Author: Rodney Stark
Publisher: Templeton Foundation Press
ISBN: 1599474883
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 161
Book Description
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.
A Star in the East
Author: Rodney Stark
Publisher: Templeton Foundation Press
ISBN: 1599474883
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 161
Book Description
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.
Publisher: Templeton Foundation Press
ISBN: 1599474883
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 161
Book Description
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.
Christianity in China
Author: Daniel H. Bays
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 9780804736510
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 526
Book Description
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: Christianitys 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.
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 9780804736510
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 526
Book Description
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: Christianitys 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.
Christians in China
Author: Jean Charbonnier
Publisher: Ignatius Press
ISBN: 0898709164
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 606
Book Description
Chronicles the history of Christianity in China throughout the centuries, from the arrival of Christian missionaries during the seventh century to efforts to connect Chinese followers with European Catholics in 2000.
Publisher: Ignatius Press
ISBN: 0898709164
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 606
Book Description
Chronicles the history of Christianity in China throughout the centuries, from the arrival of Christian missionaries during the seventh century to efforts to connect Chinese followers with European Catholics in 2000.
Redeemed by Fire
Author: Lian, Xi
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300123396
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 351
Book Description
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.
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300123396
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 351
Book Description
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.
Christianity in China
Author: Xiaoxin Wu
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317474686
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 862
Book Description
Now revised and updated to incorporate numerous new materials, this is the major source for researching American Christian activity in China, especially that of missions and missionaries. It provides a thorough introduction and guide to primary and secondary sources on Christian enterprises and individuals in China that are preserved in hundreds of libraries, archives, historical societies, headquarters of religious orders, and other repositories in the United States. It includes data from the beginnings of Christianity in China in the early eighth century through 1952, when American missionary activity in China virtually ceased. For this new edition, the institutional base has shifted from the Princeton Theological Seminary (Protestant) to the Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural Relations at the University of San Francisco (Jesuit), reflecting the ecumenical nature of this monumental undertaking.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317474686
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 862
Book Description
Now revised and updated to incorporate numerous new materials, this is the major source for researching American Christian activity in China, especially that of missions and missionaries. It provides a thorough introduction and guide to primary and secondary sources on Christian enterprises and individuals in China that are preserved in hundreds of libraries, archives, historical societies, headquarters of religious orders, and other repositories in the United States. It includes data from the beginnings of Christianity in China in the early eighth century through 1952, when American missionary activity in China virtually ceased. For this new edition, the institutional base has shifted from the Princeton Theological Seminary (Protestant) to the Ricci Institute for Chinese-Western Cultural Relations at the University of San Francisco (Jesuit), reflecting the ecumenical nature of this monumental undertaking.
China and the True Jesus
Author: Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0190923466
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 409
Book Description
"The history of the True Jesus Church, a Pentecostal church founded in Beijing in 1917, reveals dynamic interaction between charismatic experience and organizational processes. Believers' lived experiences provide grassroots perspective on developments in China's modern history, including transnational exchange, gender roles, models for legitimate governance, clandestine culture, and church-state relations"--
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0190923466
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 409
Book Description
"The history of the True Jesus Church, a Pentecostal church founded in Beijing in 1917, reveals dynamic interaction between charismatic experience and organizational processes. Believers' lived experiences provide grassroots perspective on developments in China's modern history, including transnational exchange, gender roles, models for legitimate governance, clandestine culture, and church-state relations"--
House Church Christianity in China
Author: Jie Kang
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319304909
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 296
Book Description
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.
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319304909
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 296
Book Description
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.
Jesus in Beijing
Author: David Aikman
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1596986522
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 459
Book Description
This book details the great unreported story of the Chinese giant, its enormously rapid conversion to Christianity, and what this change means to the global balance of power.
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1596986522
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 459
Book Description
This book details the great unreported story of the Chinese giant, its enormously rapid conversion to Christianity, and what this change means to the global balance of power.
Chinese Christians in America
Author: Fenggang Yang
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 9780271042527
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 252
Book Description
Christianity has become the most practiced religion among the Chinese in America, but very little solid research exists on Chinese Christians and their churches. This book is the first to explore the subject from the inside, revealing how Chinese Christians construct and reconstruct their identity--as Christians, Americans, and Chinese--in local congregations amid the radical pluralism of the late twentieth century. Today there are more than one thousand Chinese churches in the United States, most of them Protestant evangelical congregations, bringing together diasporic Chinese from diverse origins--Taiwan, Hong Kong, mainland China, and Southeast Asian countries. Fenggang Yang finds that despite the many tensions and conflicts that exist within these congregations, most individuals find ways to creatively integrate their evangelical Christian beliefs with traditional Chinese (most Confucian) values. The church becomes a place where they can selectively assimilate into American society while simultaneously preserving Chinese values and culture. Yang brings to this study unique experience as both participant and observer. Born in mainland China, he is a sociologist who converted to Christianity after coming to the United States. The heart of this book is an ethnographic study of a representative Chinese church, located in Washington, D. C., where he became a member. Throughout the book, Yang draws upon interviews with members of this congregation while making comparisons with other churches throughout the United States. Chinese Christians in America is an important addition to the literature on the experience of "new" immigrant communities.
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 9780271042527
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 252
Book Description
Christianity has become the most practiced religion among the Chinese in America, but very little solid research exists on Chinese Christians and their churches. This book is the first to explore the subject from the inside, revealing how Chinese Christians construct and reconstruct their identity--as Christians, Americans, and Chinese--in local congregations amid the radical pluralism of the late twentieth century. Today there are more than one thousand Chinese churches in the United States, most of them Protestant evangelical congregations, bringing together diasporic Chinese from diverse origins--Taiwan, Hong Kong, mainland China, and Southeast Asian countries. Fenggang Yang finds that despite the many tensions and conflicts that exist within these congregations, most individuals find ways to creatively integrate their evangelical Christian beliefs with traditional Chinese (most Confucian) values. The church becomes a place where they can selectively assimilate into American society while simultaneously preserving Chinese values and culture. Yang brings to this study unique experience as both participant and observer. Born in mainland China, he is a sociologist who converted to Christianity after coming to the United States. The heart of this book is an ethnographic study of a representative Chinese church, located in Washington, D. C., where he became a member. Throughout the book, Yang draws upon interviews with members of this congregation while making comparisons with other churches throughout the United States. Chinese Christians in America is an important addition to the literature on the experience of "new" immigrant communities.
Handbook of Christianity in China
Author: Nicolas Standaert
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004114300
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 1092
Book Description
The second volume on Christianity in China covers the period from 1800 to the present day, dealing with the complexities of both Catholic and Protestant aspects.
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004114300
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 1092
Book Description
The second volume on Christianity in China covers the period from 1800 to the present day, dealing with the complexities of both Catholic and Protestant aspects.