Christian Beliefs in China

【摘 要】本文主要涉及基督教在中國(guó)的傳播和發(fā)展，其教義對(duì)信徒的傳播，中國(guó)文化的本土性阻止其進(jìn)一步發(fā)揚(yáng)光大。本文亦討論基于西方哲學(xué)和傳統(tǒng)，基督教在中國(guó)的傳播的范圍及影響。

【關(guān)鍵詞】基督信仰；背景；文化

【Abstract】This thesis mainly discusses how the Christianity beliefs come into being in china， the process of its popularity， the transmission into the believer. The given culture in China naturally prevent the Western thought especially religions prevented western thought from spreading. This thesis will also discuss to what extent Christianity will spread in terms of its nature based on western philosophy and tradition

【Keywords】Christian beliefs， Context， Culture

1.the Origin of Christianity and Transmission in China

It had been a long history since Christianity began its course of transmission in China， which could be traced back to T’ang dynasty， with the permission of the high majesty. As the prototype of its beginning， the language of “Jing” religion was originally not written in Chinese， only to discover a leaflet in Latin， which lowered the speed of its publicity. What’s more， the translation of the proper names had been borrowed from Confucianism and even Taoism. In the stele found in the year 1625， which listed several names with comparison of the Christianity. In the year 845， a distinction of all foreign religions was put into action， eventually resulted in the declination of it. In the period of “Yuan” dynasty， with the establishment of major religious zones in China， Catholicism was quickly spreading in China， but it was only “floating” and being acknowledged in the upper classes ， never in the rooted areas， the given-up of the majority people resulted in the extinction of which with the collapse of Yuan Empire. During “Ming and Ch’ing ” period， the feudalism in China drew backward while with the immersion of capitalism and cultural influence of the west， Boanerges tried to publicize Christianity in the name of science and technology.

2.Brings-in or Out

China has enjoyed prosperous and wealthy millenarianism until in the late nineteenth century， when the west invaders tried to open the gate to China， to sell their products， more importantly， to scramble resources and valuables， the invasion of England marked the borderline between west-china relations.The spread of Christianity needed ground for its believers， so， what is pure belief for the believers？ What does God means to western people？ Although Christianity has sped widely and profoundly in modern China， with churches and believers all over in major cities， Since its primitive form in China， Christianity was publicized in the form of given culture like Taoism and Confucianism ， using symbols and lections borrowed from Buddhism a in China， they believe that in the way ， they can spread in a faster pace， however， if they did it only in the form of common phenomena culture images in china without a solid and thorough understanding of its own Christian culture， the believers could not master the essence of the Christian pneuma， what’s more， the level of knowledge also held back the perception of pneuma.

3.The Original Sin， have or have-not

The foundation of Christianity is the believe of the Original Sin， which we can clearly cited from the bible ， In a word， we are trying to behave and act upon ourselves under the guidance of God. How sinned men can makes to be aware of his fault deed and behaviors？ How can he be ever saved？ In God Here and now， Barth indicated as follows： “But He who loves us without end Restores what we have squander”.

The sinned man can be safe and sound with the glory of God， forgiven by the Man who observes us and sees us from the very beginning to the end. Because of the fear of being punished by the God， we consequently choose not to cheat nor betray ourselves on a religious basis. But there is no field for “SIN” culture in China. Religiously， we don’t acknowledge us as born with sin； on the contrary， some philosophers ever believe that we are born with good. This thought originally with concrete different approaches with Christianity. Without this vision， we can’t go through into the God in the very first place.

4. The Christian Doctrine VS Chinese Doctrine

The Christian doctrine begins with a thought that the god is with all-mighty power， and the god said： “l(fā)et there be light， and there was light”. He created the heaven and the earth and brings Adam and Eve into human beings with his own image， the punishment given upon human is that the they disobeyed God’s words and ate the fruits in the tree of wisdom， from which the forever punishment is ongoing. The faith ever followed by Chinese is that the versatile ways of creation of myths that the heaven and earth is formed upon， which creates notions that the forming of the human beings is ever done with the power from the mythical figures in the Chinese history， this ever created polytheism， so based on this， we can’t say that there would be a pure belief as with the Chinese doctrine.

5.Conclusion

To a certain extent， the Chinese are polytheistic， we don’t ever believe in a single religion that is dominant nor do we choose to believe. The cultural background and religious field decides what we believe， in Chinese history， we have no sight of how Christianity will spread and being in China， but as long as it exists， it serves to do people right to a certain extent by which we can signify its meaning underneath.

【Reference】

[1]William James： Pragmatism， Dover Publications， Inc.， New York， 1983.

[2]Livia Kohn： Early Chinese Mysticism， Princeton University Press， Princeton， New Jersey， 1992.

[3] BARTH： God Here and Now， Routledge， New York， 2003.

[4]周變藩.中國(guó)的基督教[M].商務(wù)印書館，2007.

[5]王治心.中國(guó)基督教史綱[M].上海古籍出版社，2004.