The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University



Advanced Search 


Merton Center Manuscripts:

'Wu, John C. H. (Wu Jingxiong), 1899-1986'

John Wu; John C. H. Wu; John C.H. Wu; Wu Ching-hsiung Wu, John C.H.; John Jingxiong Wu Chin Hsung


Born in Ningpo, China, Jingxiong (or Ching-hsiung) Wu attended law schools in the United States and Europe in the late 1920's becoming a friend of the young Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., later to become a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. He had westernized his name, going by John. He became a wealthy lawyer and judge in Shanghai, but had a spiritual crisis in the late 1930's. During this time, he read St. Thèrése of Lisieux's Story of a Soul. This had a profound effect on Wu. Some sources give this time as his conversion to Christianity and baptism, others say his baptism was earlier but that this was still a crucial time in his faith life. In the late 1940's, he lived in Rome with his wife Teresa and his 13 children while serving as Chinese delegate to the Vatican. As an official of President Chiang Kai-shek, he was not able to return to China after the Communist revolution. A scholar of jurisprudence, philosophy, literature, religious studies, and cultural studies, he served as dean of the College of Chinese Culture in Taiwan and a research professor at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey. (Sources: [1]The Hidden Ground of Love, p. 611. Augustine, John. [2] "John C. H. Wu." Website of Christ the Eternal Tao. Accessed at Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY, 26 Sep. 2006. ‹http://www.geocities.com/johnaugus/taowu.html›. [3] Elkins, James R. "John C. H. Wu." Strangers to Us All: Lawyers and Poetry. Website of College of Law, West Virginia University. 2 Sep. 2001. Accessed at Bellarmine University Library, Louisville, KY, 26 Sep. 2006. ‹http://www.wvu.edu/~lawfac/jelkins/lp-2001/wu.html›)


Subjects List

This manuscript has no associated subjects.


RESTRICTIONS: Please click here for general restrictions concerning Merton's manuscripts.

Container List

#SectionAuthor1st Pub1st Serial 1st BookWork ReviewedContent
1. Crossreference ; See:  Christian looks at Zen, A. Introduction to The golden age of Zen, by Jingxiong Wu (John C. H. Wu). -->