Christian Use
See also: Chinese Rites controversy and Christianity in China"Shangdi" has also been used to translate God the Father into Chinese by some Christian missionaries. The point has been contentious, with some preferring "Shangdi" and others "Shen" (神, " god"). British missionaries and some Catholics preferred Shangdi as a connection with a presumed ancient and primitive native monotheism, while American missionaries and other Catholics preferred to avoid it as such a specific term would associate the Christian God with actual Chinese polytheism.
Read more about this topic: Shangdi
Famous quotes containing the word christian:
“The creations of a great writer are little more than the moods and passions of his own heart, given surnames and Christian names, and sent to walk the earth.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Prayer the Churches banquet, Angels age,
Gods breath in man returning to his birth,
The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,
The Christian plummet sounding heav’n and earth;”
—George Herbert (1593–1633)