Journal of the Evangelical Mission Society
“Professors and students of global Christianity, church history, and mission history (especially those hailing from Asia) will benefit from this study.”
Concordia Theological Quarterly
"With a combination of archeology, church history, and the cultural-political history of the Middle East and China, Thompson gives us a careful, balanced examination of ancient and medieval Christians in China. . . . This book deserves to be read by all who care about Christians in China, the ancient history of the church outside of the Greek- and Latin-speaking world, and the mission of preaching God’s word and establishing congregations to the ends of the earth."
Fides et Historia
"Glen Thompson skillfully unlocks the little-known account of the Christian church in China during the Tang Dynasty. . . . He is an ideal authority to offer this chronicle. . . . This is a landmark study of the Church of the East in China, and historians will revel in its fluent writing and consequential contributions."
Church History
“An important and groundbreaking resource for bringing into one volume the evidence for the Xi’an Stele as part of the larger context of the history of the Church of the East in Asia and especially in China. . . . Thompson is well-equipped to author this rich and informative new study.”
The Expository Times
“A great starting point for those who seek guidance.”
“When and how exactly did Christianity reach China? Was it really brought by Western imperialists or opium sellers? What and how do Jingjiao (Luminous Teaching) and the Syriac-speaking church contribute to Chinese Christianity? In this volume, church historian Dr. Glen Thompson offers a fascinating narrative that uncovers an important piece of history, addressing these questions and providing a corrective to frequent misunderstandings of the origin of Christianity in China.”
—Chloe T. Sun, Fuller Theological Seminary
“A concise and up-to-date account of the once-forgotten earliest history of Christianity in East Asia by a lucid writer of Asian theology. Highly recommended!”
—Huaiyu Chen, Arizona State University
“Jingjiao: The Earliest Christian Church in China brilliantly combines primary texts, up-to-date scholarship, and impassioned storytelling. Glen L. Thompson’s particularly fresh and insightful reading of the earliest Christian writings in Chinese makes this book an indispensable resource for further study of Jingjiao theology.”
—Matteo Nicolini-Zani, Catholic monk of the ecumenical Monastic Community of Bose, Italy
“This groundbreaking volume catapults forward the scholarship about the earliest church in China by over a century, filling in lacunae and correcting many inaccurate previous understandings about the beginnings of Chinese Christian contextualization. It is therefore no exaggeration to say that this book is the authoritative new word on the subject. Those contextualization principles remain just as relevant today as ever, thus this is also a significant contribution to understanding the Majority World Church both past, present, and future.”
—Allen Yeh, Biola University
