Background: Jingjiao, Religion, Science, Chinese Theology, Qi, and Metaphors

Jacob Chengwei Feng

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Chapter 2 Background: Jingjiao, Religion, Science, Chinese Theology, Qi, and Metaphors

In: Science, Religion(s), and Spirit(s) in China

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Jacob Chengwei Feng

Jacob Chengwei Feng
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Pages:: 15–43

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004749573_003

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2.1 Jingjiao in the Tang Dynasty

2.1.1 Brief Overview of the Church of the East

To fully appreciate the thesis and purpose of this project, it is essential to establish some awareness of the emergence of Christianity in China during the first millennium. One significant aspect is the unfortunate fact that the Church of the East¹ has been unduly marginalized, misrepresented, and misunderstood by the global Christian community. “[T]he fascinating history of the Church that sprung up to the east of the Roman Empire, and which is represented today by the Church of the East, is very little known to the wider public,”² laments Sebastian Brock, the renowned British Syriac scholar. Adding to the misfortune, due to a series of ancient theological controversies, Syriac Christians were regarded as heretics by the forerunners of Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Protestant Christians.³ As a result, the Church of the East has often, and utterly misleadingly, been labeled as “Nestorian.”⁴ Mar Aprem (1940–2025), the former Metropolitan of the Trichur, India-based Church of the East, also advocated for the end of this nomenclature.⁵ This label persisted into the time of Islamic domination, and it is only in recent times that it has been rightly challenged in both academic writings and ecumenical discussions.⁶

The missionary journeys of the Apostle Paul at the beginning of Christian history began from Antioch (present-day Antakia in southeastern Turkey), from where Christianity spread eastward to Edessa (the modern town of Urfa in southeastern Turkey, 350 km northeast of Antioch) and subsequently throughout the Persian Empire. It was in Mesopotamia (between the Tigris and the Euphrates) that the first center of the Church of the East developed at Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the capital of the great Persian Empire (today located south of Baghdad).⁷

The Church of the East developed its own unique theological, ecclesiastical, and monastic traditions. They produced the earliest surviving translations of the Bible into Christian languages. They also created the largest collections of ancient Christian poetry. Additionally, they played a vital role in preserving and translating Greek science and philosophy. As a cultural bridge between Asia, the Middle East, and Europe,⁸ they were instrumental in shaping the intellectual landscape. Following Muhammad’s death in 632, most Syriac Christians found themselves under Muslim rule. By the 640s, Islam had become a significant part of daily life. As the first Christians to encounter Islam, they held important government positions, attended the Caliph’s court in Baghdad, and worked with Muslim scholars to translate Greek science and philosophy into Arabic.⁹ Many Syriac authors showed a strong interest in philosophy, science, law, and other traditional intellectual pursuits of the Greco-Roman world.¹⁰ The Chronicle of Seʾert documents East Syriac leaders working as employees of the Sasanian court, including many physicians. The Church of the East’s connection to science and technology is well-documented in its Mesopotamian and Iranian settings.¹¹

Driven by its missionary commitments, the Church of the East became the most geographically extensive church, expanding throughout the Middle East, across Afghanistan, down to India, up to Tibet, and into China.¹² The East Syrian katholikoi, such as Ishoʿyahb III (649–659) and Timothy I (780–823), led the Church of the East to its greatest missionary successes along ancient Silk Road routes, establishing dioceses as far east as Mongolia and China.¹³

When the Church of the East sent its missionaries to China around the start of the seventh century, they couldn’t have known that they were probably the first Christians to reach China.¹⁴ They also didn’t anticipate the unique challenges they would face, unlike their colleagues in the Western churches, who were able to spread their faith by replacing weaker theological systems (like Greco-Roman religion) and by finding support from local authorities.¹⁵ In contrast, China was already a highly advanced civilization with roots dating back to 1,200 BCE.¹⁶

2.1.2 Tang Jingjiao Corpus

The project asserts that the following seven documents constitute the complete set of authentic Tang Jingjiao documents (until future archaeological findings append further items to the list):¹⁷

1) Daqin Jingjiao liuxing Zhongguo bei 大秦景教流行中国碑 (Stele of the Diffusion of Daqin Jingjiao in China; henceforth, bei 碑 (Stele));
2) Daqin Jingjiao sanwei mengdu zan 大秦景教三威蒙度赞 (Hymn in Praise of the Salvation Achieved through the Three Majesties of Daqin Jingjiao; henceforth, zan 赞 (Praise));
3) Zunjing 尊经 (Honored Persons and Sacred Books; henceforth, zun 尊 (Honored));
4) Yishen lun 一神论 (Discourse on the One God; henceforth, lun 论 (Discourse));
5) Xuting Mishisuo Jing 序听迷诗所经 (Book of Righteous Mediator; henceforth, xu 序 (Mediator));
6) Zhixuan anle Jing 志玄安乐经 (Book on Profound and Mysterious Blessedness; henceforth, zhi 志 (Blessedness));
7) Daqin Jingjiao xuanyuan zhiben Jing 大秦景教宣元至本经 (Book of Daqin Jingjiao on Revealing the Origin and the Deepest Foundation; henceforth, xuan 宣 (Origin))¹⁸

These original texts, similar to the books of the Bible when they were initially written, did not include punctuation marks or have chapter or verse divisions. Clearly, these factors posed significant challenges for interpreters. The fact that the Jingjiao texts were authored by non-native Chinese speakers adds another layer of difficulty. To help address these problems (at least partially), I have divided the seven Jingjiao texts into chapters and verses while keeping the original numbering in square brackets. Traditionally, the texts have not been divided into chapters and verses; instead, they were numbered by most scholars using the line numbers as they appeared on a stele, pillar, or manuscript.¹⁹ However, both methods present issues for researchers. The first approach complicates referencing, while the second often does not have each line representing a complete sentence, making it less appealing to readers and researchers. Despite the risk of facing criticism for arbitrariness, I hope that the Tang Jingjiao texts can be referenced conveniently for meaningful scholarly exchange by adhering to the standard notation for biblical verses.

2.1.3 A New English Translation

Regarding the English translation, at the time of writing, there have been four complete English translations of the Jingjiao texts.²⁰ Worth quoting at length are Nicolini-Zani’s two reasons for providing his translation, despite there being three prior to his:

The first is that the three existing English translations of the entire corpus of the Tang Christian literature are all defective in one way or another. P. Y. Saeki’s translations …, which for several decades have been the only reference for English-speaking readers, are frequently debatable and today sound obsolete. Martin Palmer’s translations … are often misleading and thus to be unconditionally avoided by those who demand a rigorous approach to the sources. Tang Li’s translations … are occasionally unconvincing. Moreover, these works do not include translations of the most recent archaeological findings and were unable to benefit from the most recent documentary research and contemporary philological studies.

The second reason is that the past translations into several different languages often show a partial and unacceptable approach to the sources. Some interpret the texts one-sidedly through a Christian lens, thus overly “Christianizing” their meaning and disregarding the cultural and religious references to the Chinese context in which they were shaped. Others interpret the texts one-sidedly through a Buddhist or Daoist lens, thus overestimating the Chinese cultural and religious “garment” of the texts and underestimating their original Christian contents. While my translations have benefited from the existing translations, they are intended to offer new, more balanced interpretations of the texts.²¹

This project aligns with Nicolini-Zani’s assessment of his predecessors.²² While remaining indebted to the translations provided by him and Tang Li,²³ as well as the commentary from Wu Changxing (or Wu Chang Shing),²⁴ I present in this book a new English translation of the Tang Jingjiao corpus for several reasons. First, Tang’s translation, although ingenious in many respects, lacks readability because it does not consider the coherence of the surrounding text. Second, in comparison, Nicolini-Zani offers a much more coherent translation that fully acknowledges the Buddhist terms adopted by the Tang Jingjiao authors. Yet, as a translation from Italian by William Skudlarek and subsequently revised by Nicolini-Zani, “at some places the ‘old’ Italian translations and the ‘new’ English ones are slightly different.”²⁵ In many respects, compared to Wu’s commentary, which interprets original Chinese terms and phrases by referencing other literary works from the Tang and earlier eras, Nicolini-Zani’s translation sometimes fails to capture the linguistic nuances (for other more technical reasons, see §3.4.1).

With a new English translation provided alongside the Chinese text (see Appendix), this project offers some additional benefits. For one, the English translation provides a more nuanced understanding by drawing on the latest research in Chinese and Syriac.²⁶ Second, the translation includes the Daqin Jingjiao xuanyuan zhiben jingchuang ji 大秦景教宣元至本经幢记 (Notes on the Pillar of the Daqin Jingjiao on Revealing the Origin and the Deepest Foundation), which is absent from Nicolini-Zani’s translation. Third, due to this project’s focus on, and widespread acceptance of, the concept of qi and Dao, this translation takes a more literal approach than Nicolini-Zani’s and Tang’s translations. Fourth, for readers familiar with both Chinese and English, the parallel text enables bilingual research and invites future, more in-depth interpretation and research.

In a nutshell, by the time the Church of the East monks arrived at Chang’an in 635,²⁷ China was already a scientifically, technologically advanced, and pluralistic country. Despite various tantamount challenges, they managed to establish their Christian presence at the heart of the empire, self-describing themselves as Jingjiao (cf. Stele 1:31).²⁸ The years 635 and 845²⁹ mark the terminus a quo and terminus ad quem, respectively, of the presence of East Syriac Christianity in the heartland of Tang China. Next, the project proceeds to analyze the religious horizon of the Tang Dynasty.

2.2 Tang Dynasty, Its Science, and Religions

2.2.1 Brief Overview of the Tang Dynasty

China’s advancement in the medieval era is evident in the fact that it was “scientifically and technologically more developed than Europe in many fields.”³⁰ In his monumental Science and Civilisation in China, Joseph Needham revolutionizes the Western prejudiced view of China as a scientifically and technologically backward and impoverished nation and opens the door for the world to understand the breadth and significance of China’s contributions to science and civilization.³¹ The famous “Needham Question”³² was based on his observation that “between the first century BCE and the fifteenth century CE, Chinese civilization was much more efficient than occidental in applying human natural knowledge to practical human needs.”³³ In particular, as “the first civilized empire in China in the world perspective,”³⁴ Tang China “achieved astonishing achievements in astronomy, calendar, mathematics, medicine, agricultural production, handicraft production, etc., and even exceeded its ancient Western counterpart.”³⁵ Moreover, Tang contributed to East Asian civilization (the Korean peninsula, the Japanese islands, and Southeast Asia) directly,³⁶ to India, Central Asia, and West Asia directly, and to Europe indirectly (through the Arabs).³⁷

One of the critical reasons for Tang’s “tremendous vitality” is its “cosmopolitanism—its openness to foreign influences of all kinds.”³⁸ Tang is known for its warm welcome to strangers such as the Arabs, Persians, and Syrians, to such an extent that its capital city of Chang’an 长安 became “an international meeting place.”³⁹ As a result, “[n]ew foreign religions were imported: Zoroastrianism early in the sixth century, Christianity from Syria about 600, and Manichaeism from Persia at the close of the seventh century.”⁴⁰ These three foreign religions, namely, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, and Jingjiao, were grouped together and referred to as sanyijiao 三夷教 (Three Persian Religions).⁴¹ Compared to these newly imported religions, the Chinese indigenous religion, Daojiao, held the official status as the state religion during the Tang dynasty.⁴² Conversely, Buddhism “suffused [Tang] life, penetrated every segment of Chinese society to a degree that it had not done before and was never to do again.”⁴³ Finally, Confucianism was revived by the Tang emperors to establish a common set of moral values for the entire united empire.⁴⁴ Hence, the three dominant religions, or sanjiao 三教 (Three Religions).

However, it would be incorrect to assume that the Three Religions cohabited harmoniously. On one hand, the Tang dynasty was fundamentally guided by Confucian ideology. Yet, officials, intellectuals, and the masses had developed a stronger inclination toward Buddhism before a noticeable sense of concern emerged among those devoted Confucian scholars. In their assessment, Confucian scholars perceived little difference between themselves and the Daoists regarding personal cultivation, as distinguished by the method of existing within society or the broader natural world. Nevertheless, they recognized significant confrontations with Buddhists in social ethics and mental enlightenment, as well as between Chinese and foreign cultures. Confucian scholars of the Tang era were apprehensive about these confrontations in their anti-Buddhist efforts. Concurrently, Daoism rapidly evolved by emulating Buddhism in its doctrines and regulations. Despite these complex circumstances, Buddhism successfully established its Chinese denominations, including Tiantai 天台, Huayan 华严, and Chan 禅宗 (Zen) sects.⁴⁵

Further complicating the issue are the various personal religious inclinations of the Tang emperors. Taizong 太宗 (r. 626–649) initially promoted Buddhism, but by 637, he had shifted his focus to Daoism. Xuanzong 玄宗 (r. 712–756), on the other hand, was drawn to Daoism and, after assuming power in 710, worked to limit the influence of Buddhist monasteries, which had gained significant strength during the long reigns of Empress Wu 武则天 (r. 690–705) and her sons, Zhongzong 中宗 (r. 684, 705–710) and Shangdi 殇帝 (r. 710).⁴⁶ The most severe attack on Buddhism occurred in 845, 62 years before the Tang Dynasty’s downfall, when Wuzong 武宗 (r. 840–846) ordered the persecution of not only Buddhism but also the Three Persian Religions. This event, known as the Huichang miefo 会昌灭佛 (Huichang Persecution of Buddhism), destroyed Manichaeism and most likely led to the disappearance of Zoroastrianism in China.⁴⁷ Although Buddhism was eventually restored after Xuanzong 宣宗 (r. 846–859) took the throne, Manichaeism was destroyed, and Zoroastrianism likely disappeared from China because of this persecution.⁴⁸ Following the decline of Jingjiao in the late Tang Dynasty, Christianity did not regain a foothold in China until the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368), when it took on the new name Yelikewen 也里可温.

However, we should not allow these sporadic and disruptive historical incidents to obscure the big picture. Overall, the Tang emperors adopted a harmonious national policy that embraced foreign cultures and accommodated non-official doctrines, declaring in their capacity as tian kehan 天可汗 (World Emperor)⁴⁹ that all ethnic groups are equal members of one large family. For domestic governance, with only a few exceptions, the Tang emperors implemented principles and policies to fairly treat Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist affiliates. In terms of international policy, the Tang central government encouraged foreign trade, particularly with countries from Central and Western Asia. Many foreign residences were constructed in Chang’an.⁵⁰

2.2.2 Chinese Religions

Before addressing science and religions in the ancient Chinese context, it is important to emphasize that they need to be understood on their own terms. For reasons explained in detail below, some key terms used in this project in ancient China did not hold the same meanings as they do today. Therefore, anachronism should be avoided by providing careful definitions of these terms.

Religions in general, and those in Chinese contexts in particular, defy any reductionist definitions.⁵¹ The phrase zongjiao 宗教 (religion) in ancient China originally referred to two distinct concepts: zong 宗, which designates a site of ancestral worship, and jiao 教, meaning indoctrination or education. Zongjiao first appeared in Chinese translations of Buddhist sutras.⁵² The phrase was then exported to Japan, where its meaning transformed to correspond to the Western sense of religion. Endowed with this contemporary sense, zongjiao was imported back to China at the end of the nineteenth century.⁵³ Randall Nadeau surveys several generations of Western scholars on Chinese religions and notes that until the mid-twentieth century, they tended to classify Chinese religions in terms of three “great traditions,” namely, “Confucianism,” “Daoism,” and “Buddhism” in Western imaginations.⁵⁴ While heeding Diane Obenchain’s caution against the unreflective adoption of “newly-coined, Western, modern, ‘enlightened’ names for other people groups and their respective traditional ways of living over which the West sought control,”⁵⁵ the project critically adopts the term “religion” to describe ancient and contemporary Chinese customary beliefs and practices for the sake of interfaith dialogue and theological endeavor on theology-science-religions trialogue.

Because of the project’s particular interest in Daoism, we need to discuss a few key concepts before moving forward. The term “Taoism” was coined in the 19th century to describe this philosophy in English. However, sinologist Herrlee Creel argues that there is no single, exclusive definition of Daoism.⁵⁶ Fabrizio Pregadio believes that “Daoist thought” is a more fitting term than “philosophical Daoism,”⁵⁷ and that “Daoist religion” is more accurate than “religious Daoism.”⁵⁸ Julia Ching thinks that “Daoism” can refer to both philosophical Daoism (also known as Daojia) and religious Daoism 道教 (Daojiao), as well as other popular practices like martial arts, meditation, and breathing techniques that are often linked to Daoism.⁵⁹ Daoists themselves claim their roots go back to Laozi 老子, the supposed author of the Daodejing 道德经, who lived in the fifth century BCE. Historically, Western scholars have limited “Daoism” to a school of philosophy, outlined in the Daodejing and expanded upon by thinkers like Zhuangzi 庄子 (dates uncertain, but he lived between 370 and 301 BCE) and Liezi 列子 (a historical figure only known by a book appearing in his name, dating anywhere from 300 BCE to 300 CE).⁶⁰ However, little is known about the Daoist community during this early period.

Daoism isn’t just about one sage or one book. Daoists believe the Dao, or cosmic Way, existed long before the universe and individual things. The Daodejing says, “Before there was a ‘two’ and a ‘three,’ there was the ‘One’.” This “Cosmic One” describes the universe’s original unity, an undifferentiated energy that gave rise to the “ten thousand things.”⁶¹ The Dao continues to exist. In fact, it is eternally evolving or “coming into existence” and is “never complete.”⁶² It’s an energy that permeates the universe and can be tapped into for health, vitality, long life, and supernatural power. The Daoist religion is a historical transmission of texts and rituals that try to explain, harness, create, and recreate this cosmic energy. While Daojia existed before the Han Dynasty (202 BCE–8 CE, 25–220 CE), it had no clear social base or organization. Daojiao⁶³ as an institution didn’t emerge until the Latter Han 后汉 (Latter Han, 947–951), and reached its full development as a religious tradition in the medieval period and beyond.⁶⁴ Throughout this project, “Daoism” and “Daoist” refer to Daojia in the Tang Dynasty, with its scientific and technological pursuits, practices focused on immortality, and underlying philosophical constructs.

With these four traditions in mind—Daoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, and popular religions—it is essential to note that, although they can be discussed separately, they were in constant interaction. Daoism, for example, cannot be fully understood outside the context of Buddhism and Confucianism on one hand,⁶⁵ and the popular tradition on the other.⁶⁶ To help conceptualize this situation, the project suggests an adapted version based on Eric Zürcher’s metaphor. In this metaphor, Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism can be visualized as three pyramid-shaped peaks sharing a common mountain base.⁶⁷ As the peaks arise from the same mass of undifferentiated “popular” practices and beliefs, they begin to take shape as distinct traditions. This metaphor should not be interpreted to mean that the high traditions developed out of the popular tradition—the vertical interaction was complex and flowed both ways.⁶⁸ The higher the peaks rise, the more clearly they are differentiated from one another, and their ranks narrow into a professional, literate elite. Conversely, as one descends the peaks, they increasingly merge into the realm of popular religious practices that cannot be distinctly labeled as Buddhist, Daoist, or Confucian.⁶⁹

This project suggests adding a fourth pillar, namely, Jingjiao, to the matrix. Wang Lanping 王兰平 helpfully points out that we should avoid a simplistic and unidirectional study of the relationship between Jingjiao and the Three Religions. For instance, earlier research indicates that Tang Jingjiao was influenced by the dominant religions.⁷⁰ Moreover, Chen Huaiyu 陈怀宇 furthers the work of Takakusu Junjirō 高楠顺次郎 and clarifies that Buddhist classics might have mimicked Jingjiao documents.⁷¹ The same applies to Tantric Buddhism.⁷² Rong Xinjiang also argues that certain Jingjiao factors can be found in Daoist doctrines since the end of the Tang era.⁷³ Therefore, the project proposes establishing connections between these pillars, indicating the bidirectional communication among these religions. The intricate relationships among Jingjiao, Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism can be described as a three-dimensional structure with four pyramids, a common mountain base, and six bridges connecting them, which signifies their mutual exchanges.

An essential part of the common mountain base is the spiritual universe, which thoroughly permeates the “material” world of everyday life and stands as one of the enduring cosmological conceptions of traditional Chinese culture. The realm of spirits comprises a wide array of gods, ghosts,⁷⁴ and ancestors.⁷⁵ Chinese religions begin with the veneration of ancestors. So strong was the cultural impulse to care for one’s parents after death that Chinese Buddhist monks in the fourth century CE and beyond constructed mortuary halls within monastery grounds for their parents—one of the major features of the “sinification” of Buddhism.⁷⁶ The reverence and awe associated with ancestors reflect the sacred nature of the family as a locus of value. It is also linked to the paramount emphasis placed on xiao 孝 (filial piety).⁷⁷ The ancestors were central to the religious practices of the earliest historical dynasty, Shang 商 (1766–1122 BCE), whose religious/political order can be depicted as two triangles, one atop the other. The upper or “heavenly” triangle was populated by the deified ancestors of the imperial family. At its apex was Shangdi 上帝 (the Lord on High), who had the power to influence the overall well-being of the dynasty. Beneath him, the royal ancestors were arranged hierarchically according to generation. Ancestors were believed to intercede with Shangdi. At the apex of the lower or “earth” triangle was the emperor. The concentration of political power in his person was justified by his ability to communicate with the ancestors through divination and to influence them through sacrifices. The connection between the two realms was reciprocal; while the emperor relied on the ancestors, the ancestors also depended on the emperor’s offerings and sacrifices. There exists a close relationship between the emperor’s political power and his control over the channels of communication with the spiritual realm.⁷⁸

The centrality of ancestors relates to a cluster of concepts and practices within Chinese religions and society. It is based on the close connection between life and death, representing a continuum between the living and the dead. The “mortals” and “divine beings” can affect one another because they share the same substance, qi, uniting them within a single corporate kinship body.⁷⁹ Qi is a fundamental concept in ancient Chinese philosophy, medicine, and science.

After the Qin Dynasty (221–206 BCE) and the Han, state authority aimed to extend its reach to the most remote regions of the empire. As a result, qi became prominent as the universal medium in medicine, science, and philosophy.⁸⁰ Developing the concept of qi and the need to balance its constitutive elements, yin 阴 and yang 阳, are essential for attaining optimal physical and psychological health. The Daoists expended significant effort exploring various means (ritual, pharmacological, dietary, and gymnastic) to maintain this balance, thereby perpetuating an individual’s vigor and well-being. For much of its history, Daoism has sought to “defeat death” altogether by retaining and expanding these vital energies within the body. Daoist practices of exercise, traditional medicine, healthy sexuality, and worship are remnants of the immortality cult that defined Daoism for most of its history.⁸¹

Scholars of Chinese religions are reminded to acknowledge the tension between the Western conceptualization of religion and indigenous perspectives.⁸² With that in mind, this project aligns with Robert Hymes, who proposes that religion be viewed as an integral part of cultural processes and repertoire,⁸³ and defines Chinese religions as “the social and cultural system focused on the supernatural beings, which owe their origin and development to a particular stage of Chinese society and are believed to influence and govern the fate of both the universe and humanity.” The supernatural beings at the heart of this system may take on various forms and names, manifesting through committed piety in diverse ways and means.⁸⁴

2.3 Science in the Chinese Context: Past and Present

The definition of science is not straightforward, as part of the issue is that the way we use these terms is relatively new. The word “science,” deriving from the Latin scientia, did not acquire its more restricted modern meaning of relating to the natural or physical sciences (such as physics, chemistry, biology, and so forth) until the nineteenth century. Therefore, McClellan and Dorn rightly remind us to be cautious in using the labels “science,” or “scientists” to refer to ancient Greece or medieval China. Similarly, the term “technology” derives from the Greek techné (τέχνη) and “does not enter our vocabularies again until the middle of the nineteenth century,” while carrying with it the more modern meaning of the scientific study and systematic pursuit of the practical arts and their improvements.⁸⁵

Before the arrival of the Jesuits, the classical method of gewu 格物 (investigation of things) and zhizhi 致知 (extension of knowledge) was a key feature of the Chinese literati’s efforts to delineate the limits of the natural world and establish boundaries for the known and unknown.⁸⁶ After 1600, the Jesuits linked gewu to European higher learning (scientia).⁸⁷ However, the Chinese word kexue 科学’s correspondence with the Western concept of science did not arise until the late nineteenth century.⁸⁸

Wang Yan 王颜 uses the phrase keji as an abbreviation for kexue yu jishu 科学与技术 (science and technology), encompassing more refined categories such as fundamental science, applied science, and technological science.⁸⁹ Jiang Sheng 姜生 and Tang Weixia 汤伟侠 further classify Daoists’ science and technology into scientific thought, alchemy and chemistry, medicine, health preservation, astral science and geoscience, physics and physical technology, and biology.⁹⁰

Most Chinese scholars studying the historical and contemporary development of science and technology agree that science encompasses both the Western concept of science and technology.⁹¹ As a result, this project adopts the convention used by Chinese scholars, using science (or more specifically, science and technology) as an umbrella term to describe human understanding and exploration of nature and the universe.

2.4 Chinese Theology

Zhuo Xinping 卓新平 has differentiated a tripartite framework in the field of Chinese Christian studies since the 1980s, namely Chinese theology, Sino-Christian theology, and academic theology.⁹² With Ding Guangxun 丁光训 (K. H. Ting) as its initiator and leading figure, Chinese theology is constructed by the Chinese church as “an indigenizing, or contextualizing, theology” that stresses ethics and morality.⁹³ Sino-Christian theology, with Liu Xiaofeng as one of its key initiators, aims “not to revert to the ‘national’ or the ‘native’ but to be the embodiment of universality or transcendence,” with an emphasis on theological writing and research in the “mother tongue,” namely, the Chinese language.⁹⁴ Unlike Chinese theology, which stresses confession, and Sino-Christian theology, which attaches equal importance to faith and the knowledge of the “cultural Christian,” academic theology refers to the academic concept of a faith-neutral Christian theology.⁹⁵ While this classification is helpful for heuristic purposes, it may encounter some challenges. For example, one might wonder if faith-neutral theology can be considered Christian theology. Nevertheless, scholars should recognize that this distinction is a contextualized effort with distinct “Chinese characteristics,” allowing for a scholarly space to be created without revealing the academics’ religious identities.

Alexander Chow proposes that Chinese theology “be understood as contextual theologies that have been shaped by the complex social, political and economic concerns of the two Chinese enlightenments.”⁹⁶ According to Chow, the initial Chinese Enlightenment transpired during the May Fourth Movement in the early 1900s, during which Chinese reformers contested all religious and spiritual traditions. The subsequent Chinese Enlightenment emerged in the 1980s, contrasting with the First, which aimed to entirely dismantle the preceding culture. This latter period followed a German model of enlightenment, which exhibits greater sympathy towards China’s historical legacy and traditional teachings. While recognizing the paramount significance of these two eras in the evolution of Chinese theology, it is also essential to acknowledge that the breadth of Chinese theology reaches far beyond the last century.

In her translation of Sino-Christian Theology Reader, Chloë Starr prefers the terminology of “Chinese theology” over “Sino-Christian theology” due to the “more expansive and inclusive” nature of the former and the controversial nature of the latter.⁹⁷ For Starr, Chinese theology bears a twofold responsibility. First, it “addresses the topics discussed by systematic theology everywhere.” Second, it “also addresses topics of more particular interest, such as the nature of the human through contrast with Confucian ethics or Daoist understanding of being and action, or the kingdom of God in light of Marxist economic theories.”⁹⁸ Starr’s twofold proposal is in alignment with Stephen Bevans and Roger Schroeder’s vision, namely, Christian mission “must preserve, defend and proclaim the constants of the church’s traditions; at the same time it must respond creatively and boldly to the contexts in which it finds itself.”⁹⁹ Deeply convinced by the recognition that all theology is contextual theology,¹⁰⁰ Bevans and Schroeder provide a more nuanced understanding between these two strands of theologizing in that the “constants” have always and must always be realized “in contexts.”¹⁰¹ Building upon Starr’s concept of exploring topics pertinent to China, this project underscores the necessity for theological reflection considering China’s context of a swiftly evolving science and technology environment within a religiously pluralistic society.

Paulos Huang refers to “Chinese theology” as “Christian theological reflection on, from, for, and about China broadly defined, as well as its people and culture.”¹⁰² For Huang, “within Chinese theology it has been difficult for a dialogue to emerge between the secular academia of anthropocentric humanism and Christian academia.” Ge Yonghua more forcefully asserts that “the genuinely vital theology must be ecclesial theology, must be rooted in the ecclesial soil and context, and must consider speaking to the church community at the fore.”¹⁰³ Here, one observes the tension between secular and Christian academia, as well as between church and academia.

Even a cursory look reveals the diverse, sometimes contradictory, and opposing voices and testimonies related to Chinese theology, broadly defined. The solution adopted by this project lies in adopting an inclusive vision for theology in the 21st century, as suggested by Amos Yong, who reminds us that inclusive “theologies are multiperspectival, multidisciplinary, and multicultural.” Multiperspectivalism means “taking seriously the insights of all voices, especially those previously marginalized from the theological conversation—for instance, women, the poor, the differently abled or disabled, perhaps even the heretics!”¹⁰⁴ It is due to this multiperspectivalism that the project will actively engage the theology of the Church of the East, previously dubbed incorrectly as Nestorian Christianity, and hence, by the guilt of association, heretical.¹⁰⁵ For the Finnish Luther-costal Veli-Matti Kärkkänen, inclusivity “is not blind to the limitations we all bring to the task. Rather, it builds trust and room for each and every one to face one’s limitations.”¹⁰⁶ Jürgen Moltmann speaks of himself in the third person and humbly remarks that “[o]f course he is a European, but theology no longer has to be Eurocentric. Of course, he is a man, but theology no longer has to be androcentric. Of course he is living in the ‘first world,’ but the theology which he is developing does not have to reflect the ideas of the dominating nations.”¹⁰⁷ Following Moltmann’s example, this project asserts that Chinese theology doesn’t have to be Sinocentric.¹⁰⁸

Therefore, this project offers this working definition:

Chinese theology is a subset and an important constituent of global Christian theology and mission. It seeks an inclusive and integrative understanding of Christian truth and faith within the historical and contemporary Chinese context (China proper and global Chinese diasporas), while engaging in dialogue with its global and local theologizing counterparts, cultures, sciences (and technologies), and other living faiths.

2.5 Qi: Key Views in Ancient China until the Tang Dynasty

Qi is a fundamental concept in ancient Chinese philosophy that describes what is referred to as “material existence” in contemporary Chinese discourse. Initially, qi denotes a subtle and flowing existence that is distinct from both liquids and solids. As ancient thought evolved, qi further came to represent the objective reality that exists independently of human awareness. Given that humans and other living entities rely on breathing for sustenance, ancient thinkers posited that qi constituted the source of life, although it is not synonymous with life itself. Consequently, qi is a broad concept utilized to articulate objective reality.¹⁰⁹

In particular, qi is manifested in six forms, namely, yin, yang, feng 风 (wind, or dynamic qi), yu 雨 (rain), hui 晦 (darkness), and ming 明 (brightness).¹¹⁰ It has been noted that, in the Chinese understanding of qi, there are five levels of significance: physical, physiological, psychological, ethical, and philosophical.¹¹¹

In reference to Dong Zhongshu 董仲舒 (179–104 BCE), the Chinese philosopher Feng Youlan 冯友兰 (also known as Feng Yu-lan, 1895–1990) observes that for Dong, yin and yang signify two forms of materialistic qi. Nevertheless, for the majority of adherents of the yin-yang school, as well as for Dong himself in various contexts, qi as yin and yang is not perceived in such a materialistic manner.¹¹² In his translation of Feng’s A History of Chinese Philosophy, Derek Bodde interprets qi as “ether,”¹¹³ a translation that, while creative, is ultimately not beneficial as it only encapsulates one aspect of qi’s extensive range of meaning.

American sinologist Benjamin Schwartz 史华慈 (1916–1999) examines the Chinese concept of qi¹¹⁴ and affirms that the term prominently features in the discourse of the Warring States period. Schwartz observes that the early interpretations of qi—such as “vapor of clouds,” and “the nourishing vapors of boiling rice or grain”—appear to suggest a close approximation of the Western concept of “matter.” However, Schwartz promptly adds that “in most of the cultures where the wind-air-breath association arises, it does not necessarily lead to the notion of it as the primordial stuff out which ‘everything is made,’ nor is there any evidence that it did so in early China.”¹¹⁵ Furthermore, Schwartz notes “a kind of physicalist language which seems to refer to a sort of circulating fluidum that has the Cartesian attribute of matter as the spatially extended,” and that qi “comes to have properties of both energy and matter, as is clearly proven by the application to the notion of condensation and rarefaction in later Chinese thought.”¹¹⁶

According to Schwartz, Western definitions of “matter” and “energy” are inadequate in describing qi, as qi encompasses properties that would be classified as psychic, emotional, spiritual, numinous, and even “mystical.”¹¹⁷ More specifically, in the Lun Yu 论语 (Analects), qi refers, in one instance, to breath, and in another, to something akin to the vital energy known as blood-qi 血气 that signifies a person in her full vigor. The absence of emphasis on the cosmic aspects of qi by both Confucius and Mozi 墨子 (or Mo-tzu, who passed away circa 391 BCE) may reflect their predominantly humanist concerns. In the texts of Laozi and Zhuangzi, qi acquires profoundly mystical dimensions. Schwartz concludes that during the Warring States and early Han periods, it is quite evident that qi relates to aspects of the human, the cosmic, and even the mystical, thus becoming intricately connected to the discourse regarding the interactions between the two. Nevertheless, he cautions that at no point does qi equate to a “reductionist” matter in the Western sense.¹¹⁸

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, qi refers to the substance, energy, and information that constitute the human body and maintain life activities. Qi of humans can be divided into yinqi 阴气 and yangqi 阳气 based on the nature; yuanqi 元气 (primordial or original qi), zongqi 宗气 (pectoral qi), yingqi 营气 (nutrient qi), weiqi 卫气 (defense qi); weiqi 胃气 (stomach qi), xinqi 心气 (heart qi), ganqi 肝气 (liver qi), feiqi 肺气 (lung qi), piqi 脾气 (spleen qi), and zangfu zhiqi 脏腑之气 (visceral qi) based on its function. Furthermore, qi refers to xieqi 邪气 (pathogenic qi), a type of qi that causes diseases.¹¹⁹

Drawing upon these comprehensive scholarly investigations of qi, one can ascertain that the Chinese understanding of qi is universally acknowledged across all traditional Chinese schools and teachings, encompassing the Three Religions, traditional Chinese medicine, and others. Consequently, qi can be regarded as a pivotal “bridge” that connects the various Chinese religions within the context of the “pyramids” metaphor (§2.2.2). In contrast to the Western dualistic perspectives of spirit and matter, qi defies any reductionist interpretation, whether as matter, energy, or spirit. Rather, qi pertains to the entirety of existence, ranging from the essence of God or gods to the existence of the stones of Stonehenge, from the essence of the One Mind as articulated in Zen Buddhism to the specific electrochemical processes occurring within the individual brain, from the limitless to the finite, and from the concept of Heaven to all that exists beneath Heaven, or wanwu 万物 (the ten thousand things). Therefore, the ancient Chinese conceptualization of qi encompasses philosophical, medical, physical, physiological, psychological, and ethical dimensions,¹²⁰ demonstrating a formidable capacity to manifest the invisible through the perceptual experiences afforded by our human bodies. Established upon the definition of embodiment within the realm of cognitive sciences¹²¹ (see §6.1 for more details), this project delineates qi as “that which manifests and embodies that which is hidden.”¹²²

2.6 Metaphors: Definition and Identification

Metaphor can be defined as “that figure of speech whereby we speak about one thing in terms which are seen to be suggestive of another.”¹²³ George Lakoff and Mark Johnson assert that “[t]he essence of metaphor is understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another.”¹²⁴ Moreover, classical definitions of metaphors should not be disregarded. After a brief historical survey, Erik Konsmo observes that there is a tension between clarity and uncertainty of meaning in classical and modern definitions: the former emphasizes transference and substitution, assuming clarity of meaning, while the latter uses words like “understand,” “experience,” and “suggest,” which acknowledge the uncertainty of meanings that metaphors exhibit. This tension makes it “difficult, if not impossible to encapsulate in a single-sentence definition” of metaphors.¹²⁵

Several frameworks have been proposed to identify metaphors, among which perhaps the best known is the Method Identification Procedure (MIP), developed through a collaboration of prominent metaphor scholars.¹²⁶ Despite a number of theoretical and practical complexities, this procedure—along with its updated version, the MIPVU¹²⁷ —has become widely used and is often the starting point for discussions related to identifying metaphors in text and discourse.¹²⁸ It has been confirmed that MIPVU can be flexibly adapted for the Chinese language.¹²⁹

Two additional technical terms related to the neural theory of metaphor¹³⁰ need to be defined here. The first is primary metaphor. Contemporary metaphor theory, as elucidated by Lakoff, Johnson, Mark Turner, Eve Sweetser, and Joseph Grady,¹³¹ holds that metaphorical capacity springs from embodied cognition, and that humans perceive the world through sensory experiences combined with cognitive capacities.¹³² Based on Christopher Johnson’s theory of conflation,¹³³ Joseph Grady proposes the theory of primary metaphor, which posits that certain basic, low-level metaphorical correspondences hold a privileged status and serve as the foundation for other metaphorical expressions and conceptualizations.¹³⁴ Accordingly, early conflations in everyday experiences should lead to the automatic formation of numerous primary metaphors that connect subjective experience and judgment with sensorimotor experience. Grady hypothesizes that each primary metaphor is simple, serving as an atomic component of the molecular structure of complex metaphors.¹³⁵ However, as Grady acknowledges, he does not address the ways in which metaphors are constrained by culture.¹³⁶

The second technical notion to be defined is the conceptual metaphor, which, according to Johnson, “is a structure of human understanding, and the source domains of the metaphors come from our bodily, sensory-motor experience, which becomes the basis for abstract conceptualization and reasoning.”¹³⁷ Conceptual Metaphor Theory has established robust empirical foundations for the study of metaphor within a cognitive linguistic framework.¹³⁸

Upon reviewing the aforementioned analysis of metaphors, the Chinese concept of qi, defined as “that which manifests and embodies that which is hidden” (§2.5), possesses significant potential for utilization by the authors of Tang Jingjiao to express their Christian interpretation of the Holy Spirit in a creative manner (see §3.3.3). Furthermore, it will be demonstrated that the innovative application by Jingjiao authors contributes to a deeper understanding of primary metaphor and conceptual metaphor, both of which regard qi as a fundamental metaphor for the Holy Spirit (see §6.3).

In this chapter, I first briefly introduced the Church of the East and its Chinese contextualization within the techno-scientific and pluralistic Tang Dynasty. Then, while studying them on their own terms, I provided working definitions for underlying concepts such as Chinese religions and Chinese science (and technology). Next, I surveyed the different viewpoints concerning Chinese Theology. After presenting the diverse, sometimes contradictory, and opposing voices, I adopt the inclusive vision proposed by Yong and Kärkkänen to offer a constructive definition of Chinese Theology. Due to its significance in this project, I surveyed the understanding of the concept of qi among Chinese philosophers and several key sinologists. Lastly, I defined metaphors, primary metaphor, and conceptual metaphor. Throughout the project, in comparison to the more visible thread of Jingjiao’s qi-tological theology of creation, metaphor serves as a “hidden” thread, running from chapters 3 to 5, and will eventually come to the surface in chapter 6, reaping its fruits in chapter 7. With all these supporting backgrounds and definitions, the next chapter will focus on a detailed reconstruction of Jingjiao’s theology of creation within the complex matrix of theology, science, and religions.

Also known as Nestorian Christianity, Syriac Christianity, East Syrian Church, and Assyrian Church of the East. At present, academia has followed Sebastian P. Brock in recognizing that the so-called Nestorian church has, in antiquity, preferred to self-describe itself as the “Church of the East,” or more recently, the Assyrian Church of the East. For most recent monographs on the community’s history, practices, and texts, see Glen L Thompson, Jingjiao: The Earliest Christian Church in China (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2024); Michael Philip Penn et al., eds., Invitation to Syriac Christianity: An Anthology (Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2022); Christine Chaillot, The Assyrian Church of the East: History and Geography (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2021); Mark Dickens, ed., Echoes of a Forgotten Presence: Reconstructing the History of the Church of the East in Central Asia, orientalia–patristica–oecumenica 15 (Zürich: Lit Verlag, 2021); Steve Cochrane, Asia’s Forgotten Christian Story: Church of the East Monastic Mission in Ninth-Century Asia (Oxford: Regnum Books International, 2018); David Wilmshurst, The Martyred Church: A History of the Church of the East (London: East & West, 2011).

Brock traces such negligence to Eusebius of Caesarea, who wrote the first History of the Christian church within the confines of the Roman Empire, leaving out its history in the adjacent Persian Empire, further to the east. Unfortunately, this limitation has all too often been followed, right up to the present day. See Sebastian Brock, “Preface,” in The Assyrian Church of the East: History and Geography, ed. Christine Chaillot (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2021), xi. Ian Gillman and Hans-Joachim Klimkeit remark on the statement “Christians in Asia before 1500!?” by pointing out the general ignorance of many Western Christians and the various “imperialisms” that undergird that ignorance: political, intellectual and Scriptural. See Ian Gillman and Hans-Joachim Klimkeit, Christians in Asia before 1500 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1999), 1.

Michael Philip Penn et al., “Introduction,” in Invitation to Syriac Christianity: An Anthology, eds. Michael Philip Penn et al. (Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2022), 2.

The association between the community and Nestorius is “of a very tenuous nature,” and is “totally misleading and incorrect.” See Sebastian P. Brock, “The ‘Nestorian’ Church: A Lamentable Misnomer,” Bulletin of John Rylands Library 78, no. 3 (1996), https://doi.org/doi.org/10.7227/BJRL.78.3.3.

Mar Aprem Mooken writes this of the Church: “We believe in a Christ who is a perfect man and perfect God. How the union of these two natures has taken place is an open question. If we attempt to understand exactly how Godhead and manhood are united, in the one person of Jesus Christ, we reach the inevitable conclusion that the problem of Christology is insoluble.” See George Mooken, “A Re-appraisal of Nestorianism,” Bangalore Theological Forum 1, no. 1 (1967).

Brock, “Preface,” xiii.

Chaillot, Assyrian Church, 1.

Penn et al., “Introduction,” 1.

Penn et al., “Islam,” 321.

Penn et al., “Books, Knowledge, and Translation,” 259.

A. Scher, Histoire Nestorienne Inédite (Chronique de Séert), seconde partie, fasc. 2, Patrologia Orientalis 13 (Paris: Firmin-Didot ET Cie, Imprimeurs Ëditeurs, 1919), 524–50.

Penn et al., “Introduction,” 1.

Penn et al., “Introduction,” 18.

Ian Gillman and Hans-Joachim Klimkeit believe that direct or indirect Christian influence on pre-Tang China remains a matter of conjecture, even though a Christian presence in China in the 6th century cannot be completely ruled out. See Gillman and Klimkeit, Christians in Asia before 1500, 267. Lin Ying speculates that besides the Church of the East, another branch of Christianity also from Syria sent their missionaries, namely, the Fulin monks, or the Melkites, to China in the Tang dynasty. See Ying Lin, “Fulin seng: Guanyu Tangdai Jingjiao zhiwai de Jidujiao paibie ruhua de yige tuice” 拂菻僧：关于唐代景教之外的基督教派别入华的一个推测 [The Fulin Monks: A Speculation of Another Christian Sect into China in the Tang Dynasty apart from the Jingjiao], Studies in World Religions 世界宗教研究 [Studies in World Religions] 2, no. 1 (2006).

Christoph Baumer, The Church of the East: An Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity, New ed. (London: I. B. Tauris, 2016), 187.

According to William Boltz, if “language” as a determinative feature of cultural or civilizational identity takes on such pre-eminence, then we can only identify “Chinese civilization,” as opposed to “civilization in China,” when we can identify the people of that civilization as Chinese speakers. Thus, strictly speaking, we can only identify a Chinese civilization from the time of the earliest paleographic evidence of the Chinese language, i.e., about 1200 BCE. See William G. Boltz, “Early Chinese Writing,” World Archaeology 17, no. 3 (1986), https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.1986.9979980. Also see James E. McClellan III and Harold Dorn, Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction, Third ed. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015), 115.

This collection of the Tang Jingjiao documents excludes the documents that were published in the late 1940s, namely, the so-called Kojima documents (Kojima manuscript A, or Daqin Jingjiao Dasheng tongzhen guifa zan 大秦景教大圣通真归法赞, and Kojima manuscript B, or Daqin Jingjiao xuanyuan zhiben Jing 大秦景教宣元至本经), which have recently been recognized as modern forgeries. See Matteo Nicolini-Zani, The Luminous Way to the East: Texts and History of the First Encounter of Christianity with China, trans. William Skudlarek (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022), 154–55. Henceforth, LWE. Lin Wushu 林悟舒 and Rong Xinjiang 荣新江 are among the earliest scholars who conclude that the Kojima manuscripts are more likely than not forgeries executed by a knowledgeable antiques dealer. See Wushu Lin and Xinjiang Rong, “Suowei Lishi jiucang Dunhuang Jingjiao wenxian erzhong bianwei” 所謂李氏舊藏敦煌景教文獻二種辨偽 [Two Evaluations of the Authenticity of So-called Dunhuang Documents of the Jingjiao from the Li Collection], Jiuzhou xuekan 九州學刊 [Chinese Culture Quarterly] 4, no. 4 (1992); Wushu Lin and Xinjiang Rong, “Doubts Concerning the Authenticity of Two Nestorian Christian Documents Unearthed at Dunhuang from the Li Collection” [Two Evaluations of the Authenticity of So-called Dunhuang Documents of the Jingjiao from the Li Collection], China Archaeology and Art Digest 1, no. 1 (1996). The list is confirmed in Nie, Tangdai Jingjiao [Studies], 6–7, with the exception that Nie considers Praise and Honored as one document. For the whole list of the documents, see the diagram in p. 7, according to which there are in total 16355 (Chinese) characters. According to Sun Jianqiang who redated the seven Dunhuang documents, only two belong to the Tang era, namely, Blessedness and Origin. See Jianqiang Sun, “Re-dating the Seven Early Chinese Christian Manuscripts: Christians in Dunhuang before 1200” (PhD diss. Leiden University, 2018). However, Sun’s work has not been widely accepted by Jingjiao scholars. This project does not follow Sun’s dating but follows the majority view by including the seven genuine documents in the Tang Jingjiao corpus.

The seventh document refers to a collation of the text carved on the Luoyang Jingjiao pillar (edited transcription in Wushu Lin and Xiaoping Yin, “Jingchuang ban Daqin Jingjiao xuanyuan zhiben jing kaoshi: Tangdai Luoyang Jingjiao jiangchuang yanjiu zhi yi” 经幢版《大秦景教宣元至本经》考释—唐代洛阳景教经幢研究之一 [Notes on Nestorian Xuanyuan zhiben Jing in Dharani Pillar Edition: Studies of the Luoyang Nestorian Dharani Pillar of the Tang Dynasty, I], Zhonghua wenshi luncong 中华文史论丛 [Collection of Essays on Chinese Literature and History] 1, no. 1 (2008): 329–31), and the Li Shengduo 李盛铎 manuscript (transcription in Kyōu shooku, ed., Tonkō hikyū keikyō kyōten shishu “敦煌秘笈”景教經典四種 (Osaka: Takeda kagaku shinkō zaidan, 2020), 107; edited transcription in Wushu Lin, “Dunhuang yishu Daqin Jingjiao Xuanyuanbenjing kaoshi” 敦煌遺書《大秦景教宣元本經》考釋 [Notes on a Chinese Jingjiao Manuscript from Dunhuang ‘Daqin Jingjiao xuanyuan ben Jing’], Jiuzhou xuekan 九州学刊 [Chinese Culture Quarterly] 6, no. 4 (1995)). Also see Naizhu Zhang, “Ba Henan Luoyang xin chutu de yijian Tangdai Jingjiao shike” 跋河南洛阳新出土的一件唐代景教石刻 [Transcribing a Newly Unearthed Stone Carving of Jingjiao from the Tang Dynasty in Luoyang, Henan Province], XYYJ 1, no. 1 (2007); Qiyong Feng, “‘Daqin Jingjiao Xuanyuan Zhiben Jing’ quanjing de xianshi ji qita” ⟨大秦景教宣元至本经⟩全经的现世及其他 [On the appearance of “Daqin Jingjiao Xuanyuan Zhiben Jing” and others], ZZ 11, no. 1 (2007).

The system of numbering by the original lines is used in the French translation of Pelliot, see Paul Pelliot, L’inscription nestorienne de Si-ngan-fou, edited with supplements by Antonino Forte (Kyoto and Paris: Scuola di studi sull’Asia Orientale and Collège de France, Institut des Hautes Études Chinoises, 1996), 173–80 (translation) and 497–503 (Chinese text). Others include Lin and Yin, TJZYJ (ZDB), 502–10, and Nicolini-Zani, LWE, 197–303. Also see Lieu’s ongoing online edition of the Xi’an Monument as found on the Union Académique Internationale: China and the Mediterranean World website (https://www.manichaeism.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Xian-Monument-5.11.2023.pdf), accessed July 1, 2025. Lieu critiques the more arbitrary section numbers in Saeki’s translation. See Samuel N. C. Lieu, “From Rome (Daqin 大秦) to China (Zhongguo 中國): The Xi’an 西安 (Nestorian) Monument as a Bilingual and Transcultural Document,” in The Church of the East in Central Asia and China, eds. Samuel N. C. Lieu and Glen L. Thompson (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2020), 124.

The four English translations were carried out by P. Y. Saeki (1937), Martin Palmer (2001), Tang Li (2002), and Matteo Nicolini-Zani (2022); cf. Paul Yoshirō Saeki, The Nestorian Documents and Relics in China, 2nd ed. (Tokyo: Maruzen Company, 1951 [1937]); Martin Palmer, The Jesus Sutras: Rediscovering the Lost Scrolls of Taoist Christianity (New York: Ballantine, 2001); Li Tang, A Study of the History of Nestorian Christianity in China and Its Literature in Chinese: Together with a New English Translation of the Dunhuang Nestorian Documents, 2nd rev. ed., European University Studies Series 27: Asian and African Studies 87 (Frankfurt am Main: P. Lang, 2004 [2002]).

Nicolini-Zani, LWE, xii–xiii.

Also see Matteo Nicolini-Zani, La via radiosa per l’Oriente: i testi e la storia del primo incontro del cristianesimo con il mondo culturale e religioso cinese (secoli VII–IX) (Biella, Italy: Qiqajon, Comunità di Bose, 2006).

Nicolini-Zani, LWE, 197–303; Li Tang, A Study of the History of Nestorian Christianity in China and Its Literature in Chinese: Together with a New English Translation of the Dunhuang Nestorian Documents, European University Studies Series 27: Asian and African Studies 87 (Frankfurt am Main: P. Lang, 2002), 145–202.

Wu, DJLZB, 1–128, 37–216.

Based on an email correspondence with Nicolini-Zani dated Nov. 13th, 2023.

For example, Wu’s monograph provides an entire corpus of the Chinese texts with first-hand writing and detailed footnotes, see Wu, DJLZB.

Wilhelm Baum and Dietmar W. Winkler, The Church of the East: A Concise History (London: Routledge-Curzon, 2003), 41. Nicolini-Zani makes it clear that before 635, there might be a Christian presence in the imperial territory, although it may not have been organized. See Nicolini-Zani, LWE, 68–69. Lin Wushu doubts the historicity of this date, since it is attested only by the inscription on the Xi’an stele. See Wushu Lin, “Xi’an Jingbei youguan Aluoben ruhua shi bianxi” 西安景碑有关阿罗本入华事辨析 [Notes on Alopen’s Entering Tang China Recorded in the Nestorian Monument of Xi’an], Wenshi 文史 1, no. 1 (2008).

See Appendix.

Wang Yuanyuan 王媛媛 does not agree with the view that Jingjiao became extinct after the Huichang Persecution of Buddhism. Instead, she hypothesizes that the Jingjiao adherents fled to Hebei and were subsequently Buddicized. See Yuanyuan Wang, “Tanghou Jingjiao miejue shuo zhiyi” 唐后景教灭绝说质疑 [Questioning the Extinction of Jingjiao after the Tang Dynasty], Wenshi 文史 1, no. 1 (2010). Similarly, Sun Jianqiang suggests that after 845, “Christians maintained a continuous presence in Dunhuang from the eighth century up to the eleventh century.” See Sun, “Re-dating.” Other Christians in Southern China suffered a severe persecution in the rebellion led by Huang Chao 黄巢 in 877–878. See Nicolini-Zani, LWE, 78–79. According to the Arab writer Abu Zayd Hasan Ibn Yazid Sirafi, the presence of the Christian (as well as Muslims and Jews) came to an end when Huang Chao occupied Khanfu (modern-day Guangzhou 广州, or Yangzhou 扬州) from 878–879. See Morris Rossabi, From Yuan to modern China and Mongolia: The Writings of Morris Rossabi (Leiden: Brill, 2014), 227; Latourette, A History of Christian Missions in China, 54. Toshihiko Shine argues that Khanfu refers to Yangzhou, see Toshihiko Shine, “On the Chinese Migrants and Overseas Japanese in Ancient Era: Comparison with Korea and Vietnam, and Their Role in Cultural-technical Transfer and Diplomacy,” The Journal of Intercultural Studies 42, no. 1 (2020): 59. However, it is fair to say that even if Christians did survive in China, most likely they dwelt in remote parts of China, far from the heartland that centers around its capitals, Chang’an 长安 and Luoyang.

McClellan III and Dorn, Science and Technology, 156.

Eric J. Hobsbawm, On History (New York: The New Press, 1997), 19.

For my theological response to the Needham Question, see Feng, “Addressing the Needham Question.”

Joseph Needham, The Grand Titration: Science and Society in East and West (London: G. Allen and Unwin, 1969), 16, 190; Joseph Needham and Ray Huang, Science and Civilisation in China: The Social Background, Part 2 General Conclusions and Reflections, 7 vols., vol. 7 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 1.

Shan Chun, Major Aspects of Chinese Religion and Philosophy: Dao of Inner Saint and Outer King (New York: Springer, 2012), 10.

Yan Wang, Shijie shiye xia de Tangdai Keji Wenming 世界视野下的唐代科技文明 [Tang’s Scientific and Technological Civilization under the Global Vision] (Beijing: Kexue chubanshe 科学出版社, 2018), 187, translation mine.

Wang, Shijie Shiye [Tang’s Scientific], 185.

Wang, Shijie Shiye [Tang’s Scientific], 186.

Denis Twitchett and Arthur F. Wright, “Introduction,” in Perspectives on the T’ang, eds. Arthur F. Wright and Denis Crispin Twitchett (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1973), 1.

Colin A. Ronan, The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China: An Abridgement of Joseph Needham’s Original Text, 2 vols. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1978), 1:46.

Ronan, Shorter Science and Civilisation, 1:46.

The discovery of the Dunhuang Manuscripts in the 1900 has had tremendous impact on the studies of the Three Persian Religions. It initiated the scholarly interest in the Chinese Manichaeism, turned a new page to the study of Chinese Jingjiao, and pushed forward the research on Zoroastrianism’s entry into China. See Chongxin Yao, Yuanyuan Wang, and Huaiyu Chen, Dunhuang Sanyijiao yu zhonggu shehui 敦煌三夷教与中古社会 [Three Persian Religions in Dunhuang and Medieval Society] (Lanzhou: Gansu jiaoyu chubanshe 甘肃教育出版社, 2011), 1.

According to Timothy Barrett, Daoism in the Tang dynasty enjoyed the status as state religion due to a few reasons: first, it has been a Chinese indigenous religion; second, Daoist religion transcended the concepts of heaven, earth, and humanity in the Confucian classics, and assigned the emperors with a special status of Tian Zi (son of the heaven), who is regarded as the medium between heaven and humanity; third, by claiming Laozi, whose last name is Li, as the ancestor of the family, the emperors of the Tang dynasty with the same last name could claim legitimacy of their reigning. See Timothy Hugh Barrett, Taoism under the T’ang: Religion & Empire during the Golden Age of Chinese History, First Floating World ed. (Warren, CT: Floating World, 2006), 20. Also see Chun, Major Aspects, 11.

Twitchett and Wright, “Introduction,” 18.

Twitchett and Wright, “Introduction,” 14–15.

Chun, Major Aspects, 10.

Peter N. Gregory and Patricia Buckley Ebrey, “The Religious and Historical Landscape,” in Religion and Society in Tʾang and Sung China, eds. Patricia Buckley Ebrey and Peter N. Gregory (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1993), 1.

Albert E. Dien, Six Dynasties Civilization (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), 426.

Dien, Six Dynasties Civilization, 426.

According to Chun Shan, “World Emperor” is a dignified title given by ethnic tribes who used to attack Chinese central authority for many centuries, meaning they will respect the Tang Emperor as the chieftain governing all under the heaven. See Chun, Major Aspects, 11n11.

Chun, Major Aspects, 10–11.

Chun Shan observes that many dictionaries of either religion or philosophy have cleverly avoided a direct definition entry for religion. He boldly guesses that such fact reveals the embarrassment of scholars to come to a general agreement for the definition of their expertise. See Chun, Major Aspects, 29.

Xiyuan Chen, “‘Zongjiao’: Yige Zhongguo jindai wenhuashi shangde guanjianci”‘宗教’—一个中国近代文化史上的关键词 [‘Zongjiao/Religion’: A Keyword in the Cultural History of Modern China], Xin shixue zazhi 新史学杂志 13, no. 4 (2002): 46–47.

Paiti Mairi, “‘Zongjiao’ yu ‘religion’: zongjiao xue jiben gainian zai renshi” ‘宗教’与 ‘religion’：宗教学基本概念再认识 [‘Zongjiao’ and ‘religion’: Re-investigating a Basic Concept in Religious Studies], Zhongguo shehui kexue wang 中国社会科学网 [Chinese Social Sciences Net], updated April 27, 2021, accessed February 23, 2023, http://www.cssn.cn/skgz/bwyc/202208/t20220803_5462391.shtml. Also see Mu Peng, “Religion yu zongjiao: Fenxi fanchou yu bentu gainian Religion” 与宗教：分析范畴与本土概念 [Religion and Zongjiao: Analytical Realm and Indigenous Concepts], SZW 5, no. 1 (2010): 15; Chen, “Zongjiao [Religion],” 46–47.

Randall L. Nadeau, “Introduction,” in The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Chinese Religions, ed. Randall L. Nadeau (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), 4–12.

Diane Obenchain reminds us to avoid adopting unreflectively Western, colonizing names, such as “Hinduism” or “Confucianism.” See Diane B. Obenchain, “The Modern Study of ‘Religion’, the Confucian Tradition, and the Human Person,” Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion 28, no. 1 (2017): 91.

Herrlee G. Creel, What is Taoism? And Other Studies in Chinese Cultural History (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1970), 1.

Fabrizio Pregadio, “Religious Daoism,” in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, ed. Edward N. Zalta (Fall 2020), https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2020/entries/daoism-religion/, accessed July 10, 2025.

Pregadio, “Religious Daoism.”

Julia Ching, Chinese Religions (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1993), 85.

A. C. Graham demonstrated that parts of the received text of Liezi are not authentic and date from not earlier than the second century CE (instead of the fourth century BCE, as was supposed earlier). See A. C. Graham, “The Date and Composition of Liehtzyy,” Asia Major 8, no. 2 (1961). Recently, however, there have been efforts to rehabilitate this work, motivated by the fact that it appears to contain lost fragments of the Zhuangzi. See T. H. Barrett, “Reading the Liezi: The First Thousand Years,” in Riding the Wind with Liezi: New Perspectives on the Daoist Classic, eds. Ronnie Littlejohn and Jeffrey W. Dippmann (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2011).

Daodejing ch. 42, translated in Nadeau, “Introduction,” 8–9.

Nadeau, “Introduction,” 9.

Some scholars object to the distinction between Daojia and Daojiao. For example, the renowned Daoist scholar Kristofer Schipper states: “It has become a sinological dogma to distinguish between the so-called Taoist school (Daojia), said to have produced the classical mystical texts …, and the so-called Taoist religion (Daojiao), often said to have begun in the Later Han period [i.e., the 1st–2nd centuries CE]. The successive Daozang [Daoist Canons] never made this distinction. When we look at the way the terms Daojia and Daojiao occur in the texts preserved in the Ming Canon [published in 1445], we see that they are practically synonymous and interchangeable.” See Kristofer Schipper, “General Introduction,” in The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang, eds. Kristofer Schipper and Franciscus Verellen (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004), 6.

Nadeau, “Introduction,” 8–9.

Zhu Yueli 朱越利 summarizes seven aspects in which the Daoist canon absorbs the Buddhist doctrine: 1) cosmology, 2) thoughts on relief; 3) good and bad karma; 4) absorbing Buddhist concept of foxing 佛性 (Buddha nature) and adapting it to daoxing 道性 (Daoist nature); 5) absorbing Buddhist concept of kong 空 (Emptiness, or śūnyatā); 6) precepts or commandments; and 7) borrowing Buddhist concepts and terminologies, see Yueli Zhu, Daojing zonglun 道经总论 [Commentary on Daoist Canon] (Shenyang: Liaoning jiaoyu chubanshe 辽宁教育出版社, 1991), 35–39.

Gregory and Ebrey, “Religious and Historical,” 12.

Erik Zürcher, “Buddhist Influence On Early Taoism,” T’oung pao 66, no. 1 (1980), https://doi.org/10.1163/156853280X00039.

See Robert Redfield’s classic study Robert Redfield, Peasant Society and Culture: An Anthropological Approach to Civilization (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1956).

Gregory and Ebrey, “Religious and Historical,” 12.

Lanping Wang, Tangdai Dunhuang hanwen Jingjiao xiejing yanjiu 唐代敦煌汉文景教写经研究 [Study on Dunhuang Jingjiao Manuscripts of the Tang Dynasty], Dunhuangxue boshi wenku (Beijing: Minzu chubanshe 民族出版社, 2016), 26–27.

Huaiyu Chen, “Cong bijiaoyuyanxue kan ‘Sanwei mengdu zan’ yu ‘dacheng bensheng xindiguan Jing’ de lianxi” 从比较语言学看⟨三威蒙度赞⟩与⟨大乘本生心地观经⟩的联系 [A Contrastive Linguistics Discussion on the Connection of Two Chinese Nestorian Christian and Buddhist Texts], in Xiyu wenshi (Diyi ji) 西域文史（第一辑）, ed. Yuqi Zhu (Beijing: Kexue chubanshe 科学出版社, 2006).

Huaiyu Chen, “The Encounter of Nestorian Christianity with Tantric Buddhism in Medieval China,” in Hidden Treasures and Intercultural Encounters: Studies on East Syriac Christianity in China and Central Asia, eds. Dietmar W. Winkler and Li Tang (Wien: LIT, 2009).

Xinjiang Rong, “Tangdai FoDao erjiao yanzhong de waidao—Jingjiaotu” 唐代佛道二教眼中的外道—景教徒 [Nestorians as Heathens in the Eyes of Buddhists and Daoists of the Tang Dynasty], in Tianwen dinghai juan 天问丁亥卷, ed. Gongrang Cheng (Nanjing: Jiangsu renmin chubanshe, 2008), 120. Other scholars have proposed stronger hypotheses that are hard to be substantiated. For example, Luo Xianglin suggests that certain doctrines of Lü Dongbin 吕洞宾, Master of Golden Elixir (金丹教主), can be traced to Jingjiao doctrines. See Xianglin Luo, Tang Yuan erdai zhi Jingjiao 唐元二代之景教 [Jingjiao in Tang and Yuan Dynasties] (Hong Kong: Zhongguo xueshe 中国学社, 1966), 135–52. Zhu Qianzhi does not agree with this view. See Qianzhi Zhu, Zhongguo Jingjiao 中国景教 [Chinese Jingjiao: Research of Ancient Christianity in China] (Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan 商务印书馆, 2016), 158–59.

Mu-Chou Poo explores the ghosts of ancient China, the ideas that they nurtured, and their roles in its culture. See Mu-Chou Poo, Ghosts and Religious Life in Early China (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2022).

Nadeau, “Divinity,” 394.

Nadeau, “Divinity,” 369.

Gregory and Ebrey, “Religious and Historical,” 6–7. It has been suggested that xiao be better translated “properly ordered family/clan affection.” See Obenchain, “Modern Study,” 88.

David N. Keightley, “The Religious Commitment: Shang Theology and the Genesis of Chinese Political Culture,” History of Religions 17, no. 3–4 (1978).

Gregory and Ebrey, “Religious and Historical,” 6; Nadeau, “Divinity,” 370.

Elisabeth Hsu, “The Experience of Wind in Early and Medieval Chinese Medicine,” The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 13, no. s1 (2007), https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9655.2007.00400.x.

Nadeau, “Divinity,” 370.

Peng, “Religion,” 18.

Robert P. Hymes, Way and Byway: Taoism, Local Religion, and Models of Divinity in Sung and Modern China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002), 5.

Adapted from Chun, Major Aspects, 31. Quoted in Gregory and Ebrey, “Religious and Historical,” 7.

McClellan III and Dorn, Science and Technology, 1.

For Elman, the term literati refers to select members of the land-holding gentry who maintained their status as cultural elites primarily through classical scholarship, knowledge of lineage ritual, and literary publications. The term gentry refers to those before 1900 who wielded local power as landlords or provincial and empire-wide power as government officials. See Benjamin A. Elman, On Their Own Terms: Science in China, 1550–1900 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005), xxi.

Elman, On Their Own Terms, 4.

The word kexue 科学 (in ancient China means fenke juren zhi shu 分科举人之术), a discipline that centers around the imperial competitive examination. The imperial examination system was exported into Japan during the Tang and Song dynasties, along with the phrase and its original sense. According to Feng Tianyu and Nie Changshun, it is not until 1881 when the Japanese scholar Inoue Tetsujirō 井上哲次郎 (1855–1944) translated science into kexue 科学. Kang Youwei 康有为 (1858–1927) imported the phrase kexue that corresponds to science back to China in 1898. See Tianyu Feng and Changshun Nie, Sanshi ge guanjianci de wenhuashi 三十个关键词的文化史 [A Cultural History of Thirty Keywords] (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe 中国社会科学出版社, 2021), 197–220. However, there are competing proposals as to who was the first to import the Japanese word Kexue into Chinese and associate it with science, for example, Liang Qichao (1873–1929), Wang Guowei (1877–1927), or Tang Tingshu (1832–1892). For the debate among these proposals, see Cheng Zhou and Xiufang Ji, “Jiujing shui zai Zhongguo zuixian shiyong le ‘kexue’ yici?” 究竟谁在中国最先使用了‘科学’一词? [Who Was the First to Use the Phrase ‘Kexue’ in China?], Ziran bianzhengfa tongxun 自然辩证法通讯 [Journal of Dialectics of Nature] 31, no. 4 (2009).

Wang, Shijie Shiye [Tang’s Scientific].

Sheng Jiang and Weixia Tang, eds., Zhongguo Daojiao kexue jishu shi: Han Wei Liangjin juan 中国道教科学技术史：汉魏两晋卷 (Beijing: Kexue chubanshe 科学出版社, 2002), 213–1137.

Bing Liu, “‘Needham Problem’ and the History of Science and Technology in China,” in Western Influences in the History of Science and Technology in Modern China, ed. Xiaoyuan Jiang, History of Science and Technology in China (Singapore: Springer, 2021).

Xinping Zhuo, “Introduction,” in Christianity, ed. Xinping Zhuo (Leiden: Brill, 2013), 10.

Zhuo, “Introduction,” 11–12.

Zhuo, “Introduction,” 14.

Zhuo, “Introduction,” 23.

See Chow, Theosis, 2.

Chloë Starr, “Introduction,” in A Reader in Chinese Theology, ed. Chloë Starr (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2022), xiii–xiv. Starr’s previous monograph on Chinese Theology reflects her consistent and delicate choice of the terminology. See Starr, Chinese Theology.

Starr, “Introduction,” x.

Stephen B. Bevans and Roger Schroeder, Constants in Context: A Theology of Mission for Today, American Society of Missiology 30 (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2004), 1, emphasis in original.

100

First published in Kathleen A. Cahalan and Gordon S. Mikoski, eds., Opening the Field of Practical Theology: An Introduction (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2014), 45–59.

101

Bevans and Schroeder, Constants in Context, 32–72.

102

Paulos Huang, “The Challenges of the Contemporary Context for the Practice of Chinese Theology,” Journal of Chinese Theology 8, no. 1 (2022), https://doi.org/10.1163/27726606-20220002.

103

Yonghua Ge, “Chuangkan ci” 创刊辞 [Inaugural Editorial], Huaren Jiaohui shenxue yanjiu 华人教会神学研究 1, no. 1 (2022): 1, translation mine.

104

Amos Yong, The Spirit Poured Out on All Flesh: Pentecostalism and the Possibility of Global Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005), 239–40.

105

Mark Dickens argues that Nestorius is not a heretic, but rather a victim of church politics whose views have been subsequently misinterpreted, in part due to the exalted status of his opponent, Cyril of Alexandria. See Dickens, Echoes, 2. His conclusion is a continuation of other scholars such as J. F. Bethune-Baker, Friedrich Loofs, R. V. Sellers, Aubrey Vine, Milton Anastos, and is rapidly gaining consensus among most scholars. See James F. Bethune-Baker, Nestorius and His Teaching: A Fresh Examination of the Evidence (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1908); Friedrich Loofs, Nestorius and His Place in the History of Christian Doctrine (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1914); R. V. Sellers, Two Ancient Christologies (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1940); Aubrey R. Vine, An Approach to Christology (London: Independent, 1948); Milton V. Anastos, “Nestorius Was Orthodox,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 16, no. 1 (1962), https://doi.org/10.2307/1291160. It is also important to note that on November 11, 1994, Pope John Paul II and Patriarch Dinkha IV signed in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican the Common Christological Declaration between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East. See https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/1994/november/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19941111_dichiarazione-cristologica.html, accessed July 10, 2025.

106

Kärkkäinen, CCTPW, 1:17.

107

Jürgen Moltmann, The Trinity and the Kingdom of God: The Doctrine of God, trans. Margaret Kohl (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1981), xii, emphasis in original.

108

This paragraph is inspired by Kärkkäinen, CCTPW, 1:17.

109

Dainian Zhang, Zhongguo gudian zhexue gainian fanchou yaolun 中国古典哲学概念范畴要论 [Key Conceptual and Categorical Points in Chinese Ancient Philosophy] (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju 中华书局, 2017), 35, translation mine.

110

Zhang, Zhongguo gudian [Key Concepts], 35–38. See also the English translation by Edmund Ryden, Dainian Zhang, Key Concepts in Chinese Philosophy, trans. Edmund Ryden (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1989), 46–50.

111

See Cunshan Li, “‘Qi’ gainian jige cengci yiyi de fenshu”‘气’概念几个层次意义的分殊 [A Differentiation of the Meaning of ‘Qi’ on Several Levels], Zhexue yanjiu 哲学研究 9, no. 1 (2006); Cunshan Li and Yan Xin, “A Differentiation of the Meaning of ‘Qi’ on Several Levels,” Frontiers of Philosophy in China 3, no. 2 (2008).

112

See Youlan Feng, Zhongguo zhexueshi 中国哲学史 [A History of Chinese Philosophy], 2 vols. (Beijing: Shangwu yinshuaguan 商务印刷馆, 2011), 2:13.

113

Youlan Feng, A History of Chinese Philosophy, trans. Derek Bodde, 2 vols. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1952–1953), 2:20.

114

Benjamin I. Schwartz, The World of Thought in Ancient China (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985), 179–84.

115

Schwartz, World, 180.

116

Schwartz, World, 181.

117

Schwartz, World, 181.

118

Schwartz, World, 184.

119

Zhaoguo Li, Qing Wu, and Yurui Xing, Zhongyi wenhua guanjianci 中医文化关键词 [Key Concepts in Traditional Chinese Medicine] (Beijing: Waiyu jiaoxue yu yanjiu chubanshe 外语教学与研究出版社, 2018), 2–3.

120

Li Cunshan 李存山 points out that in Chinese understanding of qi, there are five levels of significance: physical, physiological, psychological, ethical, and philosophical. See Li, “Qi [Differentiation]”; Li and Xin, “Differentiation.”

121

Lawrence Barsalou defines embodiment in that human cognition is deeply tied to the perceptual experiences that our bodies afford. See Lawrence W. Barsalou, “Perceptual Symbol Systems,” The Behavioral and Brain Sciences 22, no. 4 (1999).

122

I owe Dr. Diane Obenchain in an email exchange dated May 7th, 2023, for the insights in this paragraph. In particular, the project adapts her definition of qi as “that which manifests that which is hidden.” My definition here is made in conjunction with my thesis on embodied critical realism (see full development in §6.3).

123

Janet Martin Soskice, Metaphor and Religious Language (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985), 15.

124

Lakoff and Johnson, Metaphors We Live By, 5.

125

Erik Konsmo, The Pauline Metaphors of the Holy Spirit: The Intangible Spirit’s Tangible Presence in the Life of the Christian (New York: Peter Lang, 2010), 52–54 (in particular, p. 54).

126

Pragglejaz Group, “MIP: A method for identifying metaphorically used words in discourse,” Metaphor and Symbol 22, no. 1 (2007), https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327868ms2201_1. Quoted in Peter Richardson, Charles M. Mueller, and Stephen Pihlaja, Cognitive Linguistics and Religious Language: An Introduction (New York: Routledge, 2021), 30.

127

Gerard J. Steen et al., A Method for Linguistic Metaphor Identification: From MIP to MIPVU (Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing, 2010).

128

Richardson, Mueller, and Pihlaja, Cognitive Linguistics and Religious Language, 30.

129

Ben Pin-Yun Wang et al., “Linguistic Metaphor Identification in Chinese,” in Metaphor Identification in Multiple Languages: MIPVU around the World, ed. Susan Nacey et al. (Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2019), 263. In fact, the application of MIPVU to linguistic metaphor identification in the Chinese texts sampled from the Lancaster Corpus of Mandarin Chinese (LCMC) is largely smooth. See Xiaofei Lu and Ben Pin-Yun Wang, “Towards a Metaphor-annotated Corpus of Mandarin Chinese,” Language Resources and Evaluation 51, no. 1 (2017), https://doi.org/10.1007/s10579-017-9392-9.

130

For a detailed explanation of the term, see George A. Lakoff, “The Neural Theory of Metaphor,” in The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought, ed. Raymond W. Gibbs (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 17–38.

131

See, e.g., Lakoff and Johnson, Metaphors We Live By; Mark Johnson, Philosophical Perspectives on Metaphor (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1981); Lakoff, Women; George Lakoff and Mark Turner, More Than Cool Reason: A Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989); Eve E. Sweetser, From Etymology to Pragmatics: The Mind-As-Body Metaphor in Semantic Structure and Semantic Change (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990); Joseph Grady, “Foundations of Meaning: Primary Metaphors and Primary Scenes” (PhD diss., University of California at Berkeley, 1997).

132

Mary Therese DesCamp, Metaphor and Ideology: Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum and Literary Methods through a Cognitive Lens, Biblical Interpretation Series 87 (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 20.

133

Christopher Johnson, “Metaphor vs. Conflation in the Acquisition of Polysemy: The Case of See,” in Cultural, Psychological, and Typological Issues in Cognitive Linguistics, eds. Masako K. Hiraga, Chris Sinha, and Sherman Wilcox, Current Issues in Linguistic Theory (Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1997).

134

Joseph Grady, “A Typology of Motivation for Conceptual Metaphor: Correlation vs. Resemblance,” in Metaphor in Cognitive Linguistics: Selected Papers from the 5th International Cognitive Linguistics Conference, Amsterdam, 1997, eds. Raymond W. Gibbs and Gerard J. Steen (Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1999), 81.

135

Lakoff and Johnson list a short, representative list of primary metaphors. See George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, Philosophy in the Flesh: The Embodied Mind and Its Challenge to Western Thought (New York: Basic Books, 1999), 49–54. For a more comprehensive list, see Grady, “Foundations,” 281–99.

136

Grady, “Foundations,” 36.

137

Mark Johnson, “Philosophy’s Debt to Metaphor,” in The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought, ed. Raymond W. Gibbs (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 39–52.

138

Despite the Theory’s usefulness, there are some burning issues unexplained by this theory. For instance, in relation to Metaphor and Linguistic Variability, the issue of metaphor universality remains a hot topic of discussion. See Marianna Bolognesi and Ana Horvat Werkmann, The Metaphor Compass: Directions for Metaphor Research in Language, Cognition, Communication, and Creativity (Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2023), 2–3.

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Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium (Louvain: various imprints, 1903–)

Dao Feng: Jidujiao wenhua pinglun 道風：基督教文化評論 [Logos & Pneuma: Chinese Journal of Theology]

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Lin and Yin, Wushu Lin 林悟舒 and Yin Xiaoping 殷小平. Tangdai Jingjiao zai yanjiu (zengding ben) 唐代景教再研究（增订本）[New Reflections on Nestorianism of the Tang Dynasty (Enlarged Edition)]. Beijing: Shangwu yinshuaguan 商务印刷馆 [The Commercial Press], 2021

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Yong, Amos Yong. The Cosmic Breath: Spirit and Nature in the Christianity-Buddhism-Science Trialogue. Leiden: Brill, 2012

Zhongguo zongjiao 中国宗教 [China Religion]

Wu, Changxing Wu (or Chang Shing Wu) 吳昶興. Daqin Jingjiao liuxing Zhongguo bei: Daqin Jingjiao wenxian shiyi 大秦景教流行中国碑：大秦景教文献释义 [Daqing Jingjiao Liuxing Zhongguo Bei (The Xi’an Stele): Text Analysis with Commentaries on Documents of Daqin Jingjiao]. Xinbei: Ganlan chuban youxian gongsi 橄榄出版有限公司 [Oliver Publishing], 2015

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Science, Religion(s), and Spirit(s) in China

A Constructive Chinese Theology of Creation based on Jingjiao’s Qi-tological Theology, with A New Translation of the Entire Tang Jingjiao Corpus

Series: Theology and Mission in World Christianity, Volume: 43

Cover Science, Religion(s), and Spirit(s) in China

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004749573

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 03 Dec 2025

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- Theology and World Christianity

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Chapter 2 Background: Jingjiao, Religion, Science, Chinese Theology, Qi, and Metaphors

2.1 Jingjiao in the Tang Dynasty

2.1.1 Brief Overview of the Church of the East

2.1.2 Tang Jingjiao Corpus

2.1.3 A New English Translation

2.2 Tang Dynasty, Its Science, and Religions

2.2.1 Brief Overview of the Tang Dynasty

2.2.2 Chinese Religions

2.3 Science in the Chinese Context: Past and Present

2.4 Chinese Theology

2.5 Qi: Key Views in Ancient China until the Tang Dynasty

2.6 Metaphors: Definition and Identification

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Science, Religion(s), and Spirit(s) in China

A Constructive Chinese Theology of Creation based on Jingjiao’s Qi-tological Theology, with A New Translation of the Entire Tang Jingjiao Corpus

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