Political theology in China
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Christian political theology in China includes responses from Chinese Christian leaders and scholars who deal with the relationship between Christianity and politics in the specific socio-political context of the region. The relationship between Christianity and politics in China can be seen from the religion's earliest encounters with the country during the imperial period, with the Church of the East's interaction with the Emperor Taizong and Jesuit missionaries in the Ming court. But it has developed the most in the 20th and 21st centuries after the establishments of the Republic of China and People's Republic of China, especially through the establishment of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement and rise of house churches.
Imperial China
The history of the relationship between Christianity and politics in China could be traced to Tang Dynasty (618-907), when scholars believe that Christianity first came to China.[1] Emperor Taizong and his successors of adopted the policy of religious tolerance. They allowed the mission of Church of the East monks and invited them to translate scriptures for the empire. In 845, during the Great Anti-Buddhist Persecution, the Church of the East was misunderstood as a sect of Buddhism and was banned by Emperor Wuzong. In Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368), several Mongol tribes converted to Christianity through the Church of the East. During this time, the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church also sent envoys to the Mongol Empire capital Khanbaliq (present day Beijing).
In Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), Jesuits initiated mission in China. Matteo Ricci would be the most well-known among these missionaries. Jesuits exerted considerable influence at court via the policy of accommodation and converted several senior officials, such as Xu Guangqi. In Qing dynasty (1636–1912), Catholic missionaries still played important roles at court as consultants of emperors. In the 18th century, the Chinese Rites controversy had raised tension between the Vatican and Qing dynasty's Emperors. Emperor Yongzheng was formally against Christian converts among Manchu people and banned the mission again.
After the First Opium War (1839-1842), with the aid of several unequal treaties, Christian missionaries were allowed to evangelize in China and continue to import the Western civilization to China. The impression that missionaries allied with foreign powers made Chinese people became hostile to Christianity, which further influenced the relationship between Christianity and politics since then. Many anti-missionary riots (Jiao'an), the Boxer Rebellion, and anti-Christian movement, can be considered as the consequences of such relationship.
Republic of China
The 20th century witnessed the emergence of some indigenous theologians in China. Arising from the concern of national salvation in the background of foreign invasion, cultural crisis, and anti-Christian movement, Christian leaders like Y. T. Wu advocated Christianity as a way of saving China. Wu appealed to revolution theory and constructed indigenous Christian theology.[2]
People's Republic of China
After 1949, the founding of People's Republic of China, the Chinese Christian leaders encountered new challenges— the new regime of the communist government is based on atheistic ideology of Marxism. They had to decide how to deal with the relationship with the atheistic government. There were different attitudes and theologies among Chinese Christians. Some of them, such as Y. T. Wu, who were willing to support the new government, helped to pen the Christian Manifesto and initiated the Three-Self movement (TSPM) in 1950s; they reconstructed theology in terms of cooperation. Others, such as Wang Mingdao, were unwilling to endorse the radical TSPM and refused to support the new government, are regarded as the forerunners of the present-day house church.[3]
In the 1950s Denunciation Campaigns, some Christian leaders, such as Wang Mingdao, Watchman Nee, from the opposing camp were arrested and sentenced in the name of counter-revolutionaries. During the ten years of Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), all the religious activities were banned and many Christians met and worshiped in the Christians' houses.
In 1980s, religious activities recovered and churches gradually opened. However, Christians who were unwilling to joined the TSPM churches and chose to gather in unregistered house churches which gather in personal houses or apartments.[4] K. H. Ting and Wang Weifan were leaders and representatives of the TSPM church. Wang Mingdao and Wang Yi would be representatives of the house church; the latter Wang is the pastor in the urban church in Chengdu which is not a traditional house church, but who still claims the link to the house church.[5]
On the other hand, in the Chinese Catholic church, owing to the unestablished diplomatic relation between Vatican and Chinese government, there is a tension among the Catholics who obey the Vatican and those Local government.
See also
Key figures
- Y. T. Wu (1893–1979)
- K. H. Ting (1915–2012)
- Wang Yi (b. 1973)
Key documents
- Christian Manifesto (1950)
- Chinese 95 theses (2015)
Related topics
- Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association
- House church (China)
- Political theology
- Three-Self Patriotic Movement
- Underground church
References
- ^ Bays, Daniel H. (2012). A new history of Christianity in China. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 4–16. ISBN 9781405159555. OCLC 707263763.
- ^ Kwok Pui-lan (May 2016). "Postcolonial Intervention in Political Theology". Political Theology. 17 (3): 223–225. doi:10.1080/1462317x.2016.1186443. ISSN 1462-317X.
- ^ Brook, Timothy (1996). "Christianity Under the Japanese Occupation". In Bays, Daniel H. (ed.). Christianity in China: From the eighteenth century to the present. Stanford: Stanford University Press. p. 334. ISBN 9780804736510. OCLC 33983799.
- ^ Liu Tongsu; Wang Yi (2012). Guan kan Zhongguo cheng shi jia ting jiao hui [Observations on the China's house churches in cities]. Taipei: Ji wen she Chuban. pp. 37–45. ISBN 9789868637962. OCLC 829939895.
- ^ Chow, Alexander (May 2014). "Calvinist Public Theology in Urban China Today". International Journal of Public Theology. 8 (2): 158–175. doi:10.1163/15697320-12341340. ISSN 1569-7320.