Liang Fa: Pioneer Chinese Protestant Evangelist

Abstract

Through a meticulous study of the life and times of Liang Fa, this article explores the ways in which the Anglo-Chinese College prepared him to become a pioneer Chinese Protestant evangelist. While not overlooking his struggle with deep-rooted Chinese cultural precepts, on the one hand, and his responses to changing circumstances in late Qing China while presenting the Christian message, on the other, this study examines both the questions of the relationship between Liang and his missionary mentors and of Liang's proselytisng strategies that involved both direct and indirect evangelism, including his major Chinese publication, Quanshi Liangyan (commonly known as Good Words to Admonish the Age). Special attention is paid to the question of how Hong Xiuquan misinterpreted Liang's book, thereby creating the Taiping heresy and its tragic consequences. The study concludes with an overall assessment of Liang's place in the history of Chinese Christianity.