Journal of Research for Christianity in China (JRCC)
type: channel
description: Journal of Research for Christianity in China (JRCC, Semi-Annual) is an international, double anonymous (external) peer-reviewed academic journal. It is edited and published by the CCS Publishing House, Inc., USA (since 2025). JRCC was launched in December 2013. JRCC is an Open Access journal, and all articles are published under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. JRCC aims to provide a platform for (Chinese) Christian studies, publishing scholarly articles and reviews in Chinese or in English on the history of Christianity in China, (Chinese) religions, culture, etc. All articles related to Chinese Christian studies are welcome. All submitted articles are free of charge.
publisher: CCS Publishing House, Inc., USA
language: en
publication name: Journal of Research for Christianity in China (JRCC)
issn: 2325-9914
items: A Theological Interpretation of Confucius’ Idea of “Great Unity” by the German Missionary Paul Kranz from a Cross-Cultural Perspective
items: Revision and Sinicization of William Milne’s Two Friends
items: The Christian Genealogy of the New Culture Movement's “Anti-Superstition” Narrative
items: The Power of Letters
items: The Shaping of Confucius’s Image in Early Western Writings
items: “The Incarnation” in the Horizon of Gadamerian Hermeneutics
items: On the Comparative Study of Christianity and Daoism by Christian Scholars in the Early 20th Century
items: From dilectio to caritas
items: V. Solovyov’s Views on Chinese Religions
items: "All Things Are Lawful"? Paul’s Reframing of Freedom Through the Lens of Body (1 Corinthians 6:12-20)
items: Carving Books to Benefit Posterity
items: Contributions of Christianity to Humanity’s Civilization
items: The Integration and Interaction of Laozi and Christianity
items: The Trinity of Christianity in the Context of Religious Dialogue
items: Study on the East Syriac Anaphorae and Their Theological Implications
items: An Implicit Mariology
items: The Lady with Many Faces
items: The Construction of the National Identity of the Israelites from the Perspective of Geographical Space Changes in the Book of Ruth
items: Franciscan spirituality in Early Qing China
items: Adaptive Interpretation of Creatio ex Nihilo in Chaoxingxueyao
items: The Eastward Spread of Thomas Aquinas' Theological Thought and Its Construction of the Theory of Human Nature in Catholic Theology and Philosophy of the Ming and Qing Dynasties in China
items: A Study on Chiang Kai-shek’s Christian Faith in Ningbo, 1949
items: “Raising Enterprises to Evangelize and Relief”
items: An Examination of the Indigenization Pathways of Rural Churches
items: The Making of a Mobile Society in Modern Guangdong and the Protestant Churches’ Response
items: A New Interpretation of Paul Wei’s Life and Work in New Religious Reform and Independent Church Movements
items: Writing Faith on the Frontier
items: A Worldly Kingdom of Heaven in T. C. Chao’s Early Theology
items: Reports of the Academic Workshop on the Sinicization of Biblical Interpretation
items: The Key to Biblical Studies in Chinese Academia: A Review of Professor Tian Haihua's New Work, The History and Methodology of Biblical Interpretation

A Theological Interpretation of Confucius’ Idea of “Great Unity” by the German Missionary Paul Kranz from a Cross-Cultural Perspective
type: item
description: The Confucian thought of "Great Unity" (Datong) in the world originates from the chapter "Li Yun" (The Evolution of Rites) in The Book of Rites and took shape during the Pre-Qin period. This thought not only embodies Confucius' praise and reverence for the golden age of ancient China, but also carries his vision and yearning for an ideal society in the future. Since the modern era, Paul Kranze, a German missionary and sinologist, has conducted a detailed study of Confucius and his thought of "Great Unity" based on Confucian classics such as the "Four Books and Five Classics", and put forward the unique view that "Confucius is a great prophet bestowed by God on the Chinese nation". The prophetic nature of Confucius is reflected in his clear recognition that he himself was a "not yet perfect" person—he was not the "Perfect sage" （“至圣者”）revered in The Doctrine of the Mean, but a prophet of the "Perfect sage"（“至圣者”）. The ideal of "Great Unity" outlined by Confucius has a deep inherent alignment with the core values of Christianity. In a certain sense, breaking down the spiritual barriers that hinder the exchange between Eastern and Western civilizations and striving to make all civilizations created by humanity shine together also vividly embodies the early exploration of the concept of "a community with a shared future for mankind".
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Missionary, Paul Kranz, Confucius,
  topic: keywords
creator: Ruiqin HU
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2026-05-22
publication date: 2026-05-22
starting page: 227
ending page: 262
doi: 10.29635/

Revision and Sinicization of William Milne’s Two Friends
type: item
description: Two Friends is the first dialogue-based chapter novel serialized by Protestant missionary William Milne (1785–1822) in the Chinese Monthly Magazine between 1817 and 1819. It embodies both religious propagation and literary experimentation. As a quintessential text of Sino-Western cultural encounter in the 19th century, its revised editions underwent dozens of reprints over nearly a century, spanning regions including Fuzhou, Shanghai, Ningbo, and Beijing. This paper presents a detailed examination of the textual variations of Two Friends over the past century. By analyzing the sinicized translation strategies employed in its revisions, this study explores the diverse pathways of Sinicization during the Protestant dissemination in China.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Two Friends, William Milne, Sinicization, Revision
  topic: keywords
creator: Jiayi SU
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2026-05-08
publication date: 2026-05-08
starting page: 194
ending page: 226
doi: 10.29635/

The Christian Genealogy of the New Culture Movement's “Anti-Superstition” Narrative
type: item
description: The anti-superstition narrative of the New Culture Movement was not a secular construct that emerged out of thin air during the May Fourth period. In terms of its intellectual origins, this discourse of enlightenment internalized and appropriated the very object it originally intended to critique: the historical legacy of Christianity. From the late Qing period onward, missionary organizations, represented by the Christian Literature Society for China, pioneered a path of disenchantment by using natural science to critique local religious beliefs, based on the concept of natural theology. Subsequently, in establishing the authority of modern science, intellectuals of the New Culture Movement adopted the discursive framework of "using science to dispel superstition." However, by stripping "Ge Zhi Xue" of its natural theological connotations and reshaping it into "Mr. Science"—the embodiment of the standard of truth—the authority of modern science was thereby established. Beyond this relay of narrative structures, in the actual construction of their critiques, these intellectuals used cited field data collected by missionaries and adopted the classification criteria for "superstition" originally compiled by church scholars. During the height of the Anti-Christian Movement—indigenous Christian elites, in response to the ensuing social pressures, actively embraced the anti-superstition narrative established by the New Culture Movement. This discursive relay—which transcended the boundaries between religious denominations and the secular sphere—demonstrates that the power boundaries delineating "science," "religion," and "superstition" in modern China were dynamically generated through a complex interplay of intellectual borrowing, discursive displacement, and the tensions of the era.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: New Culture Movement, Anti-Superstition, Christianity
  topic: keywords
creator: Jialun YANG
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2026-04-26
publication date: 2026-04-26
starting page: 174
ending page: 193
doi: 10.29635/

The Power of Letters
type: item
description: This article uses John Van Nest Talmage, a nineteenth-century Reformed Church missionary in Amoy (Xiamen), as a case study to show how dialect Bible work moved from speech to script, from texts to classrooms and circulation, and thereby shaped society. Drawing on archives, mission reports, letters, and early romanized materials, it traces the formation of Amoy Romanization (Pe̍h-ōe-jī), Talmage’s translation practices, and the social impact generated through the circulation of Bible portions, hymns, primers, dictionaries, and other related texts. Findings: a low-barrier writing system, sustained text supply, and the work of women’s classes and local teachers rapidly lifted grassroots literacy—women first—and extended reading beyond religious use. This shift helped congregations move from an externally driven model to locally led self-reliance. The resulting corpus, together with E-mng-im ê Jī-tián (Dictionary of the Xiamen Dialect), informed later Chinese romanization efforts and supported Fujian dialectal studies. The Talmage case clarifies how dialect translation fueled local social change and cultural renewal.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: John Van Nest Talmage, Romanized Amoy Colloquial, Translation Practice, Social Impact
  topic: keywords
creator: Jiapeng XIE
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2026-04-26
publication date: 2026-04-26
starting page: 152
ending page: 173
doi: 10.29635/

The Shaping of Confucius’s Image in Early Western Writings
type: item
description: This article examines the sustained and complex process through which Western missionaries in China constructed the image of Confucius during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Previous scholarship has generally taken the “Life of Confucius” included in Sapientia Sinica (1662) by Prospero Intorcetta and Ignatio da costa as the starting point of this tradition. By uncovering an earlier “Life of Confucius” contained in António de Gouvea’s Historia de China dividida em seis idades (1654), this study reveals a previously overlooked origin of this line of writing. Focusing on Gouvea’s account, the article analyzes how early Jesuits fashioned Confucius as an intellectual and moral authority intelligible to European audiences. It further situates this construction within a broader context of inter-order exchange and controversy. Through a comparison of Jesuit and Dominican interpretations—particularly concerning the “kongzi guan qi qi孔子观欹器,” the dictum “Jun zi bu qi君子不器,” and Confucius’s religious status—the article demonstrates how divergent readings of Confucius became entangled with the broader dynamics of the Chinese Rites Controversy. It argues that the early Western image of Confucius was not a unilateral Jesuit construction, but rather the product of sustained interaction, negotiation, and polemical engagement among different missionary orders.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: António de Gouvea, “Life of Confucius”, Historia de China dividida em seis idades, Chinese Rites Controversy, Fernández de Navarrete
  topic: keywords
creator: Baobao ZHANG
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2026-04-14
publication date: 2026-04-14
starting page: 128
ending page: 151
doi: 10.29635/

“The Incarnation” in the Horizon of Gadamerian Hermeneutics
type: item
description: Scholars have proposed two interpretive approaches—theological and phenomenological—to Gadamer’s concept of “incarnation.” Yet neither fully implements his principle of the “fusion of horizons” leading to interpretations that deviate from his original intent. Employing Gadamer’s own hermeneutic methodology, this paper systematically demonstrates that “incarnation” constitutes a universally applicable interpretive framework, rooted fundamentally in the hermeneutic structure wherein truth emerges through historicity. By analyzing the ontological significance of “incarnation” as a metaphor, its universal hermeneutic transformation in Bultmann’s “demythologization,” and its philosophical function as an interpretive model, the study reveals how this framework mediates the tension between finitude and infinitude, history and truth. It further highlights Gadamer’s theoretical originality in grounding his approach in a “hermeneutic stance” rather than in merely theological or phenomenological positions.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
creator: Lin LI
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2026-02-04
publication date: 2026-02-04
starting page: 106
ending page: 127
doi: 10.29635/

On the Comparative Study of Christianity and Daoism by Christian Scholars in the Early 20th Century
type: item
description: In the early 20th century, driven by the "Anti-Christian Movement" and the wave of national awakening, some Chinese Christian scholars began to pay attention to the comparison between Christianity and Daoism in order to promote the integration of Christianity with Chinese culture. Through methods such as cross-textual interpretation, they attempted to explore the construction of a Christian theological framework with distinctive Chinese cultural characteristics. At the same time, some more open-minded missionaries in China gradually abandoned their earlier prejudices against Daoism and expanded the scope of comparative studies between Christianity and Daoism from pre-Qin Daoist philosophy to the later canonical doctrines, rituals, and practices of religious Daoism. Although these studies were often limited by forced interpretations and insufficient engagement with practical concerns, their contribution lies in initiating preliminary attempts at equal dialogue between Christianity and Daoism, broadening the field and approaches of comparative research, and providing important theoretical resources and historical references for the sinicization of Christian thought.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Early 20th Century, Christian Scholars, Daoism, Comparative Study
  topic: keywords
creator: Tao XU
rights: Copyright (c) 2026 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2026-01-24
publication date: 2026-01-24
starting page: 88
ending page: 105
doi: 10.29635/

From dilectio to caritas
type: item
description: This article addresses the terminology of “love” in Book I of Augustine’s De Doctrina Christiana. From the perspective of biblical hermeneutics, it aims to demonstrate how Augustine, by shifting the terminology from dilectio to caritas, endows “love” with three progressive layers of meaning within the interpretation of the Bible: love as action, love as relation, and love as substance. Beginning with his treatment of the “commandment of love” in the Gospel of Matthew within the dichotomy of usus-fruitio(use-enjoy), Augustine leads dilectio, as an action, toward caritas, as a relation. He thereby establishes that the central task of biblical hermeneutics is “enhancing love”, and the connotation of dilectio in terms of action is subsumed into caritas. Ultimately, Augustine alludes to the substantial nature of caritas which integrates both action and relation. This substantiality is explicitly manifested in the proposition that “the Holy Spirit is love,” through which caritas acquires the power to fortify the authority of Scripture. Therefore, caritas becomes the ultimate end of Augustine’s biblical hermeneutics.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: dilectio, caritas, De Doctrina Christiana, biblical hermeneutics, Holy Spirit
  topic: keywords
creator: Hao LI
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-16
publication date: 2025-12-16
starting page: 51
ending page: 87
doi: 10.29635/

V. Solovyov’s Views on Chinese Religions
type: item
description: Religions of the Eastern world constituted a sustained intellectual preoccupation for Solovyov and served as a critical frame of reference in his conceptualization of Russian national character and the nature of religion itself. In his discussions, ancient Chinese philosophy, mystical religions, and the crucial principle of patriarchy together constitute the religious beliefs of the Chinese people, while such a religion also hinders China's progress toward absolute values. His philosophical system was fundamentally shaped by the dialectical opposition between Slavic and Western traditions, as well as between Eastern Orthodox and Western Christian traditions, with the ultimate teleological aim of establishing a universal Christian church and achieving collective human salvation. His perspective on China is an organic component of his moral philosophy and his theocratic teachings, and thus an essential element for understanding the Christian world's perception of China.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: V. Solovyov, S. Georgievsky, China, Universalism
  topic: keywords
creator: Xudong CHAI
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-09
publication date: 2025-12-09
starting page: 34
ending page: 50
doi: 10.29635/

"All Things Are Lawful"? Paul’s Reframing of Freedom Through the Lens of Body (1 Corinthians 6:12-20)
type: item
description: The relationship between the perception of human body and the understanding of freedom was a contentious issue in early Christian churches. This paper examines Paul's reframing of freedom from the lens of the body in 1 Corinthians 6:12-20. Through a three-tiered methodology—social-historical analysis, rhetorical analysis, and exegetical study of the Corinthian texts—this paper first reconstructs the Corinthians’ theology of body and traces its intellectual roots in the dualistic view of body in Stoicism and the similar dualistic traits manifested in Proto-Gnosticism. I argue that Paul, using the rhetoric of diatribe, challenges this dualistic and individualistic view of body, rejecting its disembodied moral implications and articulating instead a holistic and communal vision of freedom grounded in the embodied participation within the body of Christ. Finally, by engaging in a dialogue between Paul’s reframing of freedom and the Confucian concept of freedom, this paper proposes a constructive hermeneutical bridge for interpreting Pauline concept of freedom in Chinese cultural contexts.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: 1 Corinthians 6, Paul, Body, Freedom
  topic: keywords
creator: Yichen LIANG
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-12-09
publication date: 2025-12-09
starting page: 1
ending page: 33
doi: 10.29635/

Carving Books to Benefit Posterity
type: item
description: Under the leadership of Professor Ye Nong, the Institute of Macao Studies at Jinan University has dedicated itself to compiling literature and historical records centered on Macao during the Ming and Qing dynasties, focusing on the Maritime Silk Road. Beyond academic research, the institute has collaborated with publishing institutions in Macao and Guangzhou to produce series such as Maritime Silk Road Series. Since 2016, the institute has published over 30 academic works, including bibliographies, dictionaries, archives collections, Westerner's writings, inscriptions and image materials, monographs, translations, and policy-oriented reports. These publications vividly illustrate Macao’s role as a bridge in Sino-foreign cultural exchange, significantly advancing academic fields such as Macao Studies, Sino-foreign relations history, and Sinology.
subject: Reviews and Reports
  topic: section
subject: The Institute of Macao Studies at Jinan University, book publishing, Maritime Silk Road Series, Ye Nong
  topic: keywords
creator: Guoqing DAI
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-11-25
publication date: 2025-11-25
starting page: 460
ending page: 470
doi: 10.29635/JRCC.202512_(25).0018

Contributions of Christianity to Humanity’s Civilization
type: item
description: The Christianity, since it formed, always opposed against the various barbarous, backward and ignorant habits and traditions, such as infanticide by drawing and abandoning infants, gladiatorial shows, suicide, promiscuous heterosexual sex, homosexuality, pederasty, child marriage, polygamy, widows buried alive, foot binding of women, slavery, etc.. The Christianity too advocated universal love, compassion, charity and praised highly arts. The Christianity made positive contributions to Humanity’s Civilization and social progress and made itself developing gradually to a most civilized religion which has the biggest power and influence in the world. Alvin J. Schmidt’s Under the influence: how Christianity transformed civilization expounds these completely, systematically, deeply and concentratedly, and becomes a synthesized work.
subject: Reviews and Reports
  topic: section
subject: The Christianity, Various corrupt customs, Humanity’s Civilization; Under the influence
  topic: keywords
creator: Jian ZHANG
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-11-25
publication date: 2025-11-25
starting page: 442
ending page: 459
doi: 10.29635/JRCC.202512_(25).0017

The Integration and Interaction of Laozi and Christianity
type: item
description: Yuan Bujia's Laozi and Christ is an excellent work that promotes the integration of Laozi and Christianity and the sinicization of Christianity. In Yuan Bujia's understanding, Laozi's theory of the Tao and the Christian theory of God are highly isomorphic. The sage mentioned by Laozi is a prophecy of Jesus who would come to the world through "the incarnation of the Word" six or seven hundred years later. Cultivating the Tao according to Laozi's teachings is an embodiment of truly believing in God and his incarnation, Jesus. Yuan Bujia's integration of Laozi and Christianity is very conducive to Chinese Christians' understanding and acceptance of China's inherent excellent traditional culture. It is also very beneficial for Laozi to go global and be understood and accepted by countries that believe in Christianity.
subject: Reviews and Reports
  topic: section
subject: Yuan Bujia; Laozi and Christ; integration; sinicization of Christianity
  topic: keywords
creator: Huanzhong HAN
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-11-25
publication date: 2025-11-25
starting page: 423
ending page: 441
doi: 10.29635/JRCC.202512_(25).0016

The Trinity of Christianity in the Context of Religious Dialogue
type: item
description: The attribute of more in one of Trinity breaks through the natural exclusiveness of absolute monotheism, and the roles and functions of different persons give the support of dogmatic theory for the possibility of the dialogue between Christianity and the other religions. Although the Trinity has been accepted by Christianity as the basic doctrine, the situations and ideas of different eras always made debates for the Trinity, in order that the theory of the Trinity has often been understood and interpreted in different views. And then, the Trinity has the potential of being meaningfully expressed in the context of the pluralistic dialogues during religions. Therefore, the doctrine of the Trinity has become the resource of theory for the Christianity who wants to stand firmly in different forms of dialogues of religions while the Christianity is meeting, communicating and talking with other religions.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Religious dialogue, Christianity, Trinity, Understanding and interpretation
  topic: keywords
creator: Nada ZHENG
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-11-25
publication date: 2025-11-25
starting page: 404
ending page: 422
doi: 10.29635/JRCC.202512_(25).0015

Study on the East Syriac Anaphorae and Their Theological Implications
type: item
description: The East Syriac liturgy is one of the major liturgical traditions within Christianity. Its anaphorae, as the central prayer of the Sacrament of the Eucharist, bears rich theological meaning and a profound ecclesiastical tradition. This study compares the structure and content of the three principal East Syriac anaphorae, which are attributed to Mar Addai and Mari, Mar Theodore and Mar Nestorius, revealing their shared structure and thematic elements. Special focus is given to the Anaphora of Mar Theodore the Interpreter, examining its textual composition and theological implications. This paper highlights the central role of the epiclesis in all three anaphorae, particularly emphasizing the Spirit’s divine power in the consecration of bread and wine. Furthermore, it explores the interpretations of this prayer by Gabriel of Qatar and Yohannan Bar Zoˁbi, unveiling the religious significance of the epiclesis in the East Syriac rite and illustrating the distinctive liturgical theology of the Church of the East.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Liturgy, Anaphora, the Church of the East, Jingjiao, the East Syriac Christianity
  topic: keywords
creator: Wenjunyi DUAN
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-11-25
publication date: 2025-11-25
starting page: 381
ending page: 403
doi: 10.29635/JRCC.202512_(25).0014

An Implicit Mariology
type: item
description: Starting from Paul’s expressions such as “born of a woman” and “descended from David according to the flesh,” this study adopts a methodological approach that privileges theological interpretation while integrating textual exegesis and interdisciplinary insights from historical-critical studies, spiritual theology, and liturgical theology. Its purpose is to clarify the intrinsic relationship between Mary’s relation to the Incarnation and the twofold economy of salvation (Law/Spirit) as reflected in Paul’s letters. Although Paul does not elaborate extensively on Mary, in Galatians 4:4 he emphasizes that Christ was “born of a woman,” thereby affirming Mary’s pivotal role in the divine plan of salvation. Through faith and obedience, she became the gateway of God’s salvific economy and the channel of divine grace; her free assent allowed the Word of God to assume human nature and inaugurated a new history of cooperation between God and humanity. Mary is thus not only the mother of Jesus but also the spiritual mother of all believers. While Paul’s theology does not explicitly develop a Marian doctrine, it provides the foundational framework upon which later Church tradition deepened and confirmed Mary’s place within the mystery of salvation.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Paul’s Letters, Mary, Incarnation, Plan of Salvation
  topic: keywords
creator: Yiting QIAN
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-11-25
publication date: 2025-11-25
starting page: 355
ending page: 380
doi: 10.29635/JRCC.202512_(25).0013

The Lady with Many Faces
type: item
description: In the Book of Revelation, who is the “woman” in Chapter 12? The author John did not provide an answer in this chapter or the Book of Revelation, so her identity remains a mystery! According to the research of Bertrand Buby, there have been 28 interpretations of “woman”, and the woman is like a “lady with many faces”. This article sorts out four main types of the woman's identity - Type 1 “Mary”, Type 2 “Church”, Type 3 “Israel”, and Type 4 “People of God”. The author uses two hermeneutical rules to examine the rationality of the four main types.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Apocalypse, Revelation, woman, typology
  topic: keywords
creator: Yao-Kuo Eric CHIANG
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-11-25
publication date: 2025-11-25
starting page: 329
ending page: 354
doi: 10.29635/JRCC.202512_(25).0012

The Construction of the National Identity of the Israelites from the Perspective of Geographical Space Changes in the Book of Ruth
type: item
description: The Book of Ruth, as a short narrative in the Hebrew Bible, through the story of Ruth, a Moabite woman, migrating and integrating into the Israelite community, demonstrates the profound connection between geographical space changes and the construction of national identity. This article takes geographical space as the entry point, combining textual analysis, historical sociology, and cultural geography theories, to explore how the geographical space transformation from Moab to Bethlehem in the Book of Ruth symbolizes the crossing and reconstruction of the boundaries of the Israelite national identity. The Book of Ruth, through the fluidity and openness of geographical space, challenges the exclusive narrative of the traditional Israelite ethnic group, emphasizes the identity recognition model centered on moral law, and provides a model for identity integration for the Israelite community in the diaspora period.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Ruth, geographical space, national identity
  topic: keywords
creator: Liangqin ZHAO
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-11-25
publication date: 2025-11-25
starting page: 309
ending page: 328
doi: 10.29635/JRCC.202512_(25).0011

Franciscan spirituality in Early Qing China
type: item
description: In the Sixteenth century, Franciscan spirituality started to disseminate widely all over the world. There has been a great deal of research on how Franciscan spirituality was transplanted in Latin America, but there is presently little research on East Asia. This paper shows how a Sixteenth century Franciscan treatise on meditation came to be translated into Chinese language and published in Canton in 1694. Based on textual analysis, it focuses on its Spanish sources and its efforts toward localization.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Chinese Catholicism, meditation, Pedro de la Piñuela (石铎琭), Pedro de Alcántara, Bonaventure
  topic: keywords
creator: Thierry MEYNARD
creator: Qi WANG
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-11-25
publication date: 2025-11-25
starting page: 276
ending page: 308
doi: 10.29635/JRCC.202512_(25).0010

Adaptive Interpretation of Creatio ex Nihilo in Chaoxingxueyao
type: item
description: This article explores the adaptive interpretation of creatio ex nihilo by Ludovico Buglio in his translation of St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae I, Q45, A1 (corresponding to ChaoXingXueYao, CXXX, Section I.3, Chapter 10.2.1). By analyzing Buglio’s textual structural adaptations and terminological choices, this study highlights his strategies for bridging Western theological concepts with Chinese cultural frameworks. The primary findings reveal that Buglio employs the Confucian term HuaCheng (化成) to translate creatio and creare, emphasizing the dynamic process of creation while adjusting the content’s organization in accordance with Ming-Qing literary conventions. His translation prioritizes readability for Chinese audiences, striking a balance between fidelity to Aquinas’s arguments and cultural adaptation. Furthermore, Buglio’s work exemplifies the early Jesuits’ efforts to negotiate theological terminology across cultural boundaries, striving to construct “equivalence relations” between Latin-Christian and Chinese philosophical terms amidst linguistic and philosophical tensions. These “equivalence relations” not only facilitated the dissemination of Christian theology in China but also provide methodological insights for the development of Sino-Christian theology in terms of translation and hermeneutics.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Ludovico Buglio, Chaoxingxueyao, creatio ex nihilo, cross-cultural communication, equivalence relations
  topic: keywords
creator: Zizhuo DENG
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-11-25
publication date: 2025-11-25
starting page: 243
ending page: 275
doi: 10.29635/JRCC.202512_(25).0009

The Eastward Spread of Thomas Aquinas' Theological Thought and Its Construction of the Theory of Human Nature in Catholic Theology and Philosophy of the Ming and Qing Dynasties in China
type: item
description: The eastward spread of Thomas Aquinas' theological thought can be regarded as a path of "endogenous construction". It integrated into the internal logic of Catholic theology and philosophy in the Ming and Qing Dynasties of China based on its inherent theories and theological purposes and became a core resource for the construction of this philosophical system. Meanwhile, it was adjusted for localization in combination with the context of traditional Chinese philosophy. Therefore, it played a foundational role in the construction of Catholic theology and philosophy especially the Theory of Human Nature in the Ming and Qing Dynasties of China. Matteo Ricci's Tian Zhu Shi Yi and Giulio Aleni's Xing Xue Cu Shu are typical texts introducing Thomas Aquinas' theological thought. Especially in terms of the theory of soul and the theory of human nature,Tian Zhu Shi Yi basically inherits Aquinas' tradition of natural theology; Xing Xue Cu Shu realizes a systematic introduction to the Aristotelian-Thomistic theory of soul by using the expression of China's native "Xing Xue"; furthermore, Xing Shuo by Xia Dachang, a Confucian Catholic, initially constructed the "spiritual theory of human nature" by "adopting" Aquinas' theory of soul and integrating it with Confucianism's "theory of the goodness of human nature". Regarding the "endogenous construction" of Thomas Aquinas' thought, we need to pay attention not only to its role as a foundational cornerstone but also, more importantly, to its evolutionary characteristics in China and the responses from local scholars.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Thomas Aquinas, Endogenous Construction, Theory of Soul, Theory of Human Nature
  topic: keywords
creator: Haoyi ZHANG
creator: Yongchao ZHANG
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-11-25
publication date: 2025-11-25
starting page: 221
ending page: 242
doi: 10.29635/JRCC.202512_(25).0008

A Study on Chiang Kai-shek’s Christian Faith in Ningbo, 1949
type: item
description: Chiang Kai-shek (1887–1975), a native of Ningbo, Zhejiang, was both President of the Republic of China during the Chinese Civil War and a professing Christian. This article investigates the expression of Chiang’s Christian faith in 1949 by examining his participation in a range of religious activities while in Ningbo. Methodologically, the study combines historical analysis of primary sources with a sociological perspective on religion, enabling a nuanced interpretation of Chiang’s religious practices within their broader cultural and political contexts. The analysis demonstrates that Chiang’s Christianity was not an isolated religious identity but one deeply intertwined with Confucian ethical traditions and marked by enduring Buddhist influences. Moreover, as a political leader, Chiang’s choices concerning ancestral rites and other religious observances reveal the tension between personal belief, family traditions, and the exigencies of socio-political life. This case thus illuminates the complex interplay of faith, culture, and political authority in modern Chinese history.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Chiang Kai-shek, Christianity, ancestral rites, Ningbo, 1949
  topic: keywords
creator: Lingyun WU
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-11-25
publication date: 2025-11-25
starting page: 183
ending page: 220
doi: 10.29635/JRCC.202512_(25).0007

“Raising Enterprises to Evangelize and Relief”
type: item
description: During the late Qing Dynasty, with the opening of five ports for trade, Protestant missionaries flocked to China. Among them, the American Methodist Episcopal Church’s missionary, William N. Brewster, carried out his preaching activities in Hinghwa city, Fujian Province with the strategy of “Industrial Missionary Work”. However, at the same time, other missionaries opposed his “Industrial Missionary Work”, believing that it would lead to a secularization tendency. So, does Brewster’s method really work? What is its theological basis? And what are the actual effects and what kind of influence does it have? Based on these questions, this paper taking the historical background of that time as the starting point, re-examines and analyzes this strategy’s origin, characteristics, and the role it played in the development of Hinghwa indigenous church, aim to deepen the understanding of William N. Brewster and the Methodist Church. At the same time enrich the research on the history of Christian missionary work and the regional history of Christianity in Fujian.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: William N. Brewster, Industrial Missionary Work, Methodist Episcopal Church, Hinghwa Fujian
  topic: keywords
creator: Shoukang TANG
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-11-25
publication date: 2025-11-25
starting page: 155
ending page: 182
doi: 10.29635/JRCC.202512_(25).0006

An Examination of the Indigenization Pathways of Rural Churches
type: item
description: Christianity experienced widespread dissemination in rural Shandong. Taking the Anglican church as an example, both the number of rural chapels and adherents continued to increase, with Chinese workers playing a pivotal role in this process. In the sphere of doctrinal transmission, they translated theological concepts into local idioms, thereby strengthening emotional identification among the populace. In religious practice, they mediated the tension between Christian culture and indigenous beliefs through the integration of miracle narratives and ritual performances. At the organizational level, the kinship-based dissemination of faith fostered the formation of local faith community. Institutionally, Chinese workers assumed leadership in church governance, advancing the principles of self-propagation, self-support, and self-governance. Consequently, the indigenization of rural churches in central Shandong entailed not merely an adaptation of doctrinal transmission but also a reshaping of language, ritual, social structures, and institutional forms. The indigenizing trajectory of rural Christianity was neither a simple transplantation of Western models nor a wholesale accommodation to local culture, but rather a synthesis of universality and locality achieved within the framework of faith identity.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Shandong; Christianity; Rural Churches; Indigenization
  topic: keywords
creator: Siqi WANG
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-11-25
publication date: 2025-11-25
starting page: 133
ending page: 154
doi: 10.29635/JRCC.202512_(25).0005

The Making of a Mobile Society in Modern Guangdong and the Protestant Churches’ Response
type: item
description: Modern Guangdong society was characterized by high mobility, shaped by the development of modern transportation, the emergence of overseas Cantonese hometowns, and large-scale outward migration. In response to this dynamic context, Protestant churches in Guangdong strategically adapted their missionary routes, launched gospel watercraft to serve mobile populations such as the Dan people, established indigenous self-governing churches in the hometown of overseas Cantonese, and fostered Christian practices through faith networks that connected migrants with local believers. While this mobility posed significant challenges—such as the expansion of parish boundaries, the dispersion of congregants, and the destabilization of church communities resulting from extensive migration—Protestant churches in Guangdong responded proactively. Their adaptive strategies were manifested in three major transitions: from church planting to broader missionary outreach, from localized congregations to cross-regional missionary networks, and from ethnically defined churches to more inclusive, cross-cultural faith communities.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Mobile society, Protestant Church, Modern Guangdong, Population mobility, Transportation development
  topic: keywords
creator: Ximing XUE
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-11-25
publication date: 2025-11-25
starting page: 102
ending page: 132
doi: 10.29635/JRCC.202512_(25).0004

A New Interpretation of Paul Wei’s Life and Work in New Religious Reform and Independent Church Movements
type: item
description: Most secondary sources that mention the founding of the True Jesus Church tend to briefly state that “Wei Paul founded the True Jesus Church in 1917,” without examining in detail the developmental process behind his motivation to establish the church. This article argues that, in the early stages of his ministry, Wei Paul did not intend to create a new denomination. Rather, he sought to promote a religious reformation movement, one that included breaking away from the influence of Western mission societies and pursuing ecclesiastical independence. The name he gave the church, “True Jesus Church,” was meant to signify the genuine church of Jesus, rather than a denominational title. Likewise, the term “Universal Correction Christianity” referred to the goal of correcting all churches across the nations—it served as the programmatic title of this reform movement. Through an analysis of Wei Paul’s life and ministry, this article offers a new interpretation, hoping to contribute a fresh perspective to the study of the True Jesus Church.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: True Jesus Church, Universal Correction Teachings, religious reformation, restorationism, church independence
  topic: keywords
creator: Sian-Chin IAP
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-11-25
publication date: 2025-11-25
starting page: 73
ending page: 101
doi: 10.29635/JRCC.202512_(25).0003

Writing Faith on the Frontier
type: item
description: This article adopts the methodology of life history to investigate the processes of religious conversion among multiethnic communities in Guangxi’s frontier regions during the late Qing and Republican periods. As a site of ethnic convergence, Guangxi was both politically marginal within the Chinese state and characterized by diverse religious and cultural interactions. Drawing on archival records of the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C\&MA) and related sources, this study reconstructs the lived experiences of Zhuang, Yao, and Dong communities in their encounters with Christianity. The research demonstrates that conversion was not a unidirectional acceptance of religion, but rather a historical process shaped by the intersection of ethnic identity, local culture, and religious practice. The life history approach reveals the agency of individuals in conversion: on the one hand, religious transformation was closely tied to collective memory, vernacular language, and local social networks; on the other hand, the missionary strategies of the C\&MA and the responses of local believers jointly fashioned the multiple configurations of a “faith frontier.” This study argues that micro-narratives of life history deepen our understanding of the localization of Christianity and the multiethnic religious experience in Guangxi, while also supplementing existing church historiography that has primarily relied on macro-level narratives.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: life history; frontier; Christian and Missionary Alliance; Christian faith; multiethnic communities
  topic: keywords
creator: Buxiao NI
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-11-25
publication date: 2025-11-25
starting page: 21
ending page: 72
doi: 10.29635/JRCC.202512_(25).0002

A Worldly Kingdom of Heaven in T. C. Chao’s Early Theology
type: item
description: This paper discusses the conception of an ideal world present in T.C. Chao’s (Tsu Chen Chao) (1888-1979) early theological works, based mainly on the text Jesus’ Philosophy of Life (or, A New Interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount, written in late 1925). It concludes by pointing out that Chao’s view of a kingdom of heaven that ultimately eradicates the otherworld and does not transcend this world unconsciously echoes the Anti-Christian Movement within Chinese churches during the same period. This is, indeed, a tragedy in the development of T. C. Chao’s personal theological thought in the 1920s and 1930s.
subject: Articles
  topic: section
subject: Personality, T. C. Chao, Theology, Worldly Kingdom of Heaven
  topic: keywords
creator: Changping ZHA
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-11-25
publication date: 2025-11-25
starting page: 1
ending page: 20
doi: 10.29635/JRCC.202512_(25).0001

Reports of the Academic Workshop on the Sinicization of Biblical Interpretation
type: item
description: No Abstract
subject: Reviews and Reports
  topic: section
creator: Yuetong WANG
creator: Yaxuan YU
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-06-01
publication date: 2025-06-01
starting page: 460
ending page: 464
doi: 10.29635/JRCC.202506_(24).0016

The Key to Biblical Studies in Chinese Academia: A Review of Professor Tian Haihua's New Work, The History and Methodology of Biblical Interpretation
type: item
description: The History and Methodology of Biblical Interpretation traces the historical development of biblical exegesis, dividing its history into the following periods: Medieval Jewish-Christian exegesis, Renaissance, Reformation, Enlightenment-era biblical interpretation and translation, modern historical-critical biblical studies, social science approaches to biblical interpretation, feminist biblical interpretation, postcolonial biblical criticism, and postmodern biblical interpretation. Spanning over three millennia, it is a veritable historical epic. Each chapter focuses on three representative exegetes or intellectual currents, employing a horizontal analysis that effectively integrates diachronic and synchronic research. A key feature of this book is its clarification of the sequential or relative relationships among scholars and schools of thought, offering readers a clear presentation of the academic lineage of Western biblical hermeneutics and the image of the scholarly community collectively constructed by these scholars. Simultaneously, the book integrates theory with methodology; in the interpretive process, abstract theories are translated into concrete methods. Through accessible yet profound analysis, it ultimately presents a rich array of hermeneutical achievements.
subject: Reviews and Reports
  topic: section
subject: 《圣经诠释的历史与方法》、田海华、历时研究、共时研究、学术共同体
  topic: keywords
creator: Yan LIN
rights: Copyright (c) 2025 林艳 (Author) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
date: 2025-06-01
publication date: 2025-06-01
starting page: 443
ending page: 458
doi: 10.29635/JRCC.202506_(24).0015