ABSTRACT
Zhu Zongyuan did not belong to the most exalted figures of 17th century Chinese Christianity. There is evidence that Zhu converted to Christianity already at an early age, as the first member of his family. Regarding the Middle Kingdom's great internal diversity of beliefs and ethical systems, of syncretisms and orthodoxies, one can safely assume that the ways of contextualizing Christianity could not be conform or even similar. A niche for Christianity within the cultural pattern of China had to adhere to these Chinese cultural imperatives, but it also had to remain within the range of Christian acceptability. Since most Chinese literati of the time were leaning towards private or “marginal” religions, there was an additional problem when trying to defend the validity of biblical issues: the need to distinguish them from similar elements in Chinese traditions, mainly outside the Confucian realm.
