Texts reveal that the Chinese Church
differed from the Western Church in being multi-cultural, pacifist,
vegetarian, and egalitarian in terms of gender and class. Thus, in some
ways, it was a unique expression of Christianity that could have been
closer in some ways to what Christ intended than what has developed in
the Western Church.
While the Church of the West developed as
a monolithic entity, the Church of the East was more a confederation of
churches The fact that they did not force doctrinal agreement allowed
more openness in their interpretations of the meaning of the Gospel. One
result was that Christianity was able to adapt certain parts of its
message to the unique aspects of many different cultures. For example,
it addressed issues that were prevalent in Chinese culture but were
absent in the West, such as karma and reincarnation.
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