Author: CHU Xiaobai, Professor, Department of Chinese Language and Literature, East China Normal University.
Abstract:
Following the May Fourth New Culture Movement, liberal Chinese Christian intellectuals were keen to write their own "Life of Jesus." This article places the phenomenon in a global perspective and argues, based on the focus on the character of Jesus in Zhao Zichen and Wu Leichuan’s portrayals, that the reason for the boom in writings on "Life of Jesus" was a responsive effort to get rid of foreign missionary guardianship and to realize the cultural autonomy of Chinese believers. In these works, the Chinese authors drew their ideological resources from European liberal theology and Confucian moral traditions and reorganized them in the name of Christianity to portray Jesus as the savior of the nation. The Writings on "Life of Jesus" displayed the responses of liberal Christians to the central discourses of enlightenment and national salvation in the May Fourth and Anti-Christian Movements and revealed the complex relationship between their conformity to mainstream discourses and their application of traditional resources.
Keywords:
Life of Jesus, ZHAO Zichen, WU Leichuan, "Character, China’s Salvation"
Full Text (International Version):
Full Text (Simplified Chinese Version):
