A Star in the East

A Star in the East PDF Author: Rodney Stark
Publisher: Templeton Foundation Press
ISBN: 1599474883
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
What is the state of Christianity in China, really? Some scholars say that China is invulnerable to religion. Some say that past efforts of missionaries have failed, writing off those who were converted as nothing more than “rice Christians,” or cynical souls who had frequented the missions for the benefits they provided. Some wonder if the Cultural Revolution extinguished any chances of Christianity in China. Rodney Stark and Xiuhua Wang offer a different perspective, arguing that Christianity is alive, well, and even on the rise. Stark approaches the topic from an extensive research background in both Christianity and Chinese history, and Wang provides an inside look at Christianity and its place in her home country of China. Both authors cover the history of religion in China, disproving older theories concerning not only the number of Christians, but the kinds of Christians that have emerged in the past 155 years. Stark and Wang claim that when just considering the visible Christians, those not part of underground churches, there are still thousands of Chinese being converted to Christianity each day, and forty new churches opening each week. A Star in the East draws on two major national surveys to sketch a close-up of religion in China. A reliable estimate is that by 2007 there were approximately 60 million Christians in China. If the current rate of growth were to hold until 2030, there would be more Christians in China—about 295 million—than in any other nation on earth. This has significant implications, not just for China but for the greater world order. It is probable that Chinese Christianity will splinter into denominations, likely leading to the same kinds of political, social, and economic ramifications seen in the West today. Whether you’re new to studying Christianity in China, or whether this has been your area of interest for years, A Star in the East provides a reliable, thought-provoking, and engaging account of the resilience of the Christian faith in China and the implications it has for the future.

A Star in the East

A Star in the East PDF Author: Rodney Stark
Publisher: Templeton Foundation Press
ISBN: 1599474883
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
What is the state of Christianity in China, really? Some scholars say that China is invulnerable to religion. Some say that past efforts of missionaries have failed, writing off those who were converted as nothing more than “rice Christians,” or cynical souls who had frequented the missions for the benefits they provided. Some wonder if the Cultural Revolution extinguished any chances of Christianity in China. Rodney Stark and Xiuhua Wang offer a different perspective, arguing that Christianity is alive, well, and even on the rise. Stark approaches the topic from an extensive research background in both Christianity and Chinese history, and Wang provides an inside look at Christianity and its place in her home country of China. Both authors cover the history of religion in China, disproving older theories concerning not only the number of Christians, but the kinds of Christians that have emerged in the past 155 years. Stark and Wang claim that when just considering the visible Christians, those not part of underground churches, there are still thousands of Chinese being converted to Christianity each day, and forty new churches opening each week. A Star in the East draws on two major national surveys to sketch a close-up of religion in China. A reliable estimate is that by 2007 there were approximately 60 million Christians in China. If the current rate of growth were to hold until 2030, there would be more Christians in China—about 295 million—than in any other nation on earth. This has significant implications, not just for China but for the greater world order. It is probable that Chinese Christianity will splinter into denominations, likely leading to the same kinds of political, social, and economic ramifications seen in the West today. Whether you’re new to studying Christianity in China, or whether this has been your area of interest for years, A Star in the East provides a reliable, thought-provoking, and engaging account of the resilience of the Christian faith in China and the implications it has for the future.

Reasonable Faith

Reasonable Faith PDF Author: William Lane Craig
Publisher: Crossway
ISBN: 1433501155
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 418

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Book Description
This updated edition by one of the world's leading apologists presents a systematic, positive case for Christianity that reflects the latest work in the contemporary hard sciences and humanities. Brilliant and accessible.

Jesus in Beijing

Jesus in Beijing PDF Author: David Aikman
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1596986522
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 418

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Book Description
This book details the great unreported story of the Chinese giant, its enormously rapid conversion to Christianity, and what this change means to the global balance of power.

China and the True Jesus

China and the True Jesus PDF Author: Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0190923466
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 409

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Book Description
"The history of the True Jesus Church, a Pentecostal church founded in Beijing in 1917, reveals dynamic interaction between charismatic experience and organizational processes. Believers' lived experiences provide grassroots perspective on developments in China's modern history, including transnational exchange, gender roles, models for legitimate governance, clandestine culture, and church-state relations"--

I Stand with Christ

I Stand with Christ PDF Author: Zhang Rongliang
Publisher: Whitaker House
ISBN: 1629113387
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
"My name is Zhang Rongliang, and I am an unashamed follower of Jesus Christ.…It is considered quite dangerous to reveal the contents of this book, but these are stories that need to be told for God’s glory and for the encouragement of the church.” So begins this extraordinary first-person account by the prominent leader of one of the largest underground churches in China. A former Communist Party member, Zhang took a stand for Christ and was targeted for prison, work camps, and torture, all the while helping to build a network of millions of faithful believers. Spanning the time of Mao’s regime to today, Zhang testifies of God’s supernatural movements, of the sacrifice of countless Christians who loved and served Christ—regardless of the cost—and of the exciting new vision among believers in China to reach not only the Chinese but the entire world with the gospel.

The Souls of China

The Souls of China PDF Author: Ian Johnson
Publisher: Pantheon
ISBN: 1101870052
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 480

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Book Description
From the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist: a revelatory portrait of religion in China today, its history, the spiritual traditions of its Eastern and Western faiths, and the ways in which it is influencing China's future. Following a century of violent antireligious campaigns, China is now awash with new temples, churches, and mosques as well as cults, sects, and politicians trying to harness religion for their own ends. Driving this explosion of faith is uncertainty over what it means to be Chinese, and how to live an ethical life in a country that discarded traditional morality a century ago and is still searching for new guideposts. Ian Johnson lived for extended periods with underground church members, rural Daoists, and Buddhist pilgrims. He has distilled these experiences into a cycle of festivals, births, deaths, detentions, and struggle a great awakening of faith that is shaping the soul of the world s newest superpower. (With black-and-white illustrations throughout).

How Christianity Came to China

How Christianity Came to China PDF Author: Kathleen L. Lodwick
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 1506410286
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
“The story of the foreign missionaries who served in China between 1809 and 1949 is one of fervent religious commitment and of the loss of faith, of determined perseverance and of angry frustration, of accepting people as they are and of cultural superiority . . . of human kindness and of narrow prejudice, of those who loved China and of those who refused to acknowledge the society in which they lived, of those who spent their entire adult lives in China and of those who fled home as soon as possible, and of those who admired China and of those who were driven insane by living in China. In short, it is a story of ordinary people with all their good qualities and all their shortcomings.” In all of its complexity, Kathleen L. Lodwick tells the story of Christianity in China. It’s essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the contemporary phenomena that is Christianity in China, which some people predict soon will be the country with the largest Christian population in the world.

Grace to the City

Grace to the City PDF Author: Hannah Nation
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781954874008
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
There is a gospel movement quietly spreading through the largest country in the world. Despite secularism, materialism, and social decay, despite government control and persecution, "house churches" are attracting millions of new believers throughout the major cities of China. Among these churches, a new movement of pastors form a true indigenous expression of Reformed theology, preaching prophetically to a postmodern audience and preparing and strengthening their flocks for suffering. In this book, five Chinese house church pastors apply scripture to life in modern China, which mirrors a fast-paced globalized world that has lost its moral framework. Developed from sermons on the five solas, these essays speak to pastors and laypeople alike who seek to follow Christ out of Christian complacency and provide a beacon to the alienated modern global citizen.

China's Urban Christians

China's Urban Christians PDF Author: Brent Fulton
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1498273386
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 169

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Book Description
China's Urban Christians: A Light That Cannot Be Hidden looks at how massive urbanization is redrawing not only the geographic and social landscape of China, but in the process is transforming China's growing church as well. The purpose of this book is to explore how Christians in China perceive the challenges posed by their new urban context and to examine their proposed means of responding to these challenges. Although not primarily political in nature, these challenges nonetheless illustrate the complex interplay between China's Christian community and the Chinese party-state as it comes to terms with the continued growth and increasing prominence of Christianity in modern China.

The Heavenly Man

The Heavenly Man PDF Author: Brother Yun
Publisher: Hendrickson Publishers
ISBN: 1598563920
Category : Brothers (Religious)
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
"The Heavenly Man" tells the true story of Liu Zhenying, also known as Brother Yun, who, for the past 30 years, has committed himself to bringing the gospel of Christ to all of China. Imprisoned, tortured, and separated from his family for his beliefs, Brother Yun shares his story.