The protestant quest for contextualized hymnology in twentieth century China: A case study of the collaboration between T.C. Chao and Bliss Wiant in the contextualization of Chinese hymns

This dissertation is concerned with the contextualization of Chinese hymns in the 1920s and 1930s in the collaboration between T. C. Chao (1888-1979), a renowned Chinese theologian, and Bliss Wiant (1895-1975), an American missionary and musicologist. The contextualization of Chinese Christian hymns has become an important area of study, but relatively little attention has been paid to the concrete interpretation of translations and hymns produced in a particular time by Chinese Christians and missionary collaborators. In this case study, the focus is on two hymnals produced by Chao and Wiant, Christian Fellowship Hymns and Hymns for the People, published in the early 1930s, with brief comparisons with other hymnals from the early decades of the twentieth century.
Chapter one surveys the contextualization of Chinese hymns made by Western protestant missionaries in the nineteenth century, followed by an exploration on the contextualization of Chinese hymnology by Chinese Christians themselves, especially in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The subject of Chapter two is the origin and writing of Christian Fellowship Hymns, focusing on T. C. Chao’s contextualized translations and his implicit and explicit interaction and dialogue with traditional cultural values and the contemporary social scene. In Chapter three we consider the second hymnal, Hymns for the People, which contains hymns written by Chao and set to Chinese music by Wiant. Here we consider Chao’s principles for hymn writing, and see how his hymns reflect his early theological thinking. In Chapter four, attention shifts to Bliss Wiant and the music in Hymns for the People. The Chinese tunes Wiant selected for this hymnal are analyzed to see how they were part of the contextualization process. Here, we employ post-colonial criticism to develop the beginnings of a new interpretative framework that can be applied to the process of the contextualization of Chinese hymnology.
Our final Chapter five compares the two Chao/Wiant hymnals with Hymns of Universal Praise, a joint effort by six denominations, which may be seen as the highpoint of the contextualization of Chinese hymnology in the fourth decade of the 20th century. These two hymnals are further compared with the hymnals of two independent/indigenous traditions: the Little Flock and the Jesus Family. Finally, we use the theory of "Glocalization" to further develop the study of Chinese hymnody in the 1920s and 1930s, emphasizing the mutually interactive process between the global and the local in contextualized Chinese Christian hymns.
Contextualized music is, theologically, an expression of the Incarnation, the Word become flesh, the flesh become song. This is evident in our study of the hymnals of T. C. Chao and Bliss Wiant. Their creative collaboration on contextualized Chinese hymns, the words and the music, has made a lasting and in some ways unique contribution to Chinese hymnody. It is important both for the study of the history of Christianity and the future of the Chinese Church.