Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky (* 6 May 1831 in Tauragė (im litauischen Teil des Zarenreichs, † 15 October 1906) (auf chinesisch als 施约瑟 bekannt) war anglikanischer Bischof von Shanghai 1877-1884. 1879 gründete er St. John's University, Shanghai.
Frühe Jahre
Schereschewsky appears to have been named for his father. His mother was Rosa Salvatha. Orphaned as a young boy, it is speculated he was raised by a half-brother who was a timber merchant in good circumstance. Having shown himself to be a promising student, he was given the best education available and it was his family's intention that he become a rabbi. From the time he left his brother's house at 15, he was obliged to support himself as a tutor and as a glazier. It was at the Rabbinical School at Zhitomir that he was given a copy of the New Testament in Hebrew that had been produced by the London Society for Promoting Christianity amongst the Jews. The study of that gradually convinced him that in Jesus the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament and the age-long hopes of his people had been fulfilled. At 19 he went to Germany where he studied for a year or more at Frankfurt and for two years at the University of Breslau. To his fluency in Yiddish, Polish and Russian he added German that he spoke like a native to the end of his days.
Weg nach China
In the summer of 1854 he decided to emigrate to America. In New York he connected with Christian Jews but did not enter the Christian church until the spring of 1855 when he was baptized by immersion and associated with a Baptist congregation. For reasons unknown he then became a Presbyterian and went to the Western Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church at Allegheny, Pennsylvania. After more than two years he left to enter the Episcopal Church and the General Theological Seminary. His plan to complete his remaining two years of study was interrupted when he offered himself for work in China. On 3 May 1859 the Foreign Committee voted that he be appointed missionary to China as soon as he was ordained. He was ordained 17 July 1859 in St. George's Church, New York by Bishop William Jones Boone. He arrived at Wusung December 21, 1859 on the ship Golden Rule. October 28, 1860 he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Boone in the mission school chapel, later known as the Church of our Savior, Hongkew. By 1861, Schereschewsky had begun his translations, the first being that of the Psalms into the Shanghai dialect. Schereschewsky translated the Book of Common Prayer into Chinese with English missionary John Shaw Burdon. He served as Bishop of Shanghai until he was so poor he could not continue. He used a wheelchair at the end of his life.
Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky died October 15, 1906 and is buried in Tokyo, Japan.
St. John's University, that Schereschewsky began with 39 students, taught mainly in Chinese. In 1891, it changed to English teaching, and courses began to focus on science and natural philosophy.
Verehrung
Schereschewsky is honored with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on October 14.
Literatur
- Muller, James Arthur Apostle of China: Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky (1937)
- Eber, Irene. 1999. The Jewish Bishop and the Chinese Bible: S.I.J. Schereschewsky (1831–1906). Leiden: Brill.