Opowieść jingjiao. Chińskie chrześcijaństwo epoki Tang w perspektywie orientalizujących kryptoteologii
Jingjiao Narrative: Tang-Dynasty Chinese Christianity through the Lens of Orientalist Cryptotheologies

Summary/Abstract: This article discusses the Jingjiao narrative about Chinese Christianity from the TangDynasty period and its cryptotheological entanglements. Many of the hypotheses andtheories in orientalist literature constitute far-fetched speculations, stemming froma paucity of historical sources and the authors’ specific beliefs. The analysis shows thatthis narrative is grounded in a Western-centric, wishful perspective that overstates theimpact of Christianity on East Asian thought and culture. Thus far, Christian scholarshave dominated research on Christianity in China. Although these works became thesubject of postcolonial critique, their cryptotheological dimension remains overlooked.The article demonstrates that Orientalist studies from the turn of the twentieth centuryinterpreted the history of East Asian religion and culture in terms of salvation historyrather than secular history. Rather than being reduced to the framework of (hyper)orientalism, these interpretations require broader reading, which could open space foralternative, potentially postsecular, readings.

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