Recently, Zhang Jieke's book Sinners to Be Sinless: The Faith and Life of Wenzhou Christians was jointly published by the Chinese Christian Literature Council and the Center for Christian and Chinese Cultural Society Research of Chung Yuan Christian University.
Understanding and interpreting sin is not only the foundation of Christian anthropology but also the starting point for Chinese Christians to practice and construct their religious world images, as well as the focal point of ethical life. Through the stories of rural Christians in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, the book Sinners to Be Sinless: The Faith and Life of Wenzhou Christians analyzes the extent to which the images of the religious world around the sinner, the ethical subject, have influenced people’s ethical lives from different angles, such as their conversion to the faith, their attitude towards idols, the tenseness with the traditional moral order, their collective religious life, the power of the church over individuals, and even theodicy in practice. The book holds that the practiced self-denial around sin is actually a kind of self-affirmation of making sinners sinless. It is this special orientation that paradoxically makes it difficult for Christianity to touch itself in essence and truly change believers’ ethical lives.
Zhang Jieke holds a bachelor's degree and master's in sociology from Zhejiang University and another master's degree in divinity from the Divinity School of Chung Chi College, the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is currently a doctoral student at the Protestant Theology Department at Munich University, Germany.
- Translated by Oliver Zuo
近日，张杰克的著作《罪身成义：温州基督徒的信仰生活》由台湾基督教文艺出版社、中原大学基督教与华人文化社会研究中心联合出版。
如何理解罪与诠释罪？这个问题不仅是基督教人论的基础，也是实践中的汉语基督徒构建其宗教世界图像的起点以及开展伦理生活的焦点。《罪身成义：温州基督徒的信仰生活》这本书借着一群浙江温州乡村基督徒的故事，分别从他们的归信、对偶像的态度、与传统道德秩序不失紧张的嵌入、人们的集体宗教生活、教会对个体的权力治理乃至实践中的神义论等多个不同的角度，一层层地分析了围绕罪人这一伦理主体所构成的宗教世界图像影响其伦理生活的程度。这本书认为，人们所践行的围绕罪的自我否定，底色实乃一种探寻罪身成义的自我肯定。正是这种特殊的取向，悖论地使得基督教难以实质地触碰到自我，进而难以真正做到伦理生活的改变。
张杰克。浙江大学社会学学士、硕士；香港中文大学崇基学院神学院神道学硕士；慕尼黑大学新教神学系在读博士生。
新书推荐|张杰克著作《罪身成义：温州基督徒的信仰生活》出版
Recently, Zhang Jieke's book Sinners to Be Sinless: The Faith and Life of Wenzhou Christians was jointly published by the Chinese Christian Literature Council and the Center for Christian and Chinese Cultural Society Research of Chung Yuan Christian University.
Understanding and interpreting sin is not only the foundation of Christian anthropology but also the starting point for Chinese Christians to practice and construct their religious world images, as well as the focal point of ethical life. Through the stories of rural Christians in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, the book Sinners to Be Sinless: The Faith and Life of Wenzhou Christians analyzes the extent to which the images of the religious world around the sinner, the ethical subject, have influenced people’s ethical lives from different angles, such as their conversion to the faith, their attitude towards idols, the tenseness with the traditional moral order, their collective religious life, the power of the church over individuals, and even theodicy in practice. The book holds that the practiced self-denial around sin is actually a kind of self-affirmation of making sinners sinless. It is this special orientation that paradoxically makes it difficult for Christianity to touch itself in essence and truly change believers’ ethical lives.
Zhang Jieke holds a bachelor's degree and master's in sociology from Zhejiang University and another master's degree in divinity from the Divinity School of Chung Chi College, the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is currently a doctoral student at the Protestant Theology Department at Munich University, Germany.
- Translated by Oliver Zuo
New Book: The Faith and Life of Wenzhou Christians
