'All Things Are Lawful'? Paul’s Reframing of Freedom Through the Lens of Body (1 Corinthians 6:12-20) / by Liang Yichen

https://ccspub.cc/jrcc/article/view/445

Published in Zhongguo jidujiao yanjiu 中國基督教研究 = Journal of Research for Christianity in China, no.26 (2026) : 1-33.

Local access dig.pdf [Liang_Yichen_all_things.pdf]

Abstract:

The relationship between the perception of human body and the understanding of freedom was a contentious issue in early Christian churches. This paper examines Paul's reframing of freedom from the lens of the body in 1 Corinthians 6:12-20. Through a three-tiered methodology—social-historical analysis, rhetorical analysis, and exegetical study of the Corinthian texts—this paper first reconstructs the Corinthians’ theology of body and traces its intellectual roots in the dualistic view of body in Stoicism and the similar dualistic traits manifested in Proto-Gnosticism. I argue that Paul, using the rhetoric of diatribe, challenges this dualistic and individualistic view of body, rejecting its disembodied moral implications and articulating instead a holistic and communal vision of freedom grounded in the embodied participation within the body of Christ. Finally, by engaging in a dialogue between Paul’s reframing of freedom and the Confucian concept of freedom, this paper proposes a constructive hermeneutical bridge for interpreting Pauline concept of freedom in Chinese cultural contexts.

Contents: Foreward / Phillip Shen -- Catholic-Confucian dialogue in historical perspective / John Tong -- Preparation for Christian-Confucian encounter : the Protestant story / Peter K.H. Lee -- The present world stage for Confucian-Christian interchange / Frank Whaling -- Hermeneutics and critical theory : toward Confucian self-understanding / Alan K.L. Chan -- Some reflections on what contemporary neo-Confucianists may learn from Christianity / Liu Shu-hsien 劉述先 -- Ponderings on the Confucian-Christian encounter / Paul V. Martinson -- Some critical issues in Asian theological thinking / Peter K.H. Lee.
Confucian thought and theological reflection in China today / Shen Yifan -- Destruction, reflection and rebirth / Wang Weifan 汪維藩 -- Christianity in the light of contemporary culture in mainland China / Liu Xiaofeng 劉小楓 -- Convergence between modernized Confucian thought and Christian belief / Stanislaus Lo Kuang -- Transcedence and immanence in Confucian philosophy / Tang Yijie 湯一介 -- Silent heaven giving birth to the multitude of people / Kim Sung Hei -- The Confucian heaven and the Christian God / Fu Pei-jung 傅佩榮 -- A response : God is not only judge / Bartholomew P.M. Tsui.
Trends in interpretation of Confucian religiosity / John Berthrong -- Jen and love / Frank Whaling -- Individuation in Confucianism and Christianity / Robert C. Neville -- The ethics of Confucianism and Christianity : the delicate balance / Robert E. Allinson -- Yin-Yang thought and the status of women / Pao Chia-lin 鮑家麟 -- Justice and righteousness in the Bible and the Ancient Near East : a recapituation in dialogue with Confucian thought / Richard A. Henshaw -- The prophetic voice in the Confucian noble man / Wm. Theodore de Bary.
Confucianism, science and technology / Vincent C.S. Shen -- Some problems of modernization in Confucianism / Julia Ching -- Confucian-Protestant encounter in Korea : two cases of westernization and de-westernization / Chung Chai Sik -- The principle of order in the West / Langdon Gilkey -- Ta-t'ung 大同 and the kingdom of God / Peter K.H. Lee & Wong Yuk -- Reflections of Confucian-Christian dialogue in a global context / Judith A. Berling.

文明前景 : 二十一世紀的新探索: 天道, 人性與文明 / 成中英. 異與同: 由一個比較觀點論世界倫理之可能性 / 劉述先. 文化危機與人性復甦淺議 / 章開沅.
自然生態 : 道德的生態觀: 宋明儒學仁說的生態面向及其現代詮釋 / 陳來. 基督教生態神學可向儒家學些甚麼? / 顧品超. 儒家傳統與基督宗教的自然律 / 趙敦華. 初探生態女性主義與傭家哲學中之自然觀 / 文潔華.
人性對觀 : 上帝形象與天命: 約翰﹒加爾文與李退溪的人性觀 / 金洽榮 [Kim Heup Young] (陳家富譯). 朱熹和田立克: 對人類境況詮釋的比較 / 區建銘. 基督教與中西文化傳統的人性觀 / 楊適.
人與社群 : 跨越邊界:希伯來《詩篇》與中國《詩經》對人性的想像 / 李熾且 (李凌瀚譯). 孔, 孟, 荀與潘霍華的群己觀: 從成人之追著眼 / 鄧紹光. 儒家與基督教的人格觀中關係的中心性地位 / 許志偉.
天人之際: 聖智者耶穌基督 / 李景雄. 天國與人間的緊張關係: 比較基督教與儒家的處理方法 / 陳特. 基督教的「內在與超越」神觀: 對劉述先「純粹超越神觀」的倒應 / 郭鴻標.
對話會通 : 批判與會通:論當代新儒家與基曾教的對話 / 鄭宗義. 全人修身的再思: 以轉化模式重新理解儒耶對話 / 費樂仁 [Lauren Pfister] (楊國強譯). 三重文化身份的融合: 中國現代歷史行程中的英家三代 / 梁元生.

Xiangshu lun 象數論 / wumingshi 無名氏.
In: Yesuhui Luoma dang'anguan Ming-Qing Tianzhujiao wenxian 耶穌會羅馬檔案館明清天主教文獻 / Edited by Nicolas Standaert [鐘鳴旦] [and] Adrian Dudink [杜鼎克]. Reproduction of original text in vol. 6 of this collection. 

Jap-Sin II, 166.
Xiangshu lun 象數論.
By Xiong Sanba 熊三拔 (Sabbatino de Ursis, 1575–1620).
Manuscript (incomplete), one juan, one ce; written on Chinese paper with red squares. 25 x 15.5 cm.

The cover bears an inscription in Portuguese: “Do P. Sabbatino de Ursis sobre o Ye kim.”

There are nine columns in each half folio with twenty characters to each column. The text, which is incomplete, consists of twenty-one unnumbered folios (including the covers) and contains illustrations.
The author of the manuscript is not given. However, in folio 1, column 4, there is a remark : Yougangzi yue 有綱子曰. Now Yougang is the zi of Sabbatino de Ursis, which clearly indicates that he is the author. This title does not appear in Pfister or elsewhere.
The book, written in dialogue form, begins with the objection that in China the teaching of the savants is based on moral problems and not on God or on mathematical signs. To this the reply is that the Golden Mean [i.e. Zhongyong 中庸] (one of the Four Books in the Chinese classics) begins with the service of God. The savants observed the heavenly law and expressed it in writing and by diagrams. Thus, one practices virtues according to the dictate of the heavenly [Lord] and one governs by divine law without intervention of the impetuous human self.
The treatise then goes on to discuss the philosophy of mathematics, beginning from the point which is the centre of the Taiji 太極 (the Absolute), as was indicated by the Song philosophers. It then goes on to discuss the line, the surface and tries to refute the theory of Wuji 無極 and Taiji.
Source: Albert Chan, S.J., Chinese Books and Documents in the Jesuit Archives in Rome, p. 454.