Chinese Christian Church Research Articles

How to Speak in Tongues: A Historical–Contextual Reading of Paul’s Use of γλῶσσα/方言 in 1 Corinthians 12–14 from a Multilingual Diasporic Chinese Christian Church Context

From its inception, Chinese Christianity has involved speaking in “tongues”, across cultures, about the person and work of Jesus Christ. This article presents a contextual original-language exegesis of the Apostle Paul’s use of the word γλῶσσα (glōssa) or 方言 (fangyan) in 1 Corinthians 12–14 and seeks to understand this contested lexeme in light of the multilingual reality of both the “diasporic” Christian church in first-century Corinth and the diasporic Chinese Christian church today. It is argued that understanding Paul’s instructions regarding γλῶσσα/方言 within the context of a multilingual Christian worship culture strengthens the definition of γλῶσσα as languages used and understood among inhabitants of first-century Corinth. This reading, while not rejecting the possibility of an “angelic language” (tianshide huayu 天使的话语), may offer a more fruitful application for those who shape and participate in the multilingual worship culture of the diasporic Chinese Christian church today.

Same God but Different? Politico-Religious Dynamics and the New Hong Kong Christian Diaspora in the United Kingdom

This article examines the impacts of new Christian immigrants from Hong Kong on Chinese Christian churches in the United Kingdom. While the new arrivals have helped boost the vitality of Chinese immigrant churches, they also pose new challenges to the established Chinese Christian communities. Drawing on qualitative data from our fieldwork in different locations in the United Kingdom, we seek to delineate the intra-ethnic dynamics and dilemmas within the Chinese Christian communities formed by new and old Hong Kong immigrants, and immigrants from mainland China. While new immigrants from Hong Kong manifest a strong dedication to their Christian identity, many of them are also resolute in their uncompromising political stance and identity, which puts them at odds with other Chinese Christians in the United Kingdom. We argue that Christian immigrants from Hong Kong are creating a new landscape of Christianity and a distinctive religious diaspora in the United Kingdom.

China and the True Jesus: Charisma and Organization in a Chinese Christian Church, written by Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye

China and the True Jesus: Charisma and Organization in a Chinese Christian Church, written by Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye

Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye. China and the True Jesus: Charisma and Organization in a Chinese Christian Church

Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye. <i>China and the True Jesus: Charisma and Organization in a Chinese Christian Church</i>

CHINA AND THE TRUE JESUS: CHARISMA AND ORGANIZATION IN A CHINESE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. By Melissa Wei‐TsingInouye. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018. Pp. xx + 385. Hardcover, $115.00, Paperback, $34.95.

Religious Studies ReviewVolume 48, Issue 3 p. 418-418 Short Reviews of Recent Publications: New and Alternative Religious Movements CHINA AND THE TRUE JESUS: CHARISMA AND ORGANIZATION IN A CHINESE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. By Inouye, Melissa Wei-Tsing. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018. Pp. xx + 385. Hardcover, $115.00, Paperback, $34.95. First published: 16 November 2022 https://doi.org/10.1111/rsr.16075Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume48, Issue3September 2022Pages 418-418 RelatedInformation

“Charter of the Chinese Christian Church” and the Normalization Process of Protestantism in China

“Charter of the Chinese Christian Church” and the Normalization Process of Protestantism in China

COVID-19 and the Chinese Christian Community in Britain: Changing Patterns of Belonging and Division

This article draws on interview data with Chinese Christian leaders to explore how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting the Chinese Christian church in Britain. Based upon twelve semi-structured interviews conducted with Christian leaders in nine cities, the research identifies the ways in which the COVID-19 outbreak is shaping the dynamics of intragroup and intergroup connectedness within and beyond the Chinese church in Britain. It finds that COVID-19 is playing a significant role in social connectedness. This manifests in three ways: the reconfiguration of a sense of belonging at church, the perception of outreach and evangelism, and the relationship between Chinese Christians from different regional backgrounds. These findings outline that the COVID-19 pandemic is triggering both cohesion and division. On the one hand, the outbreak is functioning as an incubator for a stronger sense of belonging to the church and appears to encourage the church to reach out to seekers and the wider community. On the other hand, the pandemic is also dividing the Chinese church through conflicts in political views and social attitudes. Such conflicts, which are primarily about democratic values and views of China's communist regime, are particularly observable between Mandarin-speaking Christians from mainland Chinese backgrounds and Cantonese-speaking Christians from Hong Kong backgrounds. The article argues that the coronavirus pandemic has initiated deeper reconstruction and reform in the Chinese Christian community in Britain in terms of organisation and mission.

Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye, China and the True Jesus: Charisma and Organization in a Chinese Christian Church

Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye, <i>China and the True Jesus: Charisma and Organization in a Chinese Christian Church</i>

Gender Paradox and Women’s Spatiality: A Case Study of “Mothers Accompanying Children in Education” at the Chiang Mai Chinese Christian Church

This article explores a group of new Chinese migrant “peidu mamas” or “mothers accompanying children in education” in the Chiang Mai city, Thailand. By using ethnography as the research methodology, this article examines the gender role and women’s spatiality issues that exist between the church and the community. After interviewing informants and doing participation observation at Chiang Mai Huaren Jidu Church for several months, the researchers unravel how the “peidu mamas” in the church have faced an extreme level of gender paradox and gender hierarchy while participating in the church activities. These “peidu mamas” strategically utilize Christian interpretation by deploying the traditional Chinese concept with regards to “obedience” and “reserved patriarchal bargaining.” It is an attempt to reduce the inferior status encountered by the female Chinese Christian “peidu mamas” and to negotiate the paradoxical Confucianism beliefs regarding gender hierarchy and family values. Keywords: Gender paradox, Patriarchal bargain, Spatiality

군산 중화기독교회의 역사: 호남지역 화교의 성쇠와 맥을 같이한 이민자교회

군산 중화기독교회의 역사: 호남지역 화교의 성쇠와 맥을 같이한 이민자교회

China and the True Jesus: Charisma and Organization in a Chinese Christian Church, written by Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye

China and the True Jesus: Charisma and Organization in a Chinese Christian Church, written by Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye

Book review: China and the True Jesus: Charisma and Organization in a Chinese Christian Church

Book review: China and the True Jesus: Charisma and Organization in a Chinese Christian Church

China and the True Jesus: Charisma and Organization in a Chinese Christian Church. By Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018. xviii + 385 pp. $99.00 cloth.

China and the True Jesus: Charisma and Organization in a Chinese Christian Church. By Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018. xviii + 385 pp. $99.00 cloth. - Volume 89 Issue 1

China and the True Jesus: Charisma and Organization in a Chinese Christian Church. By Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018. xv, 385 pp. ISBN: 9780190923464 (cloth).

China and the True Jesus: Charisma and Organization in a Chinese Christian Church. By Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018. xv, 385 pp. ISBN: 9780190923464 (cloth).

China and the True Jesus: Charisma and Organization in a Chinese Christian Church by Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye

China and the True Jesus: Charisma and Organization in a Chinese Christian Church by Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye

China and the True Jesus: Charisma and Organization in a Chinese Christian Church, by Melissa Wei-tsing Inouye

China and the True Jesus: Charisma and Organization in a Chinese Christian Church, by Melissa Wei-tsing Inouye

History of the Chinese Christian Church of Korea from 1902 to 1937: Focusing on the Work of Foreign Missions in Korea

History of the Chinese Christian Church of Korea from 1902 to 1937: Focusing on the Work of Foreign Missions in Korea

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

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.

The Origin of Yang Fangling’s “5-Dimension Education” Thoughts

Yang Fangling’s education thought of “5-dimension education” is worth deeply exploring. “5-dimension education” with teaching as center accurately expresses that it is not “morality, intelligence, physique, aesthetics and labor” but “morality, intelligence, physique, aesthetics and group”, which means it is not “moral education”, “intellectual education”, “physical education”, “aesthetic education”, “labor education”, but “moral education”, “intellectual education”, “physical education”, “aesthetic education”, “group education”. “Labor education” sets up the concept of labor to participate in productive labor, and cultivate the feelings of the working people, and the characteristics of the times input for Friends High School education in the period of Chongqing No. 5 middle school. “5-dimension education” includes every aspect in Friends High School, with rich and complex content. “5-dimension education” is the source for the original connotation full of vitality, and is concerned with school-running goals and practice of Chinese Christian church school.

Integration of Immigrants: The Role of Ethnic Churches

Churches played a critical role in assisting immigrants’ access to the host society. Churches provide stability for new immigrants in Jamaica by creating a sense of community and often act as extended families. But, limited research has been carried out on the settlement of immigrants and the role of ethnic organisations in Jamaica. This study examines the history, functions and, to a greater extent, the impact of a Chinese Christian Church in Jamaica in facilitating Chinese immigrants’ settlement. The study uses qualitative analysis in the form of case studies from members/ex-members of the church, associated organisations and the Chinese community in Jamaica. The results suggest that the church provides stability and acts as a centre for social networks through which employment, vital services and housing were found. However, the position and the future of the church are questionable due to internal conflicts and the increasing diversity in the Chinese immigrant population.