| 摘要: | Many scholars of Chinese church history are aware that there was a rising tide of indigenization of Christianity in China during the 1920s that came primarily from the stimuli of rising Nationalism and the subsequent anti-Christian movement. Under these adverse circumstances Chinese Christians responded with an unprecedented movement of the indigenization that spread through and was supported by many Christian churches and groups all over China. The Wen She or "Literary Society" was the single most active and influential group to advocate indigenization. Although it ceased in mid-1928 because of budget difficulties, the Wen She had played such a unique and outstanding role that it permanently captured a place in the history of Christianity in China. The full title of the Wen She was Chung-hua chi-tu- chiao wen-tzu shin-yeh ts'u-chin she (The Chinese Christian Society for Promoting Literary Service.) The Wen She was organized jointly by Christian writers and several foreign missionaries who thought that one reason that hindered the spread of Christianity was that the instruments of preaching---language and words---were not yet indigenized. They therefore decided to introduce Christian culture through a Sinicized style of writing. To that end, they began in 1925 to publish the Wen She Monthly and other pamphlets and books to spread their views. This project attempts to discuss the ideas, attitudes, and practical measures of indigenization proposed by the Wen She. The methodological strategy will be a three-fold approach: first, by analyzing the contents of the Wen She Monthly and its other publications and comparing these ideas of indigenization with those of other periods; secondly, to study the major members of the Wen She, including their thought, backgrounds and positions in church circles; thirdly, to investigate the relationship between the Wen She and other church groups especially in light of the contention between the magazine and conservative group. The significance of this project is to explore Christian affairs through a new approach. In the past, especially in recent years, some scholars (such as Tatsuro Yamamoto, Jessie G. Lutz, Murray A. Rubinstein, Cha Shih- chieh and Lu Shih-chiang) have begun to pay attention to the anti-Christian movement of the period. However, few of these scholars have done research on the Christian response to such antagonism, especially on the issue of the indigenization of Christianity, which is an equally important topic to understand the social, political and religious development of the Christian church in China. This project, mainly based on Chinese Christian publications and documents, attempts to concentrate on the Chinese Christian response to the issue of the indigenization in a period of intellectual ferment and turbulence. |
