Shanghai Jazz

Understanding localization with a new perspective

If you’re reading this from the United States (I won’t try to imagine this from another country’s perspective), you probably have a certain understanding of the relationship between Christianity and China. I certainly did. However, after returning from an 11-day experience with my Bible Society colleagues in China, I have a whole new understanding.

First, let’s started with the complicated realities. As one person said, “If you’ve heard that it’s happening in China, it’s probably true…somewhere.” China is a huge country with a huge population. So, what I share with you won’t represent the whole reality. I just want to share the surprises that I might not have ever heard about if I hadn’t experienced them firsthand!

Surprise #1: In our interactions with officials who are part of the National Religious Affairs Administration, I heard a consistent commitment to accuracy in translation of sacred texts like the Bible so that they reflect their original meaning, as well as a deep desire for those who teach Scripture to have a solid theological education.

Related: Are religious practices regulated in China? Yes. Let’s pause for a minute and reflect on a couple of values with a high priority in Chinese culture: Social harmony, balance, preserving Chinese culture. Hearing these values expressed from multiple parties (officials, church leaders, seminary leaders) helped me think about how trying to achieve these values might lead toward a more regulated expression of religious beliefs (in good and bad ways). Similarly, it helped me reflect on how values in the US, such as our high priority on individual freedom/liberty, might similarly impact expression of religious beliefs in positive and negative ways.

Surprise #2: While there are certainly many unregistered churches and house churches that face challenges, there are also many faithful-to-Christ registered churches of Catholic and Protestant persuasion ministering to Chinese believers. We had the opportunity to attend a Catholic mass and also visit a thriving Protestant church and its Christian bookstore where many Bibles are sold. In addition, there are seminaries and Bible schools openly and faithfully teaching the next generation of Bible scholars, priests, and preachers in China.

Surprise #3: Because I didn’t understand the high value of preserving and representing Chinese culture, I had a deep misunderstanding of the goal of Sinicization of Christianity. I had frequently heard that the goal of Sinicization was to remove the essence of Christianity to make it “acceptable.” And again, there may be places in China where this has been the experience of some religious believers.

However, the church and seminary leaders that we met showed us examples of Sinicization through printing of Bibles with covers that highlight Chinese art, Bible story art that features characters with Chinese features that help Chinese believers relate, dragons as part of the architecture of churches (rather than European gargoyles), and even a stained-glass window that showed a panda heading into Noah’s ark!

From a translation perspective, several leaders also talked about the importance of understanding Chinese culture when choosing appropriate words for translation. For example, when the book of Revelation talks about a dragon in Revelation 12, it’s clear to English speakers that this is a negative character. In Chinese culture, dragons are auspicious, positive figures. So, using imagery that evokes a positive understanding to the Chinese to express a negative character doesn’t work! Instead, translators must consider alternatives that will express the negativity of the creature. This is a very common form of localization of translation with the desire to ensure that translation is accurate, clear, and natural.

I’ve been blessed to experience so many different cultures in my life, and I consider each opportunity a chance to expand my understanding of the world, the God who created us, and what parts of Himself that you can see in each culture. I hope that this small taste of my trip gives you a glimpse into the same. Until we are in God’s Kingdom, no culture is a perfect reflection of Him, but I fully believe that He has placed a starting seed of understanding Him in each culture if we look for it (Romans 1:19-20, 2:14-15).

While I reflected on Scripture bringing out the best of Chinese culture, I came across another less “eternal” example of Chinese localization - the Shanghai Jazz movement. I had no idea about this fascinating integration of jazz music and Chinese culture that started in the 1930s. I’ll leave you this time with a taste as an audio soundtrack to your reflections on what I’ve shared.

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Praises & Prayer Requests

Praise God for safe travel to, through, and back from China. Five cities in 11 days is no joke!

Praise God for great connections with Jen’s new colleagues in the United Bible Societies Fellowship. There is so much potential for us to work together in partnership, and this was a great chance to spend quality time with a few of the Bible Society leaders.

Praise God that Tim and the girls continue to do well as the school year heads toward finals.

Thanks for joining us in prayer for these requests this week.

• Jen still has miles to go this month - heading back from the Illuminations Gathering and then over to National Day of Prayer in Washington DC later this week. Pray for safe travel and good energy.

• Pray for Tim and the girls as the moving date looms closer. Tim is working hard to pack up the rest of the house. And of course, everyone is feeling lots of things as the family move date approaches.

• Pray for the preparations at ABS for the June Board meeting. There’s a lot of work in progress for our mid-June meeting date, budgeting and strategic work and finding the right candidates for key leadership team roles. Pushing hard in this season to get clarity for June means we’ll be able to use decisions there to guide us for the next several years of planning.

We’re grateful for you joining us in this journey! God is faithful. And we’re trusting in Him for our endurance in this very busy season.