A Study On Watchman Nee's Theological Anthropology

Watchman Nee,one of the most famous indigenous church leader in the twentieth century,was also an influential theologian in China.His theology has been influencing not only Christians in Chinese for generations after generations,but also Christians in worldwide.To review most of the researches on Nee's theology,his thought of anthropology attracts much attention.Past researches on Nee' s anthropology which were based on the text of Spiritual Man analyzed his trichotomous anthropology with the view of spiritual sanctification and other thoughts.Although these viewpoints are significant in Nee's anthropology,they only present his thoughts in the early period.The thesis is going to point out that Nee5 s theology has undergone great change after 1928.Nee takes a new perspective of so-called "the eternal will and predestination of God" meaning that human is involved in the great will of God,which gives the anthropology a new meaning.The focus changing from how to become a "spiritual man" to how to become a "son of God" in "the eternal will and predestination of God"breakthroughs the limits of theological anthropology of man-centered orientation,which improves his theological level.In light of the analysis,chapter two presents Nee's thought of anthropology with the clue of concept of"spiritual man" based on the text of Spiritual Man.Chapter three discusses Nee's new thought of anthropology based on the concept of "sons of God".On the bases of these two chapters,the thesis attempts to illustrate the whole view of Nee's theological anthropology and reveal the development and improvement.Furthermore,with deeper understanding of Nee's thought of "the eternal will and predestination of God",his anthropology has been incorporated into ecclesiology.After all,Nee's theology presents an organic theological system with the core of anthropology,the center of Christ and the appearance of ecclesiology to fulfill honoring Christ,witnessing Christ and uniting in Christ in the eternal will of God.The anthropology is not only the core of ecclesiology,but also the premise of the whole theory.In chapter four,the thesis is going to analyze the nature of church and the relation between anthropology and ecclesiology,illustrating the significance of anthropology in Nee's theological system.In chapter five,the thesis comments some controversies on Nee's anthropology.Firstly,the discussions of concepts of "spirit" and c"soul" in his trichotomic anthropology cause some self-contradictions.Secondly,his anthropology has the inclination of dualization,Arminianism and legalism.Thirdly,the over-emphasis on the remedial significance of salvation in the eternal predestination weakens the denotation of salvation and further transforms the content and nature of gospel,which undermines the status of salvation in Christian faith.Fourthly,Nee's thought of anthropology involves some elements of Chinese traditional ethics,sharing some similarities with Confucianism,Buddhism and Taoism.Fifthly,the judgement of lacking originality of Nee's anthropology needs to be re-assessed fairly,which,we consider,should start to discuss from Nee's self-identity,fundamentals of the anthropology and the nature of Christian theology.What's more,we should pay attention to the innovation of the phraseology of his anthropology and the value of the spiritual discourse system that Nee initiated.Finally,we are going to evaluate the contributions of Nee's anthropology for Chinese and global Christian community.