Chinese Protestantism, Cyber Public Space, and the Possibility of Covenantal Pluralism

Abstract

The simultaneous spread of social media and the upgrading of censorship techniques in mainland China are shaping a pluralistic but contentious cyberspace. Within this context, Chinese Protestantism is adapting to new freedoms in cyberspace but also demonstrating limits in welcoming pluralism. Historical baggage of antagonism within Protestantism in mainland China remains influential in setting competing camps of Protestant believers on different narratives with regard to the communist regime and tolerance towards other religions. The Chinese Protestant diaspora also plays an important role in perpetuating these divisions. A theologically rooted ethics of public discourse is needed for Chinese Protestantism to move on from de facto diversity to embracing a true vision of covenantal pluralism.

Keywords:

• Chinese Protestantism
• public sphere
• cyberspace
• the Chinese diaspora
• pluralism

Acknowledgements

This article is part of this journal's Covenantal Pluralism Series, a project generously supported via a grant to the Institute for Global Engagement from the Templeton Religion Trust.

Notes

1 We use “unregistered churches” in this article, but the terms “unofficial Protestantism” and “house churches” are common equivalents.

2 Ding led the Three-self Patriotic Movement and was President of the China Christian Council.

3 It was in the midst of the Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy of the 1930s when Pearl Buck resigned from her missionary position from the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the USA.

4 Heavenly Wind is the official magazine of China’s Three-self Patriotic Movement.

5 Li’s work demonstrates a militancy that characterized Protestant polemics from a century ago. Although he insists that a critique of Ding comes from the Bible and should not be based on politics, his rhetoric is highly politicized, naming Ding as one of two heretics mentioned in 2 Timothy 2:17-18. Li claims that his critiques are founded on Sola Scriptura (scriptural inerrancy) and a fundamentalist conviction that the faithful should not associate with unbelievers. In contrast, Ding Guangxun’s writings display a dialogic openness as well as a fine grasp of Western theological sources.

6 In 2014, Christian Life Quarterly released a series of articles on similar themes, all legitimizing the antagonism between Three-self churches and house churches. While framing the cross-removal incidents as an opportunity to “separate the faithful from unbelievers,” they ignored the complex legality concerning church property and registrations in Zhejiang locality.

7 In her book, Butler proposes that the presence of a highly visible Christian Right coalition at the United Nations in year 2000 marked the culmination of this trend going global. The term “Christian Right” refers to leaders and organizations that actively promote a conservative social agenda which integrates religious values. Public religious figures like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson in the 1970s mobilized white conservative evangelicals around issues such as abortion, homosexuality, and traditional family values. They reacted to Supreme Court decisions over prayer in public schools and abortion. The theological roots of the Christian Right can be traced back to the modernist-fundamentalist controversy in the 1920s to 1930s when fundamentalists opposed the liberal interpretation of scripture. Since the 1970s, conservative evangelical forces began to build institutions and actively engage in American politics. Problems created by this trend intensified during Donald J. Trump’s presidency.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Li Ma

Li Ma is Senior Research Fellow at the Henry Institute of Calvin University. She has written six books on Chinese evangelicalism including most recently Religious Entrepreneurism in China’s Urban House Churches (Routledge, 2019), Christianity, Femininity, and Social Change in Contemporary China (Palgrave MacMillan, 2020), and Christian Women and Modern China: A Women’s History of Chinese Protestantism (Lexington Books, 2021).

Jin Li

Jin Li is a PhD candidate at Calvin Theological Seminary. He is the co-author (with Li Ma) of Surviving the State, Remaking the Church: A Sociological Portrait of Christians in Mainland China (Pickwick Publications, 2017). He is also the co-founder and editor of Four Seasons Book Review.