Shangdi - Christian Use

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 most Christian France is the sole wet-nurse to the Roman court.
    François Rabelais (1494–1553)

    Tyranny produces two results, exactly opposite in character, and which are symbolized in those two great types of the slave in classical times—Epictetus and Spartacus. The one is hatred with its evil train, the other meekness with its Christian graces.
    Honoré De Balzac (1799–1850)