The Oxford Handbook of the Bible in China

by Yeo, K. K.

• ISBN13: 9780190909796
• ISBN10: 019090979X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2021-03-09
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Is the Bible an ancient text, a mere relic of the past? Is the Bible a “Western” product, irrelevant to the “East”? Can the Bible be imagined as a living text for twenty-first century China?

The Oxford Handbook of the Bible in China provides surprising answers and discoveries related to the Bible and its place in China over the last thirteen hundred years. Forty-seven essays address the translation of the Bible into China's languages and dialects, expression of the Bible in Chinese literary and religious contexts, Chinese biblical interpretations and methods of reading, and the reception of the Bible in the institutions and arts of China.

Each essay consists of a comprehensive yet concise treatment set in a historical frame on topics as wide-ranging as: the first Chinese Bibles, Chinese Nestorian Christianity, Bibles of minority nationalities, Sino-Christian theology, printed illustrations of the Gospel in China, the Bible and Chinese films, Chinese calligraphy and the biblical texts, Chinese Classics and the Bible, and Chinese society and politics. This expansive and unique volume presents insightful, succinct, and provocative evidence about and interpretations of encounters between the Bible and China for centuries past, continuing into the present, and likely prospects for the future.

Author Biography

K. K. Yeo is Kendall Professor of New Testament at Garrett-Evangelical Seminary and an affiliate professor in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, Northwestern University. He lectures in China, Israel-Palestine, and Southeast Asia, and researches on cross-cultural, contextual, and global biblical interpretations. He is a Lilly Scholar and Henry Luce III Scholar, and has authored and edited more than forty Chinese and English books, including Musing with Confucius and Paul, Zhuangzi and James, and co-edited the Majority World Theology Series.

Table of Contents

1. Creative Transformation, the Bible, and China
PART I TRANSLATION THROUGH VERSIONS
2. A History of the Chinese Bible
3. Chinese Jingjiao and the Antiochene Exegesis
4. The Eastern Orthodox Bible in China
5. The Basset-Su Chinese New Testament
6. De Poirot's Chinese Bible and Its Influence
7. Development of Chinese Dialect Bibles
8. Bible Translations for Ethnic Minority Groups in China
9. Classical Languages in Chinese Biblical Studies
10. Chinese Protestant Bible Versions and the Chinese Language
11. Issues, Challenges, and Promises in Chinese Bible Translation
PART II EXPRESSION IN LITERARY AND RELIGIOUS CONTEXTS
12. Yin-yang (Yijing) and the Bible
13. The Bible and Daoist Writings
14. Chinese Buddhist Writings and the Bible
15. Confucian Classics and the Bible
16. The Bible in Modern Chinese Fiction
17. The Bible and Missionary Novels in Chinese
18. Catholic Tracts and Parabolic Stories in Ming-Qing China
19. Adoption of Christian Anthropology by Chinese Intellectuals
20. Christian Poetry from Tang to Republican Era
21. The Bible and Christian Poetry in Modern China
22. Localization of Bible Printing in China
PART III INTERPRETATION AND METHODS OF READING
23. A History of Biblical Interpretation in China
24. Study of the Bible in Chinese Academia
25. Patristic Biblical Interpretation in China
26. New Testament Monograph and Commentary in Contemporary China
27. The Chinese Face of Jesus Christ
28. Jesuits' Convenevolezza in Printed Illustrations of the Gospel
29. Christian Biblical Tradition in the Jing Chinese Culture
30. Sino-Christian Theology and the Bible
31. Scriptural Reasoning in China
32. The Bible and Chinese Minority Cultures
33. Sacredness in the Bible and Chinese Cultures
PART IV RECEPTION IN INSTITUTIONS AND THE ARTS
34. The Bible and Popular Christianity in Modern China
35. Biblical Ecclesiology and the Chinese Church
36. The Socio-Political Impact of the Bible in China
37. The Bible and the Public Square in China
38. The Bible and Ethics in Chinese Society
39. The Bible in Contemporaneous Struggles for Basic Legal Freedoms
40. The Bible and Iconography in China
41. Inculturation of Christian Pictures in the Republic of China
42. The Bible and Chinese Church Music
43. Contextualizing Hymns and Songs for the Chinese Context
44. The Bible and Calligraphy in China
45. Biblical Presence in Chinese Contemporary Films
46. Chinese Contemporary Christian Arts and the Bible
47. Sacred Images and Space of the Jesuit Churches in Beijing