How Do Chinese Christians Draw Boundaries among Themselves? Reassessing the Question of Chinese Christianities (original) (raw)
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The Formation of Global Chinese Christian Identities
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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.
CHINESE CHRISTIANS IN GLOBALIZED CHRISTIANITY
The following working paper aims at giving a brief overview of how local and global dynamics contribute to shape Chinese Christianity. It focuses in its second part on an emblematic Chinese Cult known in English as « Eastern Lighting », the « True Omnipotent God Church », or more recently the « Slay the Red Dragon Cult », and tries to question whether the cult can be compared to other movements such as Mormonism, characterized by a deep rooting in local culture and an ability to project itself in a globalized world. As this constitutes a work-in-progress, questions or critics are welcome regarding the views and interpretations contained in this paper.
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China and the true Jesus. Charisma and organization in a Chinese Christian Church. By Melisa Wei-Tsing Inouye. Pp. xx + incl. ills and map. Oxford-New York: Oxford University Press, . £.. JEH () ; doi:./SX In the pre-pandemic summer of , I was exploring historic religious sites in a second-tier interior Chinese city with a fellow historian when we came across a reconstructed early twentieth-century house of worship belonging to the True Jesus Church (TJC). As we stood on the street admiring the architecture, we were approached by an older woman asking if we were TJC members. After many years as an active congregant of the large registered church in the centre of the city, she had recently moved to the city's much smaller True Jesus fellowship. She was drawn by the intimacy and mutual support of the tight-knit local TJC community as well as their sincere belief in and prayerful pursuit of miracles. She spoke with admiration of the timely and unexpected provision of a new set of plastic stools for the congregation of twenty-plus worshippers ('an answer to prayer!'), and then invited us to join them at their next gathering. Though the TJC is not well known outside academic circles, this large independent Chinese Pentecostal Church today operates in over sixty countries with perhaps as many as three million believers. In China and the true Jesus, Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye looks at the growth and development of the TJC, paying special attention to the factors that contributed to its endurance. Inouye's historical research is exemplary, sifting through many different and at times incomplete documentary strands, weaving together a convincing and engaging narrative of the TJC, rich with compelling characters. Using insights from contemporary scholarship on global Pentecostalism and religious experience as well as on the role of cultural technologies such as print media, authority structures and organisational governance, she skilfully elucidates the rise and persistence of the TJC. This careful historical reconstruction of the TJC's development never strays far from the importance and reality of charismatic experiences for the members of the TJC. Rejecting the more common deprivation and religious continuity theories of religious conversion, Inouye follows the lead of recent scholars of world Christianity, emphasising the agency of local Christians by treating these Chinese believers as 'living human beings, flesh and blood Chinese people who also are Christians with real faith experiences'. The resulting study greatly advances our understanding of the TJC and its origins, while also bringing Peter Tze Ming Ng, 'Foreword', to Tao Feiya 陶飞亚, 中国基督教乌托邦研究-以民 国时期耶稣家庭为例 [Research on Chinese Christian utopiastaking the republican era Jesus Family as an example], Beijing , . Translation mine.
Actor-Network Theory and the Anthropology of Christianity Making Christ Present in China
2020
An anthropological theorization of the unity and diversity of Christianity, this book focuses on Christian communities in Nanping, a small city in China. It applies methodological insights from Actor-Network Theory to investigate how the Christian God is made part of local social networks. The study examines how Christians interact with and re-define material objects, such as buildings, pews, offerings, and blood, in order to identify the kind of networks and non-human actors that they collectively design. By comparing local Christian traditions with other practices informing the Nanping religious landscape, the study points out potential cohesion via the centralizing presence of the Christian God, the governing nature of the pastoral clergy, and the semi-transcendent being of the Church.
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Since the 2000s, Chinese Christians in Europe have witnessed an increasing flow of resources and evangelists from Chinese Christian Communities in North America. Based on information gathered in the UK, Germany and China, this article aims to reveal the mechanisms and dynamics behind the space-making and network-building in overseas Chinese Protestant Christians’ missionisation processes. The authors suggest that the increased flow takes place in an imagined faith community reinforced by the discourse on the ‘suffering’ of the Chinese nation, that it is a result of a farreaching geographical imaginary with ethnic Chinese evangelists as God’s new chosen people, and that it is linked to the dynamics in the specific locations of North America, Europe and China. These mechanisms and dynamics are entangled with a ‘network of moralities’ arising from the discourses on ‘authenticity’ and ‘suffering’. The result is a distinct ethno-religious space, which, however, does not conflict with the cosmopolitan aims of the grand missionary enterprise.
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Since the beginning of the reform era, China has witnessed a resurgence of a large variety of religious practice. Much of the growth of the church can be ascribed to the efforts of indigenous Chinese churches. However, the dissemination of Christianity is also being promoted by a non-Chinese, primarily Western missionary community. Missionary presence is particularly considerable in the peripheral province of Yunnan, in the far southwestern corner of China. Missionaries were active in Yunnan before the 1949 revolution, where they had some considerable success with a number of minority peoples. Despite the illegality of proselytizing in today’s China, foreign Christian workers are largely tolerated in Yunnan province. Both foreign and Chinese Missionaries working among minority people in Yunnan are faced with the challenge of dealing with a wide variety of religious and cultural and ethnic traditions among potential converts. In this paper I wish to discuss the ways both missionaries and converts deal with the issue of religious diversity and syncretism, both on the theological and on the practical level. Through a discussion of a number of points of contention, such as burial rites and participation in ethnic festivals I attempt to demonstrate the way contemporary Christians struggle to reconcile local religious traditions with their new found faith. The observations made here are based on 15 months of anthropological fieldwork conducted in Yunnan in 2009-10 and interviews made during a follow up visit in 2012.
Theology must remain alert to the perpetual novelty of God, expressed throughout believers’ lived experiences and communal inventiveness. The ethnographer’s sensitivity to the way religious communities take shape and evolve can help the theologian to reflect anew on the way God’s revelation unfurls itself in the contexts and languages of our time. This article illustrates such approach by highlighting some aspects of an ongoing research on Shanghai’s religious communities. Not only does it reflect upon Christian churches’ growth and maturation but it also considers the religious diversity of Chinese megacities as a way to re-think Christian identity. It argues that China’s religious awakening is not to be considered as a special case or a mere opportunity for Christian mission but as a field for theological critical thinking.