Pre-Qin Confucian Texts And The Christian Bible: A Comparative Study

Christian and Confucian ethics have both similarities and differences. Even a thousand years ago, Confucianism had a role in the production and maintenance of ancient Chinese civilizations and societies, and by extension made a valuble contribution to the world.Christian gospel has likewise had a profound influence on its follower across the world, and throughout history.As literary and religious classics of China, Confucian texts and scriptures continue to be highly valued, their ideological appeal extending across the world. The Christian bible is likewise valued, holding great ethical and religious influence. Classical Christian and Confucian texts have their own characteristics, yet they remain similar in places. It may be said that Confucian texts are not religious in nature, concerning themselves largely with ethical and political philosophy, but they retain a few religious characteristics. The bible, on the other hand, is clearly regarded as a religious text, focusing as it does on the development of a monotheistic belief in the Lord Jesus as a redemptive messiah for all mankind. It nevertheless contains no small amount of ethical philosophy. More than this, both Confucian and Christian classics contain numerous passages that may be considered literary, as much as religious or philosophical.Currently, pre-Qin Confucian texts have a clear influence on Chinese legal and pedagogical philosophy. The Bible likewise continues to influence political, pedagogical and other streams of philosophy within Christian nations, and those with strongly Christian heritage. This paper focuses on the literary and philosophical characteristics of pre-Qin Confucianism, using the Bible to perform a comparative analysis. By appraising their similarities and differences, this paper promotes a mutual understanding and respect of cultural differences, and indeed similarities.This thesis study is not limited the literary, philosophical or ethical aspects, but is concerned with establishing the religious perspectives of classical texts. Although the Confucian classics are not customarily taken as religious texts, they nevertheless have religious characteristics, especially in the respect that they are concerned with rituals and ceremonies; Confucius (Kongzi) himself was particularly concerned with proper ritual decorum.Needless to say, the bible is a viewed as a fundamentally religious text, yet without recourse to theological perspectives and explanations, it is not possible to know the entirety of its original meaning. Thus, Confucian classics and the bible may be used for mutual comparison, allowing us to evaluate their positions as objectively as possible.This thesis will focus on the Lunyu (论语),Mengzi(孟子)and Xunzi(荀子) as representative pre-Qin Confucian works. It will use the Christian Bible to conduct comparative study and research. For the purposes of this study, I will focus on the Catholic bible, excluding all apocryphal scripture. I will, however, appeal to other Christian theological material, from both an orthodox and protestant perspective.The present study is divided into five (5) sections. The first is devoted to pre-Qin Confucian texts, the second to the Christian Bible, and the third to a critical comparison of the ideology of both. The fourth section will extend this comparison to the literary and artistic qualities of Confucian and Christian scriptures. The final section will draw forward the overall conclusions of the study. A more detailed description of each section is as follows:The pre-Qin Confucian section begins with a discussion of the historical background and formation of the texts under review. Following this, a brief introduction to exemplary the Confucian works is presented; the Lunyu(论语), Mengzi (孟子), and Xunzi (荀子) are discussed. These foundational texts are then compared in detail, with recourse to texts such as Xia Chuancai’sLunyu Readings of Interest (论语 趣读)to describe how and by what means these texts were created and propagated. The three classics chosen for this study were largely written following the death of the Sages, and were finished and recorded by their disciples. The Mengzi, for instance, was the collaborative work of Mengzi (Mencius) and his disciples, and continued to change as later generations of disciples grew and spread the text. The Lunyu was written approximately four hundred (400) years BCE, while the current standard edition remains the Zhang Houlun (张侯论). Indeed, the compilation date of the Mengzi remains unclear. As to the Xunzi, the Western Han Writings of Sun Qing (孙 卿书) compiled by Liu Xiang (刘向)is its earliest known source.The next section is devoted to the Christian Bible. It describes the major subjects of the Bible, its relation to older Jewish texts, and the history and content of the various sources the earliest authors (writers? compilers?) drew from. I review the earliest formation, and standardization history of the Bible as it comes to us. The Bible is primarily composed of two parts, the Old and New Testaments. Nevertheless, we must consider that despite its nominal separation into two parts, the Old and Testaments together must be considered together as forming a united whole.The third section is devoted to a comparative study of the Bible and Pre-Qin Confucian texts, especially their agreements and differences in ideology. In particular, I draw comparisons between the Confucian notion of tian (’heaven’;天) and the Christian God. This comparison is extended to the respective texts’notions of human nature, as well as the conceptions of Confucian renyi (’humane virtue’; 仁义) and Christian ’love’.Through these comparisons, we find that the early Confucian and Christian texts share significantly similar attitudes toward supernatural and miraculous phenomena. In the ’BenxingLun’, Pre-Qin Confucianism contends that humanity’s inherent wickedness gave rise to numerous national and social issues; indeed, resolving the issues laid out in these ancient texts remains a constant effort for us to this day. The text claims that the existence of, and solution to these problems rests in the same place-human nature. ’Humanity’ in the Bible is first addressed in the creation of Man by God. Following the creation, and separation from God, the Bible adheres to an inherently sinful vision of humanity. This ’sinful’ nature likewise produces individual sins, and in their accumulation, societal ills and other problems. In order to correct this situation, and redeem humanity, God himself is said to strive. From a pragmatic perspective, the most pressing issue facing human society is the problem of evil, and both Confucianism and Christianity have clear doctrinal explanations of its source and remedy. Mengzi believed that goodness could be cultivated, while Xunzi thought that through teaching and prevention, the sinful nature of humanity could be curbed and contained. As to the Bible, faith in the Lord, atonement and repentance, and living in accordance with God’s word will assure the return of humanity to the Lord’s side.The Confucian concept of Renyi, and the Christian one of ’love’ likewise have significant similarities and differences. Renyi is described primarily as embodied in loyalty to the ruler; it is fundamentally a hierarchical concept. In Christianity, ’love’ is framed both as the emancipatory, redeeming love of God for humanity, but also as the commandment of the Lord to love one another in a similar way. In sum, Confucian renyi is more socially and politically-grounded, while Christian ’love’ is more personal, or individually-focused, and more religious in nature.From the perspective of ethics, the Confucian texts are concerned primarily with the establishment of a virtuous political order; they further emphasize the importance of an absolute ethical framework, founded on fear of Heaven, gods and spirits. The Bible’s ethics are similarly absolute, based most importantly on the Ten Commandmants of God to the Israelites.The fourth section moves beyond formal philosophical analysis to provide a comparative literary criticism of the selected Confucian and Christian texts. Generally, this section will compare the patterns and attributes of the speeches and dialogues attributed directly to either Confucius (Kongzi), or Jesus. The debating strategies of Mencius (Mengzi) and the Apostle Paul are further compared. In addition, a review of the classical referents, proverbs and narrative strategies of the texts is undertaken.In pre-Qin Confucian texts, a conversational, dialogic or open-ended style predominates, while in the Bible, we see far more use of histories or codified knowledge, in order to produce a unified theology. The style of Confucian dialogues may be clearly shown in an analysis of the Lunyu, which presents the reader with realistic portrayals of critical thinkers, their disagreements and disaffections, indeed their own development of thoughts and ideas. All of these literary aspects may be though of as core stylistic attributes of Confucian dialogues. In the Mengzi, we see a more developed use of humour without the customary strong contention of positions (?). In the Xunzi, we find more detailed metaphorical explanations and demonstrations of the authors’ various positions. From these literary analyses, we may find that Confucius is indeed a model of moral etiquette, from whom we may still learn a great deal. Mengzi, on the other hand, may be looked to for political guidance, and for clear, humorous debate.Within the Biblical New Testament, the passages devoted to the preaching of the apostles also employ debate in their literary style. In particular, we might look to the passages describing Paul’s account (to the Jews?) of the resurrection and ascension of Christ, arguing for Christ-as-Messiah,as exemplary of Christian Biblical debate or rehetorical style. Indeed, the Lunyu and the Bible both contain numerous maxims and sayings that formed the basis for the literary and philosophical developments of their civilizations. With respect to the Bible in particular, we can see how historical narrative was framed as a vehicle through which God could make his meaning known to all humanity.In my concluding section, I summarize and organize the findings of the preceding sections, to illustrate the fundamental differences and similarities between the Confucian and Christian texts under study. I conclude that:Confucianism is predicated on the notion that the ills of human society stem from the sinful nature of humanity, that the remedy to both these ills may be found primarily by political means, cleaving to renyi and proper law and morality to correct humanity’s basic sinful tendencies. More than this, Confucianism would hold that by following the path of the Sages, we might properly define an ethical life and society. As to the Bible, I show how it encourages faith in the word of God, following the righteous path with heartfelt repentance, and promises a return to God’s side. In particular, the selection of the Israelites and the imposition of Ten Commandments is a clear codification of moral and religious standards, even as it allows for the promulgation communication of God’s love to all humanity.In the final analysis, Confucianism and its Classics are devoted primarily to the individual’s pursuit of a conscientious way of living, based in reverence and awe of the supreme Good, the perfection of Heaven. The Bible is more focused on emphasizing God’s role in the creation of humanity and the universe; belief in God itself is assumed on the part of the reader.