Abstract
The Catholic Church has established, developed, and endured in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) despite the great number of challenges recounted in the previous chapters. In what ways will the Church cope with the changes and challenges of contemporary Chinese society? Faced with the future, the Church needs to address its role and to find its path in a secular society. This concluding chapter discusses secularism as an exceptional phenomenon in the West and examines the relationship between Marxism and Christianity. It considers the task of religion in secular society in China, a nation already a superpower with its exhilarating economic growth and at the same time experiencing religious revival. Just as the PRC embraces capitalism in its economic policies and secularism in all aspects of life, religious beliefs and practices are also flourishing in this populous nation. Chinese Christians must learn to work with the Communist authorities to establish a “Christianity with Chinese characteristics” if the gospel message is to be meaningful and relevant in China. One likely successful strategy for ensuring the long-term survival of the Church would be for Chinese Catholics to learn to work together with community authorities, while supporting and serving the spiritual needs of their faithful. The Sacred Heart Cathedral leadership in Guangzhou, described in the previous chapter, seems to have adopted this pragmatic approach.
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Notes
Adrian Hastings, A History of English Christianity 1920–1990 (London: SCM Press, 1991), pp. 232, 586. Taylor believes that the secular age is “schizophrenic”; unbelievers are still attracted by dedicated believers such as Mother Teresa. Many people were inspired by John Paul II, but many Catholics did not follow his moral injunctions.
See Charles Taylor, A Secular Age (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, Harvard University Press, 2007), p. 727.
Jay C. Rochelle, “Mystery and Relationship as Keys to the Church’s Response to Secularism,” Currents in Theology and Mission vol. 19, no. 4 (August 1, 1992), p. 269. See also “The Challenge of Secularism,” Christian Jewish Relations vol. 14, no. 2 (June 1, 1981), pp. 37–40.
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Ans Joachim Van der Bent, “Christian and Marxist Responses to the Challenge of Secularization and Secularism,” Journal of Ecumenical Studies vol. 15, no. 1 (December 1, 1978), p. 155.
José Casanova, “The Secular, Secularizations, Secularisms,” in Rethinking Secularism, ed. Craig Calhoun, Mark Juergensmeyer, and Jonathan VanAntwerpen (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011).
Pope Benedict XVI, “The Church and the Challenge of Secularization,” Christ to the World vol. 53, no. 5 (September 2008), p. 390.
Richard Madsen, “Secularism, Religious Change, and Social Conflict in Asia,” in Rethinking Secularism, ed. Craig Calhoun, Mark Juergensmeyer, and Jonathan VanAntwerpen (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), p. 268, note 6.
José Casanova, “The Sacralization of the Humanum: A Theology for Global Age,” International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society vol. 13, no. 1 (Fall, 1999), p. 21.
Thomas Dean, Post-Theistic Thinking: The Marxist-Christian Dialogue in Radical Perspective (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1975), pp. 232–233, 242–243.
Gerald H. Anderson, “Focus on China,” International Bulletin of Missionary Research vol. 5, no. 2 (April 1, 1981), p. 49.
Richard P. Madsen, “Discipleship and Domination: Mission, Power, and the Christian Encounter with China,” International Bulletin of Missionary Research vol. 5, no. 2 (April 1, 1981), p. 55.
Pilgrim W. K. Lo, “Theology Is Not Mere Sociology: A Theological Reflection on the Reception of the Christian Religion in Mainland China,” Dialog vol. 43, no. 3 (September 1, 2004), pp. 159–160.
Hans Küng, Theology for the Third Millennium (New York: Doubleday, 1988), pp. 252–253.
See also Ambrose Mong Ih-Ren, “Hans Küng’s Humanum and the Quest for the True Religion,” Dialogue & Alliance vol. 24, no. 2 (Winter 2010), pp. 21–39.
Erickson, Nancy, “Theory and Practice in Contemporary Marxism: A Christian Response,” Fides Et Historia vol. 16, no. 2 (March 1, 1984), p. 49. Clark M. Williamson writes: “Paul Tillich developed the notion that there is a structural analogy between the biblical-prophetic and the Marxist interpretations of history. There are at least sixteen points on which the two may be said to coincide.”
See Clark M. Williamson, “Ideal Is More Real Than the Real (Fichte),” Encounter vol. 35, no. 2 (March 1, 1974), p. 135.
See also Paul Tillich, Perspectives on 19th and 20th Century Protestant Theology (New York: Harper & Row, 1967), pp. 189–191.
Donald E. MacInnis, “The North American Churches and China, 1949–1981,” International Bulletin of Missionary Research vol. 5, no. 2 (April 1, 1981), p. 52.
Theresa Chu, “Catholicism, Chinese Traditional Values and Marxist Thought: Searching for a Common Ground,” Missiology vol. 13, no. 3 (July 1, 1985), p. 338.
See Lucian Hölscher, “Secularization and Urbanization in the Nineteenth Century,” in European Religion in the Age of Great Cities, 1830–1930, ed. Hugh McLeod (London: Routledge, 1995), pp. 282–283.
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© 2014 Cindy Yik-yi Chu
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Mong, A.IR. (2014). The Task of Religion in Secular Society: The Challenges Ahead for Christianity in China. In: Chu, C.Yy. (eds) Catholicism in China, 1900-Present. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137353658_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137353658_13
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