The following books are selected by Fenggang Yang, professor of sociology and founding director of the Center on Religion and the Global Orient at Purdue University. He is the author of Chinese Christians in America: conversion, assimilation, and adhesive identities, Religion in China: survival and rebirth under communist ruleAnd Atlas of religions in China: social and geographical contexts.
The word Sinicization generally means assimilation into Chinese culture, particularly the language, social norms, customs, and ethnic or national identity of the Han majority in China proper.
This term may lead to confusion with the religious policy of the current general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Xi Jinping, who since 2017 has Zhongguo hua (中国化) – usually translated by Western media and academia as “sinicization” – its distinct characteristic.
But the translation is inaccurate and misleading. The primary objective of Zhongguo hua is a political domestication. For example, current policy requires that Taoism, the only officially recognized religion originating in China, go through Zhongguo hua it also clearly shows that the policy is not aimed at assimilation into Chinese culture but at ensuring submission to the CCP. For this reason, I propose “chinafication” as a translation of the current religious policy of Zhongguo hua.
Below are five books on the Sinicization of Christianity that I recommend. Only the first book deals with the current political campaign of Chinaification. The other four books are indeed about Sinicization – cultural assimilation, social indigenization and the theological contextualization of Christianity in China. Numerous works exist on Nestorian, Catholic or Protestant adaptations to Chinese social and cultural contexts. These four newer works are good reading to learn about Chinese Christianity today.
The Sinicization of Chinese Religions: From Above and Belowedited by Richard Madsen
This volume addresses questions about the CCP’s current policies toward religions, including Christianity, Confucianism, Buddhism, Islam, and new religions that China officially labels xiejiao (“evil cult”). In the introduction, Richard Madsen distinguishes sinicization from above and sinicization from below, arguing that sinicization from below, initiated by believers, has always taken place, while sinicization from above, as carried out by the state, has always had a particular political agenda. of the ruling party.
Redeemed by Fire: The Rise of Popular Christianity in Modern Chinaby Xi Lian
This book provides a historical account of the major Chinese Christian sects, local or indigenous, and prevalent mainly in rural areas. These groups have adopted traditional Chinese religious practices, and many are either heretical or borderline Christian. In the author’s assessment, these groups represent the pitfalls of experimenting with indigenization or sinicization.
Faithful Disobedience: Writings on Church and State from a Chinese House Church Movementedited by Hannah Nation and JD Tseng
This book is a compilation of sermons and writings by Pastor Wang Yi and some other urban house church leaders. Wang Yi has been imprisoned since December 9, 2018, as part of the government’s intensifying crackdown on Christianity. As a member of house church or jiating church movement which originated in Wang Mingdao (1900–1991), who resisted Chinese communist co-optation of Christianity in the 1950s, urban life jiating churches have been flourishing in China since the 1990s. Their leaders contextualize the universal Christian gospel and respond directly to social, cultural, and political contexts. This attempt at creating meaning effectively appeals to contemporary Chinese while being firmly anchored in Protestant theological traditions.
Chinese theology: text and contextby Chloë Starr
This book analyzes the writings of leading Chinese Christian thinkers in modern China, including philosophical dialogues from the late imperial era to the turn of the 20th century, theological reflections amid the wars and social unrest of the period of Republic of China on the mainland from the 1910s to the 1940s, and sermons and blogs in the 21st century. The author’s reading of Chinese texts in their original literary forms and in their social and cultural contexts is enlightening. The book announces the maturation of typically Chinese theologies.
Studying Christianity in China: constructions of an emerging discourseby Naomi Thurston
This book provides an excellent introduction to Christian studies in Chinese academia since the 1980s. Although religious activities are restricted to certain locations by CCP policy, Christian notions and ideas have nevertheless spread on university campuses and in society in general. Through interviews with prominent scholars from Chinese institutions of higher education (universities and social science academies), Thurston documents the development of Christian philosophy and theology by Chinese scholars who contributed to the growing interest in Christianity among Chinese intellectuals.
