An Observation On The Relationship Between Christianity And Chinese Society From The Perspective Of Tsu Chen Chao’s Theological Thought

At the beginning of the20th Century, a group of indigenous theologists were active on the stage of Christianity in China’s complex political and cultural environment. Most of them have received a good education both on traditional Chinese culture and on Western culture as well as Christian theology. Basing on Chinese social and cultural reality, Chinese theologists, represented by Tsu Chen Chao, interpreted Christianity from a Chinese perspective and strived to promote the integration of Christianity and Chinese culture for the purpose of developing "Chinese Systematic Theology" and building "Indigenous Churches" to find a way out for the Chinese churches in theology. Indelible contribution has been by them to the advancement of Christianity in modern China.At present, the discussion and research on Tsu Chen Chao by the academia of the West, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Mainland of China focused on the uniqueness of his thought and on its correlation with then China’s social reform and development as well as to the indigenization of theology, while the expounding and analysis of the role of Tsu Chen Chao and other theological scholars in reducing the tension between Christianity and Chinese society were rare. Given this, this article adopted the Religious Market Theory in Sociology of Religion and looked into the content of Tsu Chen Chao’s theological thought, the cause of its formation and the uniqueness of the indigenous churches in the perspective of the Tension Theory. Tsu Chen Chao’s theological thought made an indigenous explanation on the basic questions of theology like the God, Jesus Christ, Redemption and church for the Chinese to understand and accept them more easily. On one hand, Tsu Chen Chao’s theology, including his view on God, Christology, Soteriology and Ecclesiology in particular, was deeply affected by the ethical thought represented by Confucianism and traditional Chinese culture; on the other hand, it was still rooted in his faith of Jesus Christ and God. Therefore, the theologist contended that "Christianity, superior to Chinese culture in some sense, is a supplement to the defect of Chinese culture’s lacking of guiding principle. It has made the Chinese culture complete."Tension, an important concept using by Stark to develop the Religious Market Theory, is a key variable in measuring the relationship between religion and the society. Each religious group can be placed on a point in the tension axis in the X, Y-diagram forming by the group and the social and cultural environment surrounding it. As a crucial attempt to reduce the tension between Christianity and Chinese society, Tsu Chen Chao’s theological thought coordinated Christianity with the Chinese society. The idea of building "Chinese Indigenous Churches" was, therefore, brought up by Tsu Chen Chao to actualize the integration of Christianity and the Chinese culture through an injection of vitality and life by Christianity to the Chinese culture. He also stressed that a duly reform inside the religion was needed to readjust itself and adapt itself to the changing circumstances, changing Christianity from being treated strictly by the Chinese to being easily accepted. Churches like these are the "Indigenous Churches" that could best satisfy the Chinese people’s religious need, best tally with Chinese life and culture and improve responsibility of Chinese Christians the most.The problems, faced and thought by the generation of Chinese Christians, represented by Tsu Chen Chao, were of social and real-life significance and played a decisive role in the development direction for the future of Chinese Christianity. Although the relation between Christianity and Chinese society was coordinated and improved in recent years compared to the past, in reality, there are still many questions waiting to be solved, such as the high tension between Christian family churches and the government. Compared to the Chinese society in the20th Century, new changes, challenges, contradiction and cultural conflict have been emerging in the social environment nowadays. Tsu Chen Chao’s theological thought on Christianity had already provided a theoretical support and intellectual foundation for the innovation, integration of Christianity at that time. In spite of its unfulfillment due to various reasons, Tsu Chen Chao, as a Chinese Christian theology, has made great contribution to Chinese Christianity with his efforts which were of great guiding and real-life significance to deal with the difficulties and problems facing Chinese Christianity today.