Sino-Christian Theology

Sino-Christian Theology (simplified Chinese: 汉语神学; traditional Chinese: 漢語神學; pinyin: hànyǔ shénxué or simplified Chinese: 汉语基督教神学; traditional Chinese: 漢語基督教神學; pinyin: hànyǔ jīdūjiào shénxué), literally meaning "Christian theology in the Chinese language." It is a theological movement in Mainland China and Hong Kong.

Definition

There are generally recognized two senses to the term Sino-Christian Theology. In the broad sense, it belongs to the tradition of indigenous theology which stretches as early as the works during the time of the Jesuit China missions, until the present day. However, these indigenizing efforts are often critiqued for a lacking in their assessments of traditional Chinese culture, particularly as found in Confucianism. In the narrow sense of the term, Sino-Christian Theology is associated with individuals like Liu Xiaofeng and He Guanghu who have challenged the indigenizing approach and have proposed the greater need to articulate a critically reflective theology using the Chinese language.^[1]

In recent years, it has been observed that there has perhaps been the growth of a younger generation of scholars in Sino-Christian Theology. While the earlier generation included so-called "cultural Christians" (Chinese: 文化基督徒; pinyin: wénhuà jīdūtú) who often used methodologies within the humanities and social sciences, the younger generation includes individuals who identify themselves as “Christian Scholars” (simplified Chinese: 基督教学人; traditional Chinese: 基督教學人; pinyin: jīdūtú xuérén) with a greater commitment to the Christian faith and believe the use of the human sciences is inadequate for articulating Christian theology.^[2]

References

Bibliography

• Yang Huilin and Daniel H. N. Yeung, ed. (2006). Sino-Christian Studies in China. Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Press. ISBN 9781847180063. 
• Lai Pan-Chiu and Jason Lam, ed. (2010). Sino-Christian Theology: A Theological Qua Cultural Movement in Contemporary China. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. ISBN 9783631604359.