Journal: Journal for Baptist Theology & Ministry
Volume: JBTM 22:1 (Spring 2025)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous

Book Reviews

Thompson, Glen L. Jingjiao: The Earliest Christian Church in China. Foreword by Samuel N. C. Lieu. Grand Rapids, IL: Eerdmans, 2024. 269 Pages. Paperback, $29.99.

Glen L. Thompson (PhD, Columbia University) is professor emeritus of New Testament and historical theology at Asia Lutheran Seminary in Hong Kong. I know him as the “Dean of Patristics” of the Evangelical Theological Society. He is one of the founders and the first chairman of the Patristics Study Group. Now that he is retired, he serves as Visiting Professor of History, Wisconsin Lutheran College, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and his expertise in the early church is on view through his website on fourth-century Christianity (www.fourthcentury.com).

Thompson’s expertise in early Christianity and his experience in the Asian context of Hong Kong come together in his latest book, Jingjiao: The Earliest Christian Church in China. I learned about this project in Spring 2024, when Dr. Thompson visited my missions class at Providence Institute, a teaching ministry under the umbrella of Leavell College, New Orleans, Louisiana. During his lecture, I was thrilled when he brought up such topics as Alopen and the missionaries from the Church of the East, the Chang’an stele and Da Qin pagoda near Xi’an, the Dunhuang caves and their treasures. In my own travels through China, I had become familiar with these topics and seen many of the subjects of Thompson’s photos with my own eyes. I was even more delighted when Glen gave me my own copy of his new book.

In his foreword, Samuel N. C. Lieu, emeritus professor of ancient history at Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, explains the meaning of the book’s title. Jingjiao means “Luminous Religion” and refers to the church established by missionaries from Central Asian Christianity to China (vii). As Lieu and Thompson clarify, the source of this mission is better understood

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as the Syriac Church, or the Church of the East, rather than the more popular term “Nestorian Christianity.”1

Thompson devotes his first chapter to “The Syriac Church and Its Eastward Movement.” The Christian movement proceeded eastward from Antioch for centuries before Nestorius and the movement named for him. During the second century, Christian centers developed in Mesopotamian cities such as Edessa, capital of Osroene; Arbela, capital of Adiabene; and Nibisi. From there, Christianity spread along the Silk Road, or “silk routes” as Thompson prefers (1).

In chapters 2–3, Thompson turns his attention to “The Stele from Chang’an” and what it tells us about iJingjiao, its establishment and growth. This impre...