Christian Thought in Pre-Modern North-East Asia: Focusing on a Syriac Manuscript newly Found at Khara-Khoto

Abstract

We, a project team of Japanese and Chinese researchers, have studied 228 Khara-Khoto manuscripts other than those in Chinese and in Tangut, which were newly found by an Inner-Mongolian archaeological research team in China in 1983-84. Among them, the present author identified one manuscript as Syriac. This is rich in terms of the contents, allowing us to catch a glimpse of the essence of East Syriac (so-called “Nestorian”) thought reaching Inner Mongolia no later than the 14th century, possibly far earlier. This ranges from trinitarianism, the apex of theology, to eschatology. It has something of christology, cosmology, ecclesiology, and soteriology, which this paper focuses on. The core thought in this document derives from early Syriac Christianity. In this paper, practical aspects are dealt with as well. These are approached from charismatic, angelological, demonological, and spiritual points of view.