A book from heaven, a book comparable with max Weber and Tocqueville, a preface of professor Zhao xiao(I)

When my good friend Zhan Hequan recommended Fu Jun’s book “the course of Western Civilization: from ancient Rome to the independence of the United States”, I rejoiced but doubted.

Why do I rejoice? The reason is that I believe Zhan Hequan, a good friend for many years, is a hermit and wise man who loves reading and has profound knowledge and extraordinary insight; the book he recommends must have something outstanding. The doubt is that I don’t believe that Chinese scholars can write excellent books about western civilization. Those who don’t understand Christianity can’t write well; Those who understand Christianity but lack academic ability still can’t write well.

When I read the book, I was overjoyed by a trip I had never expected. Fu Jun deeply understands the mystery of the Christian faith and has strong academic skills. He can sit on the cold bench for ten years, resulting in this 1.2 million word masterpiece that can attract everyone to want to read it all in one breath; nevertheless, no one can read the whole book in such a way.

Toynbee of Britain, the great scholar of civilization studies, divided the 5500 years of human history into 21 mature civilizations: Egypt, Sumerian, Minos, ancient China, Andes, Maya, Hittite, Babylon, ancient India, Greece, Iran, Syria, Arabia, China, India, Korea, the West, Byzantine, Russia, Mexico, and Yucatan. Among them, the first six are the first generation civilization directly derived from primitive societies, and the last 15 are the relative civilization from the first generation civilization. Besides, there are five dead Civilizations: Polynesia, Eskimo, nomads, Sparta, and Ottoman.

Unfortunately, most of the civilizations referred to above died or disappeared in the night sky of history. In my opinion, only three “heavenly civilizations” can go into modern civilization: Jewish civilization, Christian civilization, and Chinese civilization (including the regions affected by Chinese culture, such as Japan and South Korea). The common characteristics of these three civilizations are: awing the heaven, longing for heaven, and advocating the unity of heaven and human.

Western civilization is a Christian civilization, but it also includes different sects of Christianity, such as Protestantism, Catholicism, and Eastern Orthodox. It is like the mobile phone, with different brands such as Apple, Samsung, and Huawei. At the same time, Western civilization was influenced by ancient Greece and Rome. Therefore, Western civilization is sometimes called “two Greek Civilizations,” the integration of Greek civilization and Hebrew civilization.

How to explore and regard the course of Western civilization? Fu Jun, taking Christian faith as the main clue, combs the process of Western history from ancient Rome, and Britain to the independence of the United States, and then summarizes that “English American Protestant civilization” is the mainstream of Western civilization

It’s a brilliant job, even a great job! Five years of preparation, followed by six hours of writing every day for five years, resulted in the crystallization of 1.2 million words!

After Lin Yutang, the talent, there is now Fu Jun again coming out of Fujian. What a blessed place! Fujian!

To help readers digest the tome of Fu Jun, before commenting, let’s briefly introduce the context of this book.

First of all, Fu Jun come straight to the point: human percept, that is, the essence of human beings, is greed and depravity, and reason cannot promote from that; namely, rationality cannot transcend percept.

In order to transcend the essence of greed and depravity and move towards civilization, humans hope to lead by morality or ethics. These are obvious in China, where Confucian culture is the mainstream. The “ruling the country by virtue” prevailing in contemporary china shows that today’s Chinese are still pinning their wishes on this ancient tradition.

But Fu Jun eloquently argued: Without God, pure secular moral philosophy cannot hold up human morality.

Fu Jun combed the moral philosophy of humans, from Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, Kant, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Kierkegaard to Confucianism and Mohist in China, resulting in that the road of pure secular moral philosophy will go nowhere

Because the essence of human moral philosophy is ” empty of emptiness,” in the end, the human moral philosophy, including Confucianism, is only knowledge, a theory, not life itself. Of course, it is difficult to nourish life and nurture a high level of civilization!

Moreover, Fu Jun found that those philosophers “are not thinking about the essence of life, but rather about how to make themselves famous, stand out in the world, and override thousands and millions of people. They regard human society as burials of their innovation and ideas, even want to act as a human mentor and new God, and utilize human destiny as the stepping stone of their ambition”. But unfortunately, their thoughts are not enough for humans to build a civilization. Moreover, they may bring humans many disasters.

There is a good saying, “the end of man is the beginning of God”! After the bankruptcy of human moral philosophy, human nature can only resort to divine salvation, and the transcendence of human civilization only depends on the guidance of religion!

From this, Fu Jun turned to construct the “religious determinism” theory of civilization history. He pointed out that religion has the most critical position in human life. If there is no religion, humans will always be addicted to material enjoyment, so Christianity determines the history of the West and established Western civilization. It even can be said that religion determines the history of humans.

Sociologist Louis Henry Morgan divides social evolution into three stages: savagery, barbarism, and civilization. With technological invention as the boundary of each stage, he thinks that the representative technological invention in the civilization stage is the phonetic system and the text. According to Wikipedia, the word “civilization” in English comes from the Latin “Civilis,” which has the meaning of “urbanization” and “citizenship.” It extended to “division of labor” and “cooperation,” which means that people live in “social groups” in harmony, indicating the state of advanced social and cultural development and the process of reaching this state.

Fu Jun insisted that religion is the decisive factor in society, and it is difficult for a society to survive without religion. The core argument that Fu Jun continuously expounds on and proves in the book “the course of Western civilization” is that religion has more influence on society than material basis, economic benefits, and belief overweights political ideas.

Based on the above, Fu Jun starts from the core concept of Christian belief and then describes Western civilization’s growth and maturity, forming the context of the book.

The understanding of civilization by “religious determinism” is clearly opposed to Karl Marx’s “materialistic view of history,” and it is also very different from Robert Carneiro’s “geographical determinism” and Karl Witt Fogel’s “water conservancy system.” (which in the author’s opinion can be called “public construction theory”),” and similar “trade network theory.” Therefore, “religious determinism” theory not only is opposition to the current mainstream ideology of China but also in opposition to the current western’s ideology, the left’s thought of “relativism” and “pluralism.” And “religious determinism” gains the authentic tradition of conservative scholars such as Max Weber and Samuel Huntington.

In Anthropology and archaeology, civilization refers to the areas where people live and have a considerable degree of cultural and economic development, such as the “two river civilization” and “Yellow River civilization,” which are marked by region and economy; However, civilization can also refer to people with a similar culture, such as Christian civilization and Confucian civilization, which is clearly marked by culture. Fu Jun’s approach is to adopt the latter more (“Christian civilization”) while taking some of the former (“the west”).

Fu Jun said in his book that Huntington’s view of Western civilization includes the following aspects: the classical heritage of ancient Greece and Rome, Catholicism and Protestantism, European language, separation of spiritual authority from secular authority, the rule of law, social diversity, representative institutions, and individualism.

Among them, Catholicism and Protestantism are listed and are the core factor.

I have talked about that Huntington, a prophet scholar, foresaw the “clash of Civilizations” in advance and sounded an alarm for Western civilization, especially American society: the main threat to the United States, the most prominent bearer of Western civilization, is the multiculturalism. Multiculturalism caused by many immigrants insisting on their beliefs has weakened the influence of Christianity, which will undermine the United States and even break down the United States into several countries.

Fu Jun admires Huntington extremely, so he uses Huntington’s idea of “religion dominated civilization” to start the book: Christianity dominates Western civilization and promotes it into modern civilization. Of course, Fu Jun deeply regrets that Huntington dare not elaborate on the apparent fact that Christianity dominates Western civilization!

That makes Fu Jun enter the ranks of cultural conservatism scholars of “religious determinism”! I am so glad to see him ascend this glorious holy mountain.

What determines the course of Western history? Fu Jun replies without hesitation: Religion, religious conflict; which religion is closest to civilization and rationality? Fu Jun also answers without hesitation: Christianity, Protestantism.

In the postmodern era of “political correctness (pluralism, relativism, identity politics, etc.),” you can’t help admiring Fu Jun’s honest, brave, and truthful confession! Fu Jun is not a historian initially; he majors in engineering; perhaps the meticulous and realistic spirit of the engineering scholar makes him speak out the truth boldly without academic stereotypes and political correctness!

The civilization described in Fu Jun’s book is not only about morality and religious education, about resolving problems through civilization and rationality, but also about liberating the relationship between people and freeing people from human nature. Everyone can enjoy the happiness of freedom and equality.

It is clear that Fu Jun’s civilization is different from culture (culture is diversified, but civilization has ranks) and is different from tradition (in traditional civilization, people only live to survive, and modern civilization pursues human dignity). However, modern civilization is nurtured by Christianity, which respects human rights, freedom and democracy, constitutionalism, justice, and sustainable development.

Max Weber argues in his famous book”Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism”: that Christianity is the mother of the market economy; Tocqueville argues in the book “On American Democracy”: that Christianity is the mother of constitutional democracy; Brother Hawken contends in the book “the gift of Puritans”: Christianity is the mother of modern management; and now, a scholar born in Zhangzhou, Fujian, China, proves with 1.2 million words: Christianity is the mother of modern civilization.

Western Christian civilization originates from the influence of Christian morality. Fu Jun summarizes Christian morality as follows: it is based on faith and believes morality is the sacred order of heaven and Eden. Only by practicing virtues can people gain salvation and enter heaven. Only in the Garden of Eden can they attain eternal life and eternity and find the meaning of life, the truth of life. It uses punishment to hell as a penalty for violating morals, which makes people feel awe and dare not do anything wrong.

Fu Jun believes that the most critical aspect of the Christian faith is that we must believe and act according to the Bible and practice its virtues, only by which we can come to heaven. Therefore, the Christian faith also determines our life at the highest level, guides our lives, and lets this highest faith drive us; life will have the strongest motivation and the sweetest happiness.

As we all know, Christianity is the religion of love. The core of Christian moral teaching is to practice the divine love in the world, that is, to transcend the love of enjoyment and lust, and to live in divine love. It represents Jesus’ humility and self-sacrifice on the cross, and it expresses the love of brothers, love of neighbors, love of enemies, etc.

Fu Jun highly praises the holy love advocated by Christianity, especially the love of brothers. He thinks that only Christianity regards “love” as the ultimate goal of life, regards love as own life, regards love as God, and even directly indicates that love is God (to be exact, it should be “God is love” – the author). He quotes the apostle John’s saying, “4:7 Dear brothers, we should love each other, because love comes from God. Everyone who practices love is born of God and knows God.” “4:8 Without love, you don’t know God because God is love.”

Fu Jun subtly notices that God is love; only love can you know God. Love is a very common concept mentioned in many religions and theories, but no religion or secular doctrine places love in such a sublime position as Christianity.

Fu Jun, therefore, stresses that no religion has ever promoted love to such a high level as Christianity; only through love can we save and see God. This simple discussion will firmly bind self-interest with altruism, public interest, and society. Through faith and love, we can achieve the great transcendence of life.

In Fu Jun’s view, civilization can preserve material wealth, science and technology, and cultural achievements. And preserving these is only by the brotherly love of Christianity (the author believes that it is the divine nature of Christ, is a brotherly love after salvation), and rationality (in the author’s opinion, it can be called the “light of rationality,” namely rationality after God’s revelation).

Fu Jun points out that: the first element of human existence, the most incredible feelings, and the meaning of human existence is the love of brothers. Therefore, the only way to ensure mental health is to believe and love. Only faith and love can make our soul rich and sweet, our mental health, happiness, and bliss of life.

Fu Jun says that the love of brothers is embodied not only by life relations but also secured by church law in Britain. The ultimate purpose of church law is brotherhood. The ultimate aim of the trial is to focus on the conversion of pagans and the correction of heresy so that everyone can go to heaven after death.

Christian morality helps people solve the contradiction between selfish human nature and human virtue through faith, brotherly love, through belief in immortality, eternity, and the ultimate goal. And through faith in God and the Bible and brotherly love, humans also avoid endless war as far as possible, generate endless internal power transcending selfish human nature to virtue, secure the order and stability of the society, and create a beautiful and happy life.

Fu Jun directly links civilization with faith and brotherly love. Premier Wen Jiabao once said that without love, there would be nothing. Through “The Course of Western Civilization,” Fu Jun powerfully proves that Without Christ’s humility, self-sacrifice, and dedication to the great love from heaven. Humans could not overpower themselves, nor could it initiate civilization and the earth’s renewal.

After constructing the “religious determinism” ideological palace hall, Fu Jun turns to a grand historical narrative and further perfects his “religious civilization” theory.

Unlike the popular opinion that the Catholic Church contributes little to human civilization, Fu Jun figures out that before the Protestant church, the Pope, the Holy See, and the whole Catholic world made outstanding contributions to human civilization. It is no exaggeration to say that without them, there would be no human civilization today. From the British Isles to European, the pervading churches, monasteries, nurseries, nursing homes, catechism schools, and universities are verification of their hard work. They spread their brotherhood on the vast land, infiltrated justice and fairness in every piece of land, and disseminated knowledge to every soul; without them, there would be no happiness for us today.

Chinese people have been used to criticism and denial of Catholicism. But in fact, many profound writings show that, despite the “corruption of religious power,” such as the Pope, Catholic contribution to human civilization is still enormous; even the history of the Middle Ages is not written in the word “dark.”

Fu Jun points out that: under the care of Christianity, the pillar of the new society, from ad 500, European Society slowly recovered from catastrophe and started to develop orderly. About ad 1000, it has surpassed China in agricultural technology and other industrial technologies even more. At the same time, their population also increased. Instead of consuming the population through civil war, the European Society released the population pressure outwards so that Europe formed a tradition of constant colonization and expansion. As a result, the whole European society had shaped a prosperous and prosperous situation.

Then comes Protestantism after 1507. Protestantism has dramatically increased the influence of Christianity on human civilization. Just as China’s reform and opening-up started from the ideological revolution of “the discussion of the standard of truth” (essentially from the worship of the individual or the standard of the individual to the authority of truth, the standard of truth),” the “Protestant Revolution” also starts from the ideological revolution ( From religious authority to the authority of God, and God is actually the body of truth).

In Fu Jun’s view, Martin Luther’s “justification by faith” emphasizes that God doesn’t judge the so-called good deed but belief in God. God doesn’t judge what we do in the world but judges our faith in him. At this moment, the authority of salvation and truth shifted from religious authority to God.

Luther further proposed: that everyone can be a priest, everyone is his own pastor, everyone can obtain salvation through himself, and everyone is equal in the realm of faith. Finally, after denying the existence of the pyramid-shaped authority of the Pope and the Holy See, Luther came to his most brilliant idea that everyone is equal under God. On this basis, Luther further proposed that everyone can read the Bible, explain the Bible, communicate with God through the Bible, and God can come to our hearts through the Bible.

Justified by faith, everyone can be a priest and read and understand the Bible. These three ideas construct a vital part of Lutheran Protestantism. It destroys the pyramid-shaped authority of the Pope and the Holy See, which is pressure on the head of faith.

Calvin further promoted the rights of Christians based on Luther. For example, he deduced the sacred and inviolable private right in the Bible, and the people have the right to protect themselves with guns through the Ten Commandments, and so on. Calvin pointed out that possessing guns protects their lives and property is the most basic and essential right because human nature is greedy and depravity, which may be corrupt and degenerated at any time. Furthermore, humans form the government, so the spirit of government is also evil. Therefore, the government is possible to violate individual rights at all times.

Today, Republicans in the United States insist that possession of guns is the dignity and honor of a Christian, a defense of freedom and equality, and an inalienable right, which is coming from Calvin.

This Christian spiritual DNA is the origin of Western civilization, the cornerstone of capitalism, and the foundation of the concept of human rights.

After finishing the discussion on the Catholic and religious reform, Fu Jun naturally led us into the historic corridor of the “British revolution” and “American Revolution.”

As we all know, Western civilization stems from Europe, but in Europe, Western civilization also has two trends:  Europe and The British Isles. The civilization in the European continent is mainly in Italy, France, Germany, Spain, and other countries. Catholicism influenced the general characteristics of the European countries, and these countries later also were influenced by “humanism” and “rationalism” (the so-called “Renaissance” and “Enlightenment”) which rebelled against Catholicism. So it is far from the road of empiricism in The British Isles.

Fu Jun is unusual because he points out the origin of Western civilization in the British Isles of ancient Rome, starting with the missionary work of the apostle’s Paul and Joseph. They established the original apostolic church. Fu Jun creatively points out that because the soil of The British Isles permeated with Christian brotherhood, civilization and rationality also flowed in the blood of the British people. So the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy was utterly different from other parts of the world, and so was the development of Britain.

In England, the relationship between people was kind and natural. Kings and nobles naturally transferred their improper rights to Knights, squires, and civilians to exercise their rights in Parliament. As a result, the absolute monarchy didn’t emerge there like in other places. Britain completed the Magna Carta at the end of the 13th century, forming a stable parliamentary system, and the Royal power was strictly limited. Under these conditions, naturally, capitalism came into being. All these are related to their unique, rational, and civilized soil, full of brotherly love.

Fu Jun argued: that through the tradition of the rule of law and the court of equity, Britain naturally realized the complete victory of capitalism over feudalism and the transition from feudalism to capitalism, which was unique in the world. In other parts of the world, to transition from feudalism to capitalism, there was the rolling of heads and blood flowing in the river everywhere.

Most importantly, the pilgrims from the British Isles to colonize North America gave birth to the United States, the strongest country in the world today, “a city on the hill” of God, and a country called the “Lighthouse of humans.”

I want to point out that Britain and the United States are often associated: the British and American literature, the British and American tradition, the British and American maritime law system, and the British and American conservatism. In fact, the key lies in the common blood of Britain and the United States: Protestant civilization

Fu Jun points out that the pyramid organizational Structure of the Hierarchical bureaucracy of Confucianism is the most natural and reasonable system for humans, while freedom and equality are the most unrealistic and the most unreasonable way of human existence. However, the Puritans insisted on equality and liberty as a kind of faith, generating revolutionary ideas that the secular society did not have and bringing humans into an unprecedented civilized world.

Fu Jun exhausts all his energies through dozens of sporadic American academic monographs to detail the government of Puritans, such as Winthrop governing in Massachusetts. And demonstrate that they were utterly different from Britain, let alone other parts of the world. As a result, a new social governance model emerged, which gave birth to the United States. The essential characteristics of this governance were that democratic election, municipal autonomy, governor systems, two-level Parliament, etc., which is impossible to taste elsewhere in human society. And eventually, it became the prototype of today’s U.S. constitution.

Fu Jun also realized that although today all humans advocate freedom and equality, the Puritans such as Winthrop had a higher goal: to build a society full of brotherly love. Therefore, the equality and freedom of the North American colonies were all related to Puritanism. Concepts such as the rule of saints, the chief system, and the biblical community were unheard of by anyone else. Still, they were the ideological roots and basis for the formation of today’s American constitutionalism. Therefore, it is so unique; it is so everlasting

In contrast, other political theories in human history have never regarded brotherly love as the meaning of national existence.

Why can Protestant countries maintain stability for hundreds of years, but it is difficult in other societies? Fu Jun’s answer is: that people there believe in God, believe in the same Bible, believe that everyone is equal under God, and are full of brotherly love.

What is the essence of America? Most people might answer they believe in the Constitution of the United States. But Fu Jun insists the correct answer should be: love of brothers! The United States is not because of beauty but because of love, the love of Christ, heaven, and the love of brothers.

Fu Jun then elaborated on the American Revolution and the process of American independence, which was detailed, original, in-depth, and profound. Therefore, I will not introduce them one by one.

I want to point out that Fu Jun’s exposition still runs through the main thread of his “religious determinism.” For example, the cause of the U.S. revolution was generally considered to be taxation, but we also know that the economy is only superficial. In fact, the British tax was not high or even low; The reason lay in politics. “No taxation without representation” was a political rule recognized by the American people, so they couldn’t accept taxes levied by the British at will. Fu Jun emphasizes a deeper cause of belief conflict: the Puritans in New England resisted and could not accept the British government’s attempt to promote Anglican in the colonies and establish the bishops system.

In Fu Jun’s narration, the American Revolution, like the British revolution, is essentially a religious revolution; The victory and establishment of a more pure Christian faith often mean more civilized, progressive, and developed societies and countries. It is a significant contribution of Christianity to human civilization!

From the perspective of Christianity determining Western civilization, Fu Jun puts forward new ideas of the five founding fathers of the United States: Winthrop (the first Protestant immigrant and the grand vision of establishing the “city on the hill”) as the first father of the nation; Mather Interest is the second father of the nation (he won the precious second charter for Massachusetts); Samuel Adams (who played the main role in the American War of independence, according to Fu Jun), ranked third; John Adams (the second president of the United States, one of the five drafting members of the declaration of independence, known as the “giant of American independence”) ranked fourth; Washington, needless to say, can only come in fifth.

I would like to point out that at the beginning of the founding of the United States, there were about 3 million people, most of whom accepted Calvin’s thoughts. Therefore, many people praised Calvin as the “father of the founding of the United States.”.

Fu Jun’s “the course of western civilization” was first published on the Internet. After reading this book, many netizens express great satisfaction and even praise it compares favorably with Tocqueville’s “on American democracy” and Weber’s “Protestant Ethics and the spirit of capitalism.” It is a rare ideological masterpiece in recent years and will occupy its due place in the history of world thought.

Next, let me talk about my comments and suggestions.

After reading Fu Jun’s book “The cause of West Civilization,” the most critical enlightenment to people is that human civilization can be briefly divided into two types: civilization with Christ and civilization without Christ.

At the same time, a key question is: What kind of civilization do you recognize and choose?

Due to limited space, I will only state three points on the concluding theme of “Civilization with Christ and Civilization without Christ.”

1 、 The civilization of Christ is based on the belief in Christ, which is the civilization of enlightenment, not the civilization that stays on the rational level of humans; The non-Christian civilization lacks faith in Christ, and it comes from human reason, ideology, moral philosophy and so on.

Rationality is a gift from God to humans, but when humans reject God, Rationality is tainted by sin and even becomes a weapon for man to reject God. However, people from Jews to Christians who accept God have realized God’s revelation in the “Bible” by reason and spirituality, transcending human instinct and reason to construct a brilliant Hebrew- Christian civilization.

The most obvious is monogamy. Fu Jun’s book also mentions that this is a unique rule in the Christian world. This marriage rule conflicts with other religions’ doctrines, secular society’s customs, and human instinct and rationality. Because of the greed and depravity of human nature, it is more inclined to polygamy or polyandry. In the traditional secular Society of China, the emperor could have countless concubines, the scholar-officials, three wives, and four concubines. Ordinary people could also have groups of wives and concubines as long as economic conditions permitted. Monogamy can be said to be anti-human and anti-life, but monogamy is from God’s revelation in the depth of the soul, the subconscious. It comes from the moral law established by God in the deep universe. It is the utmost respect for husband and wife, the greatest love. When Christianity determines it through the doctrine, it becomes the symbol of civilization and is accepted by all people.

Similarly, the pyramid organization construct of the hierarchial bureaucrat of Confucianism is the most natural and reasonable system for humans. Freedom and equality are just anti-human and anti-life, like monogamy, but finally are accepted and considered as the universal civilization of humans by everyone. at the same time, The initial formation of these ideas (natural human rights, etc.) comes from the inspiration of God, and the power of Christianity drove their practice and formation

The United States is evolutionary, secular, scientific, modern, and democratic in the Chinese impression. In fact, the background and pillars of the United States are divine, faith, moral, ancient, and Republican……

The book “leap 5000 years” points out that 28 great ideas (28 Great Ideas That Changed the World) of founding the United States, each principle is derived from the Bible, and none of them was invented by the founding fathers, and they only discover, not create them.

The Christian “theory of God creating man” has revealed the concept of “natural human rights.” Locke pointed out that God creates humans, orders humans to reproduce, and gives all humans the right to use food, clothing, and daily necessities. It means that all power comes from God; God grants the power of governance and management to the people instead of the monarch, and the people entrust them to the government in the form of a “social contract.”

Freedom comes from God, and no one can take it away. When The king deprives the people of their freedom, he is a tyrant; If it is deprived in the name of law, the law is evil. Citizens have the power to disobey and the responsibility to disobey; If it is robbed by the majority in the name of “democracy,” that is, “tyranny of the majority,” citizens have the power to overthrow tyranny.

The “separation of powers” — the design of the republican system is to limit the power of the government, and it is derived from the enlightenment of the Christian view of original sin. In the Bible, God has repeatedly emphasized that human nature is evil through the prophets, especially Jesus Christ. Everyone is sinful and owes to the glory of God; because of human’s sinful nature, power inevitably leads to corruption, and absolute power leads to absolute corruption. Montesquieu pointed out in the “Spirit of the Law” “It is a constant experience that all those who have power are prone to abuse power,”

Fu Jun’s book shows before “the United States of America” wasn’t on the horizon, the spiritual DNA of the “religious refugees” determined that this country would be a “city on the hill.”. It also means: This country must stand for Jesus Christ and let the world see the light of Jesus Christ and the glory of the cross.

Not for eating, not for drinking, not to die for wealth, not to die for food, but strive to pursue freedom of faith. The “divine order” inspired by God guides the United States (in Liu Junning’s language)”, and a city on the hill was built by modeling heaven. This is the unique DNA of the United States.

The most important thing to shape the United States is the ” United States Constitution.” The United States Constitution was born out of the Christian faith. In 1787, 55 representatives of the United States Constitutional Convention discussed and passed the “United States Constitution” in Philadelphia. Among the 55 representatives who signed the U.S. Constitution, 28 were Anglicans, 8 were Presbyterians, 7 were Congregationalists, 2 Lutherans, 2 Methodists, and 2 Dutch reformers. 2 Roman Catholics, 1 unidentified denomination, 3 deists.

That is, among the 55 founders of the Constitution of the United States, 94.5% are Christian believers, and only 5.5% are deists.

Two of the three Deists are Christian preachers or believers, but they are only affected by the deism and did not declare their abandonment or opposition to the Christian faith. There is only one true deism.

For more than 100 years, the six generations of Chinese intellectuals, who have explored the whole world, trapped in the thought cage of their own cultural ontology, especially because of the influence of the thought of ” “Chinese Learning as the Fundamental Structure, Western Learning for Practical Use” .therefore, they declined to go into the Christian faith, nor could they understand the enlightening “Protestant civilization.” the most they could understand and accept was the humanism and rationalism represented by the European continent, so they emphasized “Mr. Sai, Mr. De,” and then further emphasized materialism and atheism.

But the founders of America humbled themselves in front of God with devout faith. They believed that human is always human, God is always God, and man can never replace God. The most function of human reason is to realize that rationality is incomplete and not to hold up human rationality. Then they turn to God’s Enlightenment.

This God, of course, is the God of the Hebrew-Christian faith, that is, the God revealed in the “Bible” rather than the “God” about which Chinese people generally talk.

Of course, to depend on their ideas to build a country or to rely on God’s revelation to build a country, for humans, are two opposite ways, tremendous difference!

In Europe, the “Renaissance” in Italy and the “Enlightenment” in French all held high human rationality, so they were on the road to humanism and even atheism. As a result, ” As soon as humans think, God laughs, “the French Revolution was bloody, and Italy fell into fascism. And then Paris Commune, Soviet Russia totalitarianism, global atheism movement, and violent revolution were all born out.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the United States was on the opposite path, which was theism instead of humanism, conservatism in place of liberalism, empiricism in lieu of rationalism, marine law system rather than civil law system; Its aim is also clear, not to stay at the human level of freedom, equality, philanthropy, and other human cultures, but to pursue “orderly freedom”: democracy, constitutionalism, Republic, etc. Moreover, there are more sacred pursuits: the city on the hill, the love of brothers……

For the Chinese people, freedom, democracy, constitutionalism, and Republic are all strange things. But for Americans, this is their way of life, something they are familiar with.

Before the founding of the United States, the United States had civil society, which was conducive to shaping the United States’ national governance. Tocqueville particularly underlined this on “democracy in the United States” and Huntington in his “civil Society: the exception of the United States”

In the church, Americans learned how to govern in a way similar to constitutionalism and Republic. In the community, Americans knew how to manage through Parliament.

First, there is the church, then society. And civil society first, then the United States. On this basis, Huntington refutes the idea that the United States is an empire and concludes that the United States will not fall into the “decline of a great power” predicted by Paul Kennedy.

“In God, we trust” is still engraved in American coins today.

Therefore, to understand China, we must know Confucius and Taoism. To understand America, we must understand Jesus Christ. To understand modern civilization, we must know God’s revelation, divine order, conservatism, etc.

Unfortunately, not to mention the ordinary Chinese, even Chinese elites have not paid full attention to the establishment by Christ of the United States. These Chinese elites include entrepreneurs who often stay in the United States, Mr. Zi Zhong Yun, the former senior capital of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the best intellectual representatives of China that I respect,. Mr. Zi Zhong Yun and Mr. Chen Ping talked about “the United States of a century”; They hardly mentioned Christ and Protestantism. When I listened, I guessed they were talking about France (joy)!