Christianity in China: From the Eighteenth Century to the Present

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Stanford University Press, 1996 - History - 483 pages
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.

 

Contents

Catholics and Society in EighteenthCentury Sichuan
6
Conflict
24
Christians
53
Gilbert Reid
73
Collective Conversion
120
Christian Virgins in EighteenthCentury Sichuan
180
Chinese Women and Protestant Christianity at the Turn
194
The McTyeire Home and School
209
The Chinese
269
The Growth of Independent Christianity in China
307
Christianity in China Under
317
A Christian Leader Under Communism
338
Pentecostal and Charismatic
353
Appendix A Project Grants
369
Notes
377
Works Cited
427

St Hildas School for Girls
228
The Life
243
Character List
457
Index
463

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About the author (1996)

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

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