China, Christianity, and the Question of Culture

Yang Huilin is Professor of Comparative Literature and Religious Studies, and Vice-President of Renmin University of China. He is the author of many works, including Theological Hermeneutics: Word of God & Words of Man, and recently co-editor of Sino-Christian Studies in China (Cambridge, 2006). He resides in Beijing, China.

Foreword by David Lyle Jeffrey Part I: Christianity and Chinese Culture 1 Language and Missionary Universities in China 2 Three Questions in the Dialogue between Buddhism and Christianity 3 Inculturation or Contextualization: Interpretation of Christianity in the Context of Chinese Culture 4 ""Ethicized"" Chinese-Language Christianity and the Meaning of Christian Ethics 5 The Contemporary Significance of Theological Ethics: The True Problems Elicited by Auschwitz and the Cultural Revolution Part II: Theology and Humanities 6 The Value of Theology in Humanities: Possible Approaches to Sino-Christian Theology 7 The Potential Value of Contemporary Theology for Literary Theories 8 Six Problem Domains in Western Marxists' Theory on Religion 9 To Reverse Our Premise with the Perverse Core: A Response to ?AEi?xek's ""Theology"" in Chinese Context 10 From ""Difference"" to ""the Other"": A Theological Reading of Heidegger and Derrida Part III: Scriptural Reasoning 11 James Legge: Between Literature and Religion 12 The Possibilities and Values of ""Scriptural Reasoning"" between China and the West 13 Scriptural Reasoning and the Hermeneutical Circle 14 The Chinese Union Version of the Bible and Its Hermeneutical Analysis Notes Works Cited Details of Previous Publications

Yang's essays cover a remarkable range of thinking and one can only hope that, at a time when much of the scramble to establish links between Chinese and Western universities is unseemly, hasty and unattractive, this serious and intellectual voice is clearly heard and engaged with in both universities and beyond. -- David Jasper, Glasgow University -- Literature and Theology This is a significant book for Chinese academia that boldly interprets the Christian phenomena in a new way. It reverses the traditional bias against Christianity, and may in fact inaugurate a more open discussion about religion in general among Chinese in the future. Such profound insights touch upon the very nature of the Christian faith, and bear significance for all Christians, as well as nonbelievers, to rethink their relationship with Christianity. Altogether the book provides a valuable window for understanding Chinese Christianity. -- Liang Chuanshan, Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies -- Journal of Asia Adventist Seminary China, Christianity, and the Question of Culture is a brilliant book by a leading scholar, and deserves wide readership. -- G. Wright Doyle -- Church History and Religious Culture A vigorous and sophisticated cross-cultural discourse against the background of history, philosophy, religion, theology and hermeneutics -- Xiaoli Yang -- International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church An excellent collection of essays whose ideas should be the starting point for conversations in many disciplines. -- John R. Stanley -- Fides Et Historia Yang's work offers a refreshing and insightful commentary on Christianity in China, with its changing and growing intellectual engagement. -- Thomas Harvey -- Scottish Journal of Theology