Christianity vs Confucianism
Comparison chart
| Improve this chart | Christianity |
Confucianism |
|---|---|---|
| Founder: | Jesus Christ | Confucius |
| Clergy: | Priests, monks, nuns, ministers, & bishops, and deacons. Pastors and some churches Board of Elders | Sages, bureaucrats, etc. |
| Place of origin: | Jerusalem | China |
| Practices: | Prayers, Sacraments, worshipping in Church, reading the Holy Bible, acts of charity. Communion-partaking in the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, under the appearance of Bread and Wine. | Visit to temples to pay homage to Ti'en(God or Heaven), Confucius, and/or ancestors. Neo-Confucianists practice 'Jing zuo,' or 'Quiet Sitting,' as a kind of meditation. |
| Concept of Deity: | Believe in the Trinity. Three persons in one Godhead: Father, Son and Holy Spirit | Most believe in One God(Ti'en; or Heaven), but, in the way that a Deist would, rather than as a Christian or a Sikh would. Ancestors are also worshipped. |
| Place of worship: | Church, Chapel, Cathedral, basilica. | Temple. |
| Use of statues and pictures: | Used in Catholic & Orthodox Christianity; statues are not used in most Protestant denominations. Statues are not worshiped but may help us focus on prayer and meditation. | Permitted. |
| Literal Meaning: | Christian: Meaning "Follower of Christ" | Follower of Confucius. |
| Branches: | Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox. | Neo Confucianism, Han Confucianism, Contemporary Confucianism, Japanese Confucianism, Vietnamese Confucianism, Singapore Confucianism. |
| Life after death: | Man is appointed to die once, and after that come judgment. Those that are redeemed, live on in Heaven, those that rejected God suffer for eternity in Hell. Catholics believe souls that need purification before entering Heaven will go to Purgatory | To be worshipped as ancestors. |
| Angels: | Angels are God's messengers. | There is no concept of angels in Confucianism. |
| Scriptures: | Holy Bible, a collection of canonical books in two parts (the Old Testament and the New Testament), varies in the old(depending on if its a Protestant, Catholic, or Orthodox)Bible, and 27 in the new testament. | Analects of Confucius and Mencius; I Ching; Doctrine of Mean, etc. |
| Status of women: | They can become nuns in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches and can be priests to Protestant churches. For the most part, women are equal to men in modern-day society. The Bible makes clear that men and women have different roles but are not inferior. | Socially inferior to men. |
| Belief of God: | God is the Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Holy, Just, Loving Creator of the Universe. Oneness of God in the form of the Holy Trinity. | One God. Ancestors also worshipped, though. |
| Geographical distribution and predominance: | Worldwide. Africa, Europe, North and South America, Asia and Australia. | Confucianism has influenced East Asia for over two millenia. |
| Belief: | Belief in one God, the Father Almighty, God the Son is Jesus, our Lord and Savior. After his death and Resurrection God the Holy Spirit came down to Earth and remains with us. | Confucianism is both a religion and a philosophy of China, and of Asia as a whole. It stresses human conduct over belief in God. |
| Time of origin: | Approx. 33 AD. | Approx. 2500 B.C. |
| About: | Following Jesus Christ. | Refers to philosophy and religious traditions that focused on respect, humanism, and honour. |
| Principle: | God created man. Man sinned and fell under its curse. God redeems sinful man through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Those that He redeems, He regenerates and they become "born-again". | Confucianism all about the brotherhood of humanity. |
| Definition: | Follower of the Christ | Follower of Confucius. |
| Second coming of Jesus: | Affirmed, No one knows the date of return not even Jesus, only the Father | N/A. |
| Rites: | Christian rites comprises the way all services for the worship of God are performed, including the 7 Sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the sick, Holy Orders, Matrimony. | Ceremonies. |
| Goal of religion: | To love God and obey his commandments. To gain a relationship with Jesus Christ, live forever with Christ, spread the good word of God. | To have a structured society. |
| Means of salvation: | Through Christ's Death, and Resurrection. | By faithfully observing the following: Li=ritual, propriety, and etiquette. Hsaio=Love between parents and children. Yi=Righteousness. Xin=Honesty. Jen=Benevolence. Chung=Loyalty to one's state. |
| Holy days: | Sunday is the Lord's Day, Good Friday, Easter, and Christmas. | Chinese New Year, Teacher Day, Ancestor Day. |
| Population: | 2.4 Billion includes Catholics, Protestants, and all other Christians. | Approx. 6,000,000. |
| Views on other religion: | God has provided one way for men to become right with Him, and that way is through Jesus Christ. All other religions are vain and futile attempts to win favor with God and are thus false. | Sees no contraction in following more than one religion. |
| Human Nature: | Man has inherited "original sin" from Adam. Mankind then is inherently evil and is in need of forgiveness of their sin. By given the knowledge of right and wrong we choose our actions. We pray that the Holy Spirit strengthens us to avoid sin. | Humans should respect those who are superior to them. |
| View of Abrahamic religions: | Judaism is incomplete without the Messiah; Both Islam and Baha'i are wrong to believe in men that are greater than the Messiah | Confucianism is an Oriental religion. Not an Abrahamic religion. Confucianism sees no contradiction in following more than one path. |
| Prophets: | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prophets_of_Christianity | They do not believe in prophets. They believe in sages and philosophers. |
| Prophet: | Moses, Abraham, John the Baptist, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekial, Nahum, Elijah, Elisha, Obadiah, Amos, Hosea, Zechariah, Zephaniah, Malachi, Daniel, Nathan, and many others | Confucius. |
| Marriage: | Monogamistic: "And two shall become one". One man and one woman are united under God in the holy sacrament of Matrimony. In Heaven, marriage does not exist. | Social order between man and wife. |
| Identity of Jesus: | Son of the Living God, and Saviour of the world, and 2nd person of the Godhead. | N/A. |
| View of the Buddha: | A sinner in need of God's redemption just like everyone else. | Buddha is followed by many Confucianists. |
| Status of Adam: | Adam was the first man created by God. He fell into temptation and brought sin and death to the human race. | N/A. |
| Geographical predominance: | Christianity has spread worldwide across all six settled continents, predominantly Europe, North, Central, and South America, Australia, and New Zealand | Asia |
| Place and Time of origin: | Jerusalem 33 AD | China approx. 2,500 B.C. |
| God's role in salvation: | Salvation is a completely free gift from the Lord and comes by grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ only. This faith is demonstrated thorugh accepting his message of selfless compassion and producing good works in keeping with repentance. | Everything is done according to His Will. |
| Clothes: | No Prohibitions, except in some sects | Confucianist robes. |
| Birth of Jesus: | Virgin Birth, through the Father. | N/A. |
| View of other Abrahamic religions: | According to Christian doctrine, Judaism is a true religion, but with incomplete revelation (incomplete without the Messiah). | Confucianism sees no contradiction in following more than one path. |
| View of God: | One God: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (three persons in One God, known as the Holy Trinity). | One God. |
| View of Animistic religions: | Pagan. | Confucianism sees no contradiction in following more than one religion. |
| View of other Dharmic religions: | All religions outside of belief in Christ's death and resurrection for our sins are false. | Confucianism is an Oriental religion, not a Dharmic one. However, most Confucianists follow Buddhism as well. |
| Views on the afterlife: | Eternal life in Heaven or Hell. | To be worshipped by one's descendants and their families. |
| View of Oriental religions: | There are many variants on religious belief; some are Pagan. | Confucianists see no contradiction in following more than one religion. |
| Religious Law: | Christians no longer live under the curse of the law but under grace. We are still expected to live by the law. | Humanism |
| Confessing sins: | Catholic & Orthodox Christians confess their sins to the priest, in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Most Protestants do not believe in the Sacrament of Confession. | N/A. |
| Original Languages: | Aramaic & Greek. | Mandarin or Cantonese |
| Praying to Saints,Mary, and Angel: | Catholics, Orthodox, and Anglican Christians ask for the intercession of Mary, the Saints, and the angels. Most Protestants choose to pray directly to God. | N/A. |
| Holy days/Official Holidays: | Christmas (birth of Jesus), Good Friday (death of Jesus for our sins), Sunday (day of rest) Easter (resurrection of Jesus). | Chinese New Year, Teacher Day, Ancestor Day. |
| Three Jewels: | Faith (in Christ), Hope, and Love | The Three Teachings: Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. |
| Goal of Philosophy: | Salvation | Social Harmony. |
| Resurrection of Jesus: | Affirmed. | N/A. |
| Original Language(s): | Aramaic, Greek, & Hebrew | Old Chinese |
| Virtue in which religion is based upon: | Selfless love. | Respect. |
| Authority of Dalai Lama: | N/A. | N/A. |
| Authority of Pope: | The Catholic Church teaches that the Papacy goes all the way back to St. Peter; the Coptic Church's Popes go back to St. Mark; Orthodox Churches also have Apostolic Succession;Protestants do not believe in Apostolic Succession or having a Pope. | N/A. |
edit Further Reading
For further reading, there are several books available on Amazon.com on Confucianism and Christianity:
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