Speaking in the Devil’s Tongue? The True Jesus Church’s Uneasy Rhetorical Accommodation to Maoism, 1948–1958

Abstract

During the 1950s, the universal ideology of Chinese Christian churches clashed with the universal ideology of the Maoist party-state. Since Christian churches were autonomous moral communities (ideologically self-contained, with members collectively claiming authority to define and cultivate moral norms), they hindered the party-state’s ambitions for control. Christians, especially Christian leaders, experienced intense pressure to adopt the new code of Maoist speech. Documents from archives in Shanghai, Nanjing, and Wuhan and oral history interviews with members of the True Jesus Church in south China show how, despite the True Jesus Church’s native inclinations to resist, between 1948 and 1958 Maoist rhetoric and discursive patterns replaced biblical rhetoric and discursive patterns in the public life of the church. The contest between religious communities and the state to control the terms of public moral discourse demonstrates the significance of such discourse in demarcating and legitimating community authority.