The Politics of Protestant Churches and the Party-State in China

The Politics of Protestant Churches and the Party-State in China PDF Author: Carsten T. Vala
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351712667
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description
Among China’s restive religious and social groups, Protestants have arguably created the most sustained structural challenges to the Chinese Communist Party’s ordering of society. By drawing on grassroots fieldwork conducted across the country, this book therefore charts the ambition of the government to restrain Protestant population growth and direct it towards regime purposes. In particular, interviews with key church leaders who founded illegal Protestant congregations with hundreds of participants, reveal how officials and illegal congregational leaders have developed ties of trust and information that have permitted church growth, even as they preserve a public image of Party domination. Thus, by tracing the rise of large, illegal Protestant congregations apart from Party-state structures, this book highlights the importance of the public behaviour of religious actors and regime officials in understanding the dynamics of negotiation, domination, and resistance in 21st century China. Ultimately, The Politics of Protestant Churches and the Party-State in China paradoxically demonstrates that societal actors can alter the boundaries set by the Chinese Communist Party and the ways in which the Party is both more adaptive and resilient in its relations with society than first imagined. Offering the first book-length analysis of how ambitious Protestants have founded large, unregistered churches despite regime pressure, this book will be useful for students and scholars of Chinese Politics, Chinese Religion and Sociology.

The Politics of Protestant Churches and the Party-State in China

The Politics of Protestant Churches and the Party-State in China PDF Author: Carsten T. Vala
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351712667
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 402

Get Book Here

Book Description
Among China’s restive religious and social groups, Protestants have arguably created the most sustained structural challenges to the Chinese Communist Party’s ordering of society. By drawing on grassroots fieldwork conducted across the country, this book therefore charts the ambition of the government to restrain Protestant population growth and direct it towards regime purposes. In particular, interviews with key church leaders who founded illegal Protestant congregations with hundreds of participants, reveal how officials and illegal congregational leaders have developed ties of trust and information that have permitted church growth, even as they preserve a public image of Party domination. Thus, by tracing the rise of large, illegal Protestant congregations apart from Party-state structures, this book highlights the importance of the public behaviour of religious actors and regime officials in understanding the dynamics of negotiation, domination, and resistance in 21st century China. Ultimately, The Politics of Protestant Churches and the Party-State in China paradoxically demonstrates that societal actors can alter the boundaries set by the Chinese Communist Party and the ways in which the Party is both more adaptive and resilient in its relations with society than first imagined. Offering the first book-length analysis of how ambitious Protestants have founded large, unregistered churches despite regime pressure, this book will be useful for students and scholars of Chinese Politics, Chinese Religion and Sociology.

The Politics of Protestant Churches and the Party-state in China

The Politics of Protestant Churches and the Party-state in China PDF Author: Carsten T. Vala
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781351712651
Category : RELIGION
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


God and Caesar in China

God and Caesar in China PDF Author: Jason Kindopp
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0815796463
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
In the late 1970s when Mao's Cultural Revolution ushered in China's reform era, religion played a small role in the changes the country was undergoing. There were few symbols of religious observance, and the practice of religion seemed a forgotten art. Yet by the new millennium, China's government reported that more than 200 million religious believers worshiped in 85,000 authorized venues, and estimates by outside observers continue to rise. The numbers tell the story: Buddhists, as in the past, are most numerous, with more than 100 million adherents. Muslims number 18 million with the majority concentrated in the northwest region of Xinjiang. By 2000 China's Catholic population had swelled from 3 million in 1949 to more than 12 million, surpassing the number of Catholics in Ireland. Protestantism in China has grown at an even faster pace during the same period, multiplying from 1 million to at least 30 million followers. China now has the world's second-largest evangelical Christian population—behind only the United States. In addition, a host of religious and quasi-spiritual groups and sects has also sprouted up in virtually every corner of Chinese society. Religion's dramatic revival in post-Mao China has generated tensions between the ruling Communist Party state and China's increasingly diverse population of religious adherents. Such tensions are rooted in centuries-old governing practices and reflect the pressures of rapid modernization. The state's response has been a mixture of accommodation and repression, with the aim of preserving monopoly control over religious organization. Its inability to do so effectively has led to cycles of persecution of religious groups that resist the party's efforts. American concern over official acts of religious persecution has become a leading issue in U.S. policy toward China. The passage of the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act, which institutionalized concern over religious freedom abroad in U.S. foreign policy, cemented this issue as an item on the agenda of U.S.-China relations. God and Caesar in China examines China's religion policy, the history and growth of Catholic and Protestant churches in China, and the implications of church-state friction for relations between the United States and China, concluding with recommendations for U.S. policy. Contributors include Jason Kindopp (George Washington University), Daniel H. Bays (Calvin College), Mickey Spiegel (Human Rights Watch), Chan Kim-kwong (Hong Kong Christian Council), Jean-Paul Wiest (Chinese University of Hong Kong), Richard Madsen (University of California, San Diego), Xu Yihua (Fudan University), Liu Peng (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences), and Carol Lee Hamrin (George Mason University).

China

China PDF Author: Human Rights Watch/Asia
Publisher: Human Rights Watch
ISBN: 9781564322241
Category : China
Languages : en
Pages : 162

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Book Description
- Suppression of cults

Seeking the Common Ground

Seeking the Common Ground PDF Author: Philip L. Wickeri
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1610975294
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 385

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Book Description
This is the most comprehensive treatment ever written of the history of the Protestant Church in China over the last forty years. Philip Wickeri takes an unprecedented look at one of the most turbulent periods in Chinese history--the years from 1949 to the present. Wickeri explicates what Chinese Protestants have been saying about themselves in historical and theological perspective. His interpretation is based on one particular dynamic: how Chinese Protestants have sought to situate themselves in a socialist society within the unifying framework of the united front. After an overview of church, Marxism, and Christianity in China, Wickeri discusses the united front. He focuses on ideology, organization, and religious policy. Wickeri then explores the Three-Self Movement as both a Chinese and a Christian movement. His conclusion: the Three-Self Movement, despite problems, has made Christianity more accessible to the average Chinese and the church more acceptable to Chinese society.

Communist Persecution of Churches in Red China and Northern Korea

Communist Persecution of Churches in Red China and Northern Korea PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on Un-American Activities
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Persecution
Languages : en
Pages : 50

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Book Description
Five Protestant leaders from Formosa, Hong Kong, and Southern Korea, describe the persecution and horrible atrocities visited on Christians in Communist China and Northern Korea by the Communist governments. Their testimony reveals that these governments are engaged in an intense campaign to wipe out all vestiges of Christianity in areas under their control.

The Battle for China's Spirit

The Battle for China's Spirit PDF Author: Sarah Cook
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538106116
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 140

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Book Description
The Battle for China’s Spirit is the first comprehensive analysis of its kind, focusing on seven major religious groups in China that together account for over 350 million believers: Chinese Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Tibetan Buddhism, and Falun Gong. The study examines the evolution of the Communist Party’s policies of religious control, how they are applied differently to diverse faith communities, and how citizens are responding to these policies. The study—which draws on hundreds of official documents and interviews with religious leaders, lay believers, and scholars—finds that Chinese government controls over religion have intensified since November 2012, seeping into new areas of daily life. Yet millions of religious believers defy official restrictions or engage in some form of direct protest, at times scoring significant victories. The report explores how these dynamics affect China’s overall social, political, and economic environment, while offering recommendations to both the Chinese government and international actors for how to increase the space for peaceful religious practice in a country where spirituality has been deeply embedded in its culture for millennia.

Christianity in Chinese Public Life: Religion, Society, and the Rule of Law

Christianity in Chinese Public Life: Religion, Society, and the Rule of Law PDF Author: J. Carpenter
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137410183
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 141

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Book Description
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.

Christian Social Activism and Rule of Law in Chinese Societies

Christian Social Activism and Rule of Law in Chinese Societies PDF Author: Chris White
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1611463246
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 423

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Book Description
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.

Faithful Disobedience

Faithful Disobedience PDF Author: Wang Wang
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 1514004143
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description
In this important body of theology, key writings from the Chinese house church movement have been compiled, translated, and made accessible to English speakers. This unique resource will be valuable to practical and political theologians and anyone interested in international relations, political philosophy, history, and intercultural studies.