Protestantism in Xiamen

This interdisciplinary volume represents the first comprehensive English-language analysis of the development of Protestant Christianity in Xiamen from the nineteenth century to the present. This important regional study is particularly revealing due to the unbroken history of Sino-Christian interactions in Xiamen and the extensive ties that its churches have maintained with global missions and overseas Chinese Christians. Its authors draw upon a wide range of foreign missionary and Chinese official archives, local Xiamen church publications, and fieldwork data to historicize the Protestant experience in the region. Further, the local Christians' stories demonstrate a form of sociocultural, religious and political imagination that puts into question the Euro-American model of Christendom and the Chinese Communist-controlled Three-Self Patriotic Movement. It addresses the localization of Christianity, the reinvention of local Chinese Protestant identity and heritage, and the Protestants' engagement with the society at large. The empirical findings and analytical insights of this collection will appeal to scholars of religion, sociology and Chinese history.

Presents a revealing regional study of the localization of Christianity in modern China Highlights the resilience of Chinese Christianity and the ability of Chinese churches to adapt to political upheavals and marketization in recent decades Advances our understanding of the transformation of Protestant Christianity in Xiamen from the past to the present

Autorentext
Chris White is Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Germany. His research focuses on the history and contemporary study of Protestantism in China, particularly Southern Fujian. He is the author of Sacred Webs: The Social Lives and Networks of Minnan Protestants, 1840s-1920s (2017).

Inhalt
Introduction: Xiamen Protestantism Over the Years; Chris White.- Chapter 1. Xinjie Church and Christianity as Chinese Cultural Heritage; Chris White.- Chapter 2. Christianity, Imperialism and Modernity in Treaty Port Xiamen; David Woodbridge.- Chapter 3. The Passing of Glory: Urban Development, Local Politics, and Christianity on Gulangyu; Jifeng Liu.- Chapter 4. The Haicang Voice: Modernity, Cultural Continuity and the Spirit World in a 1920s Chinese Church; Chris White.- Chapter 5. Could they be Made to See?: The Educational Legacy of Xiamen to the Philippines; Jean Uayan.- Chapter 6. Sing to the Lord a New Song: The Development and Influence of Minnan Hymns; Yingheng Cheng and Chris White.- Chapter 7. Christmas Reverberations in Xiamen: Insights from a Grand Religious Festival in Contemporary China; Bram Colijn.