Luoyang Column, the Second Epigraphic Monuments of the ‘Luminous Religion’ (jingjiao), and the Chinese ‘Nestorian’ CanonВосток / OriensSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference PortalThe National Endowment for the HumanitiesThe International Balzan Prize FoundationDavid A. Michelsoncbsc_adminRecord added to Zotero bycbsc_adminSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference Portalhttp://syriaca.org/cbss/J8KR9RIQ/tei
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CREATED: This bibl record was autogenerated from a Zotero record.Dinara V.DubrovskayaLuoyang Column, the Second Epigraphic Monuments of the ‘Luminous Religion’ (jingjiao), and the Chinese ‘Nestorian’ Canonhttp://syriaca.org/cbss/J8KR9RIQhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/a_comprehensive_bibliography_on_syriac_studies/items/J8KR9RIQhttps://www.zotero.org/groups/4861694/items/J8KR9RIQВосток / Oriens12021144-157The article examines the comparative evidence of two epigraphic monuments of the Eastern Christianity in China – the famous Nestorian Monument from Xian (Xian-fu) and the recently discovered octagonal ‘Luoyang Column’, containing doctrinal and liturgical texts translated by Syrian and Sogdian representatives of the Church of the East in Tang China, inertially called ‘Nestorian’ (known in the Middle Kingdom as Daqin Jinjiao, ‘Luminous religion from Daqin (Roman Empire)’. The author examines the accommodative principles of early Christian preachers, who from the very beginning consciously accepted the established vocabulary of the Buddhist and Taoist conceptual apparatus when translating the basic concepts of the Christian canon. The article puts forward the assumption not only on the instrumental nature of such appropriation, but also on the movement of the Eastern Christian religion in China towards syncretism with local spiritual teachings. An analysis of the ‘Nestorian sutras’ from Dunhuang, partly engraved on the Luoyang Column, demonstrates the significance of the efforts made by Christian preachers in an attempt to find common ground with Taoism and the teachings of the Tao Te Ching. Having examined the truly selfless efforts of the authors and translators of ‘The Sutras of Jesus the Messiah’, the author concludes that their activities were nevertheless mostly aimed at nurturing their own community, as evidenced by the names on the Luoyang Column and the tombstones recently discovered in Longmen. The representatives of the Church of the East, welcomed by the Tang emperors, proved to be useful and law-abiding people, but their confessional influence on the population of the Celestial Empire did not turn out to be of any lasting significance, which led to the dispersion of the ‘Nestorians’ in the subsequent time (after the Yuan dynasty).
Dubrovskaya, Dinara V. “Luoyang Column, the Second Epigraphic Monuments of the ‘Luminous Religion’ (jingjiao), and the Chinese ‘Nestorian’ Canon.” Восток / Oriens 1 (2021): 144–57. https://doi.org/https://10.31857/S086919080013662-5.
Dinara V. Dubrovskaya, Luoyang Column, the Second Epigraphic Monuments of the ‘Luminous Religion’ (jingjiao), and the Chinese ‘Nestorian’ Canon,Восток / Oriens 1 (2021): 144–57, https://doi.org/https://10.31857/S086919080013662-5.