SHORT HISTORY of CHRISTIANITY in CHINA Nestorian Faith (400's-500's) The Nestorian faith broke off from the mainstream

Christianity in 428 A.D. and began to spread eastward from Rome. Through Syria and Persia, the Nestorian faith reached Xinjiang of China between the 5 th and the 6th century. The Chinese referred to the Nestorian faith as the Jinjiao, the Persian faith or the Nishike faith. During Emperor Tang Taizhong's reign (635 A.D.), estorian Monk Olopen arrived at Changan, and was greeted by Taizhong with respect. Taizhong sent his prime minister Fang Yuanling to welcome Olopen, who was then invited to the Emperor's personal library to translate scripture. Olopen became a regular guest inside the palace of Taizhong. In 638 A.D. Taizhong ordered to build a church for Olopen, known as the Persian Temple or the DaiQin Temple, and allowed him to preach freely. When Gaozhong became emperor, he awarded Olopen the title of the National Priest. Jinjiao Churches popped up everywhere in China. Being a Buddhist, Empress Wu's persecuted Jinjiao during her reign. After Empress Wu lost power, Emperor Xuan Zhong reestablished Jinjiao and placed the portraits of Gao Zu, Tai Zhong, Gao Zhong, Zhong Zhong, and Juan Zhong in the DaiQin Temple. When Emperor Wu Zhong banned Buddhism in China, Jinjiao was also affected and eventually disappeared from China. However, along the south-east coast of China, there were still a lot of Jinjiao followers at the end of Tang Dynasty. Jinjiao's activities on north-west China persisted until the Song Dynasty. During the Yuan Dynasty, the Nestorian faith was reintroduced into China, building a church in Beijing (known as Dadu then) in 1275. Jinjiao follower could be found everywhere in Chuanzhou, Yangzhou, Hanzhou, Qunming, and Gangsu. By the time Emperor Yuan Zhisun took power (1330), there were more than 30,000 followers. Yalikewen Faith (1275 A.D.) Catholicism and the Nestorian faith that was reintroduced into China during the Yuan Dynasty were all known as the Yalikewen Faith. Both of these religions pay respect to the Holy Cross and were called the 'Ten Religion' (Chinese's letter for the number ten resembles a cross). The Nestorian and Catholic churches are called the 'Ten Churchs'. The Mongolian word Yalikewen means the Lucky Ones, and was used to refer to missionaries in China. The Nestorian faith disappeared from China after the Tang Dynasty following Emperor Wu Zhong's ban on Buddhism, which affected the Nestorian faith also. After the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, the Nestorian faith re-surged. Around 1275, Nestorian churches popped up everywhere in Dadu, Hangzhou, Xian, Gangsu, Ningxia, Zhengjiang, and Chuanzhou. At one point, a lot of nobles and high-ranking officials adopted the Nestorian faith, and they allowed followers to enjoy the rights of tax exemption and draft evasion. The number of Nestorian followers exceeded 30,000 by the 14 th century. The religion spread as far as Tibet and Mongolia. In 1289, Pope Nicholas IV sent Giovani da Montecorvino (1247-1328) to China as a missionary, who preached in China for more than 34 years. During this period, a number of missionaries from the Franciscan Order came to China. Despite the rejection from the Nestorian followers, Catholicism grew rapidly. Montecorvino was made the Bishop of Dadu in 1307. In 1313, Chuanzhou of Fujian was made a Bishop district. The Yuan administration appointed officials to be in charge of the Yalikewen Faith in 1289. After the Yuan Dynasty was brought to an end by the Ming Dynasty, the Yalikewen Faith slowly disappeared in China. Nanjing Missionary Case (1616 A.D.) The conflicts between Chinese customs (like Confucianism and ancestor worship) and the Catholic doctrine led to one of the biggest confrontations between the Ch nese government and the Catholic movement. In the 44th year of Emperor Wenli (1616 A.D., Ming Dynasty), a high ranking official in Nanjing, called Shen Huai, advised the Emperor repeatedly that Catholicism should be banned for the following reasons. 1) Western missionaries were spies, 2) Catholicism taught Chinese not to respect parents and worship ancestors, 3) Western missionaries stole proprietary Chinese knowledge, 4) Catholicism practiced weird customs like Chrismation, baptism and allowed male and female followers to study in the same room (forbidden by the conservative Chinese society). Anti-Catholic officials second the motion, while Catholic officials like Xu Guangqi opposed. Shen Huai arrested dozens of missionaries in Nanjing, on July 21 and August 14 and questioned them relentlessly. Urged by the Anti-Catholic movement, Emperor Wenli passed

a law on December 28, deporting all foreign missionaries back to their homeland. Missionaries like Didaco de Pantoja, were deported to Guangzhou and many were sentenced. JiaDing Christian Conference (1628) During the first year of Emperor Songzhen's reign (1628) in the Ming Dynasty, the Chinese Christian Missionary held a meeting in JiaDing of Jiangsu. Besides the nine or ten missionaries who attended the meeting, there were a few Chinese followers like Xu Guangqi, Li Zhizao, Yang Dingjun, and Sun Yuanhua. Thirty issues were brought up in the meeting, mostly regarding terminology, and the Chinese practices of ancestor worship and Confucianism. Matteo Ricci's approach was to adopt Confucius practice and terminology into Christianity, for example, referring to God as TianZhu (the Ruler of Heaven), Tian (Heaven), or Shangdi etc. After Riccis death, there was a dispute between missionaries like Niccolo Longobardi and the Chinese followers (with the support of some missionaries). Longobardi believed that terms like 'Tian' and 'Shangdi' cannot represent God and should thus be abolished. He urged that only Latin terminology should be used. After the meeting, it was concluded that Matteo Riccis approach was to be continued, and that Chinese practice of ancestor worship and Confucianism were to be accepted. On the other hand, they also agreed with Longobardi not to use 'Tian' and 'Shangdi' in place of God. Unfortunately, this meeting did not settle the issue. Another meeting was held in 1633, in which it was agreed to revert back to the original terminology and practices that the Chinese were accustomed to. Emperor Yong Zheng Banned Catholicism (1722) During Emperor Kang Xi's reign, he tried to ban Catholicism but wasn't successful at all. In December of 1722, Yong Zheng became the third Emperor of the Qing Dynasty. He immediately initiated a large-scale movement of deporting missionaries in China. In the beginning of 1723, the Catholic missionary of Fujian asked followers to repair the church building and received criticisms from the public. A judge of Fujian, Fu Zhi paid a personal visit to the church, banning the reconstruction and was confronted by the angry Catholic followers. In June of the same year, the Governor of Fujian ordered Fujian's missionary to be deported to Macao. Judge Huang Guocai and the Governor of Fujian, reported the incident to Emperor Yong Zheng and requested him to instate a law of deporting all missionaries from China. On November 7 th, the second year of Yong Zheng's reign, he passed a law deporting all missionaries. Most of the missionaries were forced to leave China for Macao, and a lot of churches were modified to become town halls, schools or warehouses. Some were even torn down. Followers were banned from becoming Catholics again. During this period, Catholicism was outlawed in China. In 1729, Emperor Yong Zheng ordered to track down all missionaries who were still hiding in China. There were only about 20 missionaries who were allowed to stay, but they were not allowed to preach in China. The ban on Catholicism showed a continued conflict between the old Chinese customs (Confucianism and ancestor worship) and the new Christian movement. When asked to be nice to the Catholics, Emperor Yong Zheng once replied, 'You (Catholics) wish that all the Chinese would become Catholics. I do understand this is your dogma. But let's consider what will happen to us. Do we not all become the subjects of your Pope? My people will listen to you instead, if we are under attack (by the West).' Traditionally, Chinese were taught to respect their parents, elders (or ancestors) and be loyal to the king. The concept of aking the Chinese to be loyal to the Pope did not sit well with Yong Zheng and/or the Qing Dynasty. Sunu Case (1724) Sunu, a member of the royal family tried to crown Emperor Kang Xi's eighth son, Yun Yi (Yong Zheng's brother) king after Kang Xi's death. This angered Yong Zheng who succeeded his father Kang Xi. During second year of Yong Zheng's reign he sentenced the entire Sunu family to punishment. (Sunu's sons Sunijing, Shunichen, Leishihong, Wunichen, and Muerchen were all baptized Catholics.) Leishihong and Wunichen were exiled to Xi Ning together with Yong Zheng's brothers Yun Tang and Yun Yi. Leishihong and Wunichen preached with enthusiasm in Xi Ning. Governor of Chuansha, Nian Gengyao reported to Yong Zheng that Leishihong and Wunichen violated Yong Zheng's ban on Catholicism by preaching and raising money for a Catholic church. Yong Zheng summoned both of them backed to Beijing, and executed them. This got Sunu into trouble, who was exiled to Youwei with Yun Tang (Yong Zheng's brother). Sunu died shortly. His descendents were dispersed throughout the country, with many tortured extensively. This was a religion case which was strongly influenced by politics.

Execution of Bishop Sanz (1748 A.D.) Petrus Sanz was a Spanish missionary who was also known as the White Bishop. Sanz came to Fujiang at the age of 35 through the Philippines. He was deported to Guangzhou in 1724, during Yong Zheng's ban on Catholicism. In 1730, Sanz was made acting Bishop of Fujiang by the Pope. Sanz smuggled back to Fujiang in 1738 (during the third year of Emperor Qian Long's reign). In 1746, the Qing government arrested Fathers Serrano, Alcober, and Diaz in Fujiang, and Bishop Sanz turned himself in, hoping to stop the torture of his missionary friends. Sadly, Bishop Sanz and the four other missionaries were executed in 1748, together with some 14 Chinese Christians. Bishop Sanz converted many Chinese to Christians, including prison guards and even the executor who beheaded him. They were all convicted by Sanz's joyfulness while being imprisoned and his calmness in facing death. Qian Long's Closed Door Policy (1757 A.D.) During the twenty second year of Qian Long's reign, he passed the Closed Door Policy to limit the spread of Christianity in China. Guangzhou became the only trading port in China. Merchants are not allowed to land on China soil, but could only trade or stay shortly at sea port under supervision. Other than the 10 missionaries who stayed in the palace with positions as historians or astronomers, there were only limited missionaries who took care of the 300,000 believers in China. This situation persisted for 20 years. The Anti-Christian Movement Around the turn of the twentieth century, China was repeated invaded by the western countries (including England, America, France, Germany, Italy, and Russia), which resulted in great instability and turmoil in the country. Faced with such adversities, most Chinese wished that the country could be united to resist these external invasions. This resulted in an emergence of a strong Nationalist Movement, which eventually sparked the Anti-Christian Movement of the 1922. Christianity was criticized as being the 'Slave of the Western Capitalist Countries'. At that time, Carl Marx's Communist Manifesto was very popular among Chinese youths, and the Anti-Christian Movement was often used as a tool in the power struggle of political parties. Christianity was perceived as unscientific and that it retarded the growth and productivity of the country. Despite the arguments by the religious leaders that Christianity was what the Chinese needed in helping the country to modernize her, the value of Christianity was derogated because it was a foreign religion. Since it was not part of the Chinese tradition, Christianity was disregarded as a mean that could help rebuild the new China. In 1924, the Anti-Christian Movement made a comeback, by linking Christianity to Imperialism. Due to the questionable conducts of some of the missionaries (like their ties to the East India Trading Co. which dealt heavily in opium trading, and their involvement in their mother countries invasion of China), Christianity was regarded as an ally of the Imperialism. The uneven and unfair treaties were thorns in the eyes of the Chinese, which constantly reminded them of the shame that they suffered. The protection of the missionaries under these treaties, signaling a strong linkage between the missionaries and the invasions. The hatred towards foreigners brewed and reached a climax with the incident of May 30, 1925. The Chinese demanded to abolish the unfair treaties and a number of demonstrations were manifested. Instantly, foreigners were being targeted for attacks, which seemed to rehash the Boxer Rebellion. At the same time, Christian schools around the nation were under attacked also, with the belief that religious teaching can weaken the patriotism of the Chinese. The movement spread across the nation like wild fire, with conflicts arising in major cities like Hankou, Nanjing, Chongqing, Ningbo and Xiamen. This forced many Chinese Christians to pledge their loyalty to China by requesting the abolishment of the uneven treaties. In July of 1925, a new movement was initiated, urging the government to regain the rights to the education system, by confiscating church properties in schools. In the 1920s, the Chinese society was influenced heavily by the Nationalist Movement, which was used as a measuring stick for everything, including Christianity. From a political point of view, the Anti-Christian Movement was used by the Nationalist Movement to replace Christianity. After the Communist party took power in 1949, many Christian leaders like Watchman Nee and Wang Mingdao, were arrested and imprisoned. Against the persecution of the Communist government, Christianity have been growing steadily. According to an unofficial survey, there are about 30,000,000 Christians in China today!

The Indigenization Movement (1890-1949) The internal (weakness) and external (invasion from the western countries) problems confronted by China sparked the May 4th Movement. A number of Chinese scholars emerged to take part in politics, trying to rescue China by westernizing her. Among them, Chinese Christians sought to adopt Christianity into the Chinese culture. A popular approach at that time was known as the Indegenization Movement (Contextualization). The word Indigenization was derived from Latin with 'in' meaning within, 'de' meaning from, and 'gena' meaning to beget. It literally refers to that which is native or born from within, as compared to which is foreign or alien. From the point of view of Christian missions, the term refers to making the Gospel understood and acceptable to the local people. The five Indigenization approaches were 1) The Inclusive Approach- Wu Leichuan 2) The Harmonization Approach- Wang Zhixin 3) The Fulfillment Approach- Wei Zuoming 4) The Independent Approach- Wang Mingdao 5) The Judgement Approach- Zhang Yijing All the indegenization approaches, except Wang Mingdao's, tried to rescue Chinese culture following the May 4 movement. The first three approaches, with varying degrees, lack true understanding of Christianity. Both the Inclusive Approach and the Harmonization Approach tried to cling on to the Chinese culture. The former made the mistake of thinking all truth is God's truth, and that there is no uniqueness of Christianity. The latter try to harmonize Christianity and Chinese culture, adopting Chinese culture into Christianity. This was exactly what God tried to avoid by giving the Jews special laws (e.g., circumcision) to separate them from their idolatry neighbors. The Fulfillment Approach realized the inadequacy of Chinese Culture, but it failed to acknowledge the deity of God by avoiding the miracles in the Bible. This approach treats the Scripture as pure narrative. By suppressing the deity of God, one denies His sovereignty. The miracles in the Bible served as proofs that God was the creator of the universe and the authenticity of Christ and His prophets and apostles. The accuracy of the Biblical prediction also served as solid support for the inerrancy of the Scripture. By limiting God's sovereignty, one reduces Him to just another mortal scholar like Confucius. The Independent Approach and the Judgement Approach were more sound theologically. Both stress the sovereignty of God and the blindness of the depraved man. The Independent Approach defines the world as believers and non-believers, light and darkness, without any middle ground. On the other hand, the Judgement Approach sought middle ground by urging the Confucius followers to look for the similarities between Confucianism and Christianity. The approach that Wang Mingdao took was very similar to the presuppositional method of apologetic, while the Judgement Approach can be considered to evidentialism. Paul's evangelistic experience in Athens as described in the book of Acts (Acts 17:16-34), can help us to evaluate theses Indegenization approaches. Noticing that the Athenians worshiped an Unknown God, Paul used that as a common ground to introduce Christianity. Paul proclaimed to the Athenians that this Unknown God of theirs was the One who made the world and everything in it, and that He does not dwell in temples made with hands. He further warned the Athenians that God will judge the world in righteousness by Christ, whom He has ordained and raised from the dead. During the presentation, Paul used another common ground by reminding the Athenians that even their poets wrote about them being the offspring of God. From this we can see that Paul used both Evidential and Presuppositional approaches. It is interesting to learn what Paul considered as common ground and what to proclaim. The two common grounds that Paul used were the Unknown God and that the Athenians were the offspring of God, with both being General Revelation. These are the facts that all men know, but tend to suppress. Paul simply reminded them the truth, before launching his proclamation. What Paul proclaimed on the other hand were Special Revelations, of God judgement and His salvation plan (Acts 17:31). Both General (Psalm 19:1-6) and Special Revelations (Psalm 19:7-14) are taught in the Bible.

From an indegenization point of view, the Judgement Approach seems to be a better method, because Wang's Independent Approach was hardly an indegenization movement, due to his prejudice against culture. From Paul's experience, we learn that one should use General Revelation as common ground. In doing so, one is not conceding anything, since God has given all men this knowledge, thus we have no excuse of not knowing there is a creator. On the other hand, it might not be wise to use Special Revelation as a common ground, which would lead to the same mistakes as the Inclusion Approach, e.g., confusing kindness as the Holy Spirit and God's creation work as the legend described in the Chinese culture. Special Revelation should simply be proclaimed to the nonbelievers as presuppositions. Since the depraved men are blind to God's truth, they cannot comprehend God's truth unless He first opens the eyes of His elect. In summary, out of the five approaches, the Judgement Approach seems to be the best Indegenization method. However, one should be careful in selecting the common ground materials. Although there might be similarities between Chinese culture and Christianity, one should not be quick in equating the two. On the other hand, it is fine to look for God's General Revelations in Chinese culture and use that as a common ground between believers and nonbelievers. The Judgement Approach seemed be more suitable for the Chinese society at the beginning of the twentieth century, when the Chinese were trying desperately to hold on to their culture. Wang Mingdao's Independent Approach on the other hand might be more appropriate nowadays, in the modern Chinese society. Wu Leichuan (1870-1944) A advocate of the Inclusive Approach in the Indigenization Movement. This approach was adopted by a group of Chinese culture fanatics. They strove to protect Chinese culture, believing that the Chinese culture has values that's worth our respect. They believed that there is no conflict between Christianity and Chinese culture. Even when conflicts do exist, They tried to explain the differences away. They argued that the true value of Chinese culture is not because it is Chinese, but that it contains universal truth. They claimed that Christianity was not adequate to replace the fine Chinese culture, but could be a companion. If one explain Christianity from the point of view of the Chinese culture, one will find a lot of similarities between the two. Wu was an official of the Qing Dynasty and later a professor of Yang Jing University. Wu believed that 'All Truth are God's Truth'. The truth in Confucianism and that of the Word (John 1) refer to the same thing. He believed that Christianity is very similar to other religions and philosophy. According to Wu, there is no uniqueness in Christianity. From a theological point of view, Wu's approach was a failure, although his love for his country and tradition was admirable. Without teaching of the uniqueness of Christianity, there is no difference between Christianity and other religions like Buddhism and Islam. The 'truths' in Chinese culture are not the same as that in Christianity. The Bible teaches unchanging and absolute truth; the same cannot be said about culture. Culture is a collection of subjective information gathered and practiced by a group of depraved fallen men. As the custom changes, the culture also changes accordingly. From God's general revelation to us, we know there is a god, who created the universe and put everything to work in such an orderly fashion. What makes Christianity unique is God's salvation plan through Jesus Christ. In all other religions, men strive hard and try to reach god. In Christianity, God reaches down and died for our sin so that we may have eternal life (John 3:16). This salvation plan is revealed to us through His Special Revelation of His word, the Bible. To prove his view, Wu drew similarities between the teaching of Confucianism and Christianity. For example, the Chinese translation of the word God is 'Shangdi', which also appeared in Shujing. Wu also drew parallelism between the Bible's teaching and that of the Chinese classics, e.g., on the account of creation between Genesis (2:7) and Zhongyong (Ch 1) and on the comparison of the Messiah (Isaiah 11:110) and a savior in Zhongyong (Ch 31). Wu explained that the Chinese word for kindness is same as that of the Holy Spirit. Thus Confucius' urging of his disciples to pursue kindness, reflected the work of the Holy Spirit, leading people to the Kingdom of God. Wu further argued that since kindness comes from the heart, the Bible teaches that the Kingdom of Heaven is within our heart. Wu's argument was a bit farfetched; just because there were similar terminology and events (in the Bible and Chinese culture) do not imply that they were identical. To imply that kindness is the Holy Spirit is also not correct, for the Holy Spirit is one of the

three persons of the Trinity, who is God, and not merely a characteristic. (When Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit, Peter said they lied to God, Acts 5:4). Wang Zhixin An advocate of the Harmonization Approach in the Indigenization Movement. Harmonization did not mean to admit the inadequacy of Chinese Culture. It was not compromising. Wang Zhixin believed that Christianity is a universal cultural system that can accommodate both eastern and western cultures as they are. They examined Jesus' teaching, and looked for evidences, which support the teaching of the Chinese culture. This school of thought argues that such accommodation was taught in the Bible with Jesus implying that there are other sheep not of this fold (John 10:16). Indeed this implies Gentiles who include Chinese. However, although God accepts Chinese, He never says that He will accept our culture as well. For He said, ' Your way is not my way' and 'My Kingdom is not of this world' (John 18:36). The same teaching can be seen in the Old Testament, with God trying to preserve the Israelites from the (idolatry) culture of the surrounding nations, by requesting all males to be circumcised and prescribing other laws (e.g., forbid eating of unclean animals) to them. When the Israelites conquered their opponents, God instructed them to kill all living beings (1 Sam 5:3, Numbers 31:17,18) so that the Israelites will not pick up their custom and culture. This school of indegenization taught that harmony between Christianity and Chinese culture is like the harmony between physical and spiritual need. They pointed out that Jesus taught Nicodemus about spiritual things, but He also took care of the physical needs of people by feeding them with bread and fish. Both of the above passages can be found in the book of John. Ironically, Apostle John's intention in writing the Gospel was to point to who Jesus was (whose kingdom is not of this world). The Gospel of John contains eight miracles which John called 'signs'. Signs themselves are not significant, but they point to something more important, Jesus. For example, we saw Jesus healing a blind man. In doing so, He contrasted the physical blindness of the man with the spiritual blindness of the Pharisees; the blind man saw, but the Pharisees remained blind. To this, Jesus said, I am the light. Jesus fed the crowd with bread, but He said later, 'do not labor for food which perishes' (John 6:27), 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger.' (John 6:35). Jesus also contrasted (physical) water with the living water (spiritual), 'whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.' (John 4:14). Thus at every turn, John tried to divert our attention from our physical needs to our spiritual needs. Jesus said, 'which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.' (John 3:6). Contrary to Wang's belief, the harmonization approach was not adopted by Jesus Himself. Christians should be in the world but not of the world. Wei Zuoming An advocate of the Fulfillment Approach in the Indigenization Movement. He believed that Christianity was the answer to China, with Jesus being the focus of the Gospel. The Word became flesh not to abolish the Old Testament but to fulfill it. Similarly, Christianity is supposed to fulfill Chinese culture and not to abolish it. Wei Zuoming suggested that on should modify the part of Chinese culture that is not conforming to Christianity, so that it could become a Christian culture. It was believed that the Chinese culture was an end product of God and the Chinese. God must have left certain evidence of Christianity in Chinese culture, among the teachings of various ancient Chinese scholars. They admit that Christianity was the answer to the need of China, with Jesus as the nucleus of the truth in the Gospel. Unlike Wu Leichuan they place Christianity above Chinese culture. They sought harmony between man and nature, Christianity and Confucianism. Since Confucianism does not believe in overcoming the nature, this approach intended to avoid preaching miraculous events in the Scripture, treating the biblical teaching as pure history or social study. The teaching of Confucianism can be summarized as the teaching of kindness, and piety is the basis of kindness. They claimed that, since Chinese already had a strong understanding of piety, all they needed to do was to add one more dimension to this by respecting God, the Father. Although the Bible does teach piety (Exodus 20:12), it also emphasizes that the

love towards God is of a higher standard then that of love towards family members (Luke 14:26-27). Unfortunately, by not teaching the supernatural power of God, one is in a sense limiting God's sovereignty. Miracles in the Bible serve to show God's almighty power and the authenticity of Jesus and of the apostles. Without such miracles, God can easily be reduced to another mortal scholar like Confucius or Lao Zhi. As a matter of fact, the aim of John's gospel is to prove Jesus' deity. Nevertheless, Zhao Zhicheng (another advocate of the Fulfillment Approach) realized that it is not enough to emphasize moral issues alone, and that man must realize his shortcomings and weaknesses, and asks God for forgiveness. Wang Mingdao (1900-1991) An advocate of the Independent Approach in the Indigenization Movement. Wang Mingdao was a popular evangelist in the 1920-30's, who believed that both the church and the world contribute to the history of mankind. However, Satan is the god of this world, leading to sins and corruption everywhere one turns. It is hopeless to save the world. For this reason, Wang did not pay much attention to traditional culture. He believed that history is worthless other than the portion pertaining to God's salvation plan. To change the world, one must begin with the change of the heart. Wang was known for his success in promoting the three-self movement. Wang had a good understanding of the Scripture, believing in the inerrancy of the Bible and the depravity of fallen man. He delineated the justification and sanctification phases of salvation, preaching that man is justified by faith, but the integrity of the believer becomes the fruits of his sanctified life. Wang emphasizes on issues that are not of this world, like building treasure in heaven, instead of on earth. His theology was very close to that of Calvinism, stressing God's sovereignty and the depravity of man. Wang divided the world into believers vs. non-believers, God vs. Satan and light vs. darkness. The interaction between believers and non-believers should be kept to a minimal except for the preaching of the Gospel. Christians with this approach can easily be regarded as self-proclaimed righteousness, who consider themselves to be out of this world. Moreover, Wang's philosophy could hardly be considered an indegenization movement at all, because of his prejudice against culture. Wang thought that the preaching of Christianity should be independent of Chinese culture. Zhang Yijing An advocate of the Judgement Approach in the Indigenization Movement. Zhang Yijing proposed to use Christianity as a measuring stick to judge the Chinese culture. His love towards Christianity did not affect his interest in Chinese culture. He hoped that Christianity would help to improve on the shortcoming of the Chinese culture. Zhang believed that Christ is in charge of the history of the world, thus the importance of Chinese history and culture cannot be overlooked as implied by Wang Mingdao. Zhang understood the depravity of the fallen man, which blinds him from God's truth. The resulted culture is also affected by the sin of man. Zhang realized that although one can find God's hand in the midst of Chinese culture, these are only of General Revelation, unable to save our souls. Only from the Special Revelation, can one receive salvation and the gift of eternal life. Unlike Wang, who saw the world outside Christianity as God's enemy, Zhang sought to convert the unconverted. Zhang urged Confucius followers to consider Christianity, but not abandoning their tradition. Zhang acknowledged there are similarities between Christianity and the teachings of the ancient Chinese scholars, but unlike Wu, he denied that they are identical. Like Wang, Zhang stressed the sovereignty of God who is graceful to us on one hand and judgmental on the other. However, unlike Wang, he believed that God's grace is a prerequisite for rebuilding the country, from both the personal level and that of the society. Wang on the other hand, seldom talked about rebuilding this world of darkness.