The Spirit and the Flesh in Shandong, 1650–1785

The Spirit and the Flesh in Shandong tells the deeply human story of conflicting aspirations and passions in the introduction of Christianity to a provincial region in China. The story unfolds through vivid descriptions of how Chinese converts and their European priests were involved in close collaboration, an underground church, imprisonment, apostasy, martyrdom, peasant secret society affiliations, self-flagellation, and sexual seduction.

In the spring of 1738, Fr. Bernardino Bevilacqua was hustled out of Shandong to quiet the uproar over his sexual seduction of young Chinese converts. Fr. Alessio Randanini followed him to Macau in 1741. The story of this scandal has remained largely untold for nearly three centuries. Among Christians in Shandong and southern Zhili provinces during the years 1650-1785, the spirit and the flesh lived in constant tension as the aspirations of the spirit (faith, hope, love, devotion, mercy, and piety) contended with the passions of the flesh (hatred, jealousy, lust, and pride). The Spirit and the Flesh in Shandong tells the deeply human story of the introduction of Christianity to a provincial region in China where European missionaries shared the poverty and isolation of their Chinese flocks. Their close personal relationships led to intellectual and pastoral collaboration, suppression, an underground church, imprisonment, apostasy and martyrdom as well as peasant secret society affiliations, self-flagellation, and sexual seduction. In the remote villages of this region, the missionaries and their converts lived out their pious aspirations and eternal damnations under a darkening sky of growing anti-Christian policies from the capital.

Chapter 1 Preface
Chapter 2 Introduction
Chapter 3 Prelude: Wondrous Signs
Chapter 4 The Trials and Endeavors of Father Antonio
Chapter 5 The Attempt to Blend Confucianism and Christianity
Chapter 6 The Return to Shandong after the Anti-Christian Persecution of 1664-1669
Chapter 7 To Kiss the Image of the Crucified Jesus and to Feel the Whip Upon One's Flesh
Chapter 8 Christianity and Chinese Heterodox Sects, 1701-34
Chapter 9 Shepards, Wolves, and Martyrs in the Underground Church
Chapter 10 Postlude: Requiscat in pace
Chapter 11 Chinese-Character Glossary