The Undercurrent Coming to the Surface: Pentecostal Strategies, Entrepreneurship, and the Nation State in the Chinese World

IF 0.3 0 RELIGION

PentecoStudies-An Interdisciplinary Journal for Research on the Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements Pub Date : 2020-05-01 DOI:10.1558/pent.41047

Nanlai Cao

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引用次数: 1

Abstract

This paper explores the convergence and divergence in the development of Chinese Christianity and the global surge of Pentecostalism by focusing on the evolution and expansion of an indigenous Pentecostal sector in Chinese Christianity. Drawing on extended ethnographic fieldwork among prosperous urban church communities in coastal southeast China and the growing Chinese merchant diaspora in Europe, I show that the Pentecostal undercurrent sustained by mostly charismatic women and their rural networks has come to surface and been increasingly transformed by an entrepreneurial male-dominated prosperity gospel. The surfacing of this Chinese Pentecostal undercurrent under the current context of China’s state-led modernization and global business outreach has resulted in a combination of entrepreneurial logic, spiritual renewal, and emotional nationalism in a self-envisioned Chinese-led global mission movement, contributing to the growth of a neo-Pentecostal sector of post-Mao, globalizing Chinese Christianity.

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浮出水面的暗流:五旬节派策略、企业家精神和华人世界的民族国家

本文以中国基督教中本土五旬节派的演变与扩张为重点，探讨了中国基督教发展与五旬节派全球浪潮的趋同与分化。通过对中国东南沿海繁荣的城市教会社区和欧洲日益增长的中国商人的田野调查，我表明，五旬节派的暗流主要由魅力四射的女性和她们的农村网络维持，已经浮出水面，并日益被企业家主导的成功福音所改变。在中国国家主导的现代化和全球商业拓展的当前背景下，中国五旬节派的暗流浮出水面，导致了企业家逻辑、精神更新和情感民族主义在中国主导的自我设想的全球宣教运动中的结合，促进了后毛时代新五旬节派的增长，全球化的中国基督教。

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来源期刊

PentecoStudies-An Interdisciplinary Journal for Research on the Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements RELIGION-

CiteScore

0.70

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： PentecoStudies offers a distinctly interdisciplinary forum for the study of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity. Authors from the social sciences, the humanities, cultural studies, religious studies and theology are all welcome to submit research on global expressions of Pentecostalism defined in its broadest sense. The journal invites work that attends to historical, contemporary and regional studies. In particular, it is interested in the global expansion of Pentecostalism, its mutations and impact on society, culture and the media, including its influence on traditional non-Pentecostal churches. Comparative research is encouraged, especially if it is based on different regional studies and contributes to our understanding of globalization and the role of Pentecostalism in post-colonial contexts. Attention to the lived experience of religion is important and studies that include empirical research are welcome, as well as theoretical studies. Theological contributions that assist our understanding of the beliefs and practices of Pentecostal Christians are essential and these are best placed if they engage in a dialogue with the broader traditions of philiosophy and theology, especially ecumenical dialogue. Finally, in this age of many faiths, it is important that the impact of Pentecostalism on other religious traditions is researched and vice versa. Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity ("Pentecostalisms") cannot be fully appreciated in isolation but must be understood in all its complexity when it is placed in multiple contexts and viewed through multiple lenses. The journal aims to fulfil this important research need.