Methodological Reflections on the Study of Chinese Christianities

Abstract

To stage a meaningful dialogue between China area studies and Christianity worldwide, this chapter draws on the changing landscape of Chinese Christianities to reframe certain parameters and norms in the study of global Christian movements. By focusing on the interplay between global religious forces and local conditions, this chapter argues that the Chinese concern about global-local church ties is largely defined by the very question of churchstate relations. The voices and narratives of Chinese Christians throw light on their own understanding of the global Christian body and on their ongoing struggles to define an authentic religious identity in a state-centric society. The existing debate about what constitutes Christianity in China is fraught with two misconceptions. First, there has been a tendency to define an indigenous church against Euro-American missionary Christianity. This nationalistic narrative of Christianity in China was derived from the post-1949 ideological environment, where separating the ties between Chinese and global churches has been a political agenda of the Communist state. Second, Christian groupings in China are diverse and fragmentary. Analytical terms like ‘Chinese Christianity’ and ‘popular Christianity’ are too simplistic and ignore many transnational, intra-/inter-church boundaries arising from doctrinal, liturgical and political disagreements. Today most of the missionary-founded churches such as the Anglicans, Baptists, Presbyterians and Seventh-day Adventists as well as indigenous movements like Watchman Nee’s Little Flock and the True Jesus Church, and recently, some zealous Christian groups like The Church of Almighty God, have not only survived persecution but also become an integral part of global Christianity, exporting their own doctrines and faith practices worldwide. To locate China’s rich and diverse Christian experience within the broader landscape of Christianity, this chapter proposes an alternative way to rewriting the state-centered church history. It shows that the Chinese Protestant expressions of Christianity took root in resistance to