Bibliography of Christianity in China

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This is a list of selected references for Christianity in China .

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giulio Alenio</span> Italian Jesuit missionary and scholar

Giulio Aleni, in Chinese Ai Rulüe, was an Italian Jesuit missionary and scholar. He was born in Leno near Brescia in Italy, at the time part of the Republic of Venice, and died at Yanping in China. He became a member of the Society of Jesus in 1600 and distinguished himself in his knowledge of mathematics and theology. He is known for helping publish the Zhifang Waiji, an atlas in Chinese. Giulio Aleni also wrote a treatise criticizing the Ming dynasty, the Ming emperors and their elites, and their mistakes and errors. Near the end of his life, the Ming dynasty eventually got destroyed and replaced by the Qing dynasty founded by the House of Aisin-Gioro.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinese Rites controversy</span> High Qing-era dispute among Catholic missionaries

The Chinese Rites controversy was a dispute among Catholic missionaries over the religiosity of Confucianism and Chinese rituals during the 17th and 18th centuries. The debate discussed whether Chinese ritual practices of ancestor veneration and other formal rites qualified as religious, and thus incompatible with Catholic belief. The Jesuits argued that these Chinese rites were secular rituals that were compatible with Christianity, within certain limits, and should thus be tolerated. The Dominicans and Franciscans, however, disagreed and reported the issue to Rome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Freinademetz</span> Ladin Catholic priest and missionary

Joseph Freinademetz, was a Ladin Catholic priest and missionary in China. He was a member of the Society of the Divine Word.

The Xi'an Stele or the Jingjiao Stele, sometimes translated as the "Nestorian Stele," is a Tang Chinese stele erected in 781 that documents 150 years of early Christianity in China. It is a limestone block 279 centimetres high with text in both Chinese and Syriac describing the existence of Christian communities in several cities in northern China. It reveals that the initial Church of the East had met recognition by the Tang Emperor Taizong, due to efforts of the Christian missionary Alopen in 635. According to the stele, Alopen and his fellow Syriac missionaries came to China from Daqin in the ninth year of Emperor Taizong (635), bringing sacred books and images. The Church of the East monk Adam composed the text on the stele. Buried in 845, probably during religious suppression, the stele was not rediscovered until 1625. It is now in the Stele Forest in Xi'an.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joachim Bouvet</span> French Jesuit

Joachim Bouvet was a French Jesuit who worked in China, and the leading member of the Figurist movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christianity in China</span>

Christianity has been present in China since the early medieval period, and became a significant presence in the country during the early modern era. The Assyrian Church of the East appeared in China in the 7th century, during the Tang dynasty. Catholicism was one of the religions patronized by the emperors of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty, but it did not take root in China until its reintroduction by the Jesuits during the 16th century. Beginning in the early 19th century, Protestant missions in China attracted small but influential followings, and independent Chinese churches were also established.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea</span> Protestant church in Papua New Guinea

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea is a Protestant church denomination located in Papua New Guinea that professes the Lutheran branch of the Christian faith. The Church is incorporated by a 1991 Act of the Parliament of Papua New Guinea and it has a baptized membership of approximately 900,000 members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religion in Papua New Guinea</span>

Religion in Papua New Guinea is dominated by various branches of Christianity, with traditional animism and ancestor worship often occurring less openly as another layer underneath or more openly side by side with Christianity. The Catholic Church has a plurality of the population. The courts, government, and general society uphold a constitutional right to freedom of speech, thought, and beliefs. A secular state, there is no state religion in the country, although the government openly partners with several Christian groups to provide services, and churches participate in local government bodies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Society of the Divine Word</span> Catholic missionary religious congregation

The Society of the Divine Word, abbreviated SVD and popularly called the Verbites or the Divine Word Missionaries, and sometimes the Steyler Missionaries, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men. As of 2020, it consisted of 5,965 members composed of priests and religious brothers working in more than 70 countries, now part of VIVAT international. It is one of the largest missionary congregations in the Catholic Church. Its members add the nominal letters SVD after their names to indicate membership in the Congregation. The superior general is Paul Boedhie Kleden who hails from Indonesia.

The Catholic Church in Papua New Guinea is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. Papua New Guinea has approximately two million Catholic adherents, approximately 27% of the country's total population.

The Rhenish Missionary Society was one of the largest Protestant missionary societies in Germany. Formed from smaller missions founded as far back as 1799, the Society was amalgamated on 23 September 1828, and its first missionaries were ordained and sent off to South Africa by the end of the year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters</span> Roman Catholic religious institute

The Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters are a Catholic religious institute. The nuns live a contemplative life, focused on perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, offering intercessory prayers for the world 24 hours a day. Inside the enclosure the nuns wear rose-colored tunics with their habits symbolizing their joy for the Holy Spirit. As a consequence of these habits, the nuns are known colloquially as the "pink sisters".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matteo Ricci</span> Italian Catholic missionary (1552–1610)

Matteo Ricci was an Italian Jesuit priest and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China missions. He created the Kunyu Wanguo Quantu, a 1602 map of the world written in Chinese characters. In 2022, the Apostolic See declared its recognition of Ricci's heroic virtues, thereby bestowing upon him the honorific of Venerable.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit</span>

The Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit, also known as Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters, or simply Holy Spirit Sisters is a religious congregation within the Catholic Church. The group has 3,000 members in 46 different countries. The congregation was founded by Arnold Janssen in 1889 in Steyl, the Netherlands. Janssen had previously founded in 1875 a male missionary congregation called Divine Word Missionaries. Janssen chose Maria Helena Stollenwerk, called Mother Maria (1852–1900) and Hendrina Stenmanns, called Mother Josepha (1852–1903) as co-foundresses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bible translations into Chinese</span>

Since the arrival of Christianity in China, the Bible has been translated into many varieties of the Chinese language, both in fragments and in its totality. The first translations may have been undertaken as early as the 7th century AD, but the first printed translations appeared only in the nineteenth century. Progress on a modern translation was encumbered by denominational rivalries, theological clashes, linguistic disputes, and practical challenges at least until the publication of the Protestant Chinese Union Version in 1919, which became the basis of standard versions in use today.

Missionary work of the Catholic Church has often been undertaken outside the geographically defined parishes and dioceses by religious orders who have people and material resources to spare, and some of which specialized in missions. Eventually, parishes and dioceses would be organized worldwide, often after an intermediate phase as an apostolic prefecture or apostolic vicariate. Catholic mission has predominantly been carried out by the Latin Church in practice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johann Baptist von Anzer</span>

Johann Baptist Anzer, S.V.D., was a member of the Society of the Divine Word, popularly known as the Divine Word Missionaries, and Catholic bishop of the German Mission to China in Shandong Province.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augustin Henninghaus</span>

Augustin Henninghaus SVD was a German Roman Catholic missionary and bishop in China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Candida Xu</span> Chinese Christian leader, 1607–1680

Candida Xu or Candida Su, was a Chinese Catholic who lived in late Ming and early Qing China. She has been called "arguably the most influential Chinese Christian woman of the seventeenth century." She is also, according to records, likely the first Chinese woman who knows Latin.