Book Minute: The Nestorian Stele in China

Did you know the Bible was present in China as early as AD 635? How is that possible? And how do we know? A Near Eastern branch of Christianity called the Nestorians traveled to China and were active during the Tang Dynasty, which lasted nearly 300 years. And they brought the Bible with them. We knowthis because of the Nestorian Stele, discovered in the 1620s. This monument, mainly written in Chinese characters, describes the translation of the Bible at the request of the emperor. The inscription references the biblical stories of Eden and the birth of Jesus and mentions biblical figures such as Satan and the Holy Spirit. The stele closes with the declaration:When the pure, bright, illustrious religionWas introduced to our Tang dynasty,The scriptures were translatedAnd churches built. . . Every kind of blessing was then obtained and all the kingdoms enjoyed a state of peace.

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