K. H. Ting
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K. H. Ting, Ting Kuang-hsun or Ding Guangxun (; 20 September 1915 – 22 November 2012), was Chairperson emeritus of the
Three-Self Patriotic Movement The Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM; ) is the official government supervisory organ for Protestantism in the People's Republic of China. It is colloquially known as the Three-Self Church (). The National Committee of the Three-Self Patriot ...
(TSPM) and President emeritus of the
China Christian Council The China Christian Council (CCC; ) was founded in 1980 as an umbrella organization for all Protestant churches in the People's Republic of China with Bishop K. H. Ting as its president. It works to provide theological education and the publica ...
, the government-approved
Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
church in China. Ting was trained in the
Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
tradition and, in 1955, was consecrated as Anglican
Bishop of Chekiang The Bishop of Chekiang, exercised episcopal leadership over the Diocese of Chekiang of the Anglican Church in China. The diocese, similar in extent to the present-day Zhejiang, was originally established as part of the Church of England. The first ...
. As he never renounced his ordination, he remained a bishop until his death. However, in 1958 the Anglican Church in China came to an end as an independent institution in mainland China, leaving Ting with no episcopal functions to perform. Ting had also held a number of political posts. He was a vice-chairman of the
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC, zh, 中国人民政治协商会议), also known as the People's PCC (, ) or simply the PCC (), is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of ...
(1989–2008), and a member of the
National People's Congress The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. With 2, ...
, China's legislature.


Biography

Ting was educated at Shanghai's
Saint John's University St John's University may refer to: *St. John's University (New York City) ** St. John's University School of Law **St. John's University (Italy) - Overseas Campus * College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University, St. Joseph, Minnesota and C ...
(1937–42), graduating
B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
in 1937 and B.D. in 1942. In the same year, he was ordained as an Anglican
deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...
and married Siu-May Kuo (1916–1995), both taken place at the Church of Our Savior on Wu Yuan Road,
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
. From 1942 to 1945, Ting worked in the administration of the
YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...
. In 1946, he and his wife moved to
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, where he became missions secretary of the Canadian Student Christian Movement. Ting studied at
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
and at Union Theological Seminary, both in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, from 1947 to 1948, gaining a master's degree in arts and theology. From 1948 to 1951, he worked in the administration of the
World Student Christian Federation The World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) is a federation of autonomous national Student Christian Movements (SCM) forming the youth and student arm of the global ecumenical movement. The Federation includes Orthodox, Protestant, Catholic, Pe ...
in
Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
,
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
. In 1951 the Tings returned to China with their young son Stephen Yenren Ting, born in November 1948. Their second son Heping Ting was born in July 1952. Ting went on to serve as general manager of the
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
-based Chinese Christian Literature Society from 1951 to 1953, when he became principal of
Nanjing Union Theological Seminary The Nanjing Union Theological Seminary () is the flagship theological seminary of Protestant Christianity in China today. It is managed by the China Christian Council. Prior to the founding of the People's Republic of China, the institution had ...
. In 1954, shortly after the establishment of the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, 138 Chinese Christian leaders presented the
Christian Manifesto "Direction of Endeavor for Chinese Christianity in the Construction of New China", commonly known as "The Christian Manifesto" or "The Three-Self Manifesto", was a political manifesto of Protestants in China whereby they backed the newly fou ...
to the country, pledging the support of Christians for
anti-imperialism Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is a term used in a variety of contexts, usually by nationalist movements who want to secede from a larger polity (usually in the form of an empire, but also in a multi-ethnic so ...
, anti-feudalism, and the struggle against bureaucratic capitalism. This manifesto would launch the
Three-Self Patriotic Movement The Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM; ) is the official government supervisory organ for Protestantism in the People's Republic of China. It is colloquially known as the Three-Self Church (). The National Committee of the Three-Self Patriot ...
, of which Ting was elected to the standing committee in the same year. In 1955, he was consecrated as the Anglican bishop of
Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...
. By 1957, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement claimed the loyalty of the overwhelming majority of Christians in China. In 1958, the Anglican Church in China was merged into the Chinese Christian Church and Ting lost his positions in the Anglican Church, but he remained a bishop in the eyes of many Chinese Christians and the wider Anglican Church. He returned to prominence in the 1970s. In 1980, he became President of the
China Christian Council The China Christian Council (CCC; ) was founded in 1980 as an umbrella organization for all Protestant churches in the People's Republic of China with Bishop K. H. Ting as its president. It works to provide theological education and the publica ...
and leader of the TSPM, positions he held until 1997. In 1985, Ting helped found the
Amity Foundation The Amity Foundation () is an independent Chinese voluntary organization. it is the largest charity in China. It was created in 1985 on the initiative of Christians in China with the late Bishop K. H. Ting as its founder. Its main objective has ...
and remained its president as well as being principal of Nanjing Union Theological Seminary until his death. In 1988, Ting proclaimed that "the church should be in tune with socialism, but should not be a government department", proposing the end of the Three-Self Movement by 1991. This proposal was rejected after the
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...
. Ting died on 22 November 2012, and his body was cremated on 27 November. Yu Zhengsheng attended his funeral on behalf of the central government. Several Chinese Anglican leaders, such as Peter Kwong and
Paul Kwong Paul Kwong CStJ (; born 28 February 1950) is a retired Anglican bishop from Hong Kong, who served as Archbishop and Primate of Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui, Bishop of Hong Kong Island, and Bishop of Macau from 2007 to 2021. Kwong is also the current ...
, led Ting's funeral service on December 8 at Christianity Mochou Road Church.


Theology

Before the 1950s, influenced by his predecessor Y. T. Wu, Ting joined the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), attempting to devote himself to the national salvation and advocating that Christianity focuses not just individual salvation, but also social salvation. At that time, he also appreciated communism, although cautiously. In 1948 when he commented on the civil war in China, he wrote:
With the fall of Chiang and the Kuomintang government, and after the defeat of contemporary Chinese reactionaries who now rally around Chiang, a democratic coalition government will be formed in which Communists, Democratic Leaguers, progressive Nationalists and members of other anti-reactionary parties will all participate. What Americans think of as a Communist dictatorship is not in the wind for China's future.
After he returned the new China in 1951, he joined the Three-self movement which was led by Y. T. Wu and chose to cooperate with the CCP regime. Ting became one of most influential Christian leaders in the national
Three-self Patriotic Movement The Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM; ) is the official government supervisory organ for Protestantism in the People's Republic of China. It is colloquially known as the Three-Self Church (). The National Committee of the Three-Self Patriot ...
and the
China Christian Council The China Christian Council (CCC; ) was founded in 1980 as an umbrella organization for all Protestant churches in the People's Republic of China with Bishop K. H. Ting as its president. It works to provide theological education and the publica ...
since the 1980s.


Theological reconstruction

Ting's writings were mainly published after the 1980s. Ting formally started to construct his theological discourse aiming to deal with the relation of Christian faith with communism and other religions; meanwhile, he promoted "theological reconstruction" () in an attempt to construct indigenous theology on the basis of Chinese socio-political and religio-cultural context. It was also seen by some as an attempt to remove
fundamentalist Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that is characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishing ...
and
evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...
forms of Christianity from the Chinese church.


Ecclesiology

The TSPM was regarded as the application of the three principles of self-governance, self-support, and self-propagation. Ting claimed that "it is work of God." Ting avidly accused Wang Mingdao of distorting the meaning of three principles and refusing to cooperate with TSPM. Besides, he believed that the church should play an active role in the society for serving the people, rather than cling to the church just paying attention to individual salvation.


Christology

Ting summarizes that a
Cosmic Christ The cosmic Christ is a view of Christology which emphasises the extent of Jesus Christ's concern for the cosmos. The biblical bases for a cosmic Christology is often found in Colossians, Ephesians, and the prologue to the gospel of John. Early c ...
encompasses two aspects:
(1) the universal extent of Christ's domain, concern and care, and (2) the kind of love which we get a taste of in Jesus Christ as we read the Gospels being the first and supreme attribute of God and the basic to the structure and dynamic of the universe, in the light of which we get an insight as to how things go in the world.
Influenced greatly by the thinking of
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin Pierre Teilhard de Chardin ( (); 1 May 1881 – 10 April 1955) was a French Jesuit priest, scientist, paleontologist, theologian, philosopher and teacher. He was Darwinian in outlook and the author of several influential theological and philos ...
and
process theology Process theology is a type of theology developed from Alfred North Whitehead's (1861–1947) process philosophy, most notably by Charles Hartshorne (1897–2000), John B. Cobb (b. 1925) and Eugene H. Peters (1929-1983). Process theology and pr ...
based on the writings of
Alfred North Whitehead Alfred North Whitehead (15 February 1861 – 30 December 1947) was an English mathematician and philosopher. He is best known as the defining figure of the philosophical school known as process philosophy, which today has found applicat ...
, Ting argues that creation is a long process in which Christ not just participated in creation in the beginning, but continues to sustain the incomplete creation. Redemption is in the process of creation. Following this, he contends that not Christians but humankind are involved in Christ's redemptive work. In this way, he appeals to Christians to appreciate the values in communism and other religio-cultural resources.


The sinned against

With regards to the doctrine of sin, Ting has pushed away from the traditional emphasis on people as "sinners" but also as individuals who are "sinned against." Ting is opposed to creating "antagonism between believers and nonbelievers" by aggressive
proselytization Proselytism () is the policy of attempting to convert people's religious or political beliefs. Proselytism is illegal in some countries. Some draw distinctions between '' evangelism'' or '' Da‘wah'' and proselytism regarding proselytism as invo ...
, favoring brotherly love towards and not condemnations to hell of Chinese non-Christians. Because China is a Confucian society where the theory of the goodness of human nature is the mainstream. The emphasis of "The sinned against" leads people to know the love of God and receive consolation after a long-time oppression and suffering in the history.


Justification by faith

Ting has argued that the doctrine of
justification by faith ''Justificatio sola fide'' (or simply ''sola fide''), meaning justification by faith alone, is a soteriological doctrine in Christian theology commonly held to distinguish the Lutheran and Reformed traditions of Protestantism, among others, f ...
has been misunderstood by many Christians and that it was originally meant to liberate humans rather than consign people to hell. Because of this, he has been accused of replacing the traditional Protestant doctrine with justification by ''love'', to support the notion that those who God's love are within the boundaries of Christianity; it is therefore considered to be an attempt to reconcile the atheistic ideology of
communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
with Christianity in order to maintain good relations with the
People’s Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. However, he has explicitly stated that he neither understands what the phrase means but considers it a misleading imitation of
justification by faith ''Justificatio sola fide'' (or simply ''sola fide''), meaning justification by faith alone, is a soteriological doctrine in Christian theology commonly held to distinguish the Lutheran and Reformed traditions of Protestantism, among others, f ...
.


Relation between Christians and atheists

Ting considered that Christians should get along well with non-Christians and atheists of all sorts. Besides, he further stresses that "Provisional unities of truths we can observe with joy and thanksgiving because they illuminate us and point toward the ultimate unity in Christ which is the promise of his revelation."


Works

*''God is Love: Collected Writings of Bishop K. H. Ting'', Cook Communications Ministries International, 2004. *''No Longer Strangers: Selected Writings of K. H. Ting'', edited by Raymond L. Whitehead, Orbis Books, 1989. *''Love Never Ends: Papers by K. H. Ting'', edited by Janice Wickeri, Yilin Press, 2000. *''A Chinese Contribution to Ecumenical Theology: Selected Writings of Bishop K. H. Ting'', edited by Janice and Philip Wickeri, WCC Publications, 2002.


See also

*
Protestant missions in China In the early 19th century, Western colonial expansion occurred at the same time as an evangelical revival – the Second Great Awakening – throughout the English-speaking world, leading to more overseas missionary activity. The nineteenth centu ...


Notes


References


Further reading

* *Wickeri, Philip. ''Seeking the Common Ground: Protestant Christianity, the Three-Self Movement, and China's United Front'', Orbis Books, 1988.


External links


Xinhua biography of KH Ting
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ting, K. H. 1915 births 2012 deaths 20th-century Anglican bishops in China Delegates to the 3rd National People's Congress Delegates to the 4th National People's Congress Delegates to the 5th National People's Congress Members of the Standing Committee of the 6th National People's Congress Members of the Standing Committee of the 7th National People's Congress Members of the 3rd Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Members of the Standing Committee of the 5th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Vice Chairpersons of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference People's Republic of China politicians from Shanghai Columbia University alumni Three-Self Patriotic Movement Union Theological Seminary (New York City) alumni St. John's University, Shanghai alumni Chinese Christian theologians Anglican bishops of Chekiang