Buddhism was not the only religion to travel the Silk Roads. So too did Christianity, although in a much less widespread and spectacular fashion. Largely derived from the Persian-based Church of the East, this Nestorian form of Christianity had established a minor presence in Central Asia and northern China during the first millennium C.E., probably introduced by Christian missionaries and merchants following the Silk Road network. The most well-known of these initiatives occurred in 635 C.E. when the Tang dynasty emperor Taizong welcomed a Persian Christian monk named Alopen and some two dozen of his associates to the Chinese capital of Chang’an (now Xian, see map). The Chinese court at this time was unusually open to a variety of foreign cultural traditions, including Buddhism, Islam, and Zoroastrianism in addition to Christianity.

Unlike Buddhism, Christianity did not establish a widespread or lasting presence in Central Asia or China. But for several centuries, a number of small Christian communities had flourished, generating a remarkable set of writings known as the “Jesus Sutras.” (A sutra is a Buddhist religious text.) Some were carved on large stone slabs, while others were written on scrolls discovered early in the twentieth century in the caves of Dunhuang in northwestern China. What has fascinated scholars about these writings is the extent to which they cast the Christian message in distinctively Chinese terms, making use particularly of Buddhist and Daoist concepts long familiar in China. For example, at the top of a large stone tablet known as the Nestorian Monument is a Christian cross arising out of a white cloud (a characteristic Daoist symbol) and a lotus flower (an enduring Buddhist image). The written texts themselves, which refer to Christianity as the “Religion of Light from the West” or the “Luminous Religion,” describe its arrival in China and outline its message within the framework of Chinese culture.

Questions to consider as you examine the source:

The Jesus Sutras, 635–1005