Christianity in China - From the Eighteenth Century to the Present

This pathbreaking volume will force a reassessment of many common assumptions about the relationship between Christianity and modern China. The overall thrust of the twenty essays is that despite the conflicts and tension that often have characterized relations between Christianity and China, in fact Christianity has been, for the past two centuries or more, putting down roots within Chinese society, and it is still in the process of doing so. Thus Christianity is here interpreted not just as a Western religion that imposed itself on China, but one that was becoming a Chinese religion, as Buddhism did centuries ago.
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List of contents

Part I. Christianity and the Dynamics of Qing Society: 1. Catholics and society in eighteenth-century Sichuan Robert E. Entenmann; 2. Catholic converts in Jiangxi province: conflict and accommodation, 1860-1900 Alan Richard Sweeten; 3. Rural religion and village organization in North China: the Catholic challenge in the late nineteenth century Charles A. Litzinger; 4. Twilight of the Gods in the Chinese countryside: Christians, Confucians and the modernizing state, 1861-1911 Roger R. Thompson; 5. Christian missionary as Confucian intellectual: Gilbert Reid (1857-1927) and the Reform Movement in the late qing Tsou Mingeth; 6. The politics of evangelism at the end of the Qing: Nanchang, 1906 Ernest P. Young; Part II. Christianity and Ethnicity: 7. From Barbarians to sinners: collective conversion among plains aborigines in Qing Taiwan, 1859-1895 John R. Shepherd; 8. Christianity and the Hua Miao: writing and power Norma Diamond; 9. Christianity and Hakka identity Nicole Constable; Part III. Christianity and Chinese Women: 10. Christian virgins in eighteenth-century Sichuan Robert E. Entenmann; 11. Chinese women and Protestant Christianity at the turn of the twentieth-century Kwok Pui-Lan; 12. Cradle of female talent: the McTyeire home and school for girls, 1892-1937 Heidi A. Ross; 13. An oasis in a heathen land: St. Hilda's school for girls, Wuchang, 1928-1936 Judith Liu and Donald P. Kelly; 14. Christianity, feminism, and communism: the life and times of Deng Yuzhi Emily Honig; Part IV. The Rise of an Indigenous Chinese Christianity: 15. Karl Gutzlaff's approach to indigenization: the Chinese union Jessie G. Lutz and R. Ray Lutz; 16. Contextualizing Protestant publishing in China: the Wenshe, 1924-1928 Peter Chen-Main Wang; 17. The growth of independent Christianity in China, 1900-1937 Daniel H. Bays; 18. Toward independence: Christianity in China under the Japanese occupation, 1937-1945 Timothy Brook; 19. Y. T. Wu: a Christian leader under communism Gao Wangzhi; 20. Holy spirit Taiwan: Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity in the republic of China Murray A. Rubinstein; Appendices; Index.

About the author

Daniel H. Bays is Professor of History at the University of Kansas.

Summary

This pathbreaking volume will force a reassessment of many common assumptions about the relationship between Christianity and modern China. The overall thrust of the twenty essays is that despite the conflicts and tension that often have characterized relations between Christianity and China, in fact Christianity has been, for the past two centuries or more, putting down roots within Chinese society, and it is still in the process of doing so. Thus Christianity is here interpreted not just as a Western religion that imposed itself on China, but one that was becoming a Chinese religion, as Buddhism did centuries ago.

Eschewing the usual focus on foreign missionaries, as is customary, this research effort is China-centered, drawing on Chinese sources, including government and organizational documents, private papers, and interviews. The essays are organized into four major sections: Christianity’s role in Qing society, including local conflicts (6 essays); ethnicity (3 essays); women (5 essays); and indigenization of the Christian effort (6 essays). The editor has provided sectional introductions to highlight the major themes in each section, as well as a general Introduction.

Additional text

"This work is unique in that it subjects the history of Christianity in China to rigorous historical investigation. No other work on the subject can compare even remotely with it in depth and breadth of documentation and in analysis. The papers all reflect original research in sources seldom or never used before, and they are as much concerned with social history as with religious history. The volume is a benchmark work on Christian life in China in the context of a changing indigenous society."

Product details

• Assisted by: Daniel Bays (Editor), Daniel H Bays (Editor), Daniel H. Bays (Editor), Bays Daniel (Editor)
• Publisher: Stanford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.03.1999
• EAN: 9780804736510
• ISBN: 978-0-8047-3651-0
• No. of pages: 508
• Dimensions: 153 mm x 228 mm x 27 mm
• Weight: 644 g
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > Christianity; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous