Church and Culture
Christmas Crowds in China | Part 3
Crowds of New Believers
In years past I have marveled at the large numbers of people who flow through China’s churches every year at Christmas. I know of one urban church that hosts over 10,000 visitors during its six Christmas services. Each year I see the church building bursting at its seams, bodies crammed along every aisle and stairway. Each year I watch as the area around the church is closed to traffic and swarmed by young people eager to catch a glimpse or hear a word of Christmas—compelled by a sense that Christmas must in some ways must be connected to the church.
Is the Year of the Sheep Really Unlucky?
February 15, 2015 marked the first day of a new year in the Chinese calendar. According to the Chinese zodiac, which assigns an animal to each year in a 12-year cycle, currently we are in the Year of the Sheep.
One of the superstitious beliefs about the Year of the Sheep is that it is an unlucky year, which means among other things, that it is best not to give birth to a child during this year. In this article from the online journal Territory, the writer delves into the history of this belief and how it is harmful to society. He also contrasts it with what the Bible says about the source of blessings in life, notions of child-rearing, and the nature of sheep.
Self-Reliance and the Chinese Male
During a recent conversation with a Chinese friend I listened as he recounted his conversion to Christianity and the difficulty he experienced overcoming his deeply ingrained tendency toward self-reliance.
服事后现代族群 ── 一个北美华人留学生事工的管见
Serving the Postmodern Generation
笔者从前在北美， 并与当地的中国留学生一起工作, 他提出北美的中国教会应如何修改自己的策略，以达到这些学生的问题。他与后现代学生接触，并从他的经验来解释及引申有用的例子。
渴求信仰：中国城市人的后现代信念
Urge for Faith: Postmodern Beliefs Among Urban Chinese
毛泽东死后的中国，是意识型态的真空。认为凡事没有绝对价值的后现代主义，并没有成功填补这个空档。为了避免社会纷乱及政治动荡，人们登上寻索之旅，对宗教信仰产生强烈甚至迫切的渴求… …
Confrontation or Conversation? The Church and Confucianism in China
The Spring 2014 issue of ChinaSource Quarterly takes up the topic of Confucianism'S resurgence in China and its implications for the church. Certainly not a new topic, the relationship between China's dominant worldview and the Christian gospel has been a perennial subject of discussion since at least the days of Matteo Ricci. Successive generations of Christians in China have asked the pertinent questions in different ways, some choosing to find accommodation between the two, while others find them to be mutually exclusive.
Seeking Asian Values
In 1997 when China regained sovereignty over Hong Kong and the people of Hong Kong were grappling with what it meant to be Chinese of China, conversations often referred to Asian values. For over a hundred years, Hong Kong had been ruled and influenced by Western values, some referred to them as Christian values. Now that Hong Kong was no longer part of the United Kingdom, the question was how do the people of Hong Kong identify themselves? What values do they hold? Frequently the answer involved articulating Asian values in some way. Often Buddhism was highlighted; other times Confucianism was mentioned as a source for moral guidance.
Book Reviews
The Christian Faith in Chinese Culture
A Book Review
Confucius, the Buddha, and Christ by Ralph R. Covell
and
Confronting Confucian Understandings of the Christian Doctrine of Salvation: A Systematic Theological Analysis of the Basic Problems in the Confucian-Christian Dialogue by Paulos Huang
Reviewed by G. Wright Doyle
Covell traces the history of the gospel in China from the Nestorians up to about 1980 and ways in which foreign missionaries, and then Chinese Christians, tried to express the gospel in terms which were, or were not, readily accessible to the people they hoped to reach. Huang's aim is to explain how different types of Confucianists have understood, and responded to the Christian doctrine of salvation.