Ever since the seven so-called earliest Chinese Christian manuscripts were removed from Dunhuang Cave 17 in 1900 and published by the first generation of scholars, they were quickly recognized... Show moreEver since the seven so-called earliest Chinese Christian manuscripts were removed from Dunhuang Cave 17 in 1900 and published by the first generation of scholars, they were quickly recognized as sources used by the Tang church, an offshoot of the Church of the East that entered China in 635 and allegedly disappeared after 845. This empirical, technical and philological work, however, finds: The putative earliest manuscripts made in the 640s, The Messiah Sutra and On One God, might be the latest sources that were created between 800-1010s. The only two dated sources, Kojima Manuscripts A and B, are modern forgeries. Only two manuscripts, Mysterious Bliss Sutra and Sutra of Origins of Daqin Jingjiao, are actual Tang documents that may be made between 745 and 787. Manuscript P.3847 is the work of post-Tang Christians. All the findings, as a whole, give us food for thought, encouraging us to rethink the traditional historiography of Christianity in China before 1200. It compels us to draw a picture of a local Dunhuang Christian community. It also prompts us to alter our current thinking about the institution known as the Tang church. Moreover, it challenges the present consensus that Christianity was extinguished after 845. Show less
The author takes a closer look at the Nestorian remains of Öngöt in Inner Mongolia. He introduces a number of recently discovered remains, from the Mongol period, mostly gravestones with... Show moreThe author takes a closer look at the Nestorian remains of Öngöt in Inner Mongolia. He introduces a number of recently discovered remains, from the Mongol period, mostly gravestones with inscriptions in Syriac, Chinese and Uighur, which have not been published before. He also submits his own fieldwork in the region, including the documentation of newly discovered remains of the Nestorian Church of the East and related oral history. The thesis consists of four parts and is illustrated with plates and concluded with a number of appendixes. Part I provides an introduction to the medieval sources on the Nestorian presence in the Far East, the associated terms and the historical framework. Part II presents a new synthesis of publications and unpublished sources on the Nestorian remains in Inner Mongolia. Part III provides a historical reconstruction of the Nestorian culture in Inner Mongolia. Part IV provides an insight in the contemporary interpretation and appropriation of Nestorian material of Inner Mongolia by herders and farmers of both Han Chinese and Mongolian descent. Show less
