Chinese scroll of Madonna and Child shows Christianityaposs spread

For decades it sat in a dimly lit case cracked and soiled. The details were hard to discern. That multicultural iconography witnesses Christianity s ability to cross cultural borders noted Bronson an anthropologist. He wanted to make it clear that Christianity was a universal religion Bronson said. Laufer was something of an Indiana Jones a freewheeling scholar with a taste for exotic travel. Laufer didn t however compare notes with scholars of religion. Most then were clergy and he had a decided distaste for men of the cloth. He dismissed the inspiration for the Madonna scroll as that wretched hypocritical Christian religion. Chinese emperors sometimes declared missionaries and converts personae non gratis Bronson noted. Arnold said that prototype arrived long before Laufer s dating of the scroll. Then the history of Christianity in China gets obscure until the Jesuit missions hundreds of years later. She noted that Chinese tradition long revered a Madon! na like figure Guanyin a goddess of mercy. However before missionaries arrived she was depicted as a solitary figure. Then the Franciscans arrive and suddenly Guanyin is given a male child Arnold said. To her mind it testifies to how quickly China incorporated Christian ideas into its own. The story of the scroll she said has a universal appeal.

Source: http://www.mcall.com/features/religion/all-scroll.6214003jan05,0,4084056.story


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