China, Christianity, and the Question of Culture

China, Christianity, and the Question of Culture illuminates the unexplored links between Christianity and Chinese culture, from Christianity and higher education in China to the rural acculturation of Christian ideology by indigenous communities.

Christian missionaries in China have been viewed as agents of Western imperialist values. Yang Huilin, leading scholar of Sino-Christian studies, has dedicated himself to re-evaluating the history of Christianity in China and sifting through intellectual and religious results of missionary efforts in China. Yang focuses upon local histories of Christianity to chronicle its enduring good.

In a distinctly Chinese voice, Yang presents the legacy of Western missionaries in a new light, contributing greatly to now vigorous Sino-Christian theology.

Reviews

“Professor Yang Huilin is a significant and highly respected voice today in Sino-Western ‘Christian studies,’ that is, the intellectual cross-cultural discourse among philosophers, theologians, and public intellectuals on the future of Chinese society and the possible places where some forms of Christian ideas might fit. This collection of some of his essays from the past decade is both erudite and stimulating.”

—Daniel H. Bays, Emeritus Professor of History, Calvin College

"China, Christianity, and the Question of Culture is a brilliant book by a leading scholar, and deserves wide readership."

—G. Wright Doyle, Church History and Religious Culture

“In his book China, Christianity, and the Question of Culture, with a fine scholarship in listing Chinese learning and the main Western contemporary theological positions, the prominent mainland Chinese scholar Yang Huilin shows appreciation for the approach of enculturation of Christianity into the secular context which is dominant in China today.”

—Mark Chuanhang Shan, Africanus Journal

“Yang’s essays cover a remarkable range of thinking and one can only hope that, at a time when much of the scramble to establish links between Chinese and Western universities is unseemly, hasty and unattractive, this serious and intellectual voice is clearly heard and engaged with in both universities and beyond.”

—David Jasper, Glasgow University, Literature and Theology, (28:2, 2014)

“Yang’s work is the product of a lifetime of careful retrieval and cultural assessment of the contextualization of Christian thought in China. Each essay is a jewel of erudite scholarship. I cannot recommend it highly enough for Western readers who want to understand thinking in China today.”

—Very Rev. Professor Iain R. Torrance, Pro-Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen, President-Emeritus of Princeton Theological Seminary, Former Moderator of the Church of Scotland

“Yang Huilin is a major new thinker on the meaning of language, translation, and Christian theology after postmodernity. His words will re-orient future discussions of religious language and meaning, from West to East.”

—Peter Ochs, Edgar Bronfman Professor of Modern Judaic Studies, University of Virginia

“A vigorous and sophisticated cross-cultural discourse against the background of history, philosophy, religion, theology and hermeneutics”

—Xiaoli Yang, International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church

“An excellent guide to study the nature and aims of Sino-Christian theological studies”

—Jan A.B. Jongeneel, Exchange

“This is a significant book for Chinese academia that boldly interprets the Christian phenomena in a new way. It reverses the traditional bias against Christianity, and may in fact inaugurate a more open discussion about religion in general among Chinese in the future. Such profound insights touch upon the very nature of the Christian faith, and bear significance for all Christians, as well as nonbelievers, to rethink their relationship with Christianity. Altogether the book provides a valuable window for understanding Chinese Christianity.”

 —Liang Chuanshan, Adventist International Institute of Advanced Studies, Philippines, Journal of Asia Adventist Seminary

"…this essay collection offers a useful introduction to the intellectual contours of China’s cultural Christians in the post-Tiananmen era, and should appeal to scholars interested in Chinese theology and interreligious religious dialogue."

—Joseph Tse-Hei Lee, Journal of Chinese Religions