Editor’s note: This month, in CP’s monthly podcast, we looked at some of the stumbling blocks that make it difficult for Chinese to accept Christianity. In this excerpt from the show, Ryan and Beth discuss Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism — and how Christianity radically diverges from these other philosophies.
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Syncretistic Religion
Beth: Christianity is a monotheistic religion which comes from another monotheistic religion – Judaism – which has a long history in the West. Unlike other religions, Christianity, which springs from the root of Judaism, is exclusive. It’s not a syncretistic religion.
I have noticed that a lot of times Chinese people really struggle with Christianity because it can’t be blended with another religion.
That’s not exclusive to China. I immediately think of Paul’s famous sermon in Athens. The Greeks had a statue to an unknown god. After Paul explained who Jesus was, they just wanted to add him to their pantheon of gods. On the one hand, they were right: there was a God they didn’t know about. But the thing they struggled with is the thing Chinese people are struggling with today, and most people throughout history have struggled with. The Lord God demands complete allegiance to him and to him alone.
China is very similar. Buddhism came to China from India many, many years ago, and Buddhism has been merged with Taoism and Confucianism. Confucianism and Taoism were religions – or philosophies – that were sort of homegrown, coming from Chinese philosophers at about the same time period. Once Buddhism came to China from India, Chinese people just added it to their pantheon of gods.
Ryan, growing up in China, you have a much deeper understanding than I do. How do Taoism and Confucianism work together? What are the differences? And how have they coexisted?
Taoism and Confucianism
Ryan: Taoism and Confucianism come from two different strands of thought.
Last year I read a book about Chinese philosophy, and it struck me how much of Chinese philosophy is not theological. It is very much a closed system, and religion is not a primary concern. That book was written from a more atheistic standpoint, and the author is basically saying that Chinese don’t really need religion, because we can find all the answers we need in philosophy – especially ancient Chinese philosophy. Therefore, religion is superstitious and unnecessary.
Now, I think you have to ask the right questions. There are questions the Bible answers that philosophy cannot. But although people look at Taoism and Confucianism almost as religions, they are actually just philosophies.
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In China, Taoist religion is more like folk religion: you pray to different spirits and gods to help you interact with spirits and demons and to chase away diseases. Taoism itself is very different.
Taoism believes in an “inactive” approach toward nature and the powers in our world. Both Taoism and Confucianism primarily want to achieve harmony: harmony with each other, with society, and with nature. Taoism says you achieve harmony through inaction, by being passive, letting nature and people run their course. Then, through time, there will be harmony.
Confucianism is a more active way to engage the world. Confucianism would say the world has a certain hierarchy which you need to maintain and protect. You need to know your place in society, and actively obey and work toward keeping that order in order to maintain hierarchy.
These two philosophies came from similar periods, but have a very different approach to looking at society and how to achieve harmony.
As a side tangent, in China there is a very different word for every single member of your family. The uncle on my mom’s side and the uncle on my dad’s side are different names, and the older uncle and the younger uncle will also have different names. Your older brother and older cousins have different titles than your younger brother and cousins. Just by saying how you are related, you immediately know your place in your family. That is a very Confucianist type of hierarchy: people fit into a certain place in society.
Just by seeing these names, you can understand that Confucianism eventually won out. Confucianism sets up a hierarchy in Chinese society: the emperor is at the top, officials and people are at the bottom. Status really enforced Chinese society’s hierarchy for thousands of years until the twentieth century.
So that is Confucianism and Taoism. How do monotheism and syncretism fit into this?
Christ Is King
Beth: Well, Confucianism and Taoism are really more philosophies than religions. So when Buddhism arrived around the first century after Christ along the Silk Road, it just slotted right in. Chinese people were able to continue: they had philosophy, a little bit of Taoist folk religion on the side, and they just brought Buddhism in and incorporated it.
But when Christianity arrived in China – and as we talked about last time, Christianity has arrived in China several times throughout history – Christianity did not work like that. Christianity cannot just be added to the list of gods and religions that work and have something helpful to offer society.
Instead, Christianity proclaims that Christ is king, and he demands full allegiance. For a lot of Chinese, this is a really big problem. In our first season of our podcast, we did a podcast on a woman who got in a lot of trouble and ended up going to jail because her church insisted on gathering without reporting to the government. They cannot bow to the government – or to the emperor, which would be the traditional Chinese way of putting it.
Christ is king. He is Lord, and he is the only one the church reports to. So Christianity is really, really different from Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. Christianity says: “This is the only way. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.”
How to Pray
Ryan, how can we pray about these things?
Ryan: There are distractions and stumbling blocks for sure – but there is still a hunger in China. Chinese philosophy is still very much a closed system. They don’t really talk about God that much. This is not a new thing that communism brought in, but even Chinese ancient philosophy doesn’t really care about the origin of human stories: where do we come from? What is the meaning of life? People seek those answers, and want to ask those questions.
I hope that people in China would become more curious, and see beyond material wealth, health, and status and begin to ask some of these deeper questions. So that is what I’m praying: that people will see beyond the material world, ask questions, and be curious.
Ryan moved from Guangzhou, China, to Ohio at the age of 12. He is the pastor for neighborhood ministries at New City Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, and also serves as the translation manager for China Partnership. E.F. Gregory is a mom of three. She lives in the San Gabriel Valley on the border of East Los Angeles, where her husband pastors a small PCA church.
Pray for Chinese to not rely on ancient philosophy, but to seek answers to life’s ultimate questions.
