Early roots of the Church in China
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Modern Missiologists have wondered when the Church will be able to make the next historical leap forward toward becoming a truly universal church. The
first "enfleshment" was in the Jewish world, the second into the
Roman-Greek empire and the third is the attempt beginning with great
missionaries such as Ricci and De Nobili towards creating a world
church. But
were there no earlier attempts toward developing a truly universal
church?Recent
discoveries in China show that efforts to develop a church based
on Far Eastern culture Hugh MacMahon has done research on this and has come up with some exciting news of the presence of the Church in China as early as the 7th century.
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Until recently I had no special interest in Xian, ancient capital of the Chin and Tang dynasties and home of the terra cotta warriors. It may be the number tourist attraction in China (after the Great Wall) but I was in no hurry to go there, feeling that in my travels I would get to see it sooner or later. Now I am looking forward with greater interest to Xian. Its not that the royal tombs or the warriors that have become more attractive to me but I want to see a pagoda there that is the last remains of a Christian monastery from the 7th century. Information is increasing on Christian communities, which existed in the Western capital of China even before parts of Europe were evangelized. Their expression of Christianity was uniquely Chinese yet could claim to be as authentic as the European form which developed from the culture of the West. Thus there were more alternative cultural expressions of Christianity in the early Church that commonly known. Later, for external reasons, they were reduced to the Roman and Greek models. Now the re-appearance of documents from this early Chinese church affirms those who would like to see a distinctively Asian form of Christianity emerge to represent the living culture of the East. For those in the Western world looking for models of a more spiritually focused and learning church they are also a source for inspiration and hope. HOW WE KNOW A local magistrate forwarded the text to Beijing where it was given to Jesuits at the imperial court. They were delighted to receive this proof that Christianity had come to China at an early date. Some local scholars had being objecting that if Christianity were indeed a great religion it surely would have come to China -the centre of the world - at a much earlier date than with the Jesuits in the 16th century. Today that stone is preserved in the Forest of Stone Steles Museum in Xian. On the stone the new belief was called the Religion of Light. Later it was to be labeled the Nestorian Stone but more recent studies reveal that there is nothing particularly Nestorian about it. It is more correctly seen to represent Eastern Christianity and in particular the church of Syria. From 489 the Church of the East had no serious links with the Church of the West and expanded in the direction of the orient. It was more a confederation of Churches than a monolithic entity and this allowed for greater variety in articulation and liturgy. It also made the development of a "Church of China" possible. Now new texts from the Tang era have come to light that widen our knowledge of the background of the Xian Stone and its context. They were discovered sealed in a cave near the famous cultural centre of Dunhuang on the Silk Road. Dunhuang flourished as a trading city during the Tang dynasty (AD 618 - 906) and near the end of the 19th century a Taoist priest living in the area broke into a cave cut into the side of the mountain. He discovered a vast library inside - thousands of books, prints and artifacts dating from the fifth to eleventh centuries. Most of the scrolls were Buddhist, Confucian and Taoist classics but among them were Christian books, written in Chinese and telling the Christian story in a uniquely Chinese way. The documents from this library were sold off or given away by people who did not recognize their value and today only sections have survived. The remains are preserved in private collections in Japan, London and Paris. Fortunately enough have been saved to confirm and expand the information given on the stone monument of Xian. A third source and confirmation of the Religion of Lights seven-storey, eighty feet high pagoda standing in the countryside outside Xian. It marks the site of a Da Qin monastery (Da Qin is an old Chinese word for the West or Christianity). In 1998 Martin Palmer, a scholar involved in preserving the sacred mountains of China, discovered it while following up claims that there had been a Christian monastery in that area. The pagoda contained a ten foot by five statue of the nativity in a Taoist setting. Nearby is another statue, which seems to be that of Jonah outside Nineveh. A second monastery was built nearby in the grounds of one of the most sacred places in Tang China - Lou Guan Tai, where the founder of Taoism, Lao Tzu, is said to have written his classic the Tao Te Ching, Its acceptance there shows how well Christianity had adapted to the religious world of Tang China. THE BEGINNINGS From the third century there were reports that St Thomas has journeyed to India and China. By the sixth, Christian churches and dioceses were established within a few weeks journey of the Chinese heartland. Documents from the fifth century onwards relate how the Church was in touch with the Chinese. Aluoben appears to have been a Persian monk or bishop from Central Asia --Uzbekistan, Afghanistan or Turkmenistan. In those areas the Church had spread widely and mixed well with Indians, Tibetans, Indo-Greeks and Persians. Aluoben would have spoken and read Syriac (Syriac words appear on the Stone Monument) and the books he brought represented the beliefs of the Church in central Asia. Evidence of this lies in the contents of the surviving texts of the "Religion of Light" which were based on these sources as well as Buddhist, Taoist and Greek scriptures. Indeed the first task given to the new Christians was to translate 'their scriptures into the local language. In the foreign enclave they built the first Christian monastery in China and twelve years later the recently discovered Da Qin monastery was built near the Taoist Lou Guan Tai centre. The text of the Stone claims that shortly afterwards monasteries were built in every province of China. DISTINCTIVE TEACHINGS The first, the Teaching of the World-Honored One, was written in 641 and is closest to its Middle Eastern source materials. The second, Cause, Effect and Salvation, is similar in content to an Indo-Greek Buddhist Sutra on cosmology and philosophy dating from the first century BC. The third, the Teachings of Origins, also is from 641 and uses Taoist terminology such as Yama (underworld), Qi (spirit/breath) and Tao (the Way). The fourth is the Teaching of Jesus Christ, produced about 645 and containing many of the ideas current in the Church of the East around that time. My source of information is Martin Palmer's The Jesus Sutras in which he gives a translation of the scrolls and of the Stone Monument, as well as a commentary on them. He uses the word Sutra to emphasize their relationship to Buddhism not only in the use of Buddhist concepts but the literary form in which they are written. Many of the texts were intended for liturgical use, to be recited with a response or refrain. Palmer's book should be consulted for a detailed description of the contents of the scrolls and their background. The first scroll begins with morality in daily life, drawing from the Sermon on the Mount. It goes on to tell the story of Adam and the messiah leading up to the Resurrection. Unlike Western Christianity, there is little about guilt and original sin. Rather, "To show enlightenment he (Jesus) descended from Heaven". However there is awareness of evil ("the Evil Ghost Spirit") present in the world. "Those who wander from the true way are sinful." Evil is overcome by the disciples who are "not just men but were created anew by the World-Honoured One." It calls for faith and fidelity to the Law. All will be judged on this. It mentions that the Messiah event took place 641 years previously. It concludes, "This (the activity of God) is different from what the various deities and spirits do." Not only does the text speak in terminology that was familiar to the people but expresses the Christian message with an ethical emphasis and the positive regard for humanity characteristic of the Chinese. There is nothing in any of the texts contrary to traditional Western theology. The second scroll was based on texts that emerged during an earlier dialogue between Christianity and Buddhism in Afghanistan and the north of India and Pakistan. Its thinking has already moved radically from classical Western philosophy to address key questions such as rebirth and Karma. It is an integration of Greek, Buddhist and Christian insights on cause, effect and salvation. It highlights the role of the Holy Spirit as creator, within the framework of the oriental worldview. Although its Middle Eastern context was slightly different from that of China, it provided inspiration for later local scholars to produce their own Christian/Buddhist writings. I found its interpretation of Karma interesting. It saw all the wisdom and good we enjoy as due to the efforts of our ancestors and a lot of present-day evil as a hangover from them as well. "What your ancestors have done bears fruit in you. Their karma finds its outcome in you." We cannot ignore this Karma inheritance - we have to develop the good in it and break its circle of evil as the case may be. 1-lowever, it is ultimately our own Karma (our actions in this life), which decides what happens to us in the next life. One of the liturgical texts prays, "Free us from the karma of our lives, Bring us back to our original nature delivered from all danger." The third scroll again focus on the activities of the "One Sacred Spirit" while the Fourth sees God as Wind, perhaps because of another cultural influence -- Tibetan. The Fourth also give a Chinese version of the Ten Commandments, similar to the Biblical original but with emphasis on honouring God, the Emperor and Parents and taking a strong anti-violence stance. THE COMMUNITY ELEMENT What makes these documents distinctive is that they do not focus on original sin and the classic death-resurrection model but take up the contemporary spiritual concerns of China and offer Jesus as the solution. ORIGINAL NATURE, NOT ORIGINAL SIN The priest prayed, "Great Holy Law Giver, You bring us back to our original nature...." Believers were told they "must clear their minds and set aside all wanting and doing." "So gather all you good people together, pray and sing! The light will come and enlighten you. You will discover the all-embracing knowing, the mystery which will lead you to peace and happiness." There was an emphasis on meditation and letting the Spirit work through the believer. Ten laws (ways) are given for observing the world so the seeker can find the hidden truth in life and people. There is ~ a Chinese concern for moral princi Three of the liturgical texts were written by Jingjing, a Chinese monk whose name is mentioned in the Stone Monument. THE TESTIMONY OF THE STONE It quotes the approval of the Emperor Taizong, the building of monasteries, many charitable works and the verbal attacks by Buddhists. A later Emperor is quoted as saying, "These teachings are like a raft, carrying salvation, blessings and goodwill to the people of my country." THE END WHAT WENT WRONG? Maybe it was because the "Religion of Light" had not taken seriously
the function played by folk religion that it was slow to penetrate
the countryside where it would have been better able to survive
persecution. PROGRESS OR REGRESSION? The next most recent wave of Catholic missionaries, in the 19th and 2Oth centuries careful not to get involved with the local religions - the ban against discussing the Confucian rites was not removed till 1940. However, many of the missionaries brought with them the popular devotions and religious practices of Europe, which found a home in rural villages, open to Christianity. Their rootedness there helped Chinese Catholics survive the persecutions of the early 20th century and the early years of Communism. This achievement is likely to be short lived. Just as these popular devotions have died out in modern Europe they are losing their appeal for modern Chinese Catholics. What attracts believers in the modern world is practical spirituality rather than speculative theology, variety and openness rather than restriction and participatory community rather than ritual-centered parish life. Therefore the rediscovery of the Religion of Light provides more than an interesting glimpse into the past. It gives hope for the future - variety and alternative expressions existed in the past so why not today also? We can learn from the experience too - if the Religion of Light was slow to address the needs met by popular religiosity, how can that shortcoming be overcome today? I plan to visit Xian soon and seek out the Da Qin pagoda. I don't think it will provide me with any answers but I feel a need to pay tribute to the efforts it symbolizes. The Religion of Light tried to introduce a new message while meeting the desire for continuity with China's traditional worldview and its contemporary needs. This challenge still has to be met. Does the modern church think such variety and universality is beyond its capability or is it convinced that there can be only one model of church today? Finding the energy to meet the challenge is important not only for China but for all modern churches seeking to be taken seriously once more by ordinary people. A book to read:
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