‘Love of the Nation’ and the Church in China: An Issue of Belonging and Moral Identity

Abstract

This article contributes to a deeper understanding of Christian patriotism in China by reflecting on the phenomenon from a pastoral-theological perspective and by considering the sociocultural meaning of patriotism in the Chinese context. Through three examples, the author analyzes different discourses of Christian patriotic identity, which represent a large specter of contemporary Protestant Christianity in China. She demonstrates that the phenomenon of Chinese Christian patriotism primarily concerns moral identity and is only secondarily a political issue.