Jingjiao

Background

Jingjiao was the Chinese name for the Christianity brought to Tang China by the Church of the East, which was centered in Persia (roughly present-day Iran). The character jing (景) means "light" or "brightness."

The theological tradition of this church is associated with Nestorius, patriarch of Constantinople. Nestorius maintained that the divine nature (his nature as God) and the human nature (his nature as man) in Jesus Christ must be clearly distinguished. He was subsequently condemned (officially judged to have taught error) at the Council of Ephesus in 431. The churches that followed this tradition became established in Persia and carried out missions eastward along the Silk Road. Although they are commonly called "Nestorian," this was not a name the church gave itself, and many scholars therefore prefer the term "Church of the East."

History

• 635 (ninth year of the Zhenguan era under Emperor Taizong): The missionary Alopen (阿羅本) and his companions arrived in the Tang capital, Chang'an (present-day Xi'an). Emperor Taizong sent his chief minister Fang Xuanling to receive them and had the scriptures they had brought translated.
• 638 (twelfth year of Zhenguan): An imperial edict from Taizong permitted missionary work. A monastery staffed by twenty-one monks was built in Chang'an; it was at first called the Bosi Si (波斯寺, "Persian Monastery"). It was later renamed the Daqin Monastery, after Daqin (大秦), a Chinese name for Rome.
• Reign of Emperor Gaozong: Alopen is said to have been honored with the title "Great Dharma Lord, Guardian of the Realm," and Jingjiao monasteries were reportedly founded in various provinces.
• 781 (second year of the Jianzhong era under Emperor Dezong): With the patronage of Yisi (伊斯), the Stele of the Propagation of the Luminous Religion of Daqin in China was erected at the Daqin Monastery in Chang'an. Jingjing (景淨) composed its inscription, which recorded in Classical Chinese the teachings of Jingjiao and its history in China since 635. The names of some seventy monks were inscribed in Syriac script.
• Huichang era (841–846): Emperor Wuzong, a devotee of Daoism, suppressed foreign religions (the Huichang Persecution of Buddhism), and many Daqin monasteries were destroyed. The stele appears to have been buried around this time.

Outcome and Influence

Thereafter Jingjiao all but disappeared from China proper. However, the friar William of Rubruck, who visited the Mongol Empire in the thirteenth century, recorded that Nestorian churches existed in a number of Chinese cities.

The stele was unearthed in the 1620s, late in the Ming dynasty (traditionally dated to 1623), and in 1907 it was moved to the Beilin (Forest of Steles) Museum in Xi'an. As one of the oldest records attesting to the arrival of Christianity in East Asia, it is an important source for the study of the history of the church in China.

Some have suggested that Jingjiao may also have reached Silla, citing cross-shaped artifacts and other finds from the Gyeongju area. However, no documentary evidence supports this, and the idea remains conjecture.

Assessment

• Missionary method: Jingjiao is regarded as the first attempt to proclaim the gospel in the local language, having obtained imperial permission and translated its scriptures into Classical Chinese.
• Syncretism debate: Some criticize Jingjiao for borrowing so heavily from Buddhist and Daoist terminology and forms that the distinctive Christian message was obscured. Others view it as an example of inculturation, an effort to take root by adapting to the surrounding culture. It is frequently cited in Korean churches in discussions of indigenization theology and missionary method.
• Limitations: Many conclude that because it depended heavily on imperial protection, it declined rapidly once imperial policy changed.
• Theology: The Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and most Protestant denominations accept the Christology of the Council of Ephesus and the Council of Chalcedon. Scholars nonetheless debate whether the actual teaching of the Church of the East was the same as what was condemned.