Origins and Development of the Christian Church in China, Christian missions

Origins and Development of the Christian Church in China, Christian missions

This part traces the beginning of Christianity in China, when missionaries from the Church of East entered China in the 6th century, and introduced their religion as Jingjiao--Teaching of Light. They were active for 150 years in China before they were suppressed. The next missionary group that came to China were missionaries from the newly-founded Society of Jesus, who arrived in China in the 16th century. The Jesuits have had an eventful journey in China, and their missionary work has had a long-lasting impact on the trajectory of the Chinese Catholic Church.

Meet the Faculty Host: Gabriel Said Reynolds

Gabriel Said Reynolds is the Crowley Professor of Islamic Studies and Theology at Notre Dame and the Director of the World Religions and World Church program in the Department of Theology.
World Religions and World Church (WRWC) explores new ways of thinking about the study of world religions, global Catholicism, and the history of interactions between the Church and the religions of the world. This provides the intellectual foundations for engaging the student with religions of the world from within a Christian theological paradigm. These foundations both enable the study of the world’s religions with specific attention to their own particular historical contexts and modes of theological discourse and provide the necessary preparation for informed inter-religious dialogue.

Meet the Guest: Xueying Wang Ph.D. '14

Xueying Wang is a lecturer in the Department of Theology, Loyola University Chicago. Xueying came to the United States in 2007, to study classics and early Christianity at the University of Notre Dame. She was baptized into the Roman Catholic Church on Easter 2008. Upon becoming Catholic, she changed the focus of her studies to Christian theology and earned a doctorate in historical theology in 2014. Her research is focused on Christianity in China and comparative religions. She is especially interested in studying the writings of Chinese Catholics during the Chinese Rites Controversy, whose voices had been largely ignored by modern scholarship. 

Teaching of Light

Missionaries from the Church of the East, traditionally called the “Nestorians,” were the first Christian group that set foot in China. In 645, missionaries from this group traveled along the Silk Road and arrived in Xi’an, the Capital City of China at the time, and built multiple churches in China. They also started to translate the Bible into Chinese and introduced some basic Chinese doctrines.

Jesuit Missionaries in Late-Ming China

Michele Ruggieri and Matteo Ricci were the first Jesuit missionaries that entered mainland China. At first, they both dressed as Buddhist monks, but later Ricci shifted to the strategy of “complementing Confucianism.” Ricci’s The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven demonstrates the compatibility of Confucianism and Catholicism and had long-lasting influence on the Christian missionary work in China.

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Featured Speakers: 

  • Gabriel Said Reynolds, Crowley Professor of Islamic Studies and Theology and the Director of the World Religions and World Church Program in the Department of Theology, University of Notre Dame
  • Xueying Wang, Lecturer in the Department of Theology, Loyola University Chicago

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