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Redeemed by Fire: The Rise of Popular Christianity in Modern China ReviewRedeemed by Fire by Lian Xi is an academic investigation of the indigenous Chinese Christian Church from the 19th century to the present day. This book focuses almost exclusively on native Protestant Christian movements in China and is thus largely silent on the development of foreign Protestants or Catholics during this same time period. Xi organizes his book around the major indigenous churches of the 19th and 20th centuries, devoting chapters to the Taiping Rebellion, the Jesus Family, the True Jesus Church, the Bethel Band, and the Little Flock, as well as some heretical cults. In the epilogue, Xi draws all of the historical evidence together to make his central point that China's exploding Christian population is "of the masses...not of the elite" and will thus be limited in its ability to affect large scale changes in Chinese culture and politics (pg. 244).One of this book's best attributes is the meticulous research that Xi has done in regards to these movements. Every major indigenous Christian leader's back story is given so that the reader has a full understanding of the context in which these people lived, giving vital insight into how and why these figures developed their distinctive theologies and styles of leadership. Furthermore, Xi is careful to note the historical setting in which these indigenous revivals take place so that the reader always understands how the surrounding environment shapes the nature of different Christian movements (see pgs. 47, 148, 193 for examples of this contextualization). Also, Xi points out relevant sociological and psychological studies that help give the reader a frame of reference for phenomenon such as "spirit-possession" and the higher rates of female Christian conversion (see pgs. 71-72, 239). Lastly, Xi does an excellent job of proving his point that modern Chinese Christianity has been largely shaped by its indigenous forebears, both theologically and stylistically, rather than by Western Christian movements (see pg. 223, on Watchmen Nee and premillenial dispensationalism).
While I found this book extremely informative, there were some aspects that I found rather frustrating. By organizing his book by religious movements (Xi generally focused on one movement or leader per chapter) it made it hard to grasp a clear chronology of the events. Be prepared to cope with jumping back and forth among different time periods as Xi moves from chapter to chapter to focus on different groups who often overlap chronologically. Furthermore, Xi has a tendency to state confidently the inner motivations of the characters in his book in a manner that is inconsistent with the historical scientific approach he takes for the majority of his work (see pgs. 84, 115, 118).
While this book does have some flaws, I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who wants to do a serious study on the history of indigenous Chinese Christianity as well as any prospective Christian missionaries in China (especially Western ones). Redeemed by Fire is definitely not a pleasurable read, but it lays out a well-researched history of native Christianity in China that gave me an amazing insight into how the modern Chinese Church has developed in the past two centuries. This knowledge would be invaluable to those who want to be on the mission field in China and anyone interested in an academic approach to the subject.Redeemed by Fire: The Rise of Popular Christianity in Modern China Overview
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