Richard Wilhelm’s “Cultural Approach to Evangelism” and His Contributions to the Spread of Christianity

This study focuses on Richard Wilhelm (1873–1930), a German Protestant missionary, employing archival research methods to examine his experiences in China and his contributions to the dissemination of Christianity. After arriving in Qingdao (青島) in 1899, Wilhelm adopted a missionary approach that was relatively new to the German missionary community. Under the influence of the theory of “direct Christianity”, he focused on “cultural evangelism” in an effort to establish a non-dogmatic Chinese Christianity. By establishing modern schools and hospitals, he played a pivotal role in fostering reconciliation between Christian and non-Christian communities in China, thereby enhancing the legitimacy of Christian educational institutions within the indigenous educational framework. Furthermore, through extensive dialogues with both intellectual elites and ordinary citizens, Wilhelm demonstrated that traditional Confucian values are not inherently in conflict with Christian teachings. His missionary endeavors thus promoted the indigenization of Christianity in China and significantly facilitated Sino-German cultural exchange.