Benot Vermander

Jesus-Christ and the Chinese Religious World

Taipei Ricci Institute
February 22, 2007
http://www.erenlai.com/index.php?aid=687&lan=3

W. Kasper, Jesus, the Christ, London, Burns and Oates, 1976, pp.267-268

2007 eRenlai, Ricci Cultural Enterprise, all rights reserved

67

320

I..

C.K..

C.K. Yang, Religion in Chinese Society, Taipei, SMC Publishing, 1994, p.20

2007 eRenlai, Ricci Cultural Enterprise, all rights reserved

De

Benoit Vermander, Religions in Taiwan Today, China News Analysis, no 1538-1539, July 1995; Christianity and the
Taiwanese Religious Landscape, The Way, 39(2), April 1999
4
In Hans Kung, Julia King, Christianity and Chinese Religions, New York, Doubleday, 1989, p.224

2007 eRenlai, Ricci Cultural Enterprise, all rights reserved

II.

635
(Th
e Jesus-Messiah
Sutra) 5
6 781

The Sutra on Mysterious

Rest and
Joy
An(Le
)guan
4

8
5

Translation of this text and other Nestorian documents in SAEKI P.Y., The Nestorian Documents and Relics in China,
Tokyo, The Academy of Oriental Culture, Maruzen, 1951. I do not enter here into the question raised by the qualification of
Nestorian conferred upon Syrian monks. On that particular issue, see EVES RAGUIN, Le Jesus-Messie de Xian, in Le
Christ Chinois, B. Vermander, ed., Paris, DDB, 1998 [a], pp.35-55; Yves Raguin, Le Premire Evanglisation de la Cine par
des Moines Syro-Orientaux aux VII me et VIIIme Sicles, The Ricci Bulletin 98, Taipei Ricci Institute, 1998 [b], pp.123-140
6
The imperial edict of 638 us a very interesting document as such. It says: The way has not a constant name, the Saints have
not a constant mode; they establish their teaching to suit their region, that all living may be mysteriously saved. The Persian
monk Aluoben, bringing texts and images from far, has come to offer them at the supreme capitalLet the responsible
authorities thereforebuild one Persian Monastery, and ordain (or recognize) as monks twenty-one persons: Translation by
A. FORTE, in Paul, in Paul Pelliot, Linscription Nestorienne de Si-Ngang-Fou, Edited with Supplements by A.Forte, Paris,
Collge de France, Institut des Hautes Etudes Chinoises, 1996, p.357
7
i.e. Simon Peter, the Priest Simon.
8
SAEKI, op.cit., pp.280-281.

2007 eRenlai, Ricci Cultural Enterprise, all rights reserved

10

70

17Diary of Oral

Exhortations
26

11

preparatio
evangelica

RAGUIN, 1998 [b], pp.128-129

Translation in PELLIOT, op.cit. pp.173-180
11
Gianni CRIVELLER, Preaching Christ in Late Ming China, the Jesuits Presentation of Christ from Matteo Ricci to Giulio
Aleni, Taipei, Taipei Ricci Institute, 1997, p.340
10

2007 eRenlai, Ricci Cultural Enterprise, all rights reserved


Maitreya,
12

13

18511864

III.
20

18801942 14

15

12

On the messianic character of Laozi, see Anna SEIDEL, The Image of the Perfect Ruler in Early Taoist Messianism: Laozi
and Li Hung, History of Religions 9 (Nov. 1969/ Febr.1970), pp.216-247. On Maitreya, See A. SPONBERG and H.
HARDACRE, Maitreya, the Future Buddha, Cambridge, Cambridge U.P., 1988.
13
Richard, SHEK, Chinese Millenarian Movement, Encyclopedia of Religion, New York, MacMillan Publishing Company,
vol.9, p.536.
14
1929
15
1920p.19

2007 eRenlai, Ricci Cultural Enterprise, all rights reserved

 16

20
18811936II

17

18

19

20
16

ibid, p.22
Translation by Gladys Yang in Silent China, Selected writing of Lu Xun, Oxford, Oxford U.P., 1973, pp.120-121.
18
L.S.Robinson, Double-Edged Sword, Christianity and 20th Century Fiction, Hong Kong, Tao Fong Shan, 1986, p.78
19
C.J.Alber, Wild Grass, Symmetry and Parallelism in Lu Hsuns Prose Poems in Critical Essays on Chinese Literature,
W.H.Nienhauser, Jr., Hong Kong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1976, p.10
20
Much is still to be written on these literary developments. Some background information can be found in ROBINSON,
op.cit.;I. EBER, S-K. WAN and K.WALF, eds., Bible in Modern China, the Literary and Intellectual Impact, Sankt Augustin,
Monumenta Serica Monograph Series XLIII, Steyler Verl., 1999; B.S. McDougall and K.Louie, The Literature of China in the
Twentieth Century, New York, Columbia U.P., 1998.
17

2007 eRenlai, Ricci Cultural Enterprise, all rights reserved


21

22

IV.

23

21

This is a point that the Chinese theologian Liu Xiaofeng repeatedly stresses. I have translated into French an article of his
that deals with the question of the relationship between a persons creed and cultural background in Le Christ
Chinois,op.cit., pp.227- 237.
22
On the recent developments of the Cultural Christians phenomenon, see Peter K.H.Lee, The Cultural Christians
Phenomenon in China, Ching Feng, 39(4), December 1996, pp.307- 321.
23
CHANG, The Inculturation of Theology in the Chinese Church, Asian Theological Search, n.15, Colombo, Center for
Society and Religion, August 1984, p.20.

2007 eRenlai, Ricci Cultural Enterprise, all rights reserved

24
25

18991977

26
27

24

Mark Fang, (Images of Christ reflected by Confucius) Collecttanea Theologica Universitatis

Fujen 61 (Fall 1984), pp.367- 374

25

Mark Fang, (A Christian looks at Confucius relationships with his disciples),

Daofeng (Logos and Pneuma), 8 (Spring 1998), pp.197-208. French version in Le Christ chinois, op.cit., pp.123-139.
26
Maria Ko()(The Affection of Christ for Nature and Humanity from
the Perspective of Two Thousand Years after his Death) (Spirit) 34, August 1997, pp.15-23.
27
Dao invariably takes no action and yet there is nothing left undone says the Daodeijing, chapter 37. As far as it
characterizes the attitude of the Sage, Nonaction implies non-violence and detachment.

2007 eRenlai, Ricci Cultural Enterprise, all rights reserved

Michiyo Sato

2007 eRenlai, Ricci Cultural Enterprise, all rights reserved

10