2019 Conference on Qilu Culture and Sinofication of Religion Held in Shandong

On November 22, 2019, the Conference on "Qilu Culture and Sinofication of Religion" was held in Ji'nan, Shandong province.

According to China Christian Council & Three-Self Patriotic Movement (CCC&TSPM), the more than 50 participants including 15 church leaders and other professors and scholars attended the seminar co-hosted by Shandong CC&TSPM and the Modern Religion Research Institute of Shandong Academy of Social Sciences. 

Rev. Gao Ming, chairman of Shandong TSPM, shared the significance of continuing on with the direction of sinicizition of China's religions from the perspectives of politics, culture, and history. He said that "Qilu (or Shandong) Theological Research Center" founded by Shandong CC&TSPM in 2017 guides pastoral workers and faculty and students of Shandong Theological Seminary to eliminate the negative impacts of western thought and establish a Qilu theological system. To help people learn traditional Chinese culture, a Chinese painting and calligraphy center and a tea center were set up. Courses on Chinese culture and calligraphy were opened in Shandong Theological Seminary. Trips to Confucius' hometown of Qufu were also organized. 

Dr. Li Hongyu, vice-president of Shandong Theological Seminary, pointed out that the Chinese church had promoted the sinicization of Christianity in the aspects of language and worship, but failed to achieve it at the overall level. The Chinese Christian community should express its faith in a culturally Chinese way and build Chinese theology with cultural, theoretical, and theological confidence.