God Is Red

God Is Red
Author: Liao Yiwu
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 205
Release: 2011-09-13
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0062078488

In God is Red, Chinese dissident journalist and poet Liao Yiwu—once lauded, later imprisoned, and now celebrated author of For a Song and a Hundred Songs and The Corpse Walker—profiles the extraordinary lives of dozens of Chinese Christians, providing a rare glimpse into the underground world of belief that is taking hold within the officially atheistic state of Communist China. Liao felt a kinship with Chinese Christians in their unwavering commitment to the freedom of expression and to finding meaning in a tumultuous society, even though he is not a Christian himself. This is a fascinating tale of otherwise unknown personalities thriving against all odds. God is Red will resonate with readers of Phillip Jenkins' The Lost History of Christianity and Peter Hessler's Country Driving.

Religion in Communist China

Religion in Communist China
Author: Richard Clarence Bush
Publisher:
Total Pages: 440
Release: 1970
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

Chinese Culture and Christianity traces the origin, development, and growth of Chinese culture in relationship to Christianity. This comprehensive work will be of interest to students of sociology, philosophy, religion, political science, and anthropology.

Christian Values in Communist China

Christian Values in Communist China
Author: Gerda Wielander
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 214
Release: 2013-10-08
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1317976045

This book argues that as new political and social values are formed in post-socialist China, Christian values are becoming increasingly embedded in the new post-socialist Chinese outlook. It shows how although Christianity is viewed in China as a foreign religion, promoted by Christian missionaries and as such at odds with the official position of the state, Christianity as a source of social and political values - rather than a faith requiring adherence to a church is in fact having a huge impact. The book shows how these values inform both official and dissident ideology and provide a key underpinning of morality and ethics in the post-socialist moral landscape. Adopting a variety of different angles, the book investigates the role Christian thought plays in the official discourse on morality and love and what contribution Chinese Christians make to charitable projects. It analyses key Christian publications and dedicates two chapters to Christian intellectuals and their impact on political liberal thinking in China. The concluding chapter highlights gender roles, the role of the Chinese diaspora, and the overlap of the government and Christian agenda in China today. The book challenges commonly held views on contemporary Chinese Christianity as a movement in opposition to the state by showing the diversity and complexity of Christian thinking and the many factors influencing it.

Christianity in China

Christianity in China
Author: Daniel H. Bays
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Total Pages: 526
Release: 1996
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780804736510

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.

A Star in the East

A Star in the East
Author: Rodney Stark
Publisher: Templeton Foundation Press
Total Pages: 161
Release: 2015-05-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1599474883

What is the state of Christianity in China? Some scholars say that China is invulnerable to religion. In contrast, others say that past efforts of missionaries have failed, writing off those converted as nothing more than “rice Christians” or cynical souls who had frequented the missions for the benefits they provided. Some wonder if the Cultural Revolution extinguished any chances of Christianity in China. Rodney Stark and Xiuhua Wang offer a different perspective, arguing that Christianity is alive, well, and on the rise. Stark approaches the topic from an extensive research background in Christianity and Chinese history, and Wang provides an inside look at Christianity and its place in her home country of China. Both authors cover the history of religion in China, disproving older theories concerning the number of Christians and the kinds of Christians that have emerged in the past 155 years. Stark and Wang claim that when just considering the visible Christians—those not part of underground churches—thousands of Chinese are still converted to Christianity daily, and forty new churches are opening each week. A Star in the East draws on two major national surveys to sketch a close-up of religion in China. A reliable estimate is that by 2007 there were approximately 60 million Christians in China. If the current growth rate were to hold until 2030, there would be more Christians in China—about 295 million—than in any other nation. This trend has significant implications, not just for China but for the greater world order. It is probable that Chinese Christianity will splinter into denominations, likely leading to the same political, social, and economic ramifications seen in the West today. Whether you’re new to studying Christianity in China or whether this has been your area of interest for years, A Star in the East provides a reliable, thought-provoking, and engaging account of the resilience of the Christian faith in China and the implications it has for the future.

Redeemed by Fire

Redeemed by Fire
Author: Lian, Xi
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 351
Release: 2010-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0300123396

This text addresses the history and future of homegrown, mass Chinese Christianity. Drawing on a collection of sources, the author traces the transformation of Protestant Christianity in the 20th-century China from a small 'missionary' church buffeted by antiforeignism to an indigenous opular religion energized by nationalism.

The Souls of China

The Souls of China
Author: Ian Johnson
Publisher: Pantheon
Total Pages: 480
Release: 2017
Genre: History
ISBN: 1101870052

From the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist: a revelatory portrait of religion in China today, its history, the spiritual traditions of its Eastern and Western faiths, and the ways in which it is influencing China's future. Following a century of violent antireligious campaigns, China is now awash with new temples, churches, and mosques as well as cults, sects, and politicians trying to harness religion for their own ends. Driving this explosion of faith is uncertainty over what it means to be Chinese, and how to live an ethical life in a country that discarded traditional morality a century ago and is still searching for new guideposts. Ian Johnson lived for extended periods with underground church members, rural Daoists, and Buddhist pilgrims. He has distilled these experiences into a cycle of festivals, births, deaths, detentions, and struggle a great awakening of faith that is shaping the soul of the world s newest superpower. (With black-and-white illustrations throughout).

The Battle for China's Spirit

The Battle for China's Spirit
Author: Sarah Cook
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 140
Release: 2017-05-16
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1538106116

The Battle for China’s Spirit is the first comprehensive analysis of its kind, focusing on seven major religious groups in China that together account for over 350 million believers: Chinese Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Tibetan Buddhism, and Falun Gong. The study examines the evolution of the Communist Party’s policies of religious control, how they are applied differently to diverse faith communities, and how citizens are responding to these policies. The study—which draws on hundreds of official documents and interviews with religious leaders, lay believers, and scholars—finds that Chinese government controls over religion have intensified since November 2012, seeping into new areas of daily life. Yet millions of religious believers defy official restrictions or engage in some form of direct protest, at times scoring significant victories. The report explores how these dynamics affect China’s overall social, political, and economic environment, while offering recommendations to both the Chinese government and international actors for how to increase the space for peaceful religious practice in a country where spirituality has been deeply embedded in its culture for millennia.

Seeking the Common Ground

Seeking the Common Ground
Author: Philip L. Wickeri
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2011-08-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1610975294

This is the most comprehensive treatment ever written of the history of the Protestant Church in China over the last forty years. Philip Wickeri takes an unprecedented look at one of the most turbulent periods in Chinese history--the years from 1949 to the present. Wickeri explicates what Chinese Protestants have been saying about themselves in historical and theological perspective. His interpretation is based on one particular dynamic: how Chinese Protestants have sought to situate themselves in a socialist society within the unifying framework of the united front. After an overview of church, Marxism, and Christianity in China, Wickeri discusses the united front. He focuses on ideology, organization, and religious policy. Wickeri then explores the Three-Self Movement as both a Chinese and a Christian movement. His conclusion: the Three-Self Movement, despite problems, has made Christianity more accessible to the average Chinese and the church more acceptable to Chinese society.