Chinese Christianity: expressing faith in the form of culture with Chinese characteristics
2022-05-19
In recent years, Chinese Christianity has consciously rooted in the fertile soil of Chinese culture, worked hard to form a Chinese expression of Christian belief, and integrated Chinese traditional cultural elements into church etiquette and sacred music, so as to make it contain the spiritual temperament of the Chinese nation and reflect Chinese characteristics. Shandong Christianity: infiltrating with excellent traditional culture and deepening the Sinicization "Select appropriate tablecloths, tea favours, tea utensils, refreshments, soft lights, and accompanied by Chinese silk and bamboo music. Under the leadership of the host, the participants walked according to the ceremony, drank seven bowls of tea, sang and read the seven bowls of tea poems written by the ancients, and read the Scriptures." Pastor Gao Ming, vice president of China Christian Association and chairman of Shandong Christian three self Patriotic Movement Committee, described the ritual procedure of tea fellowship. The two churches of Shandong Province welcome the "Qingxin tea party" in the Spring Festival in 2021. Tea culture has distinct characteristics of Chinese traditional culture. In recent years, the two Christian churches in Shandong Province have taken tea culture as the carrier and infiltrated excellent traditional culture to deepen the Sinicization. "According to the tenderness of three kinds of green tea, xiaochuge, Longjing and Biluochun, on the basis of controlling the proportion of tea, water temperature and brewing time, the methods of down, medium and up investment and the water injection method of trickle and high flushing are adopted respectively, which not only makes the tea taste the best, but also increases the beauty in the brewing process." From April 1 to 2, the two churches of Shandong Province held a theological thought construction seminar with the theme of "taking tea culture as the carrier to promote the process of Christianity in China". Tea artists explained the professional knowledge of green tea and demonstrated the brewing methods for the participants. In August 2016, the two churches of Shandong Province held a tea ministry exchange meeting, which made it clear that the traditional Chinese tea culture was integrated into church etiquette, as an important exploration of the practice of Sinicization of Christianity in Shandong Province. "Christian tea culture construction seminar", "tea ministry exchange meeting", "Qingxin tea party", "beneficial tea party", "tea culture interest group", "theme tea party" Celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of new China "... Now, the two Christian churches in Shandong Province have carried out tea culture activities on a regular basis and steadily promoted the Sinicization of Christianity at the cultural level. "Tea culture can become an entry point and a new attempt for the practice and exploration of the Sinicization of Christianity. Through the construction of tea culture, the expression of Christian faith has more Chinese characteristics, is more suitable for Chinese thinking, and is easier to be understood and recognized by Chinese society." In the view of pastor Gao Ming, the integration of tea culture into theological thought construction and the construction of Christian tea culture is a specific practice to promote the Sinicization of Christianity. Carrying forward Chinese culture and striving to integrate with Chinese culture, the two churches in Shandong Province are trying to explore. In November 2017, Shandong two churches calligraphy and painting art center was established. The center promotes excellent traditional Chinese culture into religious venues, and widely carries out calligraphy and painting training, famous experts' guidance, famous products exhibition, foreign exchange and other activities, so as to improve the creative level and appreciation level of calligraphy and painting lovers in the Christian community. In November 2021, the calligraphy and painting interest group of Shandong Theological Seminary held a pen meeting. In the simple and elegant Guzheng music, the members of the calligraphy and painting group carried out on-site calligraphy and painting creation and exchange under the guidance of two calligraphy teachers, and realized the broad, profound and infinite charm of Chinese excellent traditional culture in the thick fragrance of ink. The calligraphy and painting interest group of Shandong Theological Seminary held a pen meeting. The story map of the Bible drawn with traditional Chinese techniques and Chinese characters is lifelike; Christian Classics copied in small block letters, with a total length of 22 meters and neat and dignified Fonts... At the calligraphy and painting exhibitions held by the calligraphy and painting art center of the two churches of Christianity in Shandong Province, these works infiltrating Chinese traditional culture show the practice of Christian Sinicization by pastoralists at the cultural level. "The two Christian Associations in Shandong Province strive to give full play to their unique advantages as the birthplace of Confucian culture and accept the infiltration of Chinese excellent traditional culture in many ways and in-depth. We should further promote the Sinicization of Christianity in the process of inheriting and carrying forward Chinese excellent traditional culture." Pastor Gao Ming said that traditional Chinese music, calligraphy, painting, paper cutting, couplets and other art forms should be used to enrich the Chinese expression of Christian faith and constantly improve the breadth and depth of the Chinese transformation of Christianity. In December 2017, the two churches of Shandong Province established a special committee on holy music ministry and church etiquette, which aims to adhere to the direction of Christian sinicization, create Chinese hymns and rituals, and guide Christians to express their religious beliefs in the situation of Chinese culture. Flute Ensemble and solo, guzheng, Hulusi, Pipa and erhu performance, three string singing, singing "me and my motherland", "I love you, China", "ah! China's land" and "the grapes of Turpan are ripe"... In September 2019, the special committee for Sacred Music Ministry and church etiquette of Shandong two churches held a folk music concert to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of new China in the chapel of Shandong Theological Seminary. Folk musicians and lovers from churches all over Shandong gathered together to express their love for Chinese traditional culture and good wishes for the motherland. "This concert not only showed the achievements of the special committee in promoting the Sinicization of Christianity, but also stimulated the enthusiasm of Christians in Shandong for patriotism and religion." Pastor LV Zhaoshi, director of the Special Committee on holy music ministry and church etiquette of the two churches in Shandong Province, said. "Learn from time to time". Liu Lili of the Sinology research interest group of Shandong Theological Seminary led the students to carry out weekly reading activities between the Analects of Confucius and other Sinology classics and the Bible. Liu Lili led the students to read the Analects of Confucius as a political chapter, explain the words and vernacular translation, and further interpret the content of this classic in combination with the historical and cultural background, so as to inspire the students to understand the reason and significance of Confucius' advocating "rule of virtue" at that time. The Sinology research interest group aims to consolidate the Sinology foundation and excellent traditional culture foundation of theological seminary students. "The refined expression and superb writing skills in ancient Chinese prose are very worth learning. When reading the Analects, you can deeply feel the beauty of Chinese characters, rhythm and artistic conception. The ideological content of the Analects is broad and profound and has strong appeal." The students said that as the future pastor of the Chinese Church, we should learn and inherit the excellent traditional Chinese culture, cultivate self-cultivation, and constantly improve our comprehensive quality and service ability. At the "Chinese traditional culture learning competition" held by Shandong Theological Seminary, Reverend Li Hongyu, executive vice president of Shandong Theological Seminary, introduced the learning and love of the older generation of theologians Zhao Zichen and Xie Fuya for Chinese traditional culture, emphasizing that missionaries in the new era should not only master Christian knowledge, but also pay attention to learning and carrying forward Chinese excellent traditional culture. Be careful in the end and pursue the far, and cherish the memory of the heroes. On March 30, 2021, the two churches in Shandong Province organized more than 70 members of the resident team, teaching staff, Theological Seminary teachers and first-year undergraduate students to visit the revolutionary martyrs' cemetery in hero mountain, Jinan, on the premise of doing a good job in the prevention of the COVID-19. The monument of revolutionary martyrs stands towering and looks particularly solemn in the sunshine. In the heroic mountain covered by green pines and cypresses, pastoral colleagues, teachers and students are full of respect and deeply cherish the great achievements of revolutionary martyrs. "Tomb Sweeping Day is a traditional festival in China. It is the unique emotional sustenance of the Chinese people and a way to inherit national civilization. Sweeping tombs and commemorating and remembering revolutionary martyrs during the Tomb Sweeping Day show that Chinese Christians respect traditional festivals and revolutionary martyrs." Said Reverend Gao Ming. Hefei Christian Church Saint patriotic Orchestra: deeply cultivate Chinese traditional music and make unremitting efforts in the Sinicization of Saint music Guanzi is a traditional Chinese national musical instrument. Its volume is large, its timbre is loud, bright, rough and simple, and is full of strong local flavor. It is mainly popular among Chinese people. However, for a long time, because the whistle piece used in the pipe is made of reed, it is not only difficult to find the material, but also easy to be damaged due to various production processes. In addition, it takes a lot of effort to adjust the whistle before playing. It is difficult to control the pitch and have a good timbre. It is not easy for ordinary people to blow the pipe well. This brings great difficulty to many pipe lovers and professional performers, and also discourages many people who want to learn pipe. This is why it is difficult for people to find its trace at ordinary times. In order to solve the above problems, "a manufacturing method of pipe whistle" came into being, and obtained the utility model patent certificate issued by the State Intellectual Property Office in 2018. Surprisingly, this patent was written by a priest. He is pastor Xue Lianxi, President of Anhui Christian Association, director of Hefei Christian Church and founder of Hefei Christian Church Saint patriotic orchestra. The saint patriotic Orchestra of Hefei Christian Church was founded in 1994. When it was first built, it was composed of more than 10 people, basically non professional Christians who love national music very much. After nearly 30 years of development, the orchestra now has more than 40 formal members, including more than 10 kinds of musical instruments such as Erhu, flute, pipa, dulcimer, guzheng, suona, harmonica, accordion, three string, cello, bass, Violin and percussion. Among the performers, there are senior professional talents from Provincial Art Colleges and universities and song and dance troupes. Hefei Christian Church Saint patriot orchestra. As the initiator, pastor Xue Lianxi has participated in the regular rehearsal every Monday night for decades, devoting himself to studying ways to improve the overall level of the band. Mr. Sun Huai, director of the art practice center of the school of art and media of Anhui University and Anhui Banhu performer, has enjoyed this for many years, carefully adjusted and taught, not only carefully composed music, but also conducted the whole process. Head Tao Ping and all the members trained hard. With their strong interest in folk music, they turned a band with "five tone incompleteness" into a band close to professional level, created a new model of introducing Chinese folk music into Christian etiquette, and wrote a new chapter in the Sinicization of Hefei church. In December 2018, the CPPCC National Committee on nationalities and religions held a consultation forum on the theme of "the practice path of adhering to the direction of China's religious Sinicization in the new era", pastor Xue Lianxi introduced the practice of the Sinicization of Christianity in Hefei. He said that the saint patriotic Orchestra of Hefei Christian Church has made unremitting efforts in the Sinicization of sacred music. Since 1992, it has begun to explore the introduction of more than 10 kinds of national musical instruments such as Erhu, flute, pipa, dulcimer, zither and suona into praise music, and officially established the saint patriotic Orchestra in 1994. Over the past 20 years, the orchestra has always adhered to the fine and professional level of attracting business and engraved feathers and the praise method of bamboo and bullet silk, deeply cultivated Chinese traditional music, skillfully integrated Chinese national instruments with Western instruments, and created and adapted more than 30 representative songs such as "I love the church song of China". In 2010, the saint patriotic orchestra was invited to participate in the music performance of the two churches in Hangzhou to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the launch of the three self patriotic movement of Christianity in China. "I didn't expect you to interpret a simple hymn so richly and vividly." A live audience said to pastor Xue Lianxi with emotion. In August 2014, the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Christian Sanle patriotic movement was held in Shanghai. When members of the orchestra dressed in traditional Chinese costumes perform with dulcimer, flute, erhu, Pipa and other national instruments and Western instruments such as Cello and triangle iron, they are carefully "folk music"
Edit：Yuanqi Tang Responsible editor：Xiao Yu
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