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THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN ASIA
PART 2
“Christianity in China”
JOHN AND BETTY STAM
1934 John and Betty Stam (with their 3 month
old daughter Helen) to Jingde, Anhui province
with the China Inland Mission
JOHN AND BETTY STAM John wrote a letter to China Inland Mission, but it was never delivered:
Tsingteh, An.
Dec. 6, 1934
China Inland Mission, Shanghai
Dear Brethren,
My wife, baby and myself are today in the hands of the Communists in the city of
Tsingteh. Their demand is twenty thousand dollars for our release.
All our possessions and stores are in their hands, but we praise God for peace in
our hearts and a meal tonight. God grant you wisdom in what you do, and us
fortitude, courage and peace of heart. He is able-and a wonderful Friend in such
a time.
Things happened so quickly this a.m. They were in the city just a few hours after
the ever-persistent rumors really became alarming, so that we could not prepare
to leave in time. We were just too late.
The Lord bless and guide you, and as for us, may God be glorified whether by life
or by death.
In Him,
John C. Stam
JOHN AND BETTY STAM
The three were taken to prison
Helen was allowed to live
Marched 12 miles to Miaoshou
The group stopped for a night, and Betty was allowed to tend to Helen; but in fact, Betty instead hid her daughter in the room inside a sleeping bag
Along the way, a Chinese shopkeeper asked, “where are you going?” And John Stam replied, “we are going to heaven.”
JOHN AND BETTY STAM
The baby, Helen, was found two days later by a Chinese pastor who took her home
Reverend Lo Ke-chou and his wife then took the baby girl to her maternal grandparents, Reverend Charles Ernest Scott and his wife, Clara, who were also missionaries in China.
She was raised by her aunt and uncle, George and Helen Mahy in the U.S.
JOHN AND BETTY STAM
John Cornelius Stam, January 18, 1907, "That Christ may be glorified whether by life or by death." Philippians 1:20
Elisabeth Scott Stam, February 22, 1906, "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain." Philippians 1:21
December 8, 1934, Miaosheo, Anhui, "Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life." Revelation 2:10
The grave of John and
Betty Stam
THE CHURCH’S MISSIONARY INITIATIVE
The exclusivity of God’s Worship: Isaiah 45:21-
22: “There is no other God besides Me, a
righteous God and a Savior; There is none
except Me. Turn to Me and be saved all the
ends of the earth; for I am God and there is no
other.”
THE CHURCH’S MISSIONARY INITIATIVE
The exclusivity of Christ’s Gospel:
Acts 4:12: “ And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
John 14:6: “Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Romans 10:17: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”
THE CHURCH’S MISSIONARY INITIATIVE The exclusivity of Biblical Revelation:
John 17:17: “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is
truth.”
2 Timothy 3:16: “ All Scripture is inspired by God and
profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction,
for training in righteousness.”
CHRISTIANITY OFFICIALLY ENTERS CHINA
Missionaries Arrive at the Tang Dynasty (635 A.D.)
635 A.D. – The first recorded mission into China was by a Nestorian Persian monk named Alopen during the reign of Tang Tai Tsung (627~649 A.D.), near the beginning of the Tang Dynasty
In 630 A.D., the Tang Dynasty conquered Turkestan and reopened trade routes to the West.
Emperor Tang Tai Tsung
CHRISTIANITY OFFICIALLY ENTERS CHINA
635: Alopen arrived at the capital of the Tang
Dynasty, Chang An (now Xian)
CHRISTIANITY OFFICIALLY ENTERS CHINA
R.G. Tiedemann: “This was a period of
remarkable cultural openness and religious
tolerance, allowing native Daoism as well as
foreign creeds such as Buddhism, and to a
lesser extent Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism,
Judaism, and Islam, to exist alongside
Confucianism, the orthodox tradition of
Chinese culture…Christianity, too, had received
imperial patronage”
CHRISTIANITY OFFICIALLY ENTERS CHINA
Alopen “carried the true Scriptures” to China,
and the emperor decreed the works to be
translated and made known throughout the
realm
7th or 8th century cave
Drawing depicting
Nestorian Priests in
A procession on
Palm Sunday
CHRISTIANITY OFFICIALLY ENTERS CHINA
638 A.D. – Emperor Tai
Tsung sponsored the
construction of the first
Christian church and
monastery for 21 monks in
Chang An as well as the first
Christian book publication –
The Sutra of Jesus the
Messiah.
CHRISTIANITY OFFICIALLY ENTERS CHINA
The Nestorians built and
staffed monasteries in
hundreds of China’s key cities
They phrased the Christian
message in the language of
the Confucian court in order
to make it intellectually
acceptable to the literati A Sculpture Depicting a
Western Missionary.
Tang Dynasty 7th
Century— Discovered in
northern China
THE NESTORIAN MONUMENT
Norman, The Blackwell
Companion to Eastern
Christianity: “The earliest
evidence for Eastern Christianity
in China is the famous stele dated
781, which records in Chinese
characters and Syriac script the
arrival and settlement of so-
called ‘Nestorian’ (Church of the
East) Christians in Xian in 635.”
THE NESTORIAN MONUMENT
Erected in 781 A.D. and rediscovered in 1625, the Nestorian Monument contains 1,780 Chinese characters and a few dozen lines of written Syriac
Adam (Jingjing) was the Christian bishop and Chinese language scholar who composed the inscription on the Nestorian Stele, recording Alopen’s arrival and the history of the first 150 years of Christianity in China
Saeki: “The Nestorian Tablet is just over 9 feet in height by 3 1/3 feet in width, and a little under a foot thick. The Nestorian monument, aka the Nestorian stele, is one of the most important records of the Nestorian church’s missionary activities in China.”
THE NESTORIAN MONUMENT
On top of the tablet, there is a cross
It calls God "Veritable Majesty.”
The text refers to Genesis: the creation of the
universe, the creation of Adam, the Fall in
Genesis 3 with Satan the serpent
It also pays tribute to missionaries and
benefactors of the church, who are known to
have arrived in China by 640.
The tablet describes the "Illustrious
Religion", emphasizing the Trinity and
the Incarnation.
the Syriac proper names for God, Christ and
Satan (Allaha, Mshiha (like
Messiah) and Satana) were rendered
phonetically into Chinese.
There is also a Persian word
denoting Sunday.
THE NESTORIAN MONUMENT
Emperor Tai Tsung’s Response to Truth: “When the
accomplished emperor Tai Tsung began his
magnificent career in glory and splendor…behold
there was a highly virtuous man named Alopen in the
Kingdom of Ta Chin (Syria)…carrying the true Sutras
with him…The Sutras were translated in the Imperial
Library. [His Majesty] investigated ‘the Way’ in his own
forbidden apartments, and being deeply convinced of
its correctness and truth, he gave special orders for
its propagation…”
THE NESTORIAN MONUMENT
The Tang Dynasty’s Evaluation of Christianity: “Bishop Aaloapen of the Kingdom of Ta Chin (Syria), bringing with him the Sutras and Images, has come from afar and presented them at our Capital. Having carefully examined the scope of his teaching, we find it to be mysteriously spiritual, and of silent operation. Having observed its principal and most essential points, we reached the conclusion that they cover all that is most important in life…This teaching is helpful to all creatures and beneficial to all men. So let it have free course throughout the Empire”
THE NESTORIAN MONUMENT
The Theology of the Incarnation – “Whereupon (one person of) our Trinity became incarnate: The Illustrious Honored One, Messiah, hid away his true majesty, and came into the world as a man. An angel proclaimed the joy. a virgin gave birth to the Holy One in Syria; a bright star announced the felicitous event, and Persians observing the splendor came to present tribute; the ancient dispensation, as declared by the twenty-four holy men, was then fulfilled, and…he established the new religion of the silent operation of the pure spirit of the Triune; he rendered virtue subservient to direct faith…thus completing the truth and freeing it from dross…introducing life and destroying death; he suspended the bright sun to invade the chambers of darkness, and the falsehoods of the devil were thereupon defeated; he set in motion the vessel of mercy by which to ascend to the bright mansions…having thus completed the manifestation of his power, in clear day he ascended to his true station. Twenty-seven sacred books have been left, which disseminate intelligence by unfolding the original transforming principles. …We hold our seal the cross…Worshipping towards the east, we hasten on the road to life and glory
THE NESTORIAN MONUMENT
THE THEOLOGY OF THE NESTORIAN CHURCH OF CHINA
In the 1890s, hundreds of ancient manuscripts and documents that had been preserved for nearly a thousand years were discovered behind a wall in a Buddhist cave-temple near the southern parts of the Silk Road
Nine Christian manuscripts were identified among the hundreds of Chinese manuscripts.
Four that dated back to the arrival of the Nestorian Christians in the 7th century: “The Bishop Alopen documents”
Four that dated back to the Nestorian Stele (8th century)
THE THEOLOGY OF THE NESTORIAN CHURCH OF CHINA
Was There Evidence of the “Nestorian Heresy”?
The title Christokos was frequently used in
reference to the Virgin Mary in the Christian
documents dating back to the Tang Dynasty
The documents affirmed that the Nestorian
Christians of China believed that Christ was
divine God who became man, rather than two
persons as Nestorius was accused of teaching.
THE THEOLOGY OF THE NESTORIAN CHURCH OF CHINA
Book of Praise, one of the manuscripts, the writer attributed praises
to the “Three Persons, uniting together into One,” a definition of the
Trinity
Hoke, The Church in Asia: “Strangely, the church which spread
throughout most of Asia bears the appellation ‘Nestorian’, after the
fifth-century patriarch of Constantinople, Nestorius, who was
condemned by Rome as a heretic in A.D. 430. The name is actually a
misnomer which became current in the West; the Roman See had
sought to discredit this church…Nestorian was not the name by
which the church knew itself, nor was it so commonly designated in
Asian lands. It was rather known as the church of the East to
distinguish it from the Greek and Latin churches of the West which
were divided by subtle theological controversies little appreciated by
the eastern Christians. It also came to be known…as the Luminous
Religion, especially in China.”
THE THEOLOGY OF THE NESTORIAN CHURCH OF CHINA
Was the Theology of the Church Orthodox?
The “Jesus-Messiah Sutra” was the earliest surviving manuscript . A summary of:
the gospel, including original sin, substitutionary atonement, the virgin birth, the cross, eternal punishment, and salvation by faith not works.
It began with the name of Jesus, contained the doctrines of God as Lord of all and the sin nature of man, and included a section on the Ten Commandments.
THE THEOLOGY OF THE NESTORIAN CHURCH OF CHINA
[Johnson, Jesus on the Silk Road, p.64]: “In The Messiah’s Discourse on
Charity which appeared in 642 some of the terms adopted are quite
creative. The Holy Spirit is the “Pure Wind;” the Resurrection is the “Holy
Transformation.” The first half of this latter document was devoted to a
paraphrase of the Sermon on the Mount. The second half resumed the
narrative of the life of Christ. It began with a description of the events,
which occurred at the time of the death and resurrection of Christ the
splitting of the rocks, the opening of the tombs of the saints and their
appearance for a period of 44 days (Matthew 27:52). In the section on
the Ascension, the document ended thus, “Take My words and preach to
all the peoples. Call them to come to be baptized in the name of the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. I shall be with you in all your ways
until the end of the earth.” Again it is reminiscent of the last verse of St.
Matthew’s Gospel. Indeed, St. Matthew is the Gospel par excellence for
the Syriac Christians and Alopen used it as the basis of his narrative
both in the 7th Sutra of Jesus the Messiah and in its sequel.”
THE THEOLOGY OF THE NESTORIAN CHURCH OF CHINA
[Williams, A Silk Road Gospel]: “The fourth
Liturgical Sutra (8th century manuscript) is
entitled “The Christian Liturgy in Praise of the
Three Sacred Powers” and may be a
translation/interpretation of the famous hymn
known in Latin as “Gloria in Excelsis Deo.” It is
written to glorify the Trinity: the Compassionate
Father, Radiant Son, and Pure Wind King.”
THE THEOLOGY OF THE NESTORIAN CHURCH OF CHINA
Was the Church Distorted by Syncretized Theology?
The Church in China used Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian terms in the Christian texts
“For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen. Human beings, therefore, in extremity, will always do honour to the name of Buddha. There are, however, many people who are very ignorant and worship and serve gods as God but exchange the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and horses and animals.”
[Ji, Encounters Between Chinese Culture and Christianity: A Hermeneutical Perspective, p. 43]
THE THEOLOGY OF THE NESTORIAN CHURCH OF CHINA
“In the four theological sutras, references to familiar materials from the gospels continue to appear. “The Sutra of the Teachings of the World-Honoured One,” an honorific name for the Buddha, but here [used] for Jesus… “The Sutra of Jesus Christ” introduces the messiah as a teacher of the laws of God – of Yahweh. Within the text, there is a list of precepts that recall not only the ten Judeo-Christian commandments but the Confucian hierarchy of relationships and includes the Buddhist respect for all living things.
[Tatum, Jesus: A Brief History, p. 233]
THE THEOLOGY OF THE NESTORIAN CHURCH OF CHINA
Were they syncretized or were they
contextualizing?
Examples: “the Way” of Christianity—derived
from terms related to Taoism
“Christmas” refers to literally “sacred birth” and
now means the birthday of Jesus Christ, but
originally meant the birthday of Confucius
THE THEOLOGY OF THE NESTORIAN CHURCH OF CHINA
C.E. Couling, The Luminous Religion : “Their
simplicity of faith and worship, their reverence
for Scripture, their abhorrence of image and
picture worship, of the confessional [booth] and
of the doctrine of purgatory, and their not
adoring the Host in the Communion Supper
constitute them the Protestants of Asia”
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE NESTORIAN CHURCH FROM CHINA
The number of Christians rapidly declined in the next two centuries after a series of persecution and trials
Empress Wu Ze Tian – A concubine of emperor Tai Tsung, retired to a Buddhist nunnery married Kao Tsung, the son of Tai Tsung and eventually ruled as China’s only empress in history after the death of Kao Tsuing in 690
According to the monument, Empress Wu Ze Tian persecuted Christians. She built Buddhist temples and gigantic images of Buddha based on her love of Buddhism
Tang Empress Wu Ze Tian
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE NESTORIAN CHURCH FROM CHINA
Nestorian Christianity made a slight recovery
during the reign of Tang Hsuan Tsung
(712~756 A.D.)
Spread even as far as Mongolia to the North.
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE NESTORIAN CHURCH FROM CHINA
Declined again under Tang Wen Tsung and
Tang Wu Tsung (c. 845 A.D.)-- condemned
foreign religions and issued an edict in the mid
ninth century expelling missionaries and
closing monasteries
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE NESTORIAN CHURCH FROM CHINA
907 A.D. – The Fall of the Tang Dynasty – The Tang Dynasty finally
collapsed when the emperor was poisoned by a military governor.
Many believed this led to the collapse of the Nestorian Church.
As a result of the Nestorian church’s over reliance upon the imperial
government, Christianity vanished along with the Dynasty’s
overthrowing:
“If any conclusion at all can be drawn from these various attempts to
explain the cause of the collapse of the Chinese church in T’ang
dynasty China, it should probably be that the decisive factor was
neither religious persecution, nor theological compromise, nor even
its foreignness, but rather the fall of an imperial house on which the
church had too long relied for its patronage and protection” (Moffett,
313).
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE NESTORIAN CHURCH FROM CHINA
Browne, The Eclipse of Christianity in Asia: “The continued existence of
the Nestorian Church in China depended on the personal favor of the
Chinese Emperor… One passage on the monument highly extols the
favor shown by the Emperor, and presents us with a picture of
Christianity and the Emperor as two powers working hand in hand: His
gracious favor was like the Southern Mountain’s towering peak; his
overflowing kindness was as deep as the Eastern Sea. The Way [i.e.
Christianity] is almighty, what it effects it is right to name; the Sage is
never idle, what he does it is right to record. No doubt if the royal favor
had not been so pronounced the Christians would have attempted to
secure the foundation of the Church in Chinese soil, and would not have
been content that Christianity should appear as a foreign religion; but,
lulled into a sense of false security by the Emperor’s favor, they learnt to
rely on that instead of on the might of the Spirit, and so they were found
helpless when the Imperial favor was withdrawn in A.D. 845, and even
more so after A.D. 907 when the T’ang Dynasty fell.”
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE NESTORIAN CHURCH FROM CHINA
986 A.D. – A monk reported to the Nestorian
Patriarch: “Christianity is extinct in China; the
native Christians have perished in one way or
another; the church has been destroyed and
there is only one Christian left in the land” (The
Church in Asia, 136).
CHINA Number of People Groups
548
People Groups Unreached
455
Total Population
1,371,453,000
Unreached Population
184,640,000
% Christian Adherent
7.8%
% Evangelical
6.3 %
Largest Religion
Non-Religious(44.8%)
Official Language
Chinese, Mandarin
10/40 Window
Yes