Myths about the church in China abound. Many think Christianity there is a recent phenomenon, influenced mainly by Neo-Evangelicals and Pentecostals, with a tenuous history reaching back to Protestant missions in the nineteenth century. Others might remember the work of Jesuit missionaries to China in the sixteenth century (Francis Xavier, Matteo Ricci). But centuries before, as early as the seventh century AD, the Syriac-speaking Church of the East had sent missionaries to China and established churches and monasteries with the permission of the Tang emperors. Christians were always a minority religion, and scholars debate the extent to which this branch of the Church of the East became natively Chinese. The church was suppressed by the government in 845 but then flourished under Mongol rule in the steppes of what is now northwest China.
Glen L. Thompson is Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Historical Theology at Asia Lutheran Seminary in Hong Kong, a seminary founded by the mission work of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod in 2005. Thompson now lives in Milwaukee and maintains the website fourthcentury.com.
In this book, Thompson gives us many surprises. When Christians were banished from China in 845, “the Church of the East had a presence in virtually all the major settlements throughout what is now Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Xinjiang Province in Chinas, as well as in numerous major cities within China” (164). In the ninth to twelfth centuries, Christianity spread north, all across Mongolia (164). Under Mongol rule, Christians returned to China and flourished through the Mongol Empire. Christians served as officials under the Mongols (172–173). Patriarch (Catholicos) Mar Yaballaha III of the Church of the East (b. ca. 1245) was born and raised in Inner Mongolia (now a northern, autonomous region of China). His friend Rabban Sauma, also a Christian from China, represented Mongol King Arghun on an embassy to Rome and Europe beginning in 1287 (185–186). The Europeans found it odd that a Christian was in the service of the Mongol king, to which Rabban Sauma replied,
My dear fathers, be aware that many of our fathers went to the lands of the Mongols, the Turks and the Chinese to instruct them, so that today there are many Christians among the Mongols. There are even sons of kings and queens who have been baptized and profess Christ’s religion, and there are churches in their encampments. Christians are greatly honoured, and many of the Mongols are believers. Therefore, the king, who is bound by affection to the catholicos and wishes to conquer Palestine and the lands of Syria, requests your assistance regarding the capture of Jerusalem. This is why I was chosen as an envoy: since I am Christian, my word will be believed by you. (185)
With a combination of archeology, church history, and the cultural-political history of the Middle East and China, Thompson gives us a careful, balanced examination of ancient and medieval Christians in China. By so doing he also gives a strong historical argument for biblical Christianity of a sacramental-liturgical tendency within China at the present day. This book deserves to be read by all who care about Christians in China, the ancient history of the church outside of the Greek- and Latin-speaking world, and the mission of preaching God’s word and establishing congregations to the ends of the earth.
Benjamin T. G. Mayes
Associate Professor of Historical Theology
Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana