It is both gratifying and mildly surprising to find that the ongoing series of volumes from the Monumenta Serica Institute under the editorship of Roman Malek devoted to the “Chinese Face of Jesus Christ” now includes a volume of bibliography. For part of the appeal of the series lies in the very many diverse facets of the overall topic that turn out to be worth writing about, so that the very heterogeneity of the volumes in itself prompts reflection. Surely compiling an entire bibliography on the “Chinese Face of Jesus Christ” entails too many arbitrary choices for inclusion and exclusion – how are we to know what is in it? By looking, and, after duly noting the editor's opening concession that comprehensiveness has scarcely been a realistic goal (p.7), by using the hundred pages of “Key references” (pp. 32–131) that provide an alphabetized classification of the contents, the body of which is arranged in the normal way by author, and within each author's output by date of publication. Generous amounts of annotation are provided for each entry, for example tables of contents for the most important books, and the most Christological titles from the Beitang and Zikawei library catalogues are given in an appendix, which precedes a final section adding ten pages of representative illustrations, pending the appearance of Volume 5 of the series.

An initial browse through the “Key references” will show how the content has been analysed not only according to theological headings but also by a number of other types of heading, such as by personal name – thus well over a dozen publications are listed, for instance, on Lu Xun's understanding of Jesus Christ. And, to give another example, over forty items may be found solely under “Rosary, the mysteries of Jesus Christ in the”, without therefore – given the specific focus – any reference to Buddhist practice, though “Buddhism and Jesus Christ” provides a listing of similar size, generously including a number of studies with fairly tenuous links to China, such as some of those by the late J. Duncan M. Derrett. “Nestorian” publications are only included for the period 2005–13, as a result of the existence of a substantial bibliography in Malek's edited volume Jingjiao – The Church of the East in China and Central Asia (Sankt Augustin: Monumenta Serica, 2006). The selection may not be definitive, but it is catholic indeed, with for example a small number of entries devoted to works aimed at children.

Of course any bibliography this size finds it hard to escape minor blemishes. Why is Amitābha consistently spelled wrongly? Why not list the most recent work of Samuel Lieu under the heading of “Quanzhou” as well as under the – again – more than two score publications relating to “Manichaean Jesus”? But such defects are trivial. The main drawback to some users, I suspect, will be the desirability of approaching the “Key references” from the point of view of the compiler. Here one notes that though there are headings for “Orthodox (Dongzhengjiao 東正教); Jesus Christ in the theology of the” and – more extensively – “Protestant (Jidujiao 基督教) writings on Jesus Christ”, there is no entry for the “Catholic Church”, which is, by contrast with the two preceding groups, omnipresent. Well, cuius regio eius religio, I suppose, and this particular region of the study of East–West interaction is one over which Roman Malek can claim indisputable authority, even if some Chinese followers of Siddhārtha Gautama might dispute his assertion that “No other person from a non-Chinese cultural context has received as much attention and devotion as Jesus Christ” (p. 8).

As for the rationale for publishing this bibliography in hard copy book form, I cannot – for reasons that the curious who bother to check this will divine instantly – dissent in the slightest from the sentiments expressed on this matter that are reproduced in the quotation at the end of the “Introductory remarks”, on p. 8. Indeed, one might further add that in this particular case the advantage of being able to flip rapidly between the “Key references” and the body of the volume would be entirely lost in a conventional online publication, unless it was arranged so that two separate windows could be opened at the same time. And, of course, this very process of moving between the two sections increases the chance of serendipitous discovery. Such serendipity, however, is only made possible by the sustained hard work of the author, who should certainly be congratulated on a boldly conceived idea conscientiously and painstakingly executed.