Go East, harvest the soul

Author: Zhou Ning
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Is this soil of China suitable for the growth of the gospel? Christianity in the West is a "grassroots" religion, but when it came to China, it repeatedly circled around the upper class and foreign communities, drifting down like dandelion seeds, only to scatter and fade. The author is a literary scholar with a talent for writing. This book uses a literary and biographical approach to make the history of Western Christianity's three entries into China both engaging and fascinating. The entry of Christianity into China experienced three early waves. In the ninth year of the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty, Alopen introduced Nestorianism to the East, which flourished for two centuries. However, when John of Montecorvino arrived in Beijing in 1294, he discovered that "these regions of China had never been visited by any apostle or disciple of an apostle." Catholicism and Nestorianism were active during the Yuan Dynasty but became silent and invisible after a while. Two hundred years later, Jesuits returned to China, and Father Bartolo lamented that "China had never heard of the gospel or the Incarnation of God." In the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty, Jesuits created a honeymoon period for the entry of Christianity into China. After Yongzheng banned the religion, all efforts vanished. This book is not strictly an academic treatise; the issues it discusses are academic, but the way it discusses them has the flavor of cultural essays. It emphasizes readability, targeting readers who are interested in cultural issues and have a certain level of education but are not professional scholars. Is this soil of China suitable for the growth of the gospel? Christianity in the West is a "grassroots" religion, but when it came to China, it repeatedly circled around the upper class and foreign communities, drifting down like dandelion seeds, only to scatter and fade. The author is a literary scholar with a talent for writing. This book uses a literary and biographical approach to make the history of Western Christianity's three entries into China both engaging and fascinating. The entry of Christianity into China experienced three early waves. In the ninth year of the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty, Alopen introduced Nestorianism to the East, which flourished for two centuries. However, when John of Montecorvino arrived in Beijing in 1294, he discovered that "these regions of China had never been visited by any apostle or disciple of an apostle." Catholicism and Nestorianism were active during the Yuan Dynasty but became silent and invisible after a while. Two hundred years later, Jesuits returned to China, and Father Bartolo lamented that "China had never heard of the gospel or the Incarnation of God." In the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty, Jesuits created a honeymoon period for the entry of Christianity into China. After Yongzheng banned the religion, all efforts vanished. This book is not strictly an academic treatise; the issues it discusses are academic, but the way it discusses them has the flavor of cultural essays. It emphasizes readability, targeting readers who are interested in cultural issues and have a certain level of education but are not professional scholars.