This book is the first to address the history and future of homegrown, mass Chinese Christianity. Drawing on a large collection of fresh sources--including contemporaneous accounts, diaries, memoirs, archival material, and interviews--Lian Xi traces the transformation of Protestant Christianity in twentieth-century China from a small, beleaguered "missionary" church buffeted by antiforeignism to an indigenous popular religion energized by nationalism and millenarianism. Lian shows that, with a current membership that rivals that of the Chinese Communist Party, and the ability to galvanize China's millions into apocalyptic convulsion and messianic exuberance, the popular Christian movement channels the aspirations and the discontent of the masses and will play an important role in shaping the country's future.
Lian Xi is professor of history at Hanover College and author of The Conversion of Missionaries: Liberalism in American Protestant Missions in China, 1907–1932. He lives in Louisville, KY.
What People are Saying About This
Philip Jenkins
Redeemed by Fire presents a fascinating and impressively wide-ranging account of China's modern Christian experience, which is all the more valuable for the author's shrewd observations about the religion's future impact in the emerging superpower. Particularly striking are his rich descriptions of China's flourishing prophetic and popular movements.(Philip Jenkins, author of The Lost History of Christianity)
Jessie Lutz
Lian Xi's book, an important contribution on a neglected subject, is the only in-depth study of popular, independent Chinese Christianity. He knows his Chinese history and philosophy and writes clearly with vivid and apt metaphors.(Jessie Lutz, author of Opening China: Karl F.A. Gutzlaff And Sino-western Relations, 1827-1852)
