Ch’iang cultural traits were selectively recast as evidence of Israelite descent

Evidence

Torrance’s description of Ch’iang rituals, of the ritual sacrifice of animals “without spot and blemish,” of the sanctification of the lamb, of white sacrificial robes, sacred groves, purification rituals, moon festivals, of days of sacrifice “reckoned Sabbaths,” scapegoat ceremonies, the use of unleavened bread—all are redolent of the Bible and of the religious practices of the ancient Israelites. Somewhat inconveniently the Ch’iang neither abstained from pork and other nonkosher foods nor did they circumcise their young. Yet, proclaimed Torrance, their own judicial regulations resemble those in the Old Testament. Clearly he admires the Ch’iang (“the soul of the man is dead who cannot love them”) and thinks of them as special. He knows that they are a people with an ancient lineage. In subsequent lectures he developed the idea further: the Jews had been appointed by the Almighty as missionaries to teach the world monotheism and those missionaries that got as far as China became the Ch’iang. — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 320

Categorization

• SHARE: Ted — a missionary convinced the Ch’iang were lost Israelites despite their eating pork and not circumcising, handy detail for your China-mission history.
• STORYSTEM: A missionary constructing a lost-tribe narrative over a people’s actual rituals is rich material for a fiction character whose devotion blinds him to the people he loves.