True Son of Heaven: How Jesus Fulfills the Chinese Culture

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 224 pages
• Published by: Kuai Mu Press December 6, 2002
• ISBN 10 Number: 0970227817
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0970227812
• Book Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Weighs: 12 ounces

Product Review
"Opens a window on Chinese yearnings expressed in language, culture, and philosophy . . . an exciting read!" -- Don Richardson

"Opens a window on Chinese yearnings expressed in language, culture, and philosophy . . . an exciting read!" --Don Richardson

"Really hard to put down. A wonderful job of de-europeanizing Jesus." -- Richard Sherburne, S.J., Marquette University

"Really hard to put down. A wonderful job of de-europeanizing Jesus." --Richard Sherburne, S.J., Marquette University

"Showing deep, original thought . . . Stimulating and provocative." -- Dr. Tony Lambert

"Showing deep, original thought . . . Stimulating and provocative." --Dr. Tony Lambert

A wonderful job of de-Europeanizing Jesus. -- Richard Sherburne, Marquette University

An exciting read! -- Don Richardson, author, Eternity in Their Hearts

Deep, original thought . . . Stimulating and provocative. -- Tony Lambert, China Insight

Product Description
Does the Gospel fulfill the deepest truths of the ancient, endlessly fascinating Chinese culture? When first published, David Marshall's micro-classic kicked up a small cloud of controversy, as evidenced in reviews below, some calling Marshall a "fundamentalist," others a "syncretist," and at least one critic complaining that his imagination runs away with him. No one who loves China and who is open to loving Jesus will want to miss this book, however. Marshall, who has written for orthodox (though not "fundamentalist") Christian publications like Christianity Today, First Things, and Books and Culture (mostly on China), shows a deep sensitivity both to the insights of the historical Christian tradition, and to Chinese religion, art, landscape, custom, and language. This second edition includes added material that goes far to answering some of the objections made to the first edition. Marshall adds several pages of evidence that in fact the ancient Chinese were aware of the Supreme God, including quotes from leading Christian and non-Christian scholars. He expands on his comparison between the Analects and the Gospels (based on research for his new book, Why the Jesus Seminar can't find Jesus, and Grandma Marshall Could), and updates the book in other ways.

Reader Reviews
David Marshall seems to be stretching at every shred to tie traditional Chinese culture together with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For example, there are holy mountains in China, there are holy mountains in the Bible. There are four golden pillars in the Temple of Heaven in China, there are four Gospels. Confucious had disciples and wrote proverbs, Jesus had disciples, talked in parables and the Bible has proverbs. Chinese paint things red, red is the color of redemption symbolized by the sprinkling of blood in the Jewish temple. Chinese have Guan Yin, the goddess of mercy, Jesus is merciful, could Jesus be a Guan Yin myth? The Chinese word "fu" for good fortune has a character for divine on the left, followed by "one" "mouth" and "field", so this must mean God put Adam in the Garden of Eden. A Han astronomer describes the conjoining of Jupiter and Saturn and decides to travel west on the Silk Road, hmmmm.... he must have been one of the wise men who came to Jerusalem "from the east". Confucius described an ideal man, "Sheng Ren", perhaps he was looking for Jesus? The Emperor of China is called the "Son of Heaven", maybe he was foreshadowing Jesus. It's nice that Mr. Marshall sees Jesus everywhere, but his presentation is not convincing. The highlight of the book is a discussion on the authenticity of the Gospel. He claims to defend the Gospel with the "help of a few fairy tales, a calendar, and the Analects of Confucius". However he does not properly relate the evidence other than that the Gospels are not like any other literary genre, that the earliest of the Gospels was written a scant 30-40 years after Christ, whereas the earliest copy of the Analects were 750 years after Confucius. The apologetic is accurate, but Lee Strobel does a much more thorough job in "The Case for Christ", whereas Mr. Marshall is only interested in tying in as much "Chinese-ness" into it as he can. Other portions of this book read like a travelogue, such as when an old lady guard refused to let the author into a provincial building and three tourists from Manchuria were killed in a park and since the author had trouble obtaining a room because he was a foreigner, he surmises that the Manchurian tourists were similarly denied beds at the hostel. There is also a section on the development of Buddhism, and the Chinese adaptation to it, as well as some thoughts on the cultural revolution and Communism, with anecdotes. Interspersed throughout are his thoughts and observations about Chinese culture and the people he met on his travels. A semi-entertaining read, with a good apologetic for the Gospel, woven with the presentation of why sinners need Jesus, but overall a stretch in association of Jewish and Biblical archetypes with Chinese traditional culture and language coincidences.