Confronting Confucian Understandings of the Christian Doctrine of Salvation (Studies in Systematic Theology)

CONTENTS......Page 6
Preface and Acknowledgments......Page 10
1.1 Aim......Page 14
1.2 Sources......Page 20
1.3 Method......Page 31
1.4 Previous research......Page 32
1.5 Motivation......Page 42
1.5.1 Confucians as the main dialogue partner to Christians in China......Page 43
1.5.2 Contemporary cultural regeneration bringing Confucianism and Christianity to the same agenda......Page 46
1.6 Structure and notational convention......Page 51
II. The preconditions for the dialogue......Page 54
2.1 The legacy of Matteo Ricci for the Confucian-Christian dialogue......Page 56
2.2 Confucianism......Page 60
2.3.1 The Neo-Confucians (16th–17th centuries) and the representatives in this study......Page 64
2.3.2 The Cultural Nationalist Confucians (1920–1980) and the representatives in this study......Page 68
2.3.3 The Modern Confucians (1980–) and the representatives in this study......Page 72
2.4 The Christian concept of God in Chinese terms......Page 82
III. Confucian ideas of the Saviour in Christianity: The assimilation of God to the Chinese concepts of Shangdi and Tian......Page 92
3.1.1 Affirmative responses to the assimilation......Page 96
3.1.2 Negative responses to the assimilation......Page 110
3.2 Cultural Nationalist Confucian ideas of the assimilation......Page 120
3.3 Modern Confucian ideas of the assimilation......Page 126
4.1 Human beings as part of creation......Page 134
4.1.1 Neo-Confucian arguments......Page 136
4.1.2 Cultural Nationalist Confucian arguments......Page 144
4.1.3 Modern Confucian arguments......Page 155
4.2 The status of human beings......Page 167
4.2.1 Neo-Confucian arguments......Page 168
4.2.2 Cultural Nationalist- and Modern Confucian arguments......Page 172
V. Confucian ideas of the means of salvation in Christianity......Page 184
5.1 The existence of transcendence in Confucianism......Page 188
5.1.1 Neo-Confucian arguments......Page 189
5.1.2 Cultural Nationalist Confucian arguments......Page 194
5.1.3 Modern Boston Confucian arguments......Page 198
5.1.4 Modern Christian Confucian arguments......Page 205
5.2 The transcendence of the Christian God and that of the Chinese Heaven......Page 210
5.2.1 Neo- and Cultural Nationalist Confucian arguments: The Chinese Heaven as internal transcendence......Page 212
5.2.2 Cultural Nationalist and Modern Confucian arguments: The Christian God as external transcendence......Page 220
5.3 The superiority of the internal transcendence to the external transcendence......Page 232
5.3.1 The arguments of Cultural Nationalist Confucians......Page 233
5.3.2 The arguments of Modern Non-Christian Confucians......Page 240
5.3.3 The arguments of Modern Christian Confucians......Page 245
VI. Basic Problems in the Confucian-Christian dialogue......Page 258
6.1 The hidden differences between Confucian and Christian ways of thinking......Page 259
6.2.1 Theological perspective: the monistic unity between Heaven and humanity......Page 263
6.2.2 Spiritual perspective: Christianity as spiritual opium......Page 266
6.2.3 The Political perspective: Christianity as an element of political turmoil......Page 267
6.2.4 The Ethical perspective: the Christian concept of God as confl icting with Confucian ethics......Page 270
6.3 Affirmative elements in the Confucian-Christian dialogue......Page 276
Summary......Page 280
Appendices......Page 286
I. The Five Classics......Page 288
II. The Four Books......Page 292
III. The eleven quotations of Ricci......Page 294
IV. The degeneration from theism to humanism......Page 296
V. The nine horizons of Tang Junyi's Confucianism......Page 302
VI. The Taiji......Page 306
VII. The Li  and Qi......Page 310
VIII. Two wings of Neo-Confucianism......Page 312
Primary sources......Page 314
Literature......Page 320