Overview

Christianity is a global religion! It's an obvious fact, but one often missed or ignored in too many books and conversations. In a world where Christianity is growing everywhere but the West, the Understanding World Christianity series offers a fresh, readable orientation to Christianity around the world. Understanding World Christianity is organized geographically, by nation and region. Noted experts, in most cases native to the area of focus, present a balanced history of Christianity and a detailed discussion of the faith as it is lived today. Each volume addresses six key intersections of Christianity in a given context including the historical, denominational, sociopolitical, geographical, biographical, and theological settings. Accessible in tone and brief in length, the volume on China in the Understanding World Christianity series is an ideal introduction for students, mission leaders, and any others who wish to know how Christianity is influenced, and is influenced by, the Chinese context.

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9781506416601

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This is the most complete, comprehensive, and balanced overview of Christianity in China, drawing on a lifetime of scholarly activity and field research in all of China's provinces, covering all branches and movements among Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox. It is an essential resource for the general public, for church communities, and for academics and experts alike. --David A Palmer, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Hong Kong, co-author of The Religious Question in Modern China This book is the finest scholarly account in English of the growth and varieties of Christianity in contemporary China. The author visited Christian churches and talked to leaders and believers in all of the regions of China and among Christianized ethnic minorities during repeated visits over the past forty years. He also illuminates the complex and changing relationships between the state and various rural and urban Christian groups during this period. His training in both sociology and theology, and his decades of conversations, research, teaching, and participant observation throughout China, make this book a unique and exceptionally valuable resource. Highly recommended. --Graeme Lang, Advisory Committee of Department of Asian and International Studies, City University of Hong Kong From his unique observation post in Hong Kong, Kim-kwong Chan has spent the last four decades visiting with, studying, and analyzing the rebirth of the Christian movement in post-Cultural Revolution China. In Understanding World Christianity: China, he integrates his massive storehouse of historical, sociological, and demographic data in a sober, objective, and most insightful report--by far the best overview we now have of the diverse, vital, and growing church in the world's largest country. --Gordon J. Melton, Distinguished Professor of American Religious History at Baylor University Based on his four-decades of observing China, Kim-kwong Chan, a sinologist and theologian, provides a unique perspective for reading Christianity in China in the context of China since the late 1970s. He gives refreshing insights on the spirituality and rapid growth of the Chinese Christian community. His volume includes not only the Protestants but also the Catholics and the Orthodox in China as well. A must-read for the students of Christianity in contemporary China. --Tetsunao Yamamori, President, International Center for Diaspora Mission Kim-kwong Chan has produced a valuable and informative deep-dive into Christianity in China from 1949 to the present. Based on four decades of observation, he gives insight to how the atheist-grounded, socialist Chinese government reshapes the way Christianity is handled and affects the social and institutional response of Christianity as it interacts both theologically and institutionally with the government and society. The book also describes the unfolding of Chinese Christianity that may impact the global church in the years to come. --Paul Martinson, Professor of Missions and Religions at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota, (1979-2001), and Co-founder of China Service Ventures

"""This is the most complete, comprehensive, and balanced overview of Christianity in China, drawing on a lifetime of scholarly activity and field research in all of China's provinces, covering all branches and movements among Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox. It is an essential resource for the general public, for church communities, and for academics and experts alike."" --David A Palmer, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Hong Kong, co-author of The Religious Question in Modern China ""This book is the finest scholarly account in English of the growth and varieties of Christianity in contemporary China. The author visited Christian churches and talked to leaders and believers in all of the regions of China and among Christianized ethnic minorities during repeated visits over the past forty years. He also illuminates the complex and changing relationships between the state and various rural and urban Christian groups during this period. His training in both sociology and theology, and his decades of conversations, research, teaching, and participant observation throughout China, make this book a unique and exceptionally valuable resource. Highly recommended."" --Graeme Lang, Advisory Committee of Department of Asian and International Studies, City University of Hong Kong ""From his unique observation post in Hong Kong, Kim-kwong Chan has spent the last four decades visiting with, studying, and analyzing the rebirth of the Christian movement in post-Cultural Revolution China. In Understanding World Christianity: China, he integrates his massive storehouse of historical, sociological, and demographic data in a sober, objective, and most insightful report--by far the best overview we now have of the diverse, vital, and growing church in the world's largest country."" --Gordon J. Melton, Distinguished Professor of American Religious History at Baylor University ""Based on his four-decades of observing China, Kim-kwong Chan, a sinologist and theologian, provides a unique perspective for reading Christianity in China in the context of China since the late 1970s. He gives refreshing insights on the spirituality and rapid growth of the Chinese Christian community. His volume includes not only the Protestants but also the Catholics and the Orthodox in China as well. A must-read for the students of Christianity in contemporary China."" --Tetsunao Yamamori, President, International Center for Diaspora Mission ""Kim-kwong Chan has produced a valuable and informative deep-dive into Christianity in China from 1949 to the present. Based on four decades of observation, he gives insight to how the atheist-grounded, socialist Chinese government reshapes the way Christianity is handled and affects the social and institutional response of Christianity as it interacts both theologically and institutionally with the government and society. The book also describes the unfolding of Chinese Christianity that may impact the global church in the years to come."" --Paul Martinson, Professor of Missions and Religions at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota, (1979-2001), and Co-founder of China Service Ventures"

Author Information

Kim-kwong Chan is a renowned scholar in the fields of theology and China studies. He has authored and coauthored twelve books, including Holistic Entrepreneurs in China (2002), Witness for the Power of God (2000), and Protestantism in Contemporary China (1993). He currently serves as an honorary research fellow at the Universities Service Center for China Studies, Chinese University of Hong Kong. Dyron B. Daughrity is professor of religion at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. He is author of To Whom Does Christianity Belong? and series editor for Understanding World Christianity, all from Fortress Press.

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