Blog Entries on Church and State
China and the House Church
Breaking the Stalemate
Police actions against several house churches in Guangdong province in recent weeks again point up the fragile state of China’s vast unregistered Christian community.
4 Books on the Chinese Communist Party
There was a big birthday celebration in China earlier this month. July 1 marked the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party.
A Message from the Church in China
Does the Christian church require a sympathetic national government to thrive?
Death of Henan Pastor’s Wife Points to Nationwide Problem
Religious persecution or illegal land grab? Understanding the struggles faced by the people of China, including Chinese Christians.
Above or Below the Line
Facing China’s New Foreign NGO Law
A look at possible responses to the new NGO law.
4 Takeaways from Xi’s Speech on Religion
At a long-awaited national conference on religion, held in Beijing April 22-23, CPC General Secretary Xi Jinping outlined his vision for “helping religions adapt to the socialist society” under the direction of the Party. Here are a few prominent themes from Xi’s speech.
Ideology and Orthodox Authority
One of my favorite China books is The Sextants of Beijing: Global Currents in Chinese History, by Joanna Waley-Cohen. In it she chronicles China’s historical interactions with the outside world, arguing that China has never been as isolationist as historians have suggested. What the West often perceived as isolationist policies or attitudes were instead China’s insistence that authority must never be surrendered to outsiders.
Two Meetings, Three Hands
Some things just don’t translate well from Chinese into English. Take, for example the annual government meetings that are taking place in Beijing this week. In Chinese the meetings are referred to as Liang Hui (两会), which literally means “two meetings” (sometimes also translated as “sessions”). Using such a term in English to describe a conference, however, leads only to blank stares.
Deconstructing China’s Jerusalem?
Reading Cao Nanlai’s classic Constructing China’s Jerusalem in light of the highly publicized attacks on Wenzhou churches, the obvious question is whether the “Wenzhou model,” as Cao describes it, is still intact, or whether government intervention has significantly altered the formula of church growth and cultural transformation.
3 Questions: Dr. Fenggang Yang
A ChinaSource "3 Questions" interview with Dr. Fenggang Yang, director of the Center on Religion and Chinse Society at Purdue University.