Toward a Chinese Christian ethic: Individual, community and society

While continuing to enjoy an improved standard of living and increasing freedom brought about by the "reform and openness," Chinese people experience many social problems, including moral decline in society. Largely due to the influence of Protestant fundamentalist theology and the previous socio-political situation, the ethic adopted by many Chinese Christians is individually focused and otherworldly, hindering them and the church from participating in society and contributing to its improvement. This study attempts to construct a contextualized Christian ethic to help Chinese Christians develop a more socially focused and this-worldly ethical approach. The construction of this ethic draws on Christian virtue ethics, Confucianism and Chinese Marxism, and the ethical thought of the first generation of Chinese Protestant thinkers. This ethic aims to assist both individual Christians and the church as a whole to more effectively and constructively participate in Chinese society and to contribute to a renewed emphasis on moral life in the community.; This dissertation particularly addresses the ethical issue of the relationship between the individual, community and society and argues that properly handling this relationship is conducive to the enhancement of social morality, especially to the growth of a sense of chengxin (honesty and credibility) in Chinese society. This relationship, based upon the theory of character formation in Christian virtue ethics, Confucian moral self-cultivation, Chinese Marxist collectivism, and the understandings of T. C. Chao and Y. T. Wu regarding the Christian role in society, is understood as interdependent and mutually promotive. This dissertation further argues that love, reflected in these sources as well as the work of K. H. Ting, can serve as an effective Chinese Christian ethical approach to the handling of this relationship. It concludes that the church's care for migrant workers, contribution to the moral discourse in China to build a harmonious society, and inter-religious work to explore the positive role that religion can play in Chinese society can be examples of living into a healthy relationship between the individual, community and society.