Chapter 5 - The Chinese Context

Summary

The Image of Jesus among the First Christians in China

It has often been argued that all the great religions come from Asia: Judaism, Christianity and Islam come from West Asia, and Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism and Shamanism from East Asia. Of all these religions, Buddhism is the most widespread in Asia. It is the dominant religion in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Japan, and has left a strong imprint on the Chinese and Korean cultures.

Barrett's World Christian Encyclopedia estimates the number of Christians in China at 90 million, twice as much as the official figure. Whatever the exact figure may be, even as a small religious minority in China, Chinese Christianity is becoming an increasingly important factor in world Christianity.

Christianity is usually viewed as a latecomer in East Asia. Its arrival is linked to the missionary work of the Jesuits Robert de Nobili in the seventeenth century in India and Matteo Ricci at the end of the sixteenth century in China. This is incorrect. A well-known historical work like the first part of Moffett's A History of Christianity in Asia devotes hundreds of pages to the fact that, from the very beginning of our calendar, not only was there a Roman and a Byzantine Christianity but also a Persian one extending east of the Euphrates into China.