Cheng Jingyi
Cheng Jingyi or Cheng Ching-yi (
Biography
Born to a Manchu pastor who had been converted to Christianity by a pastor of the London Missionary Society (LMS) in Beijing, Cheng was educated first at home in the Chinese classics, then attended the Anglo-Chinese Institute of the LMS, graduating in 1896. Less than a month before the outbreak of the Boxer Uprising Cheng finished four years of studies in theology in Tianjin, one of the hotspots of fighting during the Allied Intervention. Cheng volunteered as an interpreter and stretcher-bearer for the Allied forces.[1]
Cheng used his training in Classical Chinese to help George Owen of the LMS revise his translation of the New Testament before continuing his theological training at the Bible Institute in Glasgow, Scotland. He returned to China after his graduation in 1908. After his ordination in his home church, he was pastor to a newly independent church, the Mishi Hutung Church in the East City of Beijing, which was attended by a number of Chinese academics and professionals.[1]
The
In 1917, Cheng led a campaign against the movement to allow only Confucian teachings for moral instruction in the schools. Arguing that the future of the church in China lay in indigenous leadership, he helped form the indigenous interdenominational Chinese Home Mission Society to reach the ethnic groups in southwest China and, in 1919, helped launch the China for Christ Movement (Zhonghua Guizhu Yundong), with the help of David Z. T. Yui, the General Secretary of the Chinese National YMCA as chair. The latter movement spread to some dozen cities, calling "for Christian involvement in forming public opinion and conscience s well as in delivering a practical and social message," and aimed to promote China's nation building. It was merged into the longer standing China Continuation Committee.[6] Cheng was general secretary of the National Christian Council from its establishment in 1922 until his resignation in 1933 because of poor health. In 1927, Cheng was elected the first moderator of the Church of Christ in China, a Protestant ecumenical organization comprising 16 denominations. He was on the executive committee of the International Missionary Council from 1928 to 1938.[5]
He was one of the translators of the Christian Union Version of the Bible, along with Calvin Wilson Mateer, Frederick W. Baller and George Owen.[7]
Cheng was deeply distressed by the Sino-Japanese War in 1937 because he was acquainted with many Japanese Christians and felt the war would do irreparable damage to Christian unity. Years of stress and constant travel weakened his health. He traveled to Southwest China to support mission work among tribal groups, and died on his return to Shanghai in 1940.[8]
Works
- World Missionary Conference, 1910 (1910). Report of Commission II: The Church in the Mission Field. Edinburgh: Oliphant, Anderson, and Ferrier. pp. 352–353.
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: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - World Missionary Conference, 1910 (1910). Report of Commission VIII: Cooperation and the Promotion of Unity. Edinburgh: Oliphant, Anderson, and Ferrier. pp. 195–197.
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: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - Cheng, Ching-Yi (July 1912). "The Chinese Church in Relation to Its Immediate Task". International Review of Missions. Vol. 1, no. 3. pp. 381–392. .
- Cheng Jingyi (1912). Xin yue du fan [New Testament Studies]. Shanghai: Christian Literature Society.
References
Notes
- ^ a b c Boorman (1967).
- ^ Stanley (2009), pp. 107–111.
- ^ Cheng (1910), p. 353.
- ^ Chang (1910), p. 196.
- ^ a b Bays (2012), pp. 99–104.
- ^ Lian (2010), pp. 35–43.
- ^ Christianity Today website, A Century Later, the Chinese Union Version Still Dominant, article by Kevin Xiyi Yao dated April 6, 2022
- ^ BDCC.
Bibliography
- Bays, Daniel H. (2012). A New History of Christianity in China. Chichester, West Sussex ; Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 9781405159548.
- "Cheng Jingyi (1881–1939)". Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity. Retrieved 30 September 2019.
- Boorman, Howard L., ed. (1967). "Ch'eng Ching-yi". Biographical Dictionary of Republican China. Vol. 1. pp. 284–286.
- Chang, Ching-Yi (1910). Report of Commission VIII: Co-operation and the Promotion of Unity. Edinburgh, Scotland: Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier. pp. 195–197. OCLC 262549930.
- Cheng, Ching Yi (1910). World Missionary Conference, 1910 – Report of Commission II: The Church in the Mission Field. Edinburgh, Scotland: Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier. pp. 352–353. OCLC 76799150.
- Lian, Xi (2010). Redeemed by Fire the Rise of Popular Christianity in Modern China. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300123395.
- ISBN 9780802863607.
Further reading
- Bitton, Nelson (October 1941). "Cheng Ching-Yi". International Review of Mission. 30 (4): 513–520. .
- Boynton, Charles (1939). "Dr. Cheng Ching-yi". Chinese Recorder. 70.
- Ng, Peter Tze Ming (2012). "Cheng Jingyi: Prophet of his Time" (PDF). International Bulletin of Missionary Research. 36 (1): 14–16. S2CID 148907618.
- Wang, Xiaojing (2013). Church Unity Movement in Early Twentieth-Century China: Cheng Jingyi and the Church of Christ in China (PhD thesis). University of Edinburgh. hdl:1842/8217.