Negotiating the Christian Past in China : Memory and Missions in Contemporary Xiamen / Jifeng Liu.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextSeries: World Christianity | Book collections on Project MUSEPublisher: University Park, PA : Penn State University Press, [2022]Manufacturer: Baltimore, Md. : Project MUSE, 2023Copyright date: ©[2022]Description: 1 online resourceContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • computer
Carrier type:
  • online resource
ISBN:
  • 9780271093192
Subject(s): Genre/Form: Online resources:
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Note on Romanization, Names, and Monetary Units -- List of Abbreviations -- List of Characters -- Introduction -- Chapter 1 Xiamen History, Society, and Christianity -- Chapter 2 Discursive Reversals on Western Missionaries -- Chapter 3 The Passing of Glory -- Chapter 4 Writing and Contesting Christian History -- Chapter 5 Global Missions Meet Local Politics -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index
Summary: At the turn of the twenty-first century, Xiamen's pursuit of World Heritage Site designation from UNESCO stimulated considerable interest in the city's Christian past. History enthusiasts, both Christian and non-Christian, devoted themselves to reinterpreting the legacy of missionaries and challenged official narratives of Christianity's troubled associations with Western imperialism. In this book, Jifeng Liu documents the tension that has inevitably emerged between the established official history and these popular efforts.This volume elucidates the ways in which Christianity has become an integral part of Xiamen, a Chinese city profoundly influenced by Western missionaries. Drawing on extensive interviews, locally produced histories, and observations of historical celebrations, Liu provides an intimate portrait of the people who navigate ideological issues to reconstruct a Christian past, reproduce religious histories, and redefine local power structures in the shadow of the state. Liu makes a compelling argument that a Christian past is being constructed that combines official frameworks, unofficial practices, and nostalgia into social memory, a realm of dynamic negotiation that is neither dominated by the authoritarian state nor characterized by popular resistance. In this way, Negotiating the Christian Past in China illustrates the complexities of memory and missions in shaping the city's cultural landscape, church-state dynamics, and global aspirations.This groundbreaking study assumes a perspective of globalization and localization, in both the past and the present, to better understand Chinese Christianity in a local, national, and global context. It will be welcomed by scholars of religious studies and world Christianity, and by those interested in the church-state relationship in China.
Tags from this library: No tags from this library for this title. Log in to add tags.
Star ratings
    Average rating: 0.0 (0 votes)
No physical items for this record

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Note on Romanization, Names, and Monetary Units -- List of Abbreviations -- List of Characters -- Introduction -- Chapter 1 Xiamen History, Society, and Christianity -- Chapter 2 Discursive Reversals on Western Missionaries -- Chapter 3 The Passing of Glory -- Chapter 4 Writing and Contesting Christian History -- Chapter 5 Global Missions Meet Local Politics -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Open Access Unrestricted online access star

At the turn of the twenty-first century, Xiamen's pursuit of World Heritage Site designation from UNESCO stimulated considerable interest in the city's Christian past. History enthusiasts, both Christian and non-Christian, devoted themselves to reinterpreting the legacy of missionaries and challenged official narratives of Christianity's troubled associations with Western imperialism. In this book, Jifeng Liu documents the tension that has inevitably emerged between the established official history and these popular efforts.This volume elucidates the ways in which Christianity has become an integral part of Xiamen, a Chinese city profoundly influenced by Western missionaries. Drawing on extensive interviews, locally produced histories, and observations of historical celebrations, Liu provides an intimate portrait of the people who navigate ideological issues to reconstruct a Christian past, reproduce religious histories, and redefine local power structures in the shadow of the state. Liu makes a compelling argument that a Christian past is being constructed that combines official frameworks, unofficial practices, and nostalgia into social memory, a realm of dynamic negotiation that is neither dominated by the authoritarian state nor characterized by popular resistance. In this way, Negotiating the Christian Past in China illustrates the complexities of memory and missions in shaping the city's cultural landscape, church-state dynamics, and global aspirations.This groundbreaking study assumes a perspective of globalization and localization, in both the past and the present, to better understand Chinese Christianity in a local, national, and global context. It will be welcomed by scholars of religious studies and world Christianity, and by those interested in the church-state relationship in China.

In English.

Description based on print version record.

There are no comments on this title.

to post a comment.
Previous
Back to results
Next
Close