Although Christianity has been a minority religion in Chinese societies, Christians have been powerful catalysts of social activism in seeking to establish democracy and rule of law in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and diasporic communities. The chapters gathered in this collection reveal the vital influence of Christian individuals and groups on social, political, and legal activism in Chinese societies. Written from a range of disciplinary and geographical perspectives, the chapters develop a coherent narrative of Christian activism that illuminates its specific historical, theological, and cultural contexts. Analyzing campaigns for human rights, universal suffrage, and other political reforms, this volume uncovers the complex dynamics of Christian activism, highlighting its significant contributions to the democratization of Greater China.
The historical analysis, theological reflections, and sociological observations found in the chapters of Christian Social Activism and Rule of Law in Chinese Societies reveal the vibrant influence of Christian individuals and groups on social, political, and legal activism in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and diasporic communities.
This book provides an itinerary for studying political theology in Chinese society, including mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. It explores the changing role of religion in Chinese history, from the rise of Buddhism alongside Confucianism and Daoism, through the arrival of Christianity and Islam, to the suppression of religion under communism. Since the reform and opening period beginning in 1978, China has experienced a resurgence of religiosity, with powerful societal implications. Governing authorities have sought to regulate religious practice in line with their governing system. Political theology in Chinese society is very much in flux and the chapters in this volume provide an array of windows through which to view the evolving reality. They include historical approaches and descriptive analyses, with an interdisciplinary and international range of perspectives by contributors based in and outside China. The book will be of particular interest to scholars of theology, religious studies, and contemporary China studies.
This book examines Christianity in China by building a constructive theology for the distinctive realities of Chinese culture, society, and politics. It proposes Christian public responsibility to identify the moral problems in Chinese public life and proposes a public face of Christianity in China theologically and ethically.
This volume tells the story of the interaction between Christianity and law-historically and today, in the traditional heartlands of Christianity and around the globe. Sixty new chapters by leading scholars provide authoritative and accessible accounts of foundational Christian teachings on law and legal thought over the past two millennia; the current interaction and contestation of law and Christianity on all continents; how Christianity shaped and was shaped by core public, private, penal, and procedural laws; various old and new forms of Christian canon law, natural law theory, and religious freedom norms; Christian teachings on fundamental principles of law and legal order; and Christian contributions to controversial legal issues. Together, the chapters make clear that Christianity and law have had a perennial and permanent influence on each other over time and across cultures, albeit with varying levels of intensity and effectiveness. This volume defines "Christianity" broadly to include Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox traditions and various denominations and schools of thought within them. It draws on Christian ideas and institutions, norms and practices, texts and titans to tell the story of Christianity's engagement with the world of law over the past two millennia. The volume also defines "law" broadly as the normative order of justice, power, and freedom. The chapters address natural laws of conscience, reason, and the Bible and positive laws enacted by states, churches, and voluntary associations. Several chapters focus on Christian engagement with specific types of law: canon law, family law, education law, constitutional law, criminal law, procedural law, and laws governing labor, tax, contracts, torts, property, and beyond. Other chapters take up cutting edge legal issues of racial justice, environmental care, migration, euthanasia, and (bio)technology as well as fundamental legal principles of liberty, dignity, equality, justice, equity, judgment, and solidarity.
The book examines the dynamic processes of the various social, political, and cultural negotiations that representatives of Christian groups engage in within authoritarian societies in Greater China, where Christianity is deemed a foreign religious system brought to China by colonial rulers. The book explores the political and social cooperation and negotiations of two particular Christian groups in their respective and distinct settings: the open sector of the Catholic Church in the communist People’s Republic on mainland China from 1945 to the present day, and the Presbyterian church of Taiwan in the Republic of China in Taiwan during the period of martial law from 1949 to 1987. Rather than simply confirm the ‘domination-resistance’ model of church–state relations, the book focuses on the various approaches adopted by religious groups during the process of negotiation. In an authoritative Chinese environment, religious specialists face two related pressures: the demands of their authoritarian rulers and social pressure requiring them to assimilate to the local culture. The book uses two case studies to support a wider theory of economic approach to religion.
It is well known that the Chinese church (and therefore Chinese theology) has been divided in the People's Republic of China into "registered" and "unregistered" churches, and that while the state-approved church offers theologies that align with the nation's socialist values, the unregistered or house churches have tended toward an evangelical theology that is now divaricating with the resurgence of denominations in China. What is less well known is that there has been a vibrant third field of Chinese theology: Sino-Christian theology, a contested, academic discourse that makes no claims to be a confessional theology. This theology, fostered by academics in secular Chinese universities, developed in the 1990s and has grown and diversified with the increasing number of scholars researching Christianity in China. This volume offers essays on the message of Chinese Christian art, for example, alongside textual and Christological studies. The phenomenon of Sino-Christian theology, along with debates on its right to exist (if not authored by professing Christians), overlaps with broader debates on the nature of a "Chinese theology" and its unifying features. The second part of the volume draws together nine essays on theological concerns in the Chinese diaspora. These range from the nature of diasporic experience itself to studies of individual writers, and from fundamentalist beliefs in Singapore to a queer theology academy in Hong Kong. Although Hong Kong is part of mainland China, given its history and the "one country, two systems" policy still in place, several essays on Hong Kong theologians are included here among diasporic writings. Three essays focusing on Taiwanese subjects include reflections on the role of Christian philosophy in the legal thought of John C. H. Wu, a reassessment of homeland theology in light of the nationalist resurgence, and the creative "theology of Yi" based on the Book of Changes, Yijing.
Cultural China is a unique annual publication for up-to-date, informed, and accessible commentary about Chinese and Sinophone languages, cultural practices, politics and production, and their critical analysis. It builds on the University of Westminster’s Contemporary China Centre Blog, providing additional reflective introductory pieces to contextualise each of the eight chapters. The articles in this Review speak to the turbulent year that was 2020 as it unfolded across cultural China. Thematically, they range from celebrity culture, fashion and beauty, to religion and spirituality, via language politics, heritage, and music. Pieces on representations of China in Britain and the Westminster Chinese Visual Arts Project reflect our particular location and home. Many of the articles in this book focus on the People’s Republic of China, but they also draw attention to the multiple Chinese and Sinophone cultural practices that exist within, across, and beyond national borders. The Review is distinctive in its cultural studies-based approach and contributes a much-needed critical perspective from the Humanities to the study of cultural China. It aims to promote interdisciplinary dialogue and debate about the social, cultural, political, and historical dynamics that inform life in cultural China today, offering academics, activists, practitioners, and politicians a key reference with which to situate current events in and relating to cultural China in a wider context.
Asia is by far the largest continent in the world. The global expansion of the church, which emanated from the Middle East (as explored in the first book in the series) moved along various routes to take root in Asia proper. Christianity in Asia is extraordinarily diverse, with very ancient forms of the faith dating to the time of the apostles. The western church will be enlightened by the dynamic, multi-pronged Asian story of Christianity. Asian Christianity is also distinct due to the numerous non-traditional, house, or cell movements found throughout the region. The diversity of Christianity in Asia makes Christians in this region critical for the future of global Christianity.
This book analyzes the interaction of religion, society, and governance in China - suggesting it is much more subtle and complex than common convention suggests. The edited work addresses civic engagement, religion, Christianity, and the rule of law in contemporary Chinese society.
