‘Nestorians’ on the Silk Road: some notes on the Stele of Xī’ān

The paper focuses on the integration between Western and Eastern people, namely dealing with the Christian spread in China during the 7th-8th century and the accommodation with both Chinese cultural and political background. A remarkable document like the famous stele of Xian and an array of less known manuscripts show a deep interpenetration of theological concepts: their authors were faced with the urgency and the effort required to superimpose (sometimes by means of adaptation or accommodation) Christian terms on pre-existing concepts. In particular, the doctrinal compendium they offer is relevant as far as theological aspects are concerned. Such a refined work of inculturation is due to the fact that Christian missionaries "came into a society with a highly literate culture and a long cultural tradition in which they could only gain access through an adoptional process" (Deeg).