The Study Of Chinese Christian Socialism From The Perspective Of Liberation Theology

Chinese Christian Socialism and Latin American Liberation Theology are two types of Christian Socialism and have many common concerns.The theory and practice of Chinese Christian Socialism were mainly developed from the beginning of the 20's century to 1960's.Liberation Theology was basically formed at the end of 1960's and was marked by the publishing of Gutierrez's Liberation Theology.The purpose of this dissertation is to argue whether China has already had its own Liberation Theology prior to Latin America.The first chapter focused on the evolution of Christian Socialism.From Torah to The Prophets,the Old Testament was full of mercy for the poor and exaltation for the justice.It even anticipated the Socialist ideas of equality and distribution according to one's performance.From the four gospels to Paul's Epistles,the New Testament was also filled with early Socialist thoughts on employment,property and democracy.Early Church Fathers,no matter Western or Eastern,held on to Biblical preference for the poor.Augustine even promoted primitive Communism in daily life.Aquinas's interpretation on property,wealth,distribution of income as well as price had the characteristics of modern Socialist society.Thomas More published Utopia in the 16's century when Europe was still immersed in Christian atmosphere.He set up the tradition of Utopian Socialism which was first stage of the entire Socialist theory and practice.Thomas Munzter started the real history of Christian Socialism in the 16's century as well although he adopted violent revolution and the name of Christian Socialism has not come out yet.Jacob Hutter who was an Anabaptist like Munzter,inherited selectively the Christian Socialist tradition created by him but transformed it into non-violent form.It was later spread to North America and preserved as the Hutterites and the Menonnites until today.Jean Jacques Rousseau and Henri de Saint-Simon further developed the theories related to Socialism and established the foundations for the ultimate birth of the concept of Christian Socialism.The name of Christian Socialism was eventually given by British priests Kingsley and Maurice who founded the Christian Socialism for the improvement of Capitalism.Similarly in the 19th century the other two types of Christian Socialism,one for the lower class people and the other for monks,could also be found.The second chapter introduced the historical and modern context for LiberationTheology and the basic views of the Father of Liberation Theology Gutierrez and the Argentine Liberation Theologian Bonino.The relationship between Liberation Theology and Christian Socialism was also recalled.Liberation Theology was launched by Catholics as a kind of Christian Socialism and it influenced Protestants as well.It supported earthly justice among the people elected by God and concentrated on the experience and efforts of the poor who fought for liberation.Liberation Theologians expected a theology which could be put into the practice for liberation,thus introduced the social and economic theories of Marxism as the tool for analysis along with the theological reflection.There existed the tradition of Jesus as the Liberator throughout Christian History although new meanings had been constantly reinterpreted.It encouraged the human struggle for liberation.The European Christian Socialism deeply affected Liberation Theology and the latter also provided nutrition for the former.The impact of Christian Socialism could also be seen in European Party Politics and this was described in the last part of the second Chapter.The third chapter looked into Chinese Christian Socialism from the perspective of Liberation Theology,compared the Christian history of both China and Latin American and presented the evolution of Chinese Christian Socialism and its key figures.Chinese Christian Socialism was originated in the first half of the 20th century.It was an indigenized Christian Socialism which absorbed Marxian Socialism and Christian Socialism for the improvement of Capitalism,and adopted the discourse system of Confucianism.Its key figures in early stage included Shen Sizhuang and Zhang Shizhang.Later representatives like Zhu Weizhu,Wu Leichuang and Wu Yaozong all made theoretic contribution to the development of Chinese Christian Socialism.The fourth chapter attached more importance to the common concerns of the two types of Christian Socialism,which included the Christian Revolutionary consciousness,the relationship between Christians and Politics,the cooperation between Christians and Marxists,the church of the people,socialist transformation,class struggle,religious criticism,humanist views etc.The difference of the above two in these shared areas such as the way of expression,the path,levels of degree and chronological order was also pointed out.This chapter also indicated the reasons for the existence of similarities and distinctiveness.Finally,it was concluded that China had developed its indigenized Christian Socialism prior to Latin America which was in fact a predating of Liberation Theology.