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As the second volume of a three- volume set on the indigenization of Christianity in modern China, this book focuses on Christianity's encounter with the turbulent history of China in the 1920s, the responses of the Chinese Church to criticisms and the backlash against Christianity. Over the course of its growth in modern China, Christianity has faced many twists and turns in attempting to embed itself in Chinese society and indigenous culture. This three- volume set delineates the genesis and trajectory of Christianity's indigenization in China over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, highlighting the actions of Chinese Christians and the relationship between the development of Christianity in China and modern Chinese history. This volume re- examines the Condemning Christianity Movement and discusses debates and reflections on the independence and indigenization of the Chinese Church, religious education and the relationship of Christianity with imperialism. The author also demonstrates how historical events and intellectual trends during the period fashioned local believers'national consciousness and their views on foreign missionary societies, imperialism and patriotism, figuring prominently in Chinese Christians'domination of the Church.The book will appeal to scholars and students interested in the history of Christianity in China and modern Chinese history.

Who was Tse Tsan Tai? Insurrectionist? Socialite? Patriot? Revolutionary? Born and raised in Australia and trained in Anglo-Hong Kong's civil service, Tse Tsan Tai (1872–1938) was all of these and more. A first native media man and anti-Qing patriot, he advocated independent thinking and a free China. Through the lens of his life, this book explores a composite identity, touching on themes of diaspora, religion, colonialism, civil society, science, and revolutions in Qing and Nationalist China.Ideal reading for students of Asian Studies, East Asian Studies, Diaspora Studies, Chinese and Hong Kong History, international Relations, Indo-Pacific Studies, Colonial Studies, Cultural History, Sociology, and related courses, this fascinating course reading uses biography to ask the question: what were the original ideals for republicanism in China?

The majority of Christians in China over the course of the last century have worshipped not in missionary-founded churches or in congregations affiliated with the contemporary Three-Self Patriotic Movement or Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, but in independent and unregistered churches, often labeled'house churches.'From the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements within the mission-church landscape of the early twentieth century, to the Calvinist Reformed movement in the present-day Protestant church, the vibrant faith life and extraordinary church growth of this sector of Chinese Christianity offer a fascinating witness and lesson to the world church. Yet despite the size of their congregations and the spread of their teachings, the theologies of these independent and unregistered churches have drawn much less academic attention than those of mission-church or'state church'theologians.This volume presents a selection of new studies on'house church'theologians and theologies. These begin in the early twentieth century with studies of the Spiritual Gifts movement in Shandong and the nature of Pentecostalism in Hong Kong, and arrive in the present with essays on the changing role of women's leadership in the church, given the spread of Reformed thought and the theological implications of Westminsterian Neo-Calvinism in China. The second section of the volume is devoted to the theological writings and lives of the two most prominent independent church figures of the twentieth century: Wang Mingdao and Ni Tuosheng (Watchman Nee). These chapters include studies of spiritual theology; of Ni's doctrine of humanity, his views on salvation, and his prison letters; and of Wang Mingdao's life and moral thought, his Confucian beliefs, and his understanding of the relationship of Christians to the state. The third section of the volume foregrounds church voices like the fundamentalist Samuel Lamb and the mediating figure Yang Shaotang, and considers local developments in Roman Catholicism in light of Vatican reforms.

With contributors from different generations of the Chinese-speaking world, the book addresses the relevance of Paul Tillich's thought in the Chinese cultural-political contexts.Appropriating and transforming different themes of Tillich's thought in the Chinese context, the contributors reframe the dialogue with Buddhism and Confucianism, religion and science, and religion and politics under the interpretation of Tillich's ideas. The thought-provoking essays examine the intellectual potentiality or further contribution of Paul Tillich's ideas in Sino-Christian Theology.The book will be of interest to scholars and postgraduate students studying Paul Tillich's thought, Chinese theology, and East-West religious dialogues.

This book addresses the issue of Christianity in public life in China through methodological and constructive approaches. It aims to answer the following questions: How does Christianity, with its moral and spiritual resources, engage in and contribute to public life in China? How does Christianity operate amidst a background of religious diversity, cultural and social dynamics, and political realities in China? The distinctive contribution of this book is that it moves beyond simple description and evaluation of what is happening in Chinese Christianity toward a constructive theology for the distinctive realities of Chinese culture, society, and politics. This book proposes Christian public responsibility in order to identify the moral problems in Chinese public life. It attempts to enhance a public face of Christianity in China theologically and ethically by activating Christian resources in response to public life and highlighting Christianity's moral impact on the state and civil society without'the imposition of confessional bonds'or'the exercise of authoritarian control.'(quoted from Abraham Kuyper).This book relies on both methodological and constructive approaches to define the meaning of public theology while making theological efforts to engage in public issues constructively in the Chinese context. Besides the Western Christian public theologians such as Kuyper, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Nicholas Wolterstorff, this book extensively refers to Chinese resources such as Christian thinkers, philosophers and social scientists, etc. to perceive public theology in China. This new formulation of Christian public theology in China desires to engage with Chinese experiences, struggles, traditions and ideology such as Confucianism and communism when investigating moral responses to public issues such as social justice, human rights, and religious freedom. A Christian co-construction with philosophical and social scientific perspectives on public life will lead to the modification of moral vocabulary in Chinese public life.

The book examines the dynamic processes of the various social, political, and cultural negotiations that representatives of Christian groups engage in within authoritarian societies in Greater China, where Christianity is deemed a foreign religious system brought to China by colonial rulers. The book explores the political and social cooperation and negotiations of two particular Christian groups in their respective and distinct settings: the open sector of the Catholic Church in the communist People's Republic on mainland China from 1945 to the present day, and the Presbyterian church of Taiwan in the Republic of China in Taiwan during the period of martial law from 1949 to 1987. Rather than simply confirm the ‘domination-resistance'model of church–state relations, the book focuses on the various approaches adopted by religious groups during the process of negotiation. In an authoritative Chinese environment, religious specialists face two related pressures: the demands of their authoritarian rulers and social pressure requiring them to assimilate to the local culture. The book uses two case studies to support a wider theory of economic approach to religion.

Christianity Today Book Award Finalist—Missions/Global ChurchReader's Choice Award WinnerThroughout China's rapidly growing cities, a new wave of unregistered house churches is growing. They are developing rich theological perspectives that are both uniquely Chinese and rooted in the historical doctrines of the faith. To understand how they have endured despite government pressure and cultural marginalization, we must understand both their history and their theology.In this volume, key writings from the house church have been compiled, translated, and made accessible to English speakers. Featured here is a manifesto by well-known pastor Wang Yi and his church, Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, to clarify their theological stance on the house church and its relationship to the Chinese government. There are also works by prominent voices such as Jin Tianming, Jin Mingri, and Sun Yi. The editors have provided introductions, notes, and a glossary to give context to each selection.These writings are an important body of theology historically and spiritually. Though defined by a specific set of circumstances, they have universal applications in a world where the relationship between church and state is more complicated than ever. This unique resource will be valuable to practical and political theologians as well as readers interested in international relations, political philosophy, history, and intercultural studies.

'If we want revival in our communities, then let us learn from those being revived.'For many Western Christians, the experience of suffering and persecution is remote. For Chinese Christians, on the other hand, persecution is a regular aspect of the Christian life. If a Christian from the West was transported to a Chinese house church, the topic of suffering would be ever--present in preaching and conversation. With decades of persecution under government oppression and a rich theology of suffering, the Chinese house church movement has much to contribute theologically to the global church. In Faith in the Wilderness, editors Hannah Nation and Simon Liu pull together the insights of the Chinese church for the West. These sermonic letters from Chinese Christians pull back the curtain on the pastoral heart and the hope behind the house church's remarkable faithfulness, awakening readers to the reality of the gospel—the ground of our hope—in the midst of darkness. Readers will be convicted, encouraged, and edified by the testimony of these Chinese Christians.'Let us learn from the witness of our Chinese brothers and sisters so that we can stand fast all the better as we face trials wherever we live.'—Tim Keller, from the foreword

The volume, edited by Tao Feiya and featuring recent Chinese scholarly articles translated into English for the first time by Max L. Bohnenkamp, traces the history of Christianity in China and explores the dynamics of Christian practices in Chinese society. Its twenty chapters, written by Chinese scholars of the history of religion, span the development of Christianity in China from the era of the Tang Dynasty to the twentieth century. The four parts of the volume explore the Sinicization of Christian texts and thought, the conflicts within China between Christianity and Chinese institutions, relations between religious groups, and societal and political issues beyond religion. Taken together, this volume places the practice of Christianity in China into the context of world history, while investigating the particular and localized challenges of Christianity's spread in China.

As the third volume of a three-volume set on the indigenization of Christianity in modern China, this book analyzes the endeavors of Christianity in adapting to the changing social environment between the late 1920s and the end of the twentieth century.Over the course of its growth in modern China, Christianity has faced many twists and turns in attempting to embed itself in Chinese society and indigenous culture. This three-volume set delineates the genesis and trajectory of Christianity's indigenization in China over the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, highlighting the actions of Chinese Christians and the relationship between the development of Christianity in China and modern Chinese history. Chapters in this volume focuses on the late 1920s; the 1930s and the period before and after the founding of the People's Republic of China. The author discusses key transitions in indigenizing Christianity, including efforts to bring the religion to rural regions, devotions to anti-Japanese national salvation, discussions on the coexistence of Communism and Christianity and the Church's adaptation to accommodate Chinese society after 1949.The book will appeal to scholars and students interested in the history of Christianity in China and modern Chinese history.

Engaged to be married, John and Ruth Carpenter were aged 26 and 21 years respectively when they left their sheltered backgrounds in 1931 and set sail for China to fulfil their missionary calling. They could never have imagined what lay in store for them over the next seven years, a time of great turmoil in China's history, but they faced each challenge with remarkable courage and sense of purpose, confident that God would guide, protect and provide for them. That assurance would be put to the test as they had to adapt to a different culture and difficult climate, often living in primitive conditions and having to face danger, illness, disease and discouragement. However, they remained steadfast throughout, sustained by their strong unwavering faith and sense of mission. This is a unique collection of over 500 letters written by John and Ruth to their families in England 7,000 miles away and long before the days of modern forms of communication. The letters give an enthralling first-hand, day-to-day account of their life as it unfolded and are beautifully written, informative and interesting both historically and culturally. They are frank, amusing, poignant and at times heart-rending and paint vivid pictures of the world around them. The reader travels with them along a truly emotional journey, sharing their pleasures, anguish, fun and laughter, uncertainties, dangers and joys, and cannot fail to become totally immersed in the world they inhabit. The journal is compiled and edited by Jean Wemyss-Gorman, daughter of John and Ruth, on the 90th anniversary of their sailing to China.

Can Christian identity and national identity be reconciled? For Christians in China, this question is particularly fraught. While Sinicization offers the indigenous church one path forward, it fails to provide a tenable solution for believers unwilling to submit their love of God under love of country. Dr. Jue Wang explores an alternative roadmap for Chinese Christian identity in the writings of Zhang Yijing. The editor of True Light, a Chinese Baptist publication, Zhang was also a Chinese patriot, Confucian, and life-long proponent of science and reason. Utilizing the lens of identity studies, Dr. Wang examines Zhang's process of reconciling faith and culture in his quest to be both authentically Christian and authentically Chinese. This study offers a fascinating glimpse into the modern history of the Chinese church, while uncovering the significance of an often-overlooked Chinese Christian apologist. Zhang's example offers encouragement and hope for believers around the world seeking to integrate social, cultural, and national identities under the lordship of Christ.

The Christian church was always destined to find its way to China. Long before the birth of the church, China existed, coalescing around profound philosophical concepts and powerful cultural symbols. It developed into a dynamic and enduring civilization. In time, Christian missionaries arrived on its shores, driven to bring the gospel to this people. This book starts with the story of that journey: the arrival of the missionaries who planted the seeds of the gospel in Chinese soil. As the seeds sprouted and grew, a new story of a unique and distinct Chinese church began. The epic narrative opens from uncertain beginnings in darkness, passes through intense hardship and years of struggle, and culminates with the triumphal emergence of the Chinese church from the shadows into the light of the global stage.

This volume explores Chinese Christianity—or Chinese Christianities—in a variety of forms and expressions, including those from outside the geopolitical boundaries of mainland China. Advancing a multi-disciplinary approach to the study of Chinese churches, the essays collected here engage many historical, sociological, cultural, and theological contingencies. The collection includes historical discussions of the early-20th-century encounters of Protestant and Catholic missionaries in China and the rise of Christianity among Malaysian Chinese and British Chinese communities. Essays examine the thinking of K. H. Ting (or Ding Guangxun), often remembered for his leadership in the Three-Self Patriotic Movement in the 1980s–90s, by revisiting his earlier theology and approach to the Bible in the 1930s–50s. These retrospectives give way to contemporary explorations into how Chinese churches negotiate their urban identities amidst the complexities of globalization in Chengdu and Shanghai, as well as in Vancouver, Canada. Taken as a whole, this collection offers close examinations into various aspects of Chinese Christianity's complex picture, helping readers to recognize the many shades and colors of the global Chinese Church.

Co-edited by Shun-hing Chan and Jonathan Johnson, Citizens of Two Kingdoms examines the complex relationships of civil society, Christian organizations, and individual Christians in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau. Different authors investigate to what extent Christian organizations or individual Christians demonstrate the quality of civic virtues or virtual citizenship in the four regions, and reflect on the promises and difficulties of applying civil society theories to Chinese societies. Some authors focus their studies on the relationships in mainland China under the regime of Xi Jinping. Contributors include Richard Madsen, Zhidong Hao, Teresa Wright, Fredrik Fällman, Lauren F. Pfister, Lida V. Nedilsky, Mary Mee-Yin Yuen, Shun-hing Chan, Wen-ben Kuo, Yik-fai Tam, and Gerda Wielander.

In The Registered Church in China, Wayne Ten Harmsel pulls back for Western readers the shroud of mystery surrounding Chinese registered churches. Through interviews with Chinese pastors, evangelists, and lay Christians, he provides a rare view of what it means to live in the shadow of both the government and the well-known house churches. Registered churches have received criticism from both of these sources, as well as from many churches in other countries, particularly the United States. Ten Harmsel examines the charges leveled against registered churches and presents a balanced picture of the complexity of the church situation in China. (Such complexity arises, for instance, in the registered churches'struggle to respond to new religious regulations and the controversy over Sinicization.) China has become a major center of twenty-first-century Christianity, and, despite how little is known about registered churches in the West, these congregations play a significant role in shaping Chinese Christianity today.

Christianity is often praised as an agent of Chinese modernization or damned as a form of cultural and religious imperialism. In both cases, Christianity's foreignness and the social isolation of converts have dominated this debate. Eugenio Menegon uncovers another story. In the sixteenth century, European missionaries brought a foreign and global religion to China. Converts then transformed this new religion into a local one over the course of the next three centuries. Focusing on the still-active Catholic communities of Fuan county in northeast Fujian, this project addresses three main questions. Why did people convert? How did converts and missionaries transform a global and foreign religion into a local religion? What does Christianity's localization in Fuan tell us about the relationship between late imperial Chinese society and religion? Based on an impressive array of sources from Asia and Europe, this pathbreaking book reframes our understanding of Christian missions in Chinese-Western relations. The study's implications extend beyond the issue of Christianity in China to the wider fields of religious and social history and the early modern history of global intercultural relations. The book suggests that Christianity became part of a preexisting pluralistic, local religious space, and argues that we have so far underestimated late imperial society's tolerance for “heterodoxy.” The view from Fuan offers an original account of how a locality created its own religious culture in Ming-Qing China within a context both global and local, and illuminates the historical dynamics contributing to the remarkable growth of Christian communities in present-day China.

Christianity is a global religion! It's an obvious fact, but one often missed or ignored in too many books and conversations. In a world where Christianity is growing everywhere but the West, the Understanding World Christianity series offers a fresh, readable orientation to Christianity around the world. Understanding World Christianity is organized geographically, by nation and region. Noted experts, in most cases native to the area of focus, present a balanced history of Christianity and a detailed discussion of the faith as it is lived today. Each volume addresses six key intersections of Christianity in a given context including the historical, denominational, sociopolitical, geographical, biographical, and theological settings. Accessible in tone and brief in length, the volume on China in the Understanding World Christianity series is an ideal introduction for students, mission leaders, and any others who wish to know how Christianity is influenced, and is influenced by, the Chinese context.

The church has been under attack from its inception, but certain struggles seemed to threaten its very existence. In this inspiring book, Dr Matthew Knell celebrates some of these key figures who have kept the church alive in the midst of great adversity, exploring three major periods of persecution from the early church to the present day. This fascinating journey begins with Irenaeus of Lyon, who battled courageously against the theological threat of Gnosticism, followed by Basil of Caesarea, who defended the church from attacks on its spirituality. The book concludes with the modern Chinese church, many members of which have been attacked and even martyred for their faith. Using the examples of these defenders and many others, Dr Knell inspires readers to stand firm in the face of adversity as the global church continues to experience persecution.

The Church as Safe Haven conceptualizes the rise of Chinese Christianity as a new civilizational paradigm that encouraged individuals and communities to construct a sacred order for empowerment in modern China. Once Christianity enrooted itself in Chinese society as an indigenous religion, local congregations acquired much autonomy which enabled new religious institutions to take charge of community governance. Our contributors draw on newly-released archival sources, as well as on fieldwork observations investigating what Christianity meant to Chinese believers, how native actors built their churches and faith-based associations within the pre-existing social networks, and how they appropriated Christian resources in response to the fast-changing world. This book reconstructs the narratives of ordinary Christians, and places everyday faith experience at the center. Contributors are: Christie Chui-Shan Chow, Lydia Gerber, Melissa Inouye, Diana Junio, David Jong Hyuk Kang, Lars Peter Laamann, Joseph Tse-Hei Lee, George Kam Wah Mak, John R. Stanley, R. G. Tiedemann, Man-Shun Yeung.

Studying Christianity in China introduces an emerging academic trend in contemporary Chinese scholarship. Through qualitative interviews with leading experts in Chinese Christian studies, Naomi Thurston has investigated the ongoing conversation between China and Christianity. Since the 1980s, this conversation has given rise to an interdisciplinary academic field that is quickly gaining traction as a cutting-edge, cross-cultural discourse. The Chinese intellectuals driving this field are encountered as unique transmitters of cultural knowledge: they are cultural mediators working in a range of humanities and social science disciplines who are not only re-interpreting Western theology, but are also lending a new voice to Chinese expressions of the Christian faith. As such, they are at the forefront of a novel force in World Christianity.

K. H. Ting (1915–2012) was an important Christian leader and theologian in China. Indeed, since the late-1970s, he has been seen as the spokesperson for Christianity in China. Many stories surround his life, but it is sometimes unclear which ones are true, making him a mysterious figure. K. H. Ting became the principal of Jinling Theological Seminary in 1952 and remained in this position until his death, making him the longest-standing principal of any theological seminary in the world. He experienced many difficult times in his 97 years, and in any ways the history of Christianity in China is reflected through the ups and downs he experienced. In Incorruptible Love: The Story of K. H. Ting, the authors offer Christians, as well as people of other spiritual beliefs, intellectuals, and the general public, a greater understanding of K. H. Ting's life and beliefs. This biography will help people learn not only about K. H. Ting, but also about the fundamentals of Chinese Christianity. Written in a blend of creative and academic writing styles, Incorruptible Love makes the story of K. H. Ting vivid and convincing. This text can be used in courses on Christianity in China, the Chinese Church, religion in China, and modern Chinese history.

Edward Irving (1792-1834) has been known as a controversial pastor-theologian in nineteenth-century Britain, particularly given his belief that Christ took on sinful flesh in His incarnation. This book focuses on Irving's teaching of the church as the body of Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and the eschatological community in holiness. It explores Irving's emphasis upon the exalted humanity of Christ after His resurrection in relation to the church. Such a Christ-centred and Spirit-empowered concept of the church has relevance to the twenty-first century church in China as the Chinese church leaders attempt to reconstruct a contemporary theology of the church.

Chinese people have been instrumental in indigenizing Christianity. Sinizing Christianity examines Christianity's transplantation to and transformation in China by focusing on three key elements: Chinese agents of introduction; Chinese redefinition of Christianity for the local context; and Chinese institutions and practices that emerged and enabled indigenisation. As a matter of fact, Christianity is not an exception, but just one of many foreign ideas and religions, which China has absorbed since the formation of the Middle Kingdom, Buddhism and Islam are great examples. Few scholars of China have analysed and synthesised the process to determine whether there is a pattern to the ways in which Chinese people have redefined foreign imports for local use and what insight Christianity has to offer.Contributors are: Robert Entenmann, Christopher Sneller, Yuqin Huang, Wai Luen Kwok, Thomas Harvey, Monica Romano, Thomas Coomans, Chris White, Dennis Ng, Ruiwen Chen and Richard Madsen.

This book is an integrated collection of essays looking at the shaping of Christianity in China with a special emphasis on the contributions of Chinese believers. As well as its geographical scope of the China Mainland, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, the material covers a span of time from the end of the Ming Dynasty until the Sichuan earthquake of 2008. Also, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Roman Catholics, Charismatics, and various kinds of independents rub shoulders within its pages. This is, of course, how it should be. A recurring theme is what we might call ‘history from below'; in many cases scholars were only able to access indigenous Chinese Christians in records and biographies which principally concerned Western Missionaries. The contributors include established academics and emerging postgraduate students, a mixture of Chinese and Western authors.

Among the assumptions interrogated in this volume, edited by Anthony E. Clark, is if Christianity should most accurately be identified as “Chinese” when it displays vestiges of Chinese cultural aesthetics, or whether Chinese Christianity is more indigenous when it is allowed to form its own theological framework. In other words, can theological uniqueness also function as a legitimate Chinese Christian cultural expression in the formation of its own ecclesial identity? Also central to what is explored in this book is how missionary influences, consciously or unconsciously, introduced seeds of independence into the cultural ethos of China's Christian community. Chinese girls who pushed “the limits of proper behaviour,” for example, added to the larger sense of confidence as China's Christians began to resist the model of Christianity they had inherited from foreign missionaries.Contributors are: Robert E. Carbonneau, CP, Christie Chui-Shan Chow, Amanda C. R. Clark, Lydia Gerber, Joseph W. Ho, Joseph Tse-hei Lee, Audrey Seah, Jean-Paul Wiest, and Xiaoxin Wu.

This Festschrift is dedicated to the former Director and Editor-in-chief of the Monumenta Serica Institute in Sankt Augustin (Germany), Roman Malek, S.V.D. in recognition of his scholarly commitment to China. The two-volume work contains 40 articles by his academic colleagues, companions in faith, confreres, as well as by the staff of the Monumenta Serica Institute and the China-Zentrum e.V. (China Center). The contributions in English, German and Chinese pay homage to the jubilarian's diverse research interests, covering the fields of Chinese Intellectual History, History of Christianity in China, Christianity in China Today, Other Religions in China, Chinese Language and Literature as well as the Encounter of Cultures.

This Festschrift is dedicated to the former Director and Editor-in-chief of the Monumenta Serica Institute in Sankt Augustin (Germany), Roman Malek, S.V.D. in recognition of his scholarly commitment to China. The two-volume work contains 40 articles by his academic colleagues, companions in faith, confreres, as well as by the staff of the Monumenta Serica Institute and the China-Zentrum e.V. (China Center). The contributions in English, German and Chinese pay homage to the jubilarian's diverse research interests, covering the fields of Chinese Intellectual History, History of Christianity in China, Christianity in China Today, Other Religions in China, Chinese Language and Literature as well as the Encounter of Cultures.

This book examines the theological worldview of the Taiping Rebellion (1850–64), a Chinese revolutionary movement whose leader, Hong Xiuquan (1814–64), claimed to be the second son of God and younger brother of Jesus. Despite the profound impact of Christian books on Hong's religious thinking, previous scholarship has neglected the localized form of Christianity that he and his closest followers created. Filling that gap in the existing literature, this book analyzes the localization of Christianity in the theology, ethics, and ritual practices of the Taipings. Carl S. Kilcourse not only reveals how Confucianism and popular religion acted as instruments of localization, but also suggests that several key aspects of the Taipings'localized religion were inspired by terms and themes from translated Christian texts. Emphasizing this link between vernacularization and localization, Kilcourse demonstrates both the religious identity of the Taipings and their wider significance in the history of world Christianity.

Though the global center of Christianity has been shifting south and east over the past few decades, very few theological resources have dealt with the seismic changes afoot. The Majority World Theology series seeks to remedy that lack by gathering well-regarded Christian thinkers from around the world to discuss the significance of Christian teaching in their respective contexts. The contributors to this volume reflect deeply on the role of the Holy Spirit in both the church and the world in dialogue with their respective contexts and cultures. Taking African, Asian, and Latin American cultural contexts into account gives rise to fresh questions and insights regarding the Spirit's work as witnessed in the world and demonstrates how the theological heritage of the West is not adequate alone to address the theological necessities of communities worldwide.

China's Urban Christians: A Light at Cannot Be Hidden looks at how massive urbanization is redrawing not only the geographic and social landscape of China, but in the process is transforming China's growing church as well. The purpose of this book is toexplore how Christians in China perceive the challenges posed by their new urban context and to examine their proposed means of responding to these challenges. Although not primarily political in nature, these challenges nonetheless illustrate the complex interplay between China's Christian community and the Chinese party-state as it comes to terms with the continued growth and increasing prominence of Christianity in modern China.

During the nineteenth century, Christian missionaries vied for the Chinese souls they thought they were saving. But many things held them back: Western gunboat diplomacy, unequal treaties and their own prejudices, which increased hostility towards Christianity.'One more Christian, one less Chinese,'has long been a popular cliche in China. Guns and Gospel examines the accusation of'cultural imperialism'levelled against the missionaries and explores their complex and ambivalent relationships with the opium trade and British imperialism. Ambrose Mong follows key figures among the missionaries, such as Robert Morrison, Charles Gutzlaff, James Hudson Taylor and Timothy Richard, uncovering why some succeeded where others failed, and asks whether they really became lackeys to imperialism.

The Yearbook of Chinese Theology is an international, ecumenical and fully peer-reviewed annual that covers Chinese Christianity in the areas of Biblical Studies, Church History, Systematic Theology, Practical Theology, and Comparative Religions. It offers genuine Chinese theological research previously unavailable in English, by top scholars in the study of Christianity in China.The 2016 volume highlights the five sub-disciplines of theology. Wang Wei-fan's evangelical theology and Christian ecumenism and its internal contradiction is studied from a systematic theological viewpoint. Additionally, a theology of soul and body is proposed as an approach of sinicization of Christianity. Civil Christian and political identity are also studied in the relation to the sinicization of Christianity in China. The belief logic and social actions of the “Kingdom-Got sect” and the origin of “A New Treatise on Aids to Administration” have been explored from the historical perspective. The meditations of the Three-Self Church by K. H. Ting from a socio-religious perspective, and the missionaries'resolution of the term question in The Chinese Recorder have been studied in their relations to the Bible. There are comparative studies on the unreconciled religious diversity in the dialogue of civilizations and the different views about truth in Christianity and Confucianism. The academic report analyzes the eventful year of 2010 in the Catholic Church in China. This volume offers genuine Chinese theological research, which was previously unavailable in English, by top scholars in the study of Christianity in China.Contributors include: Juhong Ai, Jianming Chen and Tao Xiao, Xiaojuan Cheng, Xiangping Li, Gong Liang, Jianbo Huang, Paulos Huang, Meixiu Wang, Philip L. Wickeri, Kevin Xiyi Yao, Jie Zhao, Weichi Zhou.

A bold and original study of German missionaries in China, who catalyzed a revolution in thinking among European Christians about the nature of Christianity itself In this accessibly written and empirically based study, Albert Wu documents how German missionaries—chastened by their failure to convert Chinese people to Christianity—reconsidered their attitudes toward Chinese culture and Confucianism. In time, their increased openness catalyzed a revolution in thinking among European Christians about the nature of Christianity itself. At a moment when Europe's Christian population is falling behind those of South America and Africa, Wu's provocative analysis sheds light on the roots of Christianity's global shift.

This major new study examines the history of Chinese theologies as they have navigated dynastic change, anti-imperialism, and the heights of Maoist propaganda In this groundbreaking and authoritative study, Chloë Starr explores key writings of Chinese Christian intellectuals, from philosophical dialogues of the late imperial era to sermons and micro blogs of theological educators and pastors in the twenty-first century. Through a series of close textual readings, she sheds new light on the fraught issues of Chinese Christian identity and the evolving question of how Christianity should relate to Chinese society.

This book provides a significant new interpretation of China's rapid urbanization by analyzing its impact on the spread of Protestant Christianity in the People's Republic. Demonstrating how the transition from rural to urban churches has led to the creation of nationwide Christian networks, the author focuses on Linyi in Shandong Province. Using her unparalleled access as both an anthropologist and member of the congregation, she presents a much-needed insider's view of the development, organization, operation and transformation of the region's unregistered house churches. Whilst most studies are concerned with the opposition of church and state, this work, by contrast, shows that in Linyi there is no clear-cut distinction between the official TSPM church and house churches. Rather, it is the urbanization of religion that is worthy of note and detailed analysis, an approach which the author also employs in investigating the role played by Christianity in Beijing. What she uncovers is the impact of newly-acquired urban aspirations for material goods, success and status on the reshaping of local Christian beliefs, practices and rites of passage. In doing so, she creates a thought-provoking account of religious life in China that will appeal to social anthropologists, sociologists, theologians and scholars of China and its society.

Reshaping the Boundaries: The Christian Intersection of China and the West in the Modern Era brings new material and new insight to deepen our understanding of the multilayered, two-way flow of words, beliefs, and experiences between the West and China from 1600 to 1900. The seven essays taken together illustrate the complex reality of boundary-crossing interactions between these cultures and document how hybrid ideas, images, and identities emerged in both China and the West. By focusing on “in-betweenness,” these essays challenge the existing Eurocentric assumption of a simple one-way cultural flow, with Western missionaries transmitting and the Chinese receiving. Led by Song Gang, the contributors to this volume cover many specific aspects of this cultural encounter that have received little or no scholarly attention: official decrees, memoirs, personal correspondences, news, rumors, musical instruments, and miracle stories. Grounded in multiple intellectual disciplines, including religious studies, history, arts, music, and Sinology, Reshaping the Boundaries explores how each of the major Christian traditions—Catholic, Protestant, and Eastern Orthodox—bridged the West and the East in unique ways.

“The story of the foreign missionaries who served in China between 1809 and 1949 is one of fervent religious commitment and of the loss of faith, of determined perseverance and of angry frustration, of accepting people as they are and of cultural superiority... of human kindness and of narrow prejudice, of those who loved China and of those who refused to acknowledge the society in which they lived, of those who spent their entire adult lives in China and of those who fled home as soon as possible, and of those who admired China and of those who were driven insane by living in China. In short, it is a story of ordinary people with all their good qualities and all their shortcomings.”In all of its complexity, Kathleen L. Lodwick tells the story of Christianity in China. It's essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the contemporary phenomena that is Christianity in China, which some people predict soon will be the country with the largest Christian population in the world.

Since his controversial Delivering and Dallying (published in 1988), Liu Xiaofeng has been considered the most influential among contemporary Chinese intellectuals interested in Christianity. Now for the first time this collection of Liu's essays, translated and commented by Prof. Leopold Leeb, enables the non-Chinese reader to get a comprehensive understanding of the ideas of this inspiring and erudite scholar.Liu Xiaofeng's Sino-Theology and the Philosophy of History, together with the other essays in this collection, provide a panoramic view of the situation of Christian studies in the Chinese context today. In his introduction, Leopold Leeb also presents several other scholars who have been of crucial importance in the dialogue between Chinese culture and Christianity in the last three decades.

On the Road to Siangyang tells the story of a Swedish immigrant church in America undertaking, soon after its organization, a mission to central China that would last nearly sixty years, from 1890 to 1949, when Christian missionaries had to leave the Chinese Mainland upon the establishment of the People's Republic. Covenant missionary work was carried on along broad lines: preaching and evangelism; medical and benevolence work; and education for boys, girls, and adults. Missionaries labored amid turbulent years: through the Boxer Rebellion (1900), the fall of the Manchu dynasty (1911), ongoing civil war, and more than a decade of Japanese occupation (1931-1949). Three Covenant missionaries were kidnapped by the communists and held for ransom, and another three were murdered on the road from Siangyang to Kingchow. But the mission work has borne fruit, and a final chapter reports the Christian work being carried on today throughout Hubei Province.

China's Urban Christians: A Light That Cannot Be Hidden looks at how massive urbanization is redrawing not only the geographic and social landscape of China, but in the process is transforming China's growing church as well. The purpose of this book is to explore how Christians in China perceive the challenges posed by their new urban context and to examine their proposed means of responding to these challenges. Although not primarily political in nature, these challenges nonetheless illustrate the complex interplay between China's Christian community and the Chinese party-state as it comes to terms with the continued growth and increasing prominence of Christianity in modern China.

From 1807, when the first Protestant missionary arrived in China, to the 1920s, when a new phase of growth began, thousands of missionaries and Chinese Christians labored, often under very adverse conditions, to lay the groundwork for a solid, healthy, and self-sustaining Chinese church. Following an Introduction that sets the scene and surveys the entire period, Builders of the Chinese Church contains the stories of nine leading pioneers--seven missionaries and two Chinese. Here we meet Robert Morrison, the heroic translator; Liang Fa, the first Chinese evangelist; missionary-scholar James Legge; J. Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission; converted opium addict Pastor Hsi ('Overcomer of Demons'); Griffith John and Jonathan Goforth, both indefatigable preachers; and the idealistic advocates of education and reform, W. A. P. Martin and Timothy Richard. Readers will be inspired by their courage, devotion, and sheer perseverance in arduous work, and will gain an understanding of the roots of the two'branches'of today's Chinese Protestantism.

Go behind the scenes of China's spiritual revival An amazing true adventure that will inspire and challenge you When the Chinese government opened the country to foreigners in early 1978, Dennis Balcombe jumped at the chance to visit. After basing his ministry out of Hong Kong for nearly ten years, he was eager to finally proclaim the gospel in the country he had come to serve. In less than a year, he was meeting house church leaders and supplying them with Bibles for inland distribution, a path that would eventually lead to his arrest. In China's Opening Door he shares his story, bringing to light the tremendous move of God that has been happening in the country. Filled with incredible accounts of miracles, Bible delivery, daily persecution, and even imprisonment for preaching the gospel, the book serves as an inspiration to believers everywhere about the power and faithfulness of God. The book also issues a challenge: those who live for God will suffer persecution when they stand up for the truth. Had these Chinese house church leaders submitted to the government's regulations, they would not have gone to prison, and there would have been no persecution. But the tens of thousands who eventually became Christians would still be in darkness.

Christian missionaries in China have been viewed as agents of Western imperialist values. Yang Huilin, leading scholar of Sino-Christian studies, has dedicated himself to re-evaluating the history of Christianity in China and sifting through intellectual and religious results of missionary efforts in China. Yang focuses upon local histories of Christianity to chronicle its enduring good. China, Christianity, and the Question of Culture illuminates the unexplored links between Christianity and Chinese culture, from Christianity and higher education in China to the rural acculturation of Christian ideology by indigenous communities. In a distinctly Chinese voice, Yang presents the legacy of Western missionaries in a new light, contributing greatly to now vigorous Sino-Christian theology.

This volume attempts to review the historical development of Chinese Christianity from a “global-local” or “glocalization” perspective. It includes chapters on the Boxer Movement, Chinese indigenous movements, and Christian higher education and also contains seven biographical chapters. The author expounds upon the interplay of “universal” and “particular” aspects as well as the global and local forces which shaped the characteristics of Chinese Christianity in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. This work focused on China could have wider implications for modern scholarship, both in the fields of comparative history of education and modern Chinese church history, for those scholars who are exploring the dialogical interplay between global and local Christianities.

In this centennial year of China's 1911 Revolution, Volume 3 in the Salt and Light series includes the life stories of influential Chinese who played a political or military role in the new Republic that emerged. Recovering this precious legacy of faith in action shows the deep roots of the revival of Christian faith in China today.

This volume is a collection of historical and comparative essays, describing and analyzing Christian presence and progress in North-East Asia. The authors originate from China, Japan, Korea, Canada, the United States of America, and the Netherlands. The nineteen essays are a selection from the papers given at the Seventh International Conference of the North East Asia Council of Studies in History of Christianity (NEACSHC), held in Wuhan (China) in 2009. The volume has four parts: General, China, Japan, and Korea. The first part deals with the impact of Western interdenominationalism on the East and the future development of Christianity in China. The five papers on China cope with 19th and 20th century topics such as distribution of Christian literature, nationalism, modernization, Christian socialism, and Sino-theology. Comparisons with the situation in the other East-Asian countries are also made in the three papers on Japan, focusing on the beginning of Protestant mission work and Christian education. The final part, regarding Korea and consisting of four contributions, pays attention to recent developments in Bible translation, church planting, holiness mission, Korean diaspora Christianity, and the Korean War.

Recent events—from strife in Tibet and the rapid growth of Christianity in China to the spectacular expansion of Chinese Buddhist organizations around the globe—vividly demonstrate that one cannot understand the modern Chinese world without attending closely to the question of religion. The Religious Question in Modern China highlights parallels and contrasts between historical events, political regimes, and cultural movements to explore how religion has challenged and responded to secular Chinese modernity, from 1898 to the present. Vincent Goossaert and David A. Palmer piece together the puzzle of religion in China not by looking separately at different religions in different contexts, but by writing a unified story of how religion has shaped, and in turn been shaped by, modern Chinese society. From Chinese medicine and the martial arts to communal temple cults and revivalist redemptive societies, the authors demonstrate that from the nineteenth century onward, as the Chinese state shifted, the religious landscape consistently resurfaced in a bewildering variety of old and new forms. The Religious Question in Modern China integrates historical, anthropological, and sociological perspectives in a comprehensive overview of China's religious history that is certain to become an indispensible reference for specialists and students alike.

«Sino-Christian theology» usually refers to an intellectual movement emerged in Mainland China since the late 1980s. The present volume aims to provide a self-explaining sketch of the historical development of this theological as well as cultural movement