Interviews | Society | East Asia

Christianity in China: Testing Religious Freedom

Insights from Paul H. B. Chang.

Xikai Church in Tianjin, China, July 11, 2016.

The Diplomat author Mercy Kuo regularly engages subject-matter experts, policy practitioners, and strategic thinkers across the globe for their diverse insights into U.S. Asia policy. This conversation with Dr. Paul H. B. Chang – associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California at Riverside and author of “The Spiritual Person: An Intellectual Biography of Watchman Nee” (Oxford 2026) – is the 519th in “The Trans-Pacific View Insight Series.”

Identify the top three trends of Christianity in China.

I would say that probably the top three trends are the continued growth and vibrancy of Christianity in China, the increasing scrutiny and pressure placed on Christian organizations and their activities by the CCP [Chinese Community Party], and Chinese Christians’ theological and practical responses to their changing political and social environments. 

Although I use the word Christian, here and for the rest of the interview I am really speaking primarily of Protestants. In China, both legally and linguistically, Protestants and Catholics operate almost as two separate religions. Practically speaking, there is significant interaction and overlap but an expert on Chinese Catholicism would be better placed to talk about how much of this interview applies to Chinese Catholic circles. 

I also want to clarify that my work mostly centers on what one might consider more abstract, strictly theological trends. Thus, the top three trends I personally find most interesting relate to Chinese Christian perspectives on the nature and role of the church, differing doctrines on salvation, and contrasting perspectives on human nature. 

As far as the church is concerned, like all Christians, Chinese Christians have a longstanding interest in balancing the needs of the local and the universal church. They have thought a lot about how authority and administration can be both locally responsive and universally coherent. There is also a related, ongoing debate among Chinese Christians about how much the church should engage with secular society, both in terms of the government and in terms of wider cultural trends. 

Then, in terms of salvation, I think Chinese Christians once again have their own interesting, internal debate that roughly corresponds to theological trends outside of China. Whereas Reformed Christians have focused on more forensic, systematic perspectives on salvation, Watchman Nee is representative of an alternative train of thought that sees salvation as something more organic, seated in the union between the human and the divine.

This leads into my third perspective – that is, contrasting perspectives on human nature. Once again, I see the two main intellectual options as being something like a Reformed tradition, where the divine and human are more strictly delineated and kept apart, and a more mystical perspective, which sees some sort of ontological union as not only as possible but fundamental. 

Examine Western misconceptions about Chinese Christians.

Especially for Chinese Christians who follow or are influenced by Watchman Nee, their primary concern is not with political repression nor with asking for political support from outside China. Their theological mission is largely orthogonal to political changes and continues whether there is widespread support or disapprobation. And yet, they are very interested in communicating their universal vision with the world. 

They have a message for Western Christianity, indeed, for the Western secular world at large – namely that Jesus is coming and that sadly, most Christians and churches have not met his standard and may be found lacking on Jesus’s return. Few Westerners have heard their teaching that human beings should prepare for the end by being united in pure, local churches. In such local congregations, individual members can practice self-denial in self-sacrificing love for one another. This stands in stark contrast to this modern age of self-indulgence and self-promotion, which, they would argue, brings only misery.

Describe the scope of Watchman Nee’s faith and intellectual leadership beyond China.

Nee’s message is quite legible and even attractive to Westerners, especially to those of an evangelical Christian heritage. During the later years of his imprisonment, especially during the 1960s and 1970s, he became something of a cause célèbre among readers throughout the world, as a living example of a Christian suffering for his faith. He is quite readable in Chinese and he wrote a few key books in eloquent English as well, such as “The Normal Christian Life.” His writings have sold millions of copies and have been translated into dozens of languages. 

Furthermore, his influence shows no sign of slowing down, even more than 50........

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