True Son of Heaven: How Jesus Fulfills the Chinese Culture [Paperback]

David Marshall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 6, 2002

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

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

"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

About the Author

David Marshall is director of Kuai Mu Institute for Christianity and World Cultures. He speaks to a variety of audiences around the Pacific Rim, in English, Mandarin Chinese, and occassionally, Japanese. Among other things, he has taught in Japanese universities, combatted the sex slave trade in Taiwan and Mainland China, and worked as a translator on board a Russian fishing vessel. David has an MA in China Studies from the University of Washington, and worked for many years as a missionary in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Kuai Mu Press (December 6, 2002)
• ISBN-10: 0970227817
• ISBN-13: 978-0970227812
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #415,224 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

(From interview on Harvest House website)

Tell us a bit about yourself, your background, and your family.

"I grew up a three'minute walk from Puget Sound in west Seattle. We used to go down to the beach, dig butter clams, turn over rocks looking for sea cucumbers and crabs, and watch sail boat races on Sunday afternoons. My parents met at Westside Presbyterian Church, left when it became 'too liberal,' then went back again when they realized that church was still quite good'it took about fifteen years.

"Like G. K. Chesterton, I'd have to say, 'I am sorry if the landscape or the people appear disappointingly respectable and even reasonable, and deficient in all those unpleasant qualities that make a biography really popular.' I grew up in a cheerful blue color family, where there were plenty of books, including World Book Encyclopdia, which after Winnie The Pooh was my first literary influence. We went to Awana and Christian summer camps and memorized Bible verses in the original King James.

"When I was in sixth grade, the Vietnam War ended, Seattle went bankrupt, and we moved to Alaska for several years. I've loved mountains, wildflowers, and strawberries ever since. Many significant things happened up there. We spent two summers at Echo Ranch Bible Camp, north of Juneau, the most beautiful place on the planet, and I 'received Jesus.' I learned about being an outsider. We got a dog, a St. Bernard/Husky/German Shepherd mix, born for Alaska. And I started reading C. S. Lewis, a habit I haven't broken yet. I discovered Narnia in the basement of my parents' friends from church.

What led you to found the Kuai Mu Institute for Christianity and World Cultures? What does it exist to do?

''Kuai Mu' (pronounced 'kwi moo') is the name of an ancient evergreen that grows high in the mountains of Taiwan, like a redwood. The name relates to our need to find roots, and to my work with 'mountain peoples' while I was in Asia. The purpose of Kuai Mu is to educate Christians and non'Christians about how the Gospel relates to other cultures and religions, and evidence for the Christian faith. We do this in three ways. First, we put on seminars and other teaching events, with myself as the speaker, or with other Christian thinkers. Second, I write. And third, we also do some ministry through the Internet.

"Some of the speakers who have participated in our seminars include Miriam Adeney, Craig Blomberg, Gary Habermas, Vishal Mangalwadi, Don Richardson, and Dudley Woodberry. These seminars are always lots of fun."

You spent time teaching English and working as a missionary in Asia. Where did you work, and when did you feel called to Asia?

"I heard about Youth With a Mission at a Keith Green memorial concert. I'd been studying Chinese, and thought, 'Why not go to China? There are more Chinese than anyone else on the planet. I can do God's work, learn a new language, take some cool pictures, and maybe meet some girls.' So in January 1984, I joined a discipleship training school in an old bombed'out hospital on the hill near that giant beehive called Hong Kong.

"My years as a missionary changed me quite a bit. I learned how to worship. I discovered that God can answer prayers in dramatic ways sometimes. I did see a good chunk of the world'we camped out in hill tribes in Thailand, smuggled Bibles into China, and were caught in a little civil war when we arrived in New Delhi just before the assassination of Indira Gandhi. I also began to work out my own way of doing ministry."

You also served in local Chinese churches, where Christians are often imprisoned and abused because of their faith. What was this experience like?

(For the rest of the interview, please see the Harvest House web site.)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A most enjoyable book to read., January 24, 2002

By A Customer

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This review is from: True son of heaven: How Jesus fulfills the Chinese culture (Mass Market Paperback)

While I'm not Chinese, my taiji teacher for the past 30 years who is 81 years old and originally from Shandong Province, clearly is. He was also raised a Christian while growing up in Shandong, and was one of the first Chinese to help establish churches in Taiwan after the Communist takeover of the mainland.

Much of the flavor of the stories and anecdotes my taiji teacher has told over the years describing China both to me and to the rest of his students resonates throughout this book. While I'm sure many Chinese readers will not like or appreciate the author's views, at the same time I'd have to say he's been very sensitive to the overall culture of China. The author is clearly a man who loves China.

It seems these days that when someone disagrees with what someone else says or thinks, it is fashionable to charge that person with bigotry or insensitivity. There are countless books in the West describing both Confucianism and Taoism, which also describe parallels between these philosophies and with Christianity. Are those authors who support Confucious or Lao-tzu being "bigoted" or "insensitive" in regards to Christianity? If not, why should a Christian who finds Christianity in core Chinese cultural ideas be smeared with these accusations? Frankly, given my extensive past readings of Lao-tzu, Kung Fu-tzu, Chuang-tzu and others, I doubt they themselves would be "outraged" at the author's Christian assertions.

On the other hand, there are some individuals so clearly afraid that China is on the verge of losing its national identity to the forces of modernization that they feel they must attack anything which in their view departs from the party line concerning traditional China. I would say to them, relax: China is not going to disappear into a giant McDonalds parking lot simply because some individuals view it from a Christian perspective or some Chinese convert to Christianity. My taiji teacher's taiji teacher-- a direct student of Yang Ben Hou, by the way-- always told his students "the secret to mastering taijiquan was Jesus Christ". That assertion wasn't enough to make many of his Chinese students convert to Christianity. Master Liu was a very traditional Chinese gentleman who also happened to be a Christian. The Chinese world didn't fall apart because of Sifu Liu's beliefs, nor will it fall apart now simply because the author sees Christ in some very old and traditional Chinese symbols.

I most highly recommend this book, both to Christians who want to understand Chinese culture on a more familiar level than the academic descriptions so prevelant out there, and also to those Chinese who are curious about Christianity and would like a bridge to understand it from a more Chinese perspective. I don't think the book "forces" any person, Chinese or otherwise, to embrace Christianity against their will. It simply expresses the author's love of both China and of Christ. The book is well written and has a poetic flavor to its stories, which I appreciated.

36 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Nice apologetic for the Gospel, disjointed presentation, May 6, 2003

By 

Rachelle Ayala (USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: True Son of Heaven: How Jesus Fulfills the Chinese Culture (Paperback)

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.

24 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A bit of fairness to the author, please..., January 29, 2003

By 

Jason Pratt (Dyer, TN United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: True son of heaven: How Jesus fulfills the Chinese culture (Mass Market Paperback)

Having read this and other books by Marshall, as well as having corresponded with him directly for some time, I can vouch that this man is _not_ the 'fundamentalist' he is accused of being in some other reviews. For one thing, as I know from long personal experience, a true fundamentalist would never dream of giving the Chinese any credit for having gotten something right religiously.Not being an expert on Chinese history and philosophy, I cannot comment on his presentation further than to say that his reasoning is consistent with the data he gives (others will have to comment on the accuracy of his data); and that his attitude is very charitable and appreciative toward Chinese culture, both in general and in particular details.Also, he provides a wide range of data from sources, including ones not necessarily favorable to his own evangelical concerns. The updated version of his book provides source references from non-Christian scholars regarding the history of religion in China, for instance.Marshall is a rather more interesting character than any fundamentalist I have ever met. He was, and is, a student (and scholar) of comparative religion--who actually gets some 'religion' through the process! And I think his book should be shown respect by other people who respect and love China; even if they disagree with particular details. He should be talked with, not dismissed.