On April 6, 2017, the Teacher Forum on the Sinicization of Christianity, co-held by Guangzhou CCC & TSPM and Guangzhou Christian Historical and Cultural Center, kicked off in Tianhe Church, the largest church in Guangzhou. The pastoral staff of the city attended the ceremony.
The church in Guangzhou plans to invite experts and scholars from institutions such as the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University and Nanjing Union Theological Seminary to give weekly topic lectures this April. The forum represents an effort to promote the process of sinicizing Christianity.
Dr. Shi Hengtan, a researcher at the Institute of World Religions of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, gave the first lecture entitled "The Future of Christianity and Sinicization" the same day. He explained the development of the integration of Christianity and Chinese culture through the comparison of Chinese traditional culture and Christian culture, the impact missionaries had on Christian culture at different times of Chinese history and the status quo and future of the sinicization of Christianity.
What's more, the scholar presented an introduction to filial piety in the perspectives of the Analects and the Bible and timing in Confucianism, the Analects and the Bible. Shi once led a class of 14 people studying the Analects and the Bible side by side in Beijing in 2012. Students read the text in the Analects and Shi quoted and explained a verse from the Bible, which has similar meaning to the text. He did this to help Christians learn about traditional Chinese culture.
Translated by Karen Luo
