The Interpretation Of Chinese Liberal Christian Intellectuals On The Image Of Jesus's Saving The Nation During The Initial Period Of Anti-Japanese War(1931-1937)

This article mainly discusses how Chinese Liberal Christian intellectuals carry out various interpretations of Jesus' image of saving the nation in the early period of the Anti-Japanese War.The reason that these intellectuals are willing to do so lies in that they are genuinely concerned about the Anti-Japanese War and the salvation of Chinese people.All these interpretations start from the Bible.And the purpose of the interpretation is to find a way to save the nation.Although the starting point and purpose are similar,the images of Jesus in their construction of saving the nation are different.These different images of Jesus represent different ideas and behavior orientations of saving the country.In the early days of the Anti-Japanese War,China suffered from both internal and external troubles.And Christianity was also in crisis and affected by many public opinions.On the one hand,under the influence of the trend of the revival of Chinese nationhood,Christianity had an upsurge of saving the nation and forced Christianity to adapt to nationalism.On the other hand,because of the bad influence of the “non-resistance” policy,Christianity had to make a rational explanation to the traditional “pacifism”.Chinese liberal Christian intellectuals desperately needed to respond to the public opinions because of their anxiety about national disasters and their devotion to the Christian faith.They needed to solve the problem of how Christianity played its role in the survival of Chinese society,and how Christianity could achieve broader social identity in the context of China's national rejuvenation.On the viewpoints and methods of the above issues,Chinese liberal Christian intellectuals had different opinions and thus disagreed on the interpretation of Jesus,the core of the Christian faith.This article analyses the images of Jesus presented by Chinese liberal Christian intellectuals from three perspectives: the Savior of the nation,the revolutionaries in the fire,and the martyrs who sacrificed for the faith.From these three interpretations of the images of Jesus,it can be seen that the Chinese liberal Christian intellectuals rebuilt Jesus' revolutionary image and broke through Jesus' image of only love.The Jesus images constructed from these special situations in China reflect the enthusiasm of Chinese liberal Christian intellectuals for the Anti-Japanese War and the salvation of the nation.They are also manifestations of Christianity dealing with special situation in China and have strong Chinese characteristics.Under the guidance of these images of Jesus saving the nation,Chinese liberal Christian intellectuals put their national salvation awareness into practice and adopted various actions to save the country.The focus of these actions has gradually shifted with increasingly serious national calamity,and it has gradually changed the claim of non-violence national salvation into supporting revolutionary war.This change is a process in which Chinese liberal Christian intellectuals gradually determine the justice of the Anti-Japanese War during the struggle between beliefs and national calamity.It is also a process in which Jesus' image of Chinese interpretation is practiced in reality.Through the analysis of reference materials,we can see the great adaptability of Jesus' image and the possibility of being understood.We can also see that because of the different historical backgrounds and ideological atmospheres of believers,the expression forms of the belief objects they understand and present vary widely.