Overview

Can Christian identity and national identity be reconciled? For Christians in China, this question is particularly fraught. While Sinicization offers the indigenous church one path forward, it fails to provide a tenable solution for believers unwilling to submit their love of God under love of country. Dr. Jue Wang explores an alternative roadmap for Chinese Christian identity in the writings of Zhang Yijing. The editor of True Light, a Chinese Baptist publication, Zhang was also a Chinese patriot, Confucian, and life-long proponent of science and reason. Utilizing the lens of identity studies, Dr. Wang examines Zhang's process of reconciling faith and culture in his quest to be both authentically Christian and authentically Chinese. This study offers a fascinating glimpse into the modern history of the Chinese church, while uncovering the significance of an often-overlooked Chinese Christian apologist. Zhang's example offers encouragement and hope for believers around the world seeking to integrate social, cultural, and national identities under the lordship of Christ.

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9781839732188

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Reviews

Jue Wang's timely study on the life and identity of Zhang Yijing is an essential work for those who wish to understand how modern nationalism, rationalism, and culture have shaped the identity of Chinese Christianity. Further, it probes new avenues by which to understand identity and contextualization of Chinese Christianity and the various challenges this contextualization has overcome to become deeply rooted in China today. Thomas Alan Harvey, PhD Academic Dean, Oxford Centre for Mission Studies Meticulously researched, this work by Dr. Wang recovers the heritage of Zhang Yijing, a prolific Chinese Christian intellectual of the late Qing and the early Republic. In a tumultuous era when Chinese identity and the fate of the Chinese nation were called into question, Zhang reflected deeply on and engaged actively with the political and intellectual discourse of his day as a Christian. This work enriches our understanding of the history of Christianity in China, especially as a case study of the fruitful encounter between the gospel and the intellectual and political realities of early twentieth-century China. Gloria S. Tseng, PhD Associate Professor of History, Hope College, Holland, Michigan, USA

Jue Wang's timely study on the life and identity of Zhang Yijing is an essential work for those who wish to understand how modern nationalism, rationalism, and culture have shaped the identity of Chinese Christianity. Further, it probes new avenues by which to understand identity and contextualization of Chinese Christianity and the various challenges this contextualization has overcome to become deeply rooted in China today. Thomas Alan Harvey, PhD Academic Dean, Oxford Centre for Mission Studies Meticulously researched, this work by Dr. Wang recovers the heritage of Zhang Yijing, a prolific Chinese Christian intellectual of the late Qing and the early Republic. In a tumultuous era when Chinese identity and the fate of the Chinese nation were called into question, Zhang reflected deeply on and engaged actively with the political and intellectual discourse of his day as a Christian. This work enriches our understanding of the history of Christianity in China, especially as a case study of the fruitful encounter between the gospel and the intellectual and political realities of early twentieth-century China. Gloria S. Tseng, PhD Associate Professor of History, Hope College, Holland, Michigan, USA

Author Information

JUE WANG has a PhD from Middlesex University, London, UK. He is a lecturer for the College English Faculty of Shenzhen University, Guangdong, China, where he has worked for eighteen years. He teaches the Bible in his spare time.

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