Christianity and Chinese aesthetics, especially in the correlation of Symbol and Xing, creating the theory of Nuance (Yinying) and interpreting the in-betweenness of transcendence and immanence which is different from modern neo-Confucianism’s immanent transcendence. His aesthetics and the approach it revealed are significant to the future of Sinicization of Christianity

Li Ma's book received high praise from notable scholars for its multi-disciplinary approach and wealth of information, but its weaknesses far outweigh its strengths.  This paper first describes the real value of the book, and then examines in detail its flaws, which are so numerous and serious that they render the volume of little value for students of Christianity in China.

Basically, though the author claims to present a balanced, nuanced account of the "rise and fall" of the Early Rain Covenant Presbyterian Church in Chengdu and its controversial pastor, Yi Wang, she actually engages in a sustained polemic against Yi Wang and all who did not oppose him.

We find that Ma's critique suffers from a one-sided bias, unrepresentative selection of sources, distortion of documentary evidence, cheap rhetorical devices, unsubstantiated accusations, and many mistakes of fact. The book seems not to have been edited, for it is filled with hundreds of grammatical errors.

Thus, though it contains valuable information and does shed some light on why many people did not like Pastor Yi Wang, as well as why the Chinese government finally shut down his church, it is so fundamentally flawed that it should not be considered a work of responsible scholarship.