Redeemed by Fire: The Rise of Popular Christianity in Modern China

by Lian Xi

This book is the first to address the history and future of homegrown, mass Chinese Christianity. Drawing on a large collection of fresh sources—including contemporaneous accounts, diaries, memoirs, archival material, and interviews—Lian Xi traces the transformation of Protestant Christianity in twentieth-century China from a small, beleaguered “missionary” church buffeted by antiforeignism to an indigenous popular religion energized by nationalism and millenarianism. Lian shows that, with a current membership that rivals that of the Chinese Communist Party, and the ability to galvanize China’s millions into apocalyptic convulsion and messianic exuberance, the popular Christian movement channels the aspirations and the discontent of the masses and will play an important role in shaping the country’s future.

Genres: China, Biography

349 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Cody Sensenig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gave me incredible insight into the development of Christianity in China. Specifically, the things that contributed to an indigenized Christianity. I think that Lian portrays the backstories of the leaders beautifully in a way that ties in with the trajectory of the book. The book develops a detailed account of what has contributed to the explosive growth of the Chinese church post Cultural Revolution.

[renping · Rating 5 out of 5]

incredible writing incredible topic also I LOVE HIM as a prof 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

[Anson Cassel Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beginning with a helpful overview of Western Christian missions to China, Lian Xi has produced a carefully written book about mostly charismatic, millenarian, and communitarian sects that he considers homegrown varieties of Christianity. As a historian with no expertise in Chinese Christianity, I learned a great deal from this important work, one that could not have been written by anyone but a fully bilingual scholar such as Xi.

The author's strongest chapters are those that treat the first half of the twentieth century and cover individuals such as Wang Mingdao, John Sung, and Watchman Nee and organizations such as the True Jesus Church and the Jesus Family. Perhaps there are simply too few sources to be more definitive about how Christianity developed so dramatically during the years of persecution under Communism.

Stylistically, Xi might have improved the work by paraphrasing much that he has quoted and woven shorter quotations into the fabric of his own sentences. Xi also overuses scare quotes, such as “the gift of ‘tongues’” (53), “born again,” and “lost sinner” (98).

More substantively, Xi describes as popular Christianity almost any religious impulse that had a marginal connection to the faith. Thus Xi counts as a variety of Christianity the mid-19th century Taiping Rebellion, which resulted in the deaths of millions. Likewise he treats Ji Sanbao (1940-1997) and a woman surnamed Deng as representatives of popular Christianity although Ji took such titles as “Christ of the Third Redemption” and “the true Dragon, the Son of Heaven” and Deng declared herself “the Almighty” and replaced the Bible with her own pronouncements so as not to diminish her rank as God.

Finally, although Xi emphasizes the Chinese-ness of the religious groups he covers—and many are certainly more indigenous syncretism than Christian sect—the most influential leaders and the largest, most persistent organizations owed at least as much to Western ideas as to their Chinese elaborations. Thus the index contains multiple-page references to T. Austin-Sparks, the Azuza Street revival, the China Inland Mission, John Nelson Darby, Jonathan Goforth, Madame Guyon, the Keswick movement, the London Missionary Society, F. B. Meyer, John R. Mott, Jessie Penn-Lewis, the Plymouth Brethren, and the Welsh revival. Generally speaking, what was most Christian about popular Christianity in China was also the most Western.

[Jimmy]

This book gets its name from Harvey Cox’s “Fire from Heaven,” which is an analysis of Pentecostal spirituality and it’s shaping of religion in the 21st century. Playing on that title, this work however focuses on the history of Christianity in China, with the central thesis being that three factors play an important role in the growth of the Christian church in China: Dispenational premillennialism, Penecostalism and indigenous Chinese leaders. Readers should be prepared to find that the book is not all rosy and covers cults, immorality and sins of the famous and not so famous (and the infamous). For instance, one will read about Nee’s hypocrisy.

STRENGTH

The strength of the book is its interesting historical tidbits and things that makes you go “I didn’t know that!” or “Wow, providence!” One of the better moments in the book is a discussion about the Norwegian missionary Marie Monsen who served in China in the 1930s. I like the author’s observation: “Monsen had found the key, one that was soon used by many others, both missionaries and Chinese, to unlock the doors of private emotions for the rusth of mass revivalism among converts. Leslie T. Lyall later credited Monsen as becoming ‘the handmaiden upon whom the Spirit was first poured out…Her surgical skill in exposing the sin hidden with the Church and lurking behind the smiling exterior of many a trusted Christian…and her quiet insistence of a clear-cut experience of the new birth set pattern for others to follow’” (97). Talk about a testimony of the effective use of the law to convict sinners! The most fascinating part of the book is the description of Watchman Nee’s confrontation of the Liberal preacher/professor Frosdick on pages 139-141. Frosdick dismisses Nee as just crazy.

WEAKNESSES

Author’s discussion of the Bible itself is not that strong, for instance he states that Greek philosophy influenced the formation of the book of Daniel and Revelation (233). I think the influence of these works is more of a Jewish prophetic influence and not Greek philosophy.

The author at times also offers naturalistic explanations of things and even quotes Richard Dawkins rather uncritically (234).

It seems when the author speaks about areas outside of his area, he might not be as reliable; for instance, he claims that when Christianity became an established recognized religion, “spontaneous “ecstasies also faded out of the church” (234), which presupposes the early church had such unruly ecstasies, one that the author will have a hard time proving, or at least with proving that it was normative and acceptable. He mentions the second century Montanus, but it is not enough to cite this minority group to prove his point. In fact, the majority of the Church’s opposition to Montanus’ followers seems to suggest the reality was otherwise.

[Wesley Handy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lian Xi, 'Lian' being the author's surname, is Professor of History at Hanover College. His earlier work, The Conversion of Missionaries: Liberalism in American Protestant Missions in China, 1907-1932, was an award winning masterpiece of both history and scholarship, and this recent work lives up to the same standards. Redeemed by Fire won the 2011 Christianity Today Book award. In the book in question, Lian combines meticulous archival research with contemporary analysis to give an excellent and detailed introduction to indigenous Christianity in China. The scope of the book is particularly focused on indigenous Protestant movements following the opening of China to during the late Qing dynasty up to the contemporary time period. His book is particularly helpful in distinguishing various indigenous and independent groups leading up to the rise of the popular house church movement following the seemingly pervasive oppression of the Cultural revolution. If you want to understand the state of Christianity among Chinese believers in China today, as well as the past 200 years, Lian's book is the place to start.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's analysis felt wooden and like reading old denominational history, while the writing piled up names and groups quickly and without great narrative flow. But its general conclusions that 20th century Christianity in China grew against missionary activity, that it was led by charismatic leaders with some training (the pseudo-intellectual), that it highlighted apocalyptic themes and Pentecostal outpouring, and in the countryside shared some traits with folk religion and Buddhism were all excellent insights. I would also love to read more about the pre-communist groups that embraced communal living, perhaps in a monograph. The author does not have high hopes for effective Christian social and political presence in modern China, seeing its spread as more motivated by Chinese immediate needs in a rapidly changing society and not deep enough for real influence. But the analysis of the last chapter seemed to miss so much recent scholarship on world Christianity that the conclusions do not feel particularly prophetic.