A parallel conference of the Christian Summit Forum titled “Preaching in Shanghai” in 2023 was held in Shanghai.
On November 16, continuing the main forum named “Be Patriotic and Faithful, Then Promising,” this parallel forum featured a showcase of theories and achievements of practice during Shanghai Municipal CC&TSPM promoting the sinicization of Christianity, reported Shanghai CC&TSPM.
Rev. Xu Yulan, chairman of the Shanghai Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM), remarked that as a high-quality brand project among Shanghai religious affairs, the 2023 “Preaching in Shanghai” summit forum would discuss “sinicized elaboration on religious doctrines in China in the new era.”
Rev. Wu Wei, president of the China Christian Council (CCC), appreciated the gathering of representatives from politics, religion, and academia in the forum. He highlighted that the forum was aimed at pointing out the future direction for the sinicization of Christianity and providing an interpretation of doctrines and canons that meet the requirements of the development of the era.
The newspapers Liberation Daily and China News published the opinions of experts in Christianity, Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and Taoism.
On the forum, Tang Xiaofeng, vice director and researcher at the Institute of World Religions, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, approached the issue of sinicizing Christianity from historical and contemporary dimensions. He raised the necessity of answering the "three hows": how Christianity will participate in the creative transformation and innovative development of Chinese civilization, how sinicized Christianity will integrate with global Christianity, and how Christianity will adapt to the contemporary social development in China. To address these "three hows," he responded using the "three principles" of interaction between Chinese Christianity and Chinese civilization: adhering to the dialectical unity of Christianity's uniqueness and compatibility, sticking to the dialectical unity of Christianity's indigeneity and universality, and persisting in the unity of opposites of Christianity's historicity and contemporaneity.
During the forum, Shanghai CC&TSPM presented awards to representatives from the Christian community who won the Fourth Call for Papers themed “Preaching in Shanghai.”
Five middle-aged pastoral staff in the city delivered themed speeches on the localization of doctrines and canons, with a combination of practices conducted in Shanghai.
At the end of the summit forum, the CC&TSPMs of Shanghai City, Jiangsu Province, and Anhui Province signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Promoting the Practice of Sinicization of Christianity in the Yangtze Delta Area. This is meant to make even better use of the Yangtze River Delta's unique location, come up with new ways to work together, and share resources and successes.
- Translated by Poppy Chan, Abigail Wu
