What Does “The Bible in China” Mean: On the Construction of the System of Chinese Biblical Versions – A Review of The Bible in China: With a Historical Catalogue of the Chinese Bible

Abstract

The Bible in China: With a Historical Catalogue of the Chinese Bible gives the modern Chinese readers a comprehensive view within one single volume on the history of translation and transmission of the Christian Bible in China, including transmission and development of various versions and editions of translation of the Bible in different languages, ethnicities and groups in China. The book becomes the first modern encyclopedia and lexicon on the history of versions and editions of translation of the Bible in Chinese. However, reading through this book on versions and editions of translation of the Bible in China, with its body as long as 657 pages, one will find at least twelve problems which deserve further discussions, additions and corrections. In this paper, the author makes a preliminary investigation into the twelve problems, each of them probed and treated with a few examples. By doing so, this paper hopes the author will not only offer a more complete and perfect panorama of versions and editions of translation of the Bible in China in future revisions, but also give a full answer to the two difficult questions: firstly, what is the history of transmission and translation of the Christian canon since the time of Nestorianism in the Tang Dynasty? And secondly, how is a system of versions and editions of translation of the Bible in China to be constructed?