Ideologies and Commitments: An Analysis of Three Typical Attitudes to the Protestant Missions in the Anti-Christian Movement

Abstract

This paper presents various Chinese-Christian understandings of the Protestant missions from the U.S. and U.K. in the 1920s. By examining three typical attitudes represented by Zhao Zichen, Li Chunfan, and Zhang Yijing, the author argues that external influences from ideologies – such as nationalism – alone are insufficient to explain the differences among them. Looking closely at what Zhao, Li, and Zhang wrote about the Anti-Christian Movement, it is argued that their inner commitments should be included when accounting for their differences.