Christianity and the Far East

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And by East I don’t mean our Eastern bretheren 😃

No, the Far East: China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam…, places where Confucianism and Buddhism hold ascendance over the socio-religious life of the people. To them (including me), Christianity is too foreign. From the doctrines, the Hellenistic exposition of dogmas, to the names of the saints and Biblical characters (not only are they foreign sounding, they’re facetious. How does Christianity relate to the Eastern people and how can you make such relation to people who believe Christianity is the exclusive faith of the West?
 
I can’t say much at the moment, but I’ll say this much:

Christianity is for the hold world. The Apostle Thomas is said to have evangelized as far as India. And there is evidence of missionaries from the Church of the East establishing churches in China.

It has been done before, and will be done again. My :twocents:

And now, I’ll let others give a more detailed explanation. 😃
 
Well, having travelled to the Far East on many occasions, I would tell you from witness that Christianity is certainly not non-existent, but there are political barriers to further growth and spread of the Gospel in certain countries, China in particular, as well as the cultural barriers to which you have alluded.

Although I caught and understood the caveat in your OP, I think the Churches of the East do offer a partial answer to your question. The religious expressions and traditions of Far Eastern people do have a decidedly mystical character. In the Eastern Churches, we tend to understand church teachings, doctrine and dogma through a mystical lens, if you will. Accordingly, I have long speculated that it might be easier for Far Eastern peoples to gravitate toward Eastern expressions of Christianity than Western.

Just a thought …
 
UnityofTrinity said:
And by East I don’t mean our Eastern bretheren 😃

No, the Far East: China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam…, places where Confucianism and Buddhism hold ascendance over the socio-religious life of the people. To them (including me), Christianity is too foreign. From the doctrines, the Hellenistic exposition of dogmas, to the names of the saints and Biblical characters (not only are they foreign sounding, they’re facetious. How does Christianity relate to the Eastern people and how can you make such relation to people who believe Christianity is the exclusive faith of the West?
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My only experience is in mainland China, and that is very limited I don’t expect this to translate into a generalization for all of Asia, but I will share a few of my thoughts …

China is truly a much like a ‘post-Christian’ society, except that it was never fully Christianized. Most people in China (from my exposure) are real sceptics. Very polite, of course, but sceptical of all religions.

I was always warmly received, and there were many times I was questioned about my faith, not in a hostile way, but not in a ‘seekers’ way either … one gets the feeling that it is more like a study in anthropology! Usually these questions would come up in polite conversation, like at a dinner.

One thing these people lack is the reassurance that comes with a firm grounding in religious belief. They are living in a stressful modern society, and it takes it’s toll on the person. At least a Christian has a refuge in the Lord.

It is a fact that Protestantism is making great gains in China, and part of the reason may be that the Chinese, like most people, can find comfort and strength in the Lord. So it works for some. They are often organized into ‘house churches’, like cells. The religion is not illegal so there are also church buildings, but it is spreading by these other methods.

The Protestants have surpassed the Catholics. At one time there were probably two Roman catholcis to each protestant, not the ratio has reversed and some people thing that there are many times more.

One thing is lacking is a good Catholic translation of the Bible. I tried many times to buy one to no avail. There is one, but the church lack the funds to publish and promote it. As a result, the Union Bible is the most common Bible available for purchase, and I believe that many Roman Catholics in China are using it too.

If a good Catholic translation of the Bible (even better as a study version) were available to purchase, the people would read it because they are curious. It could only help.

Another obstacle is the tiff between the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and the rest of the church. I noticed that these people are very loyal to the Pope (they really are) and are extremely orthodox in their Catholicism. Anyone who has encountered a recent Chinese immigrant that was raised a Catholic would know this. Further confirmation of this can be seen by the fact that some of their bishops have been approved by the Pope (so you have a mixed group of bishops all working together, some with Papal approval and some lacking that).

I have no doubt whatsoever that this political problem will be resolved one day to the satisfaction of all, but the local church needs help right now, and it is missing a great opportunity.

Pray for the church of China.
 
Hesychios said:
My only experience is in mainland China, and that is very limited I don’t expect this to translate into a generalization for all of Asia, but I will share a few of my thoughts …

China is truly a much like a ‘post-Christian’ society, except that it was never fully Christianized. Most people in China (from my exposure) are real sceptics. Very polite, of course, but sceptical of all religions.

I was always warmly received, and there were many times I was questioned about my faith, not in a hostile way, but not in a ‘seekers’ way either … one gets the feeling that it is more like a study in anthropology! Usually these questions would come up in polite conversation, like at a dinner.

One thing these people lack is the reassurance that comes with a firm grounding in religious belief. They are living in a stressful modern society, and it takes it’s toll on the person. At least a Christian has a refuge in the Lord.

It is a fact that Protestantism is making great gains in China, and part of the reason may be that the Chinese, like most people, can find comfort and strength in the Lord. So it works for some. They are often organized into ‘house churches’, like cells. The religion is not illegal so there are also church buildings, but it is spreading by these other methods.

The Protestants have surpassed the Catholics. At one time there were probably two Roman catholcis to each protestant, not the ratio has reversed and some people thing that there are many times more.

One thing is lacking is a good Catholic translation of the Bible. I tried many times to buy one to no avail. There is one, but the church lack the funds to publish and promote it. As a result, the Union Bible is the most common Bible available for purchase, and I believe that many Roman Catholics in China are using it too.

If a good Catholic translation of the Bible (even better as a study version) were available to purchase, the people would read it because they are curious. It could only help.

Another obstacle is the tiff between the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and the rest of the church. I noticed that these people are very loyal to the Pope (they really are) and are extremely orthodox in their Catholicism. Anyone who has encountered a recent Chinese immigrant that was raised a Catholic would know this. Further confirmation of this can be seen by the fact that some of their bishops have been approved by the Pope (so you have a mixed group of bishops all working together, some with Papal approval and some lacking that).

I have no doubt whatsoever that this political problem will be resolved one day to the satisfaction of all, but the local church needs help right now, and it is missing a great opportunity.

Pray for the church of China.
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amen, and this same holds true for Protestant Christians as well. Many Protestants are worshipping in house churches due to governmental controls. In China you either worship according to the “Church of Beijing” or you’re banished as a heretic:(
 
Furthermore I think it’s part of the Asian culture to keep religion a private matter. You worship your god I worship my god, both ways are true ways kind of mentality. Thus even if you’re Catholic, you believe religion is part of your tradition, your culture, and thus there’ll be a slack in evangelization.
 
Here in Malaysia, there are a few Christians, most of the profess the religion of Islam. Most of the Muslims, especially those in the villages, are not even exposed to Christianity. I went to a school once, and wore a crucifix, and one boy came to me and asked “Who is this”.

They know about Jesus, as He is one of their prophets, but to our religion, they don’t know much. But a great thanks to the Portuguese who had a small colony in malaca brought many missionaries, and thanks to St. Francis Xavier, there are small communities out there (mostly to Chinese, Indian and Aboriginals, but not the malay’s them self.

The Aboriginals on the eastern part of Malaysia, were converted mostly by priests from the Philippines.
 
You will probably be surprised to note that, though they are now a pitiful number living in exile, for the majority of its history the Assyrian Church of the East, those whom we used to call the Nestorians, had a huge Church which all throughout the Middle Ages and into the Rennaissance was far grander and mightier than anything Catholicism or Orthodoxy could ever imagined. They spread into India, into Central Asia, converting Turkic and Mongol tribes (many of which later succumbed to Islam) all the way Eastward into China. Barely influenced by the Hellenisms of the the Christianity of the Roman Empire, they were able to expound the faith using the various philosophical systems already in rooted in each culture. They build east-ward facing Churches like us, celebrated sacraments, etc. They were not very iconic like all branches of Syrian Christianity, but they did make use of bas-reliefs and statuaries in China. The most famous example is an ancient Madonna and Child statue. In China, they were even supported by the Chinese Imperial Court for a while.

There’s a lot of reading to be done about this. They represent a non-Protestant, Apostolic church with valid sacraments and Apostolic succession that spread into Far East. From the perspective of a Martian landed on earth during the Middle Ages, the Assyrian Church of the East would have looked like the major and dominant form of Christianity with Catholicism and Orthodoxy looking like impoverished cousins on its western front. Sadly, they have declined since then and now many Assyrians live in exile from their homelands. Their Patriarch has even left the traditional Patriarchal see in Babylon and has moved to Chicago.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Sutra
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_East#Expansion
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestorian_Stele

Those are particularly good articles.

A quick scan of the Chinese writings shows some interesting peculiarities - it’s clear how far from traditional Syriac Christianity the early Chinese Christians had wandered. They refer to the oneness of God as the One Deva and the Lord of the Universe. Jesus they refer to as the Jade-Faced One. They refer to the Gospel Writers as Dharma-King Mark, Dharma-King Matthew, Dharma-King Luke, etc. They were slightly heretical because some of their texts were influenced by Arianism, Manichaeanism… their writings are a mix of patristics, liturgical texts, hagiographies, Biblical books out of sequence, etc. However, it’s all mixed in with bits of Trinitarian invocations, Trinitarian sermons, etc. They use the word “Gurus” to refer to Prophets and “Devas” or “Gods” to refer to glorified Saints and mystics. They occasionally use the word Yahweh to refer to God but now and then they use the word “Buddha” to refer to the same entity. (Not anymore different than the monotheistic Israelites borrowing the name of the Canaanite bull-God El Elyon, El Elohim, El Shaddai into their monotheistic worldview!) Finally, some parts of the Jesus Sutras are eerily similar to the Didache.

There’s a lot of research to be done and a lot of things we can never know.
BTW. Let’s not forget the Philippines, the deeply and profoundly Catholic country - definitely more devout and pious Catholics there than most countries in the traditional Western European homeland of Catholicism. That’s as far East as you can possibly get!
 
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