The Beasts, the Graves, and the Ghosts: A Study of Contextualized Preaching during Chinese Festivals

By Hann Tzuu Joey Tan

At the heart of the gospel is the message of the incarnation: God translating himself into the context of human culture and language so we might know him. Far from coming to an end with Christ’s life on earth, this process of contextualization is ongoing, reoccurring every time the gospel encounters the particularities of society and culture.
In this book, Hann Tzuu Tan explores the significance of contextualized preaching within the Chinese context. Against the backdrop of three major festivals – the Spring Festival, the Qing Ming Festival, and the Hungry Ghost Festival – Tan examines the practices of six experienced Chinese preachers in order to demonstrate the theological and practical importance of contextualized preaching. As a result of his research, Tan suggests six main principles for contextual preaching – principles that are rooted within a Chinese context, yet applicable to anyone seeking to express the gospel’s relevance within a particular cultural setting. Combining insights from biblical studies, applied theology, and ethnography, this interdisciplinary study will enrich one’s understanding of Chinese culture, the gospel, and the important and necessary work of contextualization.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Langham Monographs
• Release date: May 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9781839730276

Book preview

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This is a significant and landmark book for pastors and preachers seeking to reach Chinese people. With remarkable breadth of scholarship, Dr Hann Tzuu Tan makes accessible key Chinese festivals and cultural norms and then leads us to see ways of making our scriptural preaching culturally aware without forsaking gospel truth. Whether you are Asian, or a Westerner like me who preaches to people from Chinese backgrounds, I highly commend this book and pray that God uses it to enable greater relevance in preaching to win many Chinese for Christ.

Bishop Paul Barker, PhD

Assistant Bishop, Anglican Diocese of Melbourne

For preachers and evangelists, this volume is a gold mine. Written by a preacher, evangelist and entrepreneur, the reader’s eyes will be opened and hearts will be warmed as well. The subject of contextualization has been treated many times over, but the treasure in this book is a classic case study in a Chinese cultural context. The reader will also be rewarded by several illustrations from local church ministry. And although Dr Hann Tzuu Tan’s primary intention is situated in a Chinese culture, this thorough treatment will be useful in other contexts as well.

John W. Nyquist, PhD

Professor Emeritus of Mission and Evangelism,

Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois, USA

God’s commitment, as demonstrated on the day of Pentecost, is that everyone may hear the gospel in their own language. Languages are more than mere words. They are carriers of culture. In this book, Hann Tzuu Tan explores how the gospel currently is, and may in the future be, preached meaningfully to Chinese people in the light of their three traditional, annual, religious festivals. In doing so, he not only carefully examines the meaning of the festivals but sets his research in the context of recent discussions about contextualization and the nature of the gospel. Furthermore, his investigations lead him to explore a number of key theological themes such as the spirit world and the nature of spiritual warfare. This will prove of major help both to scholars seeking to understand Chinese culture and preachers who have a longing to make Christ known. Clearly and objectively written by an insider who has a passion for the gospel.

Rev Derek Tidball, PhD

Former Principal, London School of Theology, UK

Research Supervisor, Spurgeon’s College, London, UK

When reading through Dr Hann Tzuu Tan’s study, The Beasts, the Graves, and the Ghosts: A Study of Contextualized Preaching during Chinese Festivals, the reader can tell right away that Dr Tan is an articulate scholar, a capable researcher, a reflective Bible teacher, a sincere practitioner, and a faithful disciple of Christ.

The issue of contextualized preaching among Chinese churches has been ambiguous due to different levels of understanding and perceptions towards Chinese festivals and cultures. Dr Tan’s book attempts to tackle and resolve the issue, and it is indeed achieved!

This book is full of extensive qualitative research, in-depth and insightful interviews, sound biblical teachings, genuine theological reflections, substantive objective analysis, and practical convincing conclusions. The six principles derived from the research are profound in reference to empirical usage for pulpit ministry among the Chinese churches.

Whether for apologetic purpose, theological education, pulpit ministry or to expand one’s understanding of contextualized preaching among Chinese festivals and cultures, Dr Tan’s book is unquestionably a reliable source to explore. I highly recommend it.

Rev Joshua Ting, DMin

General Secretary,

Chinese Coordination Centre of World Evangelism (CCCOWE)

The Beasts, the Graves, and the Ghosts

A Study of Contextualized Preaching during Chinese Festivals

Hann Tzuu Joey Tan

© 2020 Hann Tzuu Tan

Published 2020 by Langham Monographs

An imprint of Langham Publishing

www.langhampublishing.org

Langham Publishing and its imprints are a ministry of Langham Partnership

Langham Partnership

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ISBNs:

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Hann Tzuu Tan has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the Author of this work.

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Unless marked otherwise, all Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. BibleWorks 9.

Hebrew version is from WTT Leningrad Hebrew Old Testament, BibleWorks 9.

Greek version is from BNT BibleWorks NT (NA27), BibleWorks 9.

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Contents

Cover

Acknowledgements

A bbreviations

Approach on Chinese Literature, Translation, and Transliteration

Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1 Background to the Study

1.2 The Study of Chinese Culture

1.3 Aim of the Research

1.4 Objectives of the Study

1.5 Research Methodology

1.6 Research Questions

1.7 Significance of the Study

1.8 Delimitations of the Study

1.9 Definition of Terms

1.10 Outline of the Study

Chapter 2 Literature Review on Issues of Contextualization

2.1 The Ecumenical Movement in the Twentieth Century

2.2 The Emergence of Contextualization

2.3 Definitions of Contextualization

2.4 Approaches to Contextualization

2.5 Syncretism

2.6 Examples of Contextualization from the New Testament

2.7 Contextualized Preaching

2.8 Contextualization in the Chinese Cultural Context

2.9 Summary

Chapter 3 Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and Chinese Folk Religion

3.1 Confucianism

3.2 Taoism

3.3 Buddhism

3.4 Chinese Folk Religion

3.5 Summary

Chapter 4 Research Methods

4.1 Qualitative Field Research of Three Chinese Festivals

4.2 Qualitative Interviews with Chinese Preachers

Chapter 5 Exploratory Study of the Three Festivals

5.1 Field Research on the Spring Festival

5.2 Field Research on the Qing Ming Festival

5.3 Field Research on the Hungry Ghost Festival

5.4 Summary

Chapter 6 Chinese Preachers’ Perceptions and Practices of Contextualized Preaching at Three Chinese Festivals

6.1 The Chinese Preachers Agree That Contextualized Preaching Is Important

6.2 Regarding the Spring Festival

6.3 Regarding the Qing Ming Festival

6.4 Regarding the Hungry Ghost Festival

6.5 Summary

Chapter 7 Theological Reflections of the Cult of the Dead and the Spiritual Realm

7.1 Theological Reflections on the Cult of the Dead

7.2 Theological Reflections on the Spiritual Realm

7.3 Summary

Chapter 8 Principles for Formulating Contextualized Preaching to Chinese People

8.1 Principle 1: Contextualization is important in preaching, even when the Chinese preacher shares the same cultural background with the audience.

8.2 Principle 2: Contextualized preaching includes both affirmation and confrontation.

8.3 Principle 3: The theme of harmony is appropriate for contextualized preaching among the Chinese, particularly during the Spring Festival.

8.4 Principle 4: The theme of filial piety is appropriate for contextualized preaching among the Chinese, particularly during the Qing Ming Festival.

8.5 Principle 5: Preaching about the spiritual realm is appropriate during the Hungry Ghost Festival.

8.6 Principle 6: Choosing an appropriate metaphor for contextualized preaching in the Chinese culture is essential.

8.7 Summary

Chapter 9 Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendations

9.1 Summary

9.2 Conclusions

9.3 Recommendations

9.4 Concluding Remarks

Appendix The Gospel of Jesus Christ: An Evangelical Celebration

Preamble

The Gospel

Unity in the Gospel

Bibliography

Bibles

English Works Cited

Chinese Works Cited

About Langham Partnership

Endnotes

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to God for the unfailing love that he has shown me. This book would not have been possible without his grace. My director of studies, Dr Derek Tidball, deserves a special word of thanks for his constant encouragement, thoroughness, helpful guidance, and careful supervision of my thesis. He has been a great model of scholarship for me. My special thanks to Dr Roger Standing, my supervisor, for his timely help and encouragement. Both Dr Tidball and Dr Standing spent endless hours reading the manuscript and making notations. I am profoundly grateful for their efforts. I would also like to thank my advisor Dr Ka Lun Leung, who is familiar with the background of this study and has offered numerous insightful suggestions. Thanks to Dr Paul R. Woods and Dr Joshua T. Searle for being my thesis examiners and providing valuable suggestions and corrections. Thank you to the interviewees for their participation and sharing their experiences and thoughts in this study.

I would like to acknowledge my sincere gratitude to Langham Partnership for its support of my PhD study. I was honored to be a recipient of a John Stott Scholarship in Biblical Preaching. I also wish to record my gratitude to individuals and institutions whose assistance and support made the completion of this study possible. I would like to thank the faculty and staff at Spurgeon’s College for their unfailing help. My special appreciation goes to Denver Seminary, in which I had a few months of fruitful research as an International Visiting Scholar. My appreciation is extended to Hong Kong Alliance Seminary, Tyndale House in Cambridge, Wheaton College in Illinois, China Graduate School of Theology in Hong Kong, and Ridley College in Melbourne for their role and resources in my research.

I also owe special thanks to the council members and my colleagues in Malaysia Bible Seminary for helping me in many different ways. There are many people I am also indebted to, but I cannot mention all their names here; I am deeply grateful to all of them. Lastly, a special word of gratitude goes to my wife, Dr Yap Chen Sing, whose encouragement and love have enabled me to carry out this research.

Abbreviations

Approach on Chinese Literature, Translation, and Transliteration

With regard to primary sources of Chinese literature used, Chinese publication details will be cited. There are various translations in classical literature on Chinese philosophy, such as The Analects and The Classic of Filial Piety; translations cited and used vary according to my selection deemed to be the most appropriate for the content. There are two major romanization systems in transliteration of Chinese characters, which are the Wade-Giles and Hanyu Pinyin. The most widely used system today, which is Hanyu Pinyin, was chosen to be used in this book. A new Chinese character or word introduced shall be written first in Pinyin (without tone markings) and then in traditional Chinese characters. The names of persons and places are also given in Hanyu Pinyin form followed by Chinese characters in parentheses, except for the names that have a more commonly used English translation (such as Confucius instead of Kong Zi). Similarly when introducing a Chinese quote, otherwise noted in the footnote or text, traditional Chinese characters of the quote shall be written with simple explanations of the quote.

Chapter 1

Introduction

The development of strategies for world evangelization calls for imaginative pioneering methods. Under God, the result will be the rise of churches deeply rooted in Christ and closely related to their culture. Culture must always be tested and judged by Scripture.[1]

1.1 Background to the Study

Christianity has grown unprecedentedly during the past few decades in Latin America, Africa, and some parts of Asia. China has been part of this amazing phenomenon as well.[2] The rapid growth in the number of Christians in mainland China over the last fifty years has been remarkable. It is impossible to say exactly how many Christians there are in China today, because the estimates vary widely. However, based on government information and the work of China-focus researchers, Jason Mandryk estimates the figure is around 105 million.[3] The Chinese church is one of the fastest growing Christian churches in history. Moreover, as Phillip Jenkins rightly points out, Christianity has also made rapid progress in the Chinese diaspora, the flourishing network of Chinese communities scattered around the Pacific Rim, in nations like Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.[4]

On the other hand, ethnically speaking, the Chinese remain the largest mission field in the world today. In mainland China alone, there are around 1.4 billion people; and if we include the millions of overseas Chinese living throughout the world, approximately one in every four or five human beings is Chinese.[5] According to Mandryk, in the world today there are about 1,213 million people whose first language is Chinese.[6] However, Chinese Christians represent only a small percentage of the worldwide Chinese population. A great number of Chinese still lack the knowledge of Christ’s name and salvation.[7]

The Chinese church today faces several challenges. One of the major ones is how to make the message of salvation relevant to the still strongly influential traditional Chinese cultural ways of thinking and living.[8] From the perspective of many Chinese non-believers, Christianity is still associated with Western imperialism, which is perceived to be a threat to their culture; and any who convertes to Christianity is no longer considered truly Chinese.[9] In the 1920s, some anti-Christian intellectuals in China protested, One more Christian, one less Chinese.[10] After almost a hundred years, a similar mindset still remains in the minds of many Chinese today. Hwa Yung is right when he remarks concerning Asian missions, unless genuine efforts are made at contextualizing the proclamation of the gospel and the practice of the faith, Christianity will continue to be widely perceived as a Western religion.[11] Making the gospel understood and culturally relevant to the Chinese is extremely important for the Chinese church today.

Since the 1970s, culture has been a major issue on the agenda of world mission. The Bangkok Conference of the World Council of Churches (WCC) on Salvation Today, which was held at the end of 1972 and into 1973, emphasized the need for the recognition of cultural identity as shaping the voice of those answering and following Christ: Culture shapes the human voice that answers the voice of Christ.[12] After the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in 1974, the evangelical constituency as a whole began to acknowledge the central importance of culture for the effective communication of the gospel.[13] The Lausanne Covenant, which was agreed to by 2,300 people from 150 nations at the 1974 Lausanne Congress, recognized the need for the church to take culture seriously. The Covenant indicated that Christians are bound to have a double orientation, toward Christ and toward culture. Every believer in Christ has the responsibility to develop a biblical attitude to both Christ and culture.[14] At the Lausanne Congress, Pablo M. Perez said, Culture as a most vital factor in the effective communication of the Gospel of Jesus Christ can no longer be ignored or passed off lightly.[15] As John Stott later indicated, one’s cultural background is bound to affect one’s perception of the gospel.[16] A few years after Lausanne, the Willowbank Report was produced by a consultation on Gospel and Culture in January 1978. The Willowbank Report declared, No Christian witness can hope to communicate the gospel if he or she ignores the cultural factor. The report stated that messengers of the gospel need to develop a deep understanding of the local culture, and a genuine appreciation of it.[17]

Paul Hiebert asserts that the gospel must always be understood and expressed within human cultural forms. It is impossible to communicate the gospel apart from human thought patterns and languages.[18] In fact, in order to communicate the gospel effectively, Christians need to have both a knowledge of the Bible and a knowledge of their own cultures.[19] Luzbetak perhaps overstates the case when he adopts a similar but valid position: "The only way man is able to communicate is in the specific context of his actual cultural experience. He can know, love, and serve God and his fellowmen only in that limited context. Man views and is able to understand and interpret the world, and all that is beyond this world, only in the terms of his cultural or subcultural experience."[20]

In the light of this, more research is necessary concerning the relevance of the cultural context of the Chinese people for the preaching of the gospel. One of the most effective ways to obtain knowledge of Chinese culture is to study how it celebrates its festivals. With their long history and rich heritage, most traditional Chinese festivals are important for retaining the core values and inheritance of Chinese culture. As a form of cultural ritual, festivals are of particular importance in studying cultures. Hiebert points out that at the heart of cultural behaviour are rituals. Rituals play a central role in most societies because they dramatize in visible expression the deep beliefs, feelings, and values of a society.[21] He believes that rituals, such as festivals, are a vital key to understanding people’s worldviews, because they visibly reenact the deepest beliefs, feelings, and values of a culture.[22]

Consequently, research into the practice of contextualized preaching at particular Chinese festivals is critical in exploring how the gospel can be effectively communicated among the Chinese. By definition contextual preaching means preaching that responds intentionally and dynamically to the social and cultural location within which the preacher prepares and preaches sermons.[23] Chinese churches consider preaching a primary means of communication. Thus, it is important for preachers who are working among the Chinese to effectively encode the gospel message for the Chinese at major Chinese festivals.

After all, preaching is a communication event which always happens in a particular time and place. Craddock says that a sermon as a spoken word is socially owned, having its life at a particular time and place among a group of participants.[24] Therefore, discerning the season and communicating the gospel appropriately and effectively are important to a preacher. As David J. Schlafer points out, preaching is not a religious monologue but a sacred conversation in which the voices of Scripture, culture, congregation, and preacher all take part. Moreover, Schlafer believes that special occasions need a place in the dialogue.[25] In order to proclaim the gospel in relevant and transformative ways for particular communities, preachers not only need to become skilled biblical exegetes but also need to be adept in exegeting local congregations and their contexts.[26]

1.2 The Study of Chinese Culture

Chinese culture defines how the Chinese live their lives materially, socially, and spiritually. It denotes the essence of what it means to be Chinese and manifest the features of the Chinese way of life.[27] However, one should question if understanding the Chinese culture in general is possible. After all, the Chinese are the largest ethnic group in the world with an extensive history of civilization. As Kam Louie points out, even the concept of Chinese is sometimes difficult to define. Debates have continued for decades regarding what it means to be Chinese.[28] The possibility of oversimplifying today’s Chinese culture by simply describing basic characteristics must be carefully borne in mind and taken into account. This study, therefore, acknowledges the great subculture diversities among the Chinese living in different parts of the world.

1.2.1 Han Chinese

It is important to note that the Chinese people to which this study refers are the Han Chinese. Generally speaking, the Han Chinese can be divided into two groups: Chinese people who live in the People’s Republic of China and Chinese people who live outside the People’s Republic of China.[29] The Han Chinese form the overwhelming majority of China, accounting for 90 percent of the population,[30] along with about 100 million people from ethnic minorities.[31] Numerous large Han Chinese communities also appear across the globe.[32] The Chinese who live outside mainland China can be further divided into the following subgroups.

The first subgroup of Chinese outside China includes nationals of China living or studying abroad. They may return to China eventually or choose to settle and become naturalized in their adopted country.[33] Those settled outside the borders of China are called mainland Chinese Diaspora, and many are Chinese intellectuals.[34] It should be noted that some analysts insist that the term Chinese Diaspora should refer only to new Chinese migrants who still have close links with China which they still politically identify with,[35] while others use the term to refer to all Chinese people living overseas.[36] On the other hand, a Chinese slang term for those who choose to return to China after their study abroad is hai gui 海歸, meaning coming back from overseas. In Chinese, this term is pronounced similarly to the term for sea turtle (hai gui 海龜).

The second subgroup of Han Chinese living outside mainland China is those who reside in Hong Kong and think of themselves as Hong Kong people.[37] Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated regions in the world. About 95 percent of the seven million population in Hong Kong is Chinese, among them the majority is Cantonese Han.[38] Once a colony of the British Empire and now a special administrative region of China, Hong Kong has many cultural facets that can be traced to Chinese roots and Western influences.[39] Overall, Hong Kong features the traditional customs of southern China.[40] Buddhism and Taoism are the two major religions practised by the majority in Hong Kong; Buddhist and Taoist rituals are the most prevalent practices in the traditional ceremonies for birth, marriage, funeral, and seasonal celebrations.[41]

The third group is those who live in Taiwan.[42] Approximately 96 percent of the population in Taiwan is Chinese. The migration of the Chinese from mainland China to Taiwan can be traced back to the sixteenth century.[43] The folk religion brought to Taiwan by these early settlers from the province of Fujian and Guangdong is still overwhelmingly popular today.[44] Moreover, the Confucian tradition also resonates with folk religions in Taiwan.[45]

Another group of Chinese includes those who are Chinese by descent and unequivocally identify themselves as overseas Chinese or Chinese overseas.[46] Today at least forty million Chinese live overseas worldwide.[47] About 80 percent of them live in Asia, 15 percent in North and South America, and 5 percent in other countries.[48] These overseas Chinese have adjusted socially and culturally to their respective locations.[49] Although the common Chinese term for overseas Chinese people is hua qiao 華僑, they often refer to themselves as hua ren 華人, han ren 漢人, or tang ren 唐人.[50] In general terms, hua 華 or zhong hua 中華 refers to China or Chinese, and ren 人 means people. Han 漢 refers to Han Chinese, the word derived from the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), and tang 唐 is derived from the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE). [51] Both the Han dynasty and Tang dynasty are considered as golden ages in Chinese history.

Across the globe, cultural diversity is noticeable among different Chinese communities.[52] For example, in comparison with overseas Chinese communities, the influence of traditional Chinese beliefs has been reduced to some extent in mainland China due to political movements and campaigns.[53] After the May Fourth Movement of 1919, traditional Chinese culture, particularly Confucianism, has been challenged in many ways.[54] Furthermore, under the Communist regime, the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, which lasted for a decade, dismantled the Chinese cultural tradition at an intense rate.[55] By contrast, for the last few decades, Chinese intellectuals in Hong Kong and Taiwan are enthusiastically promoting traditional Chinese culture.[56]

This research, however, agrees with Hesselgrave that it is still possible to describe a traditional Chinese worldview in order to understand the Chinese in general.[57] Although Chinese people living in different parts of the world have some differences due to local situations and influences, culturally speaking, they are still more similar than dissimilar. Throughout the course of Chinese civilization, most people would agree that the mainland Chinese and the overseas Chinese are both co-heirs of a much greater traditional Chinese cultural heritage, which includes elements of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism.[58] Even though the traditional culture in mainland China encountered many challenges and faced some radical criticism during the Cultural Revolution, devotion to traditional values is being reaffirmed after the dismissal.[59] As a matter of fact, mainland China has experienced a wave of revival in the study of Confucianism since the 1990s.[60] Buddhism has also made rapid progress in modern China today.[61] Moreover, both mainland Chinese and overseas Chinese celebrate major Chinese festivals, including the Spring Festival and the Qing Ming Festival. As for the Hungry Ghost Festival, it is still being celebrated in some areas of China, especially in southern China.[62]

1.2.2 Malaysian Chinese

Malaysia is a country composed of two distinct regions, West (Peninsular) Malaysia and East Malaysia. West Malaysia is situated at the southeastern-most point of mainland Asia, neighboring Thailand to the north and Singapore to the south. East Malaysia (Sarawak and Sabah) is located on the northern third of the island of Borneo.[63] Malaysia is a multicultural and multireligious country of thirty million people, in which approximately 24.6 percent are Chinese.[64] By percentage of total population, Malaysia has the largest ethnic Chinese minority population in the world.[65] The Chinese population in Malaysia is usually referred to as Malaysian Chinese or Chinese Malaysian, and in Mandarin they today call themselves hua ren 華人.[66]

Migration of the Chinese to Malaysia can be traced to as early as the fifteenth century, during the Ming dynasty of China when eunuch Zheng He 鄭和 commanded expeditionary voyages to Southeast Asia.[67] In 1409, Zheng He arrived at Melaka with his voyage fleet, and he made six more such journeys. Accordingly, more Chinese started to migrate to Malaysia after Zheng He’s expeditions.[68] For centuries, however, only small Chinese settlements existed in Malaysia.[69] Waves of Chinese emigration to Malaysia began in the eighteenth century,[70] mainly due to economic hardship and domestic disruption in China.[71] In the period from the 1850s to the 1940s, about twenty million Chinese from southern China emigrated to Malaysia and other countries in Southeast Asia, a region which was called Nanyang 南洋, meaning South Seas in Chinese.[72] As a consequence, the Chinese immigrants to Malaysia were mainly from the provinces of southern China, and comprised five main dialect groups: Cantonese, Hokkien, Hakka, Teochew, and Hainanese.[73] Being an expatriate community, these Chinese immigrants are conservative in terms of maintaining their traditions. Overall, they expressed a strong desire to preserve their cultural identity,[74] and formed their own communities and brought with them the gods they worshipped in their home villages in China.[75] The majority of Malaysian Chinese today are the decendants of these Chinese immigrants from southern China.[76]

In the present day, Malaysian Chinese still hold strongly to their Chinese cultural identity[77] because the cultural past and the continuity give meaning and pride to them.[78] They make a great deal of effort to keep their Chinese cultural heritage alive. As Thomas In-Sing Leung indicates, compared to Chinese in other Southeast Asia countries, the efforts that Malaysian Chinese put into preserving their cultural heritage are remarkable.[79] In fact, many Chinese scholars are deeply impressed by the efforts and passions of Malaysian Chinese in maintaining their cultural identity and tradition.[80]

Even though Islam was declared to be the official religion in Malaysia and by law all Malays are Muslim, other religions are allowed to be practiced in peace in any part of the federation.[81] Most Malaysian Chinese still retain their Chinese religious tradition.[82] They prefer a religion which links them to their ancestors and fulfils their religious needs, which at the same time expresses Chinese identity.[83] Regarding Chinese religious tradition, obviously there has been much cultural continuation among the Malaysian Chinese.[84]

Malaysian Chinese often refer to their traditional religious affiliation as bai shen 拜神, meaning worshipping deities.[85] They practice a mixture of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. They also integrate Chinese folk religious practices with these three Chinese religions.[86] To a small degree, religious localization did occur among the Chinese migrants in Malaysia. The Malay cult of keramat, for instance, had been incorporated into the Chinese concept of earth god, resulting in the addition of the Sino-Malayan earth deity Na Du Gong (拿督公) of the region.[87] The cult of keramat is a product of Islamic mysticism which worships saints (keramat), and the concept of keramat was transformed into Chinese as Na Du Gong (or Datuk Kong).[88]

On the other hand, Malaysian Chinese play a significant role in urbanization processes in Malaysia.[89] As Voon rightly points out, The Chinese were inseparably connected with the initial and subsequent development of many towns that literally grew out of the jungle.[90] For example, the founding of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, was closely associated with the pioneering efforts of the Chinese traders and workers.[91] Today, the urbanization level of the Malaysian Chinese community is more than 86 percent. Of the entire Chinese population in Malaysia, about 30 percent live in the Klang Valley, a region including Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, and some other component districts in Selangor.[92]

As for educational attaintment, there is a remarkable improvement among the Chinese in the post-independence period of Malaysia. For example, more than 30 percent of Malaysian Chinese who were born between 1936 and 1940 had never been to school and 46 percent of them obtained only primary education. Forty years later, for the Chinese who were born between years 1976 to 1980, more than 99 percent had been to school and 73 percent of them received at least upper secondary education.[93]

1.2.3 Chinese Christians in Malaysia

Christianity has had a long history in Malaysia. Roman Catholicism first came to the region in 1511, when the Portuguese conquered Melaka. In the seventeenth century, the Dutch conquered Melaka and brought Protestant Christianity to the region.[94] Malaysia’s first Protestant church, Christ Church Malacca, was built in 1753.[95] As for mission works in East Malaysia, they mainly began during the rule of James Brooke, a British soldier and adventurer who became Rajah of Sarawak. James Brooke ruled Sarawak from 1841 to 1868, and he was convinced that his divine calling was to introduce civilization, commerce, and Christianity into Borneo.[96] In 1847, the Borneo Church Mission (Anglican) started work among the Dyak.[97]

Chinese Protestant churches were established in the early nineteenth century. In 1815, Robert Morrison of the London Missionary Society (LMS) sent William Milne and his young family to Melaka to establish a base for the mission. Milne arrived in Melaka in May 1815 and soon started to preach the gospel to the local Chinese in Chinese temples.[98] In 1818, Morrison and Milne founded the Anglo-Chinese College in Melaka. Beside instructing missionaries and others in oriental cultures and languages, the college also served as a school to teach English and Christian faith to Chinese youth.[99] Milne, together with the first Chinese Protestant minister Liang Fa (梁發), established a printing press in Melaka. Since then, Christianity began to take root among the Chinese society in Malaysia.[100]

Chinese literary productions produced by LMS in Melaka include the Morrison Chinese Bible, the first Chinese news magazine entitled The Monthly Total Record of the Inspection of Worldly Custom (察世俗每月統計傳), A Dictionary of the Chinese Language, and over a hundred other titles.[101] After the First Opium War (1839–1842), with the opening of the five treaty ports in China, a large number of Chinese from southern China were immigrating to Malaysia. These Chinese immigrants soon became a significant mission field for the early Christian missionaries in Malaysia.[102]

On the other hand, the immigrations of Chinese Christians from China also contributed to the developments of Chinese churches in Malaysia.[103] In 1882, the British North Borneo Company, with the help of Swiss Basel Mission missionary Rudolph Lechler, recruited a hundred Chinese Hakka Christians to Kudat, Sabah to help develop the territory. Later in 1886, the first Basel Christian Church in Sabah was founded.[104] Between 1901 and 1902, Methodist Pastor Wong Nai Siong (黃乃裳) led three batches totaling 1,118 Chinese from southern China to Sibu, Sarawak. Two-thirds of these Chinese migrants were Christians.[105] Sibu eventually became one of the major centres of Chinese Methodists in Malaysia.[106] In 1938, the Baptist congregation in Alor Setar was also founded by the immigrants from southern China.[107]

Today there are about 5,000 Christian churches of various traditions and denominations in Malaysia. Kim Sai Tan estimates the number of congregations where those of Chinese heritage are in the majority is about 1,600 (includes only non-Catholic churches),[108] and about 1,200 of these Chinese congregations are Chinese speaking or bilingual (Chinese and English).[109] According to the 2010 Census, Christianity comprise 9.2 percent of the total population of Malaysia. Of these Malaysian Christians, including members of Catholic churches and all other denominations, 706,479 were Chinese (about 11 percent of 6,392,636 Chinese).[110]

1.3 Aim of the Research

The aim of this study is to investigate the principles involved in formulating contextualized preaching for the Malaysian Chinese during the Spring Festival, the Qing Ming Festival, and the Hungry Ghost Festival. It uses qualitative research to investigate experienced Chinese preachers’ perceptions and practices regarding contextualized preaching during these three festivals, as well as studying the celebrations of the festivals through field research. The study examines religious beliefs, cultural values, and practices associated with these three festivals. It also evaluates them in the light of any relevant biblical teaching. The study seeks to distinguish what particular aspects of beliefs or practices of these festivals are contradictory to Christian convictions and which aspects can be used to contextualize the preaching of the gospel effectively. Moreover, this research aims to identify a cluster of theological issues for Chinese Christians in dealing with these traditional festivals.

1.4 Objectives of the Study

This study aims to achieve the following objectives:

1. To investigate experienced Chinese preachers’ perceptions and practices with regard to contextualized preaching during three major Chinese festivals: the Spring Festival, the Qing Ming Festival, and the Hungry Ghost Festival.

2. To identify biblical principles in shaping a response to religious beliefs, cultural values, and practices associated with these three festivals.

3. To clarify the principles involved in formulating contextualized preaching to the Chinese people based on the findings and analysis of this study.

1.5 Research Methodology

In order to facilitate the research, two research methods were used in this study to allow different yet complementary research questions to be asked. First, the exploratory study of the Spring Festival, the Qing Ming Festival, and the Hungry Ghost Festival was done through field observation combined with an examination and analysis of relevant and influential texts. Data collection was undertaken through observation of some festival celebrations, visits to libraries and archives, and an analysis of relevant documents.

Besides an exploratory study of the festivals, second, a series of semi-structured, face-to-face interviews also took place with six experienced Chinese preachers. By this method, this research strived to gather and analyse their perceptions and practices regarding preaching during the Spring Festival, the Qing Ming Festival, and the Hungry Ghost Festival, and to identify principles and ways to encode the gospel message for these festivals. The research interviews were conducted in Chinese.

1.6 Research Questions

The overarching research question that the study focused on is as follows: What are experienced Chinese preachers’ perceptions and practices with regard to contextualized preaching during the Spring Festival, the Qing Ming Festival, and the Hungry Ghost Festival? Under the overarching question, six sub-questions worked as guidance for this study. There are the following:

1. How do experienced Chinese preachers perceive contextualized preaching during the Spring Festival, the Qing Ming Festival, and the Hungry Ghost Festival?

2. What are experienced Chinese preachers’ experiences of preaching during the Spring Festival, the Qing Ming Festival, and the Hungry Ghost Festival?

3. According to experienced Chinese preachers, which aspects of the religious beliefs, cultural values, and practices associated with the Spring Festival, the Qing Ming Festival, and the Hungry Ghost Festival are in harmony with the Christian faith?

4. According to experienced Chinese preachers, which aspects of the religious beliefs, cultural values, and practices associated with the Spring Festival, the Qing Ming Festival, and the Hungry Ghost Festival are contrary to the Christian faith?

5. According to experienced Chinese preachers, which elements of the religious beliefs, cultural values, and practices associated with the Spring Festival, the Qing Ming Festival, and the Hungry Ghost Festival, either contrary to or in harmony with the Christian faith, can be used to contextualize the preaching of the gospel effectively?

6. According to experienced Chinese preachers, what theological resources can be used in contextualizing the preaching of the gospel during the Spring Festival, the Qing Ming Festival, and the Hungry Ghost Festival?

1.7 Significance of the Study

In studying Malaysian Chinese culture, besides studying the teachings from Chinese classics, focusing on the customs is also very important.[111] This study argues that research on contextualized preaching during Chinese festivals will contribute to a better understanding of contextualization of the gospel in the Chinese culture. Through studying Chinese festivals, greater insight will be gained into the way Malaysian Chinese people think, as well as a better understanding of their worldviews, core values, and beliefs. The overall importance of this study is to gain knowledge of preaching the gospel in culturally relevant ways to the Malaysian Chinese during specific Chinese festivals, especially the Spring Festival, the Qing Ming Festival, and the Hungry Ghost Festival.

This study will look not only for similarities between Christianity and Malaysian Chinese culture, but the differences between them as well. As Hesselgrave points out, understanding the differences between Christianity and other religions can be an important factor for the effective communication of the gospel.[112] Moreover, this research can be valuable for Chinese Christians. It will give them new insights in deciding how to deal with traditional Chinese festivals, and which cultural aspects should be abandoned and which should be retained. Finally, this work is significant for the development of contextual theology for the Chinese church, since many theological issues will be discussed in light of both biblical teaching and the Chinese cultural context.

The observations made in this study, however, are specific to the observations and interviews undertaken and should not too readily be generalised and taken to represent the Chinese people, including overseas Chinese, as a whole. Shelly Chan in her recent work Diaspora’s Homeland has helpfully reminded us of the complexity of studying Chinese people in China and globally.[113] Thus, cultural heterogeneity of the Chinese around the world should be taken into consideration to avoid any inappropriate generalisation in this study.

1.8 Delimitations of the Study

1.8.1 Three Major Chinese Festivals as Focus of Study

Chinese festivals are quite numerous, but three of them, namely the Spring Festival, the Qing Ming Festival, and the Hungry Ghost Festival, are the focus of discussion in this study. The Chinese traditional festivals are celebrated according