Tuesday, August 15, 2023

It is the 15th of August 2023. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org, I’m Dan van Voorhis.

The story of China and the Christian faith is one of long periods of silence and short bursts of action. This is, in part, due to the relative isolation of one of the world's oldest civilizations. While they were technologically advanced and, at times, had a navy larger than any others, fear of the Mongols, Manchus, and the West has led to closed ports and centuries of silence.

There was a period, however, in the Early Modern era when Jesuits made their way into the kingdom, ruled by the Ming dynasty in the late 16th and 17th centuries. And of all the characters, none is more fascinating than that of Adam Schall. Schall was a German born in Cologne in 1592. He attended a Jesuit school, then attended the German college in Rome and became a Jesuit novice at St. Andrea in Rome. We know little of his life until he applied to be a missionary to the Far East. He had likely heard of the work of Father Ricci, who was embraced by the Chinese on account of his teaching them advanced mathematics and astronomy- Schall had similar academic strengths.  

In April of 1618, he set sail with other missionaries for the East. They stopped at Goa and Macau- then ruled by the Portuguese. They had to wait in Macau as anti-christian riots and persecution had flared up. Schall and others would enter China in 1622, officially as “military advisors,” as the Chinese had been pestered by the Manchus to the North. We know that Schall and others from the West helped run a foundry that built canons for the Chinese.

We know little about Adam’s work around this time except that he must have been learning Chinese and eventually co-authored a small treatise on an upcoming eclipse. When the eclipse took place, he was offered a position in the Chinese court, but he declined, instead working as a missionary in the Shaanxi province. In 1630 the court astronomers miscalculated a solar eclipse, and Schall was requested again (it was paradoxical that the Chinese, who based so much of their lives on astronomy and astrology, still had little practical knowledge of the stars).

Schall was permitted to set up instruments in the Forbidden Palace, becoming the first European granted that access. He would translate European astronomy books into Chinese. He would speak with the emperor about Christianity, and while the Emperor never embraced the faith, many in his court did. However, an insurrection would lead the emperor to commit suicide, and a new emperor, the child Shunzhi, would become the first emperor of the Qing dynasty- then ruled by his regents.

While many Westerners fled, Schall stayed to minister to those converts in the Imperial city. He announced another eclipse, and when it took place, he was named head of the school of Astronomy. When he uncovered a plot by the regents to kill the young emperor, he was celebrated by the then 13-year-old Shunzhi, who would begin his proper reign. Schall was given access to the royal chambers and would sit for hours in conversation with the young emperor. The emperor would name Adam a Mandarin of the first class and allow him to set up a church in the imperial city. Between 1651 and 1661, there were a reported 100,000 baptisms, and Schall himself pastored a church of some 13,000.

The young emperor would soon die of smallpox. Schall convinced him before he died to name the young Kanxhi his heir- and while Kanxhi would take the throne, it would first go to his regents. The regents of the young emperor heard complaints from the older Chinese astronomers who arrested Adam and four companions. However, Adam had recently had a stroke and was unable to defend himself in court.

The 5 Jesuits were convicted of sedition and sentenced to being dismembered alive. But as the document was taken to the emperor to sign, a great earthquake his Beijing. Seeing this as a divine sign, the elderly Schall was released (although, to save face, his four companions were beheaded).

Adam Schall would die on this, the 15th of August in 1666, at the age of 75. His successor would work with the Emperor to not only clear Adam and his companions of all charges, but Kanxhi would sign the first formal edict of toleration in China for Christians in 1692 (the story of how that was revoked is a story for another time). But for a time, the faith was preached inside the Palace and the Chinese Imperial city, and Adam Schall was amongst the most famous and influential men in the kingdom.

The last word for today comes from the daily lectionary from the Gospel of Luke:

26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 15th of August 2023, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org. 

The show is produced by another man of the cloth who can work in a foundry- find his work at Gillespie.cannons. He is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who was disenchanted with astronomy when in college. He learned it was just a bunch of math- I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.