From September 15 to 16, 2018, the first forum on the history of Chinese religion was held in Chengdu.
More than 50 experts and scholars discussed the historical importance of religions like Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, Luoism; as well as the impact of these religions on Chinese thought, culture, and art. Discussions about Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam in history, the study of Confucian classics, culturology was also conducted.
Hu Weiqing from Shandong University stated in his lecture that the independence of modern Chinese churches was a typical model of the inculturation effort of evangelism movement, taking the Presbyterian church in Ling Tung (eastern Guangdong) as an example. The most important prerequisite for the Presbyterian church's self-independent movement was the separation of the church and state.
He said that the analysis of the self-independent movement didn't concern if it was successful or not, but it relied in how the modern church developed and the overall success and failure and reasons.
The forum was co-sponsored by the Institute of World Religions of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Association for the Study of Religion, and School of History and Culture of Sichuan University.
- Translated by Karen Luo
The article was originally posted on China Ethnic Paper with the Chinese name "专家学者在蓉研讨"历史上的宗教". CCD translated it with permission.
