BOONE (William Jones).
Defense of an essay on the proper rendering of the words Elohim and Theos into the Chinese language.
William Jones Boone (1811-1864) was Missionary for the American Protestant Episcopal Church who had been appointed Bishop in China. His important theological essay concerning the translation of Elohim and Theos into Chinese was published in Canton in 1848. The work provoked considerable debate among the various missionary clergy in China, and prompted the publication of several responses to Boone’s ideas, most notably by Walter Henry Medhurst (Canton, 1848) and James Legge (Hong Kong, 1850). Boone persisted and published this counter-defence of his ideas in 1850. He acknowledges that Staunton, Bowring, Legge, and Medhurst all seemed to disagree on the meaning of ’God’ so how could they complain about ’shin’? And he closes with the following thought: “Shin, we admit, is not by its previous usus loquendi, the name of the being whom we adore: unhappily the Chinese have no knowledge of this Being; but they have some knowledge of the general subject of Divinity; they have thought and written much on this subject; and with the gods (though not with God) they have had most extensive dealings; and there can be no doubt, we think, that they call this subject Shin, and that they have worshipped these gods under this name. If therefore we succeed in teaching the Chinese around us correct views of Divinity in connection with this word Shin, we may rest assured that monotheism will spread” (p. 147). Boone is essentially advocating a practical solution to the conundrum.
