Chinese Christian leader Bishop Ding Guangxun or K. H. Ting, who was described as a "patriotic religious leader" and "a well-known social activist," passed away on November 22 at the age of 97.

However, even after his death, debates surrounding this controversial figure still linger on.

The Protestant bishop had held several positions. He chaired the National Committee of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches in China (TSPM), was president and honorary president of the China Christian Council and remained as a principal of Nanjing Union Theological Seminary till his death.

Describing Ding as a "great visionary," the Reverend Olav Fykse Tveit, secretary general of the World Council of Churches, expressed admiration in an online letter. "He was a great visionary who demonstrated his commitment to addressing reconciliation between church and society, Christian and non-Christian … and re-establishing the Chinese church's links with worldwide churches," Tveit said.

Jesus or Marx?

Nevertheless, some believe that Ding was a hypocrite, as he reconciled the atheistic ideology of communism with Christianity in order to have a good relationship with the Chinese government.

Liu Jianjun, a professor at the School of Marxism Studies of Renmin University of China who studied Ding's works, told the Global Times that as both a spiritual leader and a patriot, Ding managed to find a way to integrate Christianity into Chinese traditional culture.

"His work inspired and enlightened me regarding how a foreign religion can be integrated into Chinese traditional culture and be able to grow smoothly. He made a unique contribution through his efforts to reconstruct Chinese theology," Liu said.

"You have to see his contribution to both [religion and patriotism] to make an objective evaluation," Liu added.

However, not all Christians seem to understand and celebrate the change he helped bring about. Many accuse Bishop Ding of removing the traditional Protestant tenant of justification by faith, which states that believers will be pardoned by God regardless of their actions, and instead preaching the notion of justification by love. The latter is seen as a particularly unorthodox blending of humanist values with Protestant doctrine.

Even after his death, Ding's approach to theology has been the center of a huge debate on Weibo, China's version of Twitter. One Internet user wrote, "Who is waiting for him in heaven? Jesus or Marx?"

Wu Bin, a pastor in a Christian church in Dalian who met Ding seven years ago, told the Global Times that there is an abundance of misunderstandings about Ding's theology among Christians.

He said Bishop Ding told him that he had once received a letter from a Christian who suggested replacing justification by faith with justification by love, but he never agreed.

Wu has been debating with netizens on Weibo and has done his best to clear up the misunderstanding. "Bishop Ding attempted to weaken the role of justification by faith rather than replace it, and his aim was to establish a relationship that was in line with the idea of universal Christian love," he said.

Born in 1915 in Shanghai, Ding studied at Saint John's College in his hometown in the 1930s and 1940s and earned bachelor's degrees in both literature and theology.

In 1946, he and his wife moved to Canada where he became missions secretary of the Canadian Student Christian Movement.

Ding also studied at Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary in New York from 1947 to 1948. In 1951, the couple returned to China. In 1955, he became a bishop in the Anglican Church. In the years that followed, he devoted himself to the creation and development of TSPM, which promotes the notions of self-governance, self-support and self-propagation.

As these principles were a symbol of the movement's commitment to autonomy from foreigners, they demonstrated to the government that it would uphold and support the sovereignty of China. Though the Anglican Church no longer exists in China, Ding's title remained with him as long as he lived as he never renounced his ordination.

Guanyin in the house

Ding had also served as vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Zhou Caijia, the director of Zhejiang Province's religious affairs bureau who had known Ding for 20 years, highly praised Ding's contribution to helping the world understand Christians in China.

As a memorial to his experience with the late bishop published on the TSPM's website, he wrote that Ding's founding of the Amity Foundation, an NGO that has been active in launching charity activities and helping disadvantaged populations, is a great example of his legacy. The NGO has been working with over 200 foreign organizations in 20 countries and areas, according to Zhou.

"The foundation has printed hundreds of thousands of Bibles in different languages and has sold them in several countries to meet believers' needs. Now the Bible is also 'made in China'," he wrote.

Zhou also mentioned Ding's light-hearted manner. He recalled the time when the bishop visited Australia in 1984. An Australian reporter asked him when China would invade Australia, and he replied, "Hasn't Chinese-style breakfast already invaded Australia?"

People who have been to Ding's home are likely to have been surprised and even a little confused to see that he had placed a statue of Guanyin, a bodhisattva that is the symbol of compassion in Buddhism, in a prominent position in his house.

The statue was a gift he received from a group of Buddhists when he visited some temples on Zhejiang Province's Putuo Mountain, one of the four sacred mountains in Chinese Buddhism.

Wu remembers that Ding often asked visitors whether the bodhisattva's presence in his home was appropriate or not. Wu said he had told the bishop that he ought to remove it in case it caused a misunderstanding, adding that Ding politely did not take his advice.

"Not every Christian can be as open-minded as Ding. Some might find it confusing. Bishop Ding told me he doesn't worship Guanyin as a god. He only sees the enlightened being as a beautiful thing that represents beauty and purity," Wu said.

Ding's body was cremated on Tuesday in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. Yu Zhengsheng, a Standing Committee member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, and other high-ranking government officials attended the funeral for Ding on behalf of the central authorities, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

The Chinese authorities held Ding in high esteem, calling him "a close friend of the CPC," it said.

Zhang Yan contributed to this story