Adventists for Tomorrow

admin

Administrator

Registered: 12-29-08

Posts: 116

China's True Spiritual Roots

My family and I have been living in Taiwan for a little more than a year now, and I feel that because I am here and most of this forum's posters are not in Asia, I can offer some unique perspectives on the Bible and theology.

We go to church at the Adventist hospital in Taipei, and the church is pastored by a nice chap from Australia. Last year, he spent four weeks going over a series having to do with China's true spiritual roots, a topic he spent a lot of time researching and a topic which was rather relevant to many of the congregation.

This thread will serve to show and discuss information dealing with China's true or original spiritual roots. It's rather fascinating on many levels. If you are a believer of the Bible, then you can see the amazing connections between the Hebrew religion of the Old Testament and ancient Chinese religions, specifically in its belief in one supreme God. If you are not a believer of the Bible, there are still interesting anthropological ideas to discover here.

If any of you already have knowledge of this subject, feel welcome to throw your hat in the ring. Otherwise, I'll simply publish information as I gain it. I don't promise consistent updates because I can promise that my reading and research will not be consistent. But, before I leave Asia next summer, I hope to have on this forum a nice body of research dealing with this topic.

If you wish to comment, also feel free to do so, but please keep your comments on the topic of Chinese, and specifically ancient Chinese, religion/traditions.

For those of you who are interested, here's a link to my church's site's page on The God of the Ancient Chinese (the title for my pastor's four-week long presentation). http://church.newlifecenter.tw/?cat=5. This site will be a good starting place.

Also, the title of this thread is taken from a pamphlet I found in our school's library. Scans of the pamphlet are also found on the above link.

Ryan

(Message edited by admin on November 03, 2009)

george

Member

Registered: 01-02-09

Posts: 270

Re: China's True Spiritual Roots

Ryan,
Years ago I read a book on the subject. It made a connection through Chinese writing. It was quite fascinating.
Thanks.

don

Member

Registered: 12-28-08

Posts: 1,121

Re: China's True Spiritual Roots

Ryan,

I have taken a quick look over the material and its documentation. It seems to be a very important initiative.

In the pamphlet you found, I especially find the time chart of interest.

(Message edited by Don on November 04, 2009)

elaine

Member

Registered: 12-28-08

Posts: 1,391

Re: China's True Spiritual Roots

From notes on Religions of the Axial Age, a set of lectures from the Teaching Company:

"Confucian thought, which emerged in China during the Axial age (ca. 800-200 B.C.E.), is a belief system founded not on a particular vision of the divine but, rather, on human potentiality. The central thrust of Confucian thought is practical, but its practical concerns are informed by a specific vision of the way human beings and society should be. Because he lived during a particularly brutal period in Chinese history he was most concerned with practical issues of individuals and relationships, three stand out: junzi (the 'gentleman' of noble character), ren (humanity), and li (ritual and propriety).

Confucius made humanity central to his teaching. For Confucius, cultivating ren involves following a version of the Golden Rule.

elaine

Member

Registered: 12-28-08

Posts: 1,391

Re: China's True Spiritual Roots

If one studies the Axial Age (Karen Armstrong's book, The Great Transformation  is a wonderful source of all the beginning religions from, 1600 B.C. t0 220 B.C., there is an abundance of information on all the religions that evolved during that period.

Some notable thoughts: "All the sages preached a spirituality of empathy and compasssion. Not only was it wrong to kill another human being; you must not even speak a hostile word or make an irritable gesture....All the great traditions that were created at this time are in agreement about the supreme importance of charity and benvolence, and this tells us something important about our humanity."

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Understanding the common denominators in all religions bring us back to the compasssion we demonstrate to our fellow humans; nothing more, nothing less.

Ryan

Administrator

From: Tennessee

Registered: 01-02-09

Posts: 54

Website

Re: China's True Spiritual Roots

Understanding the common denominators in all religions bring us back to the compasssion we demonstrate to our fellow humans; nothing more, nothing less.

I have to disagree.  The common denominators that you see bringing us back only to humanism, which is what I assume to be a good container term for your quote above, go much farther back.  Confucius and the belief system that grew up around him isn't the spiritual root of China; at most, it's a branch which I'm starting to believe is diseased.  I'm interested in the beginning of Chinese culture and the spiritual belief system around Shang-Di that is historically documented as existing around 2300 BC.  Why stop with Confucius?