RSS 1.0Ching Feng : a journal on Christianity and Chinese religion and culture
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Originally published under the title Quarterly notes on Christianity and Chinese religion since 1957, Ching Feng journal is one of the major publications of the Christian Study Centre on Chinese Religion and Culture (CSCCRC), Chung Chi College, Shatin, Hong Kong, by which it seeks to promote critical and constructive studies of all aspects of Chinese Christianity, Chinese religion and culture, and inter-religious dialogue between Christianity and other religious traditions in Asia.
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The Globethics.net library contains vol. 4(2003) to current (1 year embargo).
Recent Submissions
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"How the revelation of God transcend the “confinement of fate” : reflections on Mou Zong-san’s a treatise on the perfect good [ 上帝啟示對命限觀念的超越 ―對牟宗三《圓善論》的再思]"The concept of fate has long been a topic of concern since ancient times. Mencius proposed the concept of “confinement of fate,” stating that the well-being of individual is “confined” by his predestined “fate.” Though the virtuous man does not necessarily receive good fortune, an upright man will refrain from improving his life through immoral means. Contemporary Neo-Confucianist Mou Zong-san connects Kant’s philosophy with Mencius’s idea and points out that God alone judges the virtue of an individual and the corresponding fortune one receives in life. However, The Book of Job indicates that God does not always guarantee the consistency of virtue and happiness, and the world is full of paradoxes. Job’s fate illustrates that only when human beings establish a relationship with the divine can they successfully transcend the paradox."
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"A Chinese Protestant female model in Southeast Asia : the “Confucianizing” of Leona Jingling Wu in 1970s Singapore"This study draws on recent scholarship about Chinese Christian textual traditions to analyze the posthumous biographies of Leona Jingling Wu (1897–1974), the prominent leader of John Sung’s evangelistic bands in Singapore and founder of the island’s first Chinese Protestant higher education institute, Chin Lien Bible Seminary. The essay argues that these biographies “Confucianized” Wu by re-casting her as a Chinese-Christian female spiritual model. First, a survey of literary productions from the pre-1970s demonstrates that Wu was initially portrayed as an evangelical rather than a female Confucian model. Second, the process of “Confucianizing” Wu only becomes apparent in her biographies written in the 1970s. Three strategies were employed to highlight Wu’s Confucian attributes—the re-telling of her Chinese-Christian genealogy, an emphasis on her filial piety before she moved to Singapore, and the re-imagination of her as a spiritual mother. In all, her biographers re-casted her as a Chinese and Christian who successfully melded the key values of both traditions.
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Theological Discourses on Idols: A Study of “On the Ten Commandments” (1881) [「偶像」的神學論述 - 以〈上帝律法十誡注釋〉(1881)]This article analyzes two commentaries on “The Ten Command- ments” written by two Chinese Protestants, He Yuquan and Wang Bingkun, in order to understand their views on idolatry. Both concern the problem of inner idolatry. He Yuquan ties idolatry with abandon- ing man’s origin and forgetting God’s grace. Wang Bingkun proposes to distinguish the problem of idolatry between believers and non- believers. This article also pays attention to the indigenous interpreta- tion of Chinese Protestants.
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The Chinese church and its mission : a dialogue with Moltmann’s ecclesiology"In this paper, I will discuss Jürgen Moltmann’s eschatological ecclesiology with reference to two themes so as to explore the mission of the Chinese church in the contemporary context. They are, firstly, eschatological hope and the exodus church; and secondly, the Holy Spirit and the mission of the Chinese church for a deeper integration of Christian faith and Chinese culture. I will start by arguing that the present political combination of ancient Chinese culture and the communist revolutionary idea of “leading everything” are at odds with Moltmann’s ecological conception of equilibrium and progress. It is a realized eschatology rather than Christian eschatological hope. By becoming an exodus church with eschatological hope, the Chinese church can keep a critical distance from any version of realized eschatology while demonstrating solidarity with its neighbors. In Moltmann’s thought the eschatological messianic hope of the church is realized in a charismatic ecclesiology. Prioritizing an ecclesiology of eschatological hope in the Holy Spirit over an ecclesiology heavily shaped by Logos Christology can help the church gain new perspective and vision for its mission in Chinese society."
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"The pilgrim’s progress of China : interpreting the record of Enlightenment (1895) as a religious and historical allegory [中國的《天路歷程》 《啟蒙誌要》(1895) 的宗教與歷史寓意]""The New Age Novel contest in 1895 gave rise to the earliest set of Chinese-authored Christian novels. Some of the contestants imitated The Pilgrim’s Progress, the classic English devotional literature, in terms of the genre of allegory, the characters, symbols or plot to express their thoughts on national survival. Qimengzhiyao (The Record of Enlightenment) can be treated as a masterpiece among these works. This essay aims to illustrate two levels of meaning hidden behind Qimengzhiyao including the religious and the historical. In the story of Qimengzhiyao the landscapes are used to symbolize the abstract ideas of Christian doctrine and the circumstances that missionaries faced in late-Qing China. This research also enhances our understanding of the reception of The Pilgrim’s Progress in late-Qing China. "
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"Politicized faith : the transformation of the discourse “character, China’s salvation” of the Chinese YMCA, 1908–1927"This paper argues that, while David Z. T. Yui coined the term “Char- acter, China’s Salvation,” the prototype of this concept already exist- ed within the discourse of the members of the Chinese YMCA and Sherwood Eddy between 1908 and 1917 prior to Yui’s articulation. The Association members advocated that Christian morality was the panacea of China’s self-strengthening and took the lead in politiciz- ing, and thereby indigenizing, the mission of the YMCA. In the 1910s, Eddy took the turn to enrich these discourses and succeeded in popularizing this conception. It was not until 1917 that Yui began to adopt the concept of “Character, China’s Salvation” at his work and subsequently launched the Civic Education Campaign. Therefore, the advocate for a politicized Christian character within the YMCA orig- inated from its members and was sustained by its leaders; its in- digenization in early twentieth-century China was, therefore, first a bottom-up and then top-down process.
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On the subject of hope : a reflection on the proximity between theology and philosophy in Moltmann's thoughtAlthough Moltmann’s works appear to be less philosophically nuanced than those of other contemporary German thinkers, this article articulates the proximity of his thought to thinkers like Bloch and Ricoeur, and traces his philosophical influences to German idealism. Apart from shaping his own post-Hegelian Kantianism, like Ricoeur, Moltmann absorbed ideas from the Blumhardts, who according to Moltmann were both “theologians of hope.” Moltmann’s work can be read as the shaping of a theology of the Spirit with a Messianic ecclesiology open to all that offers meaningful inspiration to the construction of a public theology for East Asia.
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Comparative study of religion and faith speaking to faith : a “Nestorian narrative” in plural ChristianitiesThe history of Christianity is on a global horizon, entailing a polycentric character and multifaceted reality. It tells a story of human life embedded with the creativity of the religious career, social institutions, and power relations, calling for dialogue with its place, effect, and problem. This paper deals with a story of the Church of the East in exploring its distinctive place, contribution, and interfaith engagement in China and with Islam. Comparative historical inquiry of religious diversity and social institutions in the history of religion worldwide facilitates a sociological study of multiple modernities in distinction from the Eurocentric model of modernity.
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Profit-making, colonizing or proselytizing? Rethinking the relationship between Karl F. A. Gützlaff, the opium trade and Opium War=獲利、殖民還是傳教? ― 郭實獵與鴉片貿易、鴉片戰爭關係再思The Prussia-born Protestant missionary Karl Friedrich August Gützlaff embarked on his Chinese missions in 1831. Over 20 years, he had turned “many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever” (Daniel 12:3). However, because of his close relationship with opium traders and the British government, most scholars regarded him as a collaborator of opium traders. Based on abundant first-hand historical materials, this paper undertakes in-depth research on Gützlaff’s life around the times of the Opium War, and argues that Gützlaff used multiple strategies in his missionary work, and he never forgot his identity as a missionary. In addition, it proves that Gützlaff has made pioneering contributions in the evangelism and development of Christianity in China, and in steering China towards modernization.
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Comparative religion, neuroscience and multi-dimensional salvation : reconsidering religious diversity and interreligious dialogue=宗教比較、神經科學與多維度的拯救 - 再思宗教多樣與宗教對話Apparently, there are radical differences among religions in their understandings of the nature, way and goal of salvation. If one considers religions as different ways to the same destination, their differences may be largely neglected. If one considers them as entirely divergent, the possibility and desirability of inter-religious dialogue may be ruled out. Based on the methodological discussion in religious studies, especially the comparative studies of salvation(s) and the neuroscientific studies of religious experience, this essay examines the multiplicity of salvation in religions, and further explores the significance of a multi-dimensional understanding of salvation for the issue of religious diversity and inter-religious dialogue.
