Abstract
During China’s Republican Era (1912–1949), the True Jesus Church, comprising one of the largest indigenous Pentecostal/charismatic churches in China, created a whole set of exclusive salvation doctrines based on its unique biblical interpretation. This paper attempts to illustrate the role that the Bible played in the development of the True Jesus Church (TJC for short) and how its biblical interpretations functioned in the shaping of its exclusive identity based on certain aspects of its charismatic experiences and unique doctrinal system. The founding of the TJC relied upon charismatic experiences, which were regarded as the work of the Holy Spirit to prove the authority of the Church. Doctrinally, the approaches to biblical interpretation employed by TJC leaders were another source of the church’s unique identity: The exclusive status the church assigned to itself was evident in its distinct interpretive approaches, as well as in its innovative rituals, especially facedown immersion baptism. Along with various influences of the Pentecostal tradition and the Chinese social context, these hermeneutics were an important reason for the TJC’s development as an independent denomination in the Republican era.
Highlights
During the Republican Era of China, the True Jesus Churchwas a significant Chinese Pentecostal/charismatic church
Insisting upon its exclusive status as the true church, the True Jesus Church (TJC for short) formed a whole set of doctrines with the typical characteristics of Pentecostal/charismatic churches and claimed that its doctrines were all in conformity with biblical teachings
Defining the TJC as a Chinese popular religion, Lian Xi placed its Pentecostal tradition within the context of Chinese nationalism and indigenous beliefs
Summary
During the Republican Era of China, the True Jesus Church (zhen yesu jiaohui 真耶稣教会). was a significant Chinese Pentecostal/charismatic church. Previous studies on the TJC have contributed significantly to our understanding of its history, religious experience, and interrelation with Chinese popular religions; some studies have mentioned the role of the Bible in its development. In another paper, she argued that an appeal to the Bible was an effective way for charismatic Churches to be free of Western theological or cultural traditions (Inouye 2016). Religions 2020, 11, 89 played a significant role in the TJC None of these studies, has shed much light on how the TJC concretely harnesses its biblical interpretation to develop its own doctrinal system, an aspect which significantly contributed to its success and popularity. In the field of western Pentecostal hermeneutics, several scholars have illustrated early Pentecostal biblical interpretive approaches Archer summarized this approach as “the Bible Reading Method”, which focused on proving the Pentecostal doctrines of Spirit baptism and the Oneness of God (Archer 2005). Besides the articles directly dealing with the biblical interpretations of the Church, the doctrinal arguments supplying the biblical verses as references are significant resources for this study
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