Confucianism and Christianity

Interreligious Dialogue on the Theology of Mission

Edmund Kee-Fook Chia

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780367358853
• eBook ISBN: 9781000264357
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Asian Religions

This book reflects on three broad themes of Confucian-Christian relations to assist in the appreciation of the church's theology of mission. While the themes of this volume are theological in orientation, the dialogue is engaged in from an interdisciplinary approach that prioritises the act of listening.

Part I surveys the historical background necessary for an adequate understanding of the contemporary Confucian-Christian dialogues. It examines the history of Confucian-Christian relations, explores the Chinese Rites Controversy, and delineates the contemporary task of indigenizing Christianity by Sino-Christian theologians. Part II compares elements in the Confucian and Christian traditions that exemplify the epitome and fullness of spiritual development. It discusses the Confucian practice of rites (li), interrogates how the noble or exemplary person (junzi) competes, and outlines the Confucian understanding of sageliness (shengren). Lastly, Part III examines different aspects of the church's engagements with the world outside of itself. It advocates for a Confucian-Christian hermeneutic of moral goodness, attends to the Confucian emphasis on moral self-cultivation, proposes that Confucian virtue ethics can shed light on Christian moral living, and offers a Confucian-Christian understanding of care for mother earth.

This book is ideally suited to lecturers and students of both Christian studies and Confucian studies, as well as those engaged in mission studies and interfaith studies. It will also be a valuable resource for anyone interested in comparative religious and theological studies on Christianity and Confucianism.

Part I

Survey and history

1 History of Confucian-Christian relations

Edmund Kee-Fook Chia

Introduction

While it is true that there have not been too many engagements between the Confucian and Christian traditions in history, it is not altogether accurate to suggest that there has been absolutely no relationship. The history of this relationship is actually quite long, albeit brief and fractured, stretching all the way back to the first millennium.

The present article examines this history, beginning with the discovery of the presence of Nestorian Christians in China in the 8th century, discussing their initial warm reception by the Chinese emperor and the difficulties they encountered with the local communities later. It then makes cursory mention of the visits of Italian merchants such as Marco Polo to the Middle Kingdom during the time of the Song Dynasty (960–1279). Next to be discussed is the most substantive Confucian-Christian encounter, which began with the engagements of Matteo Ricci and his Jesuit companions with the Confucian literati in the 16th century.

The most critical aspect of this encounter is their policy of accommodation and the Rites and Terms Controversy that resulted from it. The article then offers a brief summation of how Christianity was given birth in Korea through the auspices of the Korean Confucian literati and the fate the Korean Christians suffered on account of their rejection of the Confucian rites and ancestor veneration.

The next phase of the Confucian-Christian encounter begins with the influx of Christian missionaries and the debut of Protestantism in China. The challenges confronted by both the Christians and Confucians with the rise of the New Culture Movement leading up to the Communist ban on religions will also be examined. The article concludes with an exposition of the major theological themes highlighted in the contemporary Confucian-Christian encounters that took ascendancy with China’s Reform and Opening-Up policy in the late 20th century.

The Nestorian Christians in China

There is no way to ascertain when the first Confucian-Christian engagement actually took place. What we seem to know today is that even as the Confucian tradition predates Christianity by five centuries, there was almost no relationship between them in the first few centuries of the Christian era, if only because there was no opportunity for encounters between Confucians and Christians. In the absence of contact, mutual ignorance would best characterize the relationship. The Christian West generally looked upon the East as no more than paganistic, while the Confucian East—which considered China as the Middle Kingdom—thought of the rest of the world as uncultured and uncivilized, giving rise to the differentiation between the notion of the ‘Chinese’ (Hua) and the ‘barbarians’ (yi).¹ Moreover, as far as Christianity was concerned, because it hailed from the ‘West,’ the Chinese regarded it as just another ‘Buddhist sect,’ since Buddhism had come from India, which is located West of China.

The earliest evidence of Christianity’s presence in China is documented in the 8th century stone tablet known as the Nestorian Monument, believed to have been erected in the era of the Tang Dynasty (618–907).² It was discovered in the 17th century—during the time of the Jesuits in China—and records how the Christian monk Alopen and his East Syrian Christian missionaries from Persia crossed over into China while fleeing persecution in their homeland, reaching the city of present-day Xi’an. Also known as Nestorian Christians, they brought sacred scriptures and Christian images with them as gifts to the emperor. The emperor, who was himself a great scholar, arranged for the scriptures to be translated, studied them, and decreed that the teachings be disseminated, as he found them quite acceptable. The Christians were thus warmly welcomed, with the state supporting their preaching of the faith and the establishment of churches.

An imperial edict of Emperor Zuanzong issued in 745 bestowed on these Nestorian Christians the name Jingjiao or the Luminous Religion. It might be useful to point out that the Christians were encountering not only Confucianism but also Daoism and Buddhism all at once, as the Chinese do not view them as distinctively separate religions. This is best articulated in Chinese philosophy through the term San Jiao (three teachings) to refer to the harmonious blend between the three traditions and how they are all integral to Chinese civilization. However, it is also noteworthy to point out that Nestorian Christianity or the Luminous Religion was never included in the concept of San Jiao He Yi (three teachings harmonious as one). In other words, unlike Buddhism, which also came from outside of China but was eventually integrated into the culture, Christianity had always been seen as an outsider and remained a foreign religion, even until today. In fact, even though there were some translations of Christian literature into Chinese, Syriac continued to be used as the liturgical language, and Sogdian the general language, of Christians in China during that time. The Christians mainly lived exclusively around their monasteries and survived primarily because of imperial support.

Subsequent emperors, especially beginning in the 9th century, however, were less welcoming and treated the Christian community quite differently. The educated elite—the Chinese literati—had practically no interest in or contact with the foreign Christian communities. With time, the Christians first began to encounter major opposition from the dominant Buddhist community, and then also from the Daoist leaders. Being a relatively fragile church and confronted by the civil wars and persecutions of the late Tang Dynasty, the Christian community dwindled. That notwithstanding, small groups persevered and were able to flourish discreetly throughout China. Later in the 9th century, however, the emperor and local authorities decreed that Christianity and other ‘foreign cults’ were forbidden in the country. By the end of the 10th century, Christianity all but disappeared from the Chinese scene.

The next time Christianity came into contact with China was with the advent of what the Europeans called the ‘Age of Discovery’ in the 13th century. With the land route of what later came to be known as the Silk Road from Europe to Asia opened, China’s Mongol rulers received many visitors and missionaries at their courts. Among them was the Italian merchant, explorer, and writer Marco Polo (1254–1324) who met with Emperor Kublai Khan.³ The emperor enquired about the Christian faith and then requested that the Italian travelers ask the pope to deploy missionaries and teachers of science and religion to China to educate his people in Western science and Christian beliefs. Only two Dominican friars set out on their journey to China, but they encountered troubles along the way and so returned to Europe before reaching the Chinese mainland. That notwithstanding, with Marco Polo—who continued to live in China for almost two decades and even became an official in Peking—reporting back on his Chinese experience to medieval Europe, an opening up of intercultural space was happening for European Christians. In fact, “Polo’s effort was actually the beginning of an attempt to understand another civilization totally different from one’s own.”⁴

Matteo Ricci and the Jesuit missionaries

The most documented and clear-cut case of Confucian-Christian engagement began with the Portuguese Jesuit Roman Catholic mission to China sometime toward the end of the Ming Dynasty in the 16th century. Prior to that, and even during the Nestorian Christian or Polo eras, there was actually no explicit mention of Confucianism, either as religion or philosophy. While the Chinese—including the Buddhists and Daoists—that the Syriac and European Christians were encountering would have been well versed in Confucianism, it was Chinese culture that the Christians met.

However, with the Portuguese Jesuits, Confucianism was clearly identified and introduced back to the European world, at least as it was understood in the minds of the Christian missionaries. In fact, it was the Jesuits who coined the term ‘Confucianism’ for what the Chinese referred to as rujia (school of the scholars), rujiao (traditions of the scholars), or K’ung jiao (Confucianism). Confucius never claimed to have taught anything new; he simply saw himself as a ‘transmitter’ of the teachings of the ancient sages. It was Matteo Ricci and his Jesuit brothers who began disseminating the idea of Confucius being the ‘founder’ of what they called ‘Confucianism.’⁵

Upon his arrival at the Portuguese settlement of Macau toward the end of the 16th century, Matteo Ricci (1552–1610) believed he would be able to penetrate into the Chinese community better and gain converts faster if he adapted to Chinese practices, including adopting the dress-code of the local peoples. Armed with a theology that looked upon geographical exploration and colonization as the fulfillment of the prophecies of the apocalypse, his missionary methodology was that of accommodation. Being more familiar with Buddhism, he began by dressing himself up as a Buddhist monk and also employed terminology from Buddhism to preach the Christian faith. He saw more parallels between Christianity and Buddhism than with Confucianism. Buddhism had doctrines and deified figures and beliefs that could be compared with Christianity. It is no wonder that the Chinese frowned upon the European Christians and regarded them as no more than a Buddhist sect. That notwithstanding, Ricci was still able to encounter the Chinese intellectuals, but it was primarily due to the gifts and inventions he had brought from Europe, and especially his presentations of scientific instruments and advanced knowledge of technology.

With time, however, Ricci realized that the Confucian literati did not have much regard for Buddhism and, by association, Christianity was also lumped in together with what the Chinese perceived as superstitious beliefs and practices:

This “misrepresentation” was not recognized until the year of 1595, twelve years after Metteo Ricci and Michele Ruggieri entered China. In that year, Ricci entered northern Jiangxi Province with a Chinese student by the name of Qu Taisu, who was converted in Guangdong Province. Born into a family of gentry, Xu [Xu Guangqi, a Chinese high official] noticed this problem in their wearing the Buddhist outfit. From then on, Ricci and his followers switched to the style of hats and clothes Confucian scholars wore.⁶

Aside from dressing up as a Confucian scholar, Ricci also spoke in their language and was able to win the trust of the Confucian literati. He dedicated himself to studying the Confucian classics and the Chinese religions, and assured the Confucian leaders that he, t...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of contributors
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Part I Survey and history
• Part II Exemplars and excellence
• Part III Missio ad extra
• Index