Modern Chinese Theologies: Volume 2: Independent and Indigenous 150648798X, 9781506487984

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Modern Chinese Theologies Starr, Chloë

Published by Augsburg Fortress Publishers Starr, Chloë. Modern Chinese Theologies: Volume 2: Independent and Indigenous. Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 2023. Project MUSE.

muse.jhu.edu/book/111290.

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is professor of Asian Christianity at Yale Divinity School. She has published widely on Chinese literature and Chinese theology. Her works include Chinese Theology: Text and Context (2016); a coedited textbook, Documenting China (2011); a monograph, Red-Light Novels of the Late Qing (2007); a coedited volume, The Quest for Gentility in China (Routledge, 2007, 2009); and an edited volume, Reading Christian Scriptures in China (2008). She holds honorary posts at Renmin University of China, where she teaches regularly, and at the Institute of SinoChristian Studies, Hong Kong. 

Praise for Modern Chinese Theologies, Volume 2 A magnificent treasure trove.

Alexander Chow, University of Edinburgh

This is the kind of book I have been waiting to see.

Daryl R. Ireland, Boston University

. . . highlights unexpected points of connection to the Confessing Church, Orthodox theology, Azusa Street Pentecostalism, and the Black theologies of the Civil Rights Movement.

Justin Tse, Singapore Management University

. . . belongs in the library of every serious student of Chinese Christianity.

Carsten Vala, Loyola University Maryland

Exacting in detail and comprehensive in scope.

Caroline Fielder, University of Leeds

World Christianity / China

MODERN CHINESE THEOLOGIES

Starr volume

2

Volume 2: Independent and Indigenous

Chloë Starr editor [128.104.46.206] Project MUSE (2024-04-07 01:48 GMT) UW-Madison Libraries

CHLOË STARR

This second volume in an important series presents a selection of new studies on the theology of the church in China, concentrating on independent and indigenous Chinese churches, the “house churches.”

MODERN CHINESE THEOLOGIES

doctrine of humanity, his views on salvation, and his prison letters; and of Wang Mingdao’s life and moral thought, his Confucian beliefs, and his understanding of the relationship of Christians to the state. The third section of the volume foregrounds church voices like the fundamentalist Samuel Lamb and the mediating figure Yang Shaotang, and considers local developments in Roman Catholicism in light of Vatican reforms.

The majority of Christians in China over the course of the last century have worshipped not in missionary-founded churches or in congregations affiliated with the contemporary Three-Self Patriotic Movement or Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, but in independent and unregistered churches, often labeled “house churches.” From the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements within the mission-church landscape of the early twentieth century, to the Calvinist Reformed movement in the present-day Protestant church, the vibrant faith life and extraordinary church growth of this sector of Chinese Christianity offer a fascinating witness and lesson to the world church. Yet despite the size of their congregations and the spread of their teachings, the theologies of these independent and unregistered churches have drawn much less academic attention than those of missionchurch or “state church” theologians. This volume presents a selection of new studies on “house church” theologians and theologies. These begin in the early twentieth century with studies of the Spiritual Gifts movement in Shandong and the nature of Pentecostalism in Hong Kong, and arrive in the present with essays on the changing role of women’s leadership in the church, given the spread of Reformed thought and the theological implications of Westminsterian Neo-Calvinism in China. The second section of the volume is devoted to the theological writings and lives of the two most prominent independent church figures of the twentieth century: Wang Mingdao and Ni Tuosheng (Watchman Nee). These chapters include studies of spiritual theology; of Ni’s (continued on back flap)

Praise for Modern Chinese Theologies A magnificent treasure-trove in three volumes on modern Chinese theologies. This volume offers original explorations into well-known theologians like Watchman Nee and Wang Mingdao, juxtaposed with analyses of less-studied figures like Samuel Lamb and David Yang Shaotang. It also investigates the contested relationship between “Pentecostalism” and Chinese folk religion, and evaluates the prospects and pitfalls of contextualizing Reformed theology in China. This wonderful volume reminds us that so much of the vitality of Chinese theologies comes from what may be termed “indigenous and independent.” This trilogy is a must-have for all who wish to better understand Chinese Christianity and its implications for the world church. —Alexander Chow, senior lecturer in theology and World Christianity; co-director of the Centre for the Study of World Christianity, School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh; and author of Chinese Public Theology: Generational Shifts and Confucian Imagination in Chinese Christianity This is the kind of book I have been waiting to see. It is an excellent compilation of people and Christian movements in China that have operated outside foreign missions’ or the state’s control, yet have wielded enormous influence over Chinese Christianity from their unsanctioned positions. Plus, it acquaints readers with some of the innovative scholars who are demonstrating why Chinese theology is not an internal conversation, but a meaningful and important contribution to any serious theological reflection today. —Daryl R. Ireland, research assistant professor of World Christianity, Boston University The second volume of Chloë Starr’s edited trilogy on Modern Chinese Theologies will serve as an entry point for English-speaking scholars to engage the development of Chinese revivalist theologies diverging from the propriety of missionary frameworks. Far from driving a wedge between Chinese and Western theologies, the essays here highlight unexpected points of connection to the Confessing Church, Orthodox theology, Azusa Street Pentecostalism, and the Black theologies of the Civil Rights Movement, among others. Though readers may be

challenged by some local practices in these essays, they will be invited to see the Chinese revivalism of Watchman Nee, Witness Lee, Wang Mingdao, Dora Yu, and others as influences connected with global theologies, and even with frameworks they might themselves find familiar. —Justin Tse, assistant professor of religion and culture, Singapore Management University Volume 2 of Modern Chinese Theologies does that rare thing for a scholarly work: it both illuminates its subject, the theology of indigenous churches in China over the last century, and offers lessons for World Christianity. In terms of its variety of approaches and subjects—from theological explorations of well-known figures such as Watchman Nee and sociological analysis of key trends to the introduction of influential but nearly unknown figures such as Yang Shaotang— from start to finish it promises new vistas for both newcomers and experienced scholars of Chinese Protestant Christianity. It belongs in the library of every serious student of Chinese Christianity. —Carsten Vala, professor and chair, Political Science Department, Loyola University Maryland This volume provides a welcome addition to the literature on the churches in China, hitherto marginalized in mainstream academic discourse. This volume brings together a fascinating range of voices and new research on Chinese indigenous and independent theologies, and is both exacting in detail and comprehensive in scope. —Caroline Fielder, lecturer in Chinese Studies, University of Leeds

MODERN CHINESE THEOLOGIES

MODERN CHINESE THEOLOGIES Volume 2 1 Independent Indigenous Heritage and and Prospect

Chloë Starr editor Fortress Press Minneapolis

MODERN CHINESE THEOLOGIES Volume 2: Independent and Indigenous Copyright © 2023 Fortress Press, an imprint of 1517 Media. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Email [email protected] or write to Permissions, Fortress Press, PO Box 1209, Minneapolis, MN 55440-1209. Library of Congress Control Number: 2023932813 (print) Cover design: Kristin Miller Cover image: Rev. Wang Chunren 王纯仁 : traditional ink painting with Psalms 19:14 Print ISBN: 978-1-5064-8798-4 eBook ISBN: 978-1-5064-8799-1

CONTENTS Acknowledgments Series Preface

vii ix

Part I Theological Trajectories from the Twentieth to Twenty-First Centuries 1. The Spiritual Gifts Movement in Shandong Province, 1930–37 As Narrated by the Northern Presbyterian Missionaries Kevin Xiyi Yao

3

2. The Theology of the Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission A Mix of Western Christianity and Chinese Folk Religion? David Kwun-Ho Tai

27

3. Theological Transformation and the Changing Role of Women in the Chinese House Church Kang Jie

49

4. Give Us Dutch Neo-Calvinism Retrieving and Reconsidering Dutch Neo-Calvinism in the Chinese Context Xu Ximian

69

Part II Doctrine and Life: Watchman Nee 5. Spiritual Life and Faithful Life An Analysis of Watchman Nee’s Doctrine of Humanity Xie Wenyu 6. Two Views of Sanctification Watchman Nee’s and Calvin’s Accounts of the Christian Life Compared Sun Yi

91

113

CO NTENTS

7. The Sinicization of Christian Pietism Jia Yuming’s and Watchman Nee’s Approaches to the Problem of ‘Rationality versus Spirituality’ Brian Siu Kit Chiu

131

8. Joy and Submission The Prison Theology of Watchman Nee Liu Ping

157

9. The Doctrine of Theosis in the Chinese Indigenous Church A Case Study of the Local Church Yan Zheng

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Part III Inspiring the Church: Moral Fortitude and Spiritual Revival 10. A Disciple of Christ and A Pupil of Confucius The Influence of Wang Mingdao’s Moral Thought on his Theology Zhao Pan 11. Samuel Lamb and the Fundamentalism of the Chinese House Church Liu Shibo

213 235

12. Ceaselessly Seeking a Path for the Chinese Church Rev. Yang Shaotang255 He Aixia Index

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many thanks to all of the scholars and students from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, North America, Europe, and Australia who have attended the three Chinese Theology conferences online and in person between 2020 and 2022. The papers that have not made it into the volumes for a variety of reasons, including sensitivity of publication for authors, greatly enriched our discussions and understanding of the field. I am very grateful to the Council of East Asian Studies at Yale for funding the three conferences and for research funds that have enabled the translation of select chapters. Carey Newman at Fortress Press has been an enthusiastic supporter of the project since the outset, and I am glad to record our appreciation for his editorial oversight. Lisa Eaton has been an exemplary project manager and we are very thankful for her work bringing the books to print. We had a great team of translators—Chen Long, Moira De Graef, Caroline Mason, Sharon Yao— who worked on various essays: thank you all.

SERIES PREFACE Chloë Starr This is the second volume in a series of three exploring modern Chinese theology. The first volume covered church theologians of mainland China associated with missionary-established denominations whose writing and thinking engaged a predominantly Western church heritage. This second volume, “Independent and Indigenous,” presents a collection of essays on Chinese church theologians. In the early twentieth century on the Protestant side these comprise house-church and charismatic voices who left mission denominations to establish their own churches or who were converted at the great revival meetings and joined, or created, new church bodies. In the People’s Republic, “independent” refers to churches or denominations operating outside of the state registration system, sometimes called “house churches” or “underground” churches and now often labeled “unregistered churches.” The third volume in the set, “Academic and Diasporic” theologies, expands the scope of “China” and of Chinese theology. It addresses two distinct groups: scholarship by mainland Chinese academics, and the writings of Chinese-speaking theologians beyond mainland China. The architecture of the set of volumes is as much a pragmatic as a theological statement. The boundary, for example, between historic missionary denominations and independent or newer churches prior to 1949 is far from fixed, and many of the theologians discussed in Volumes I and II were raised or trained in one branch of the church before starting afresh in another. Theologians and writers across the divisions read each other’s work, and some of them worked together on common national committees or for church or apologetic publications. The same political and social questions often animated their theological grappling, albeit with different outcomes. The three volumes allow us to draw together key themes in theological debates among natural conversation partners,

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and to illustrate the commonalities and collective visions that stem from a shared social or spiritual habitus, while pointing to the fissures that traverse the ideological and geographical borderlines of Chinese theology.

Volume II It is a truism that the church grows when missionaries leave. In the early twentieth century the church in China flourished in many forms: it grew within missionary and historic denominations, especially as Chinese priests, pastors, and leaders were ordained and began to lead congregations, and it saw an expansion—then exponential growth—in independent and Chinese-led Protestant churches and denominations. This “homegrown Christianity,” which Lian Xi characterizes as “a potent mix of evangelistic fervor, biblical literalism, charismatic ecstasies, and a fiery eschatology not infrequently tinged with nationalistic exuberance,”1 testifies to the decades of concentrated mission work in the nineteenth century, while heralding the maturation of that process and a new stage in Chinese church history. As a sector, these indigenous and independent Protestant churches were diverse, yet their theological commitments were predominantly conservative, focused on the conversion and “regeneration” of the individual, and often supporting millenarian beliefs that brought an urgency to their work.2 There were three modes of church work operative: individual evangelists and the revival circuit, church congregations and denominations, and more amorphous phenomena such as the Spiritual Gifts Movement. The first includes itinerant evan­ gelists like Yu Cidu (Dora Yu), who after a stint as a medical missionary to Korea became a self-supporting evangelist itinerating throughout southern China in the 1900s, or Ding Limei, who spent fifteen years from 1908 preaching in thousands of locations across eighteen provinces, as well as later figures better known in the West, such as Wang Mingdao or Song Shangjie ( John Sung) and the “Bethel Band.” As for churches, the independent sector soon became the mainstream of Chinese Christianity, attracting more congregants than the historic denominations. Some of the largest and best known include the True Jesus Church begun around 1917 by Wei Enbo (Paul Wei), with its 1 Lian Xi, Redeemed by Fire: The Rise of Popular Christianity in Modern China (New Haven:

Yale University Press, 2010), 2.

2 C.f. Daniel Bays, A New History of Christianity in China (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012),

128–40.

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Sabbatarian worship and emphasis on spirit baptism; the Jesus Family established by Jing Dianying in 1927, with Pentecostal beliefs and communal living practices; as well as the Local Church, or Little Flock, of Ni Tuosheng (Watchman Nee), with its lay leadership, millenarian focus, and pursuit of mystical union with Christ. The disruptions of national and civil war in the 1930s and ’40s affected the development of all churches, but following the establishment of the People’s Republic in 1949, the drive to unify denominations into two overarching church bodies, Catholic and Protestant, had a disproportionate effect on indigenous Protestant churches. Despite being independent with no ties to “imperialist” foreign churches, and therefore politically more acceptable, the theological persuasions of many in the new Chinese churches meant that they could not in good faith join a national church body that co-operated (or colluded) with the atheist communist government. Some like Jing Dianying, leader of the Jesus Family, were involved in setting up the national Protestant body, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement ( Jing was later denounced and died in prison); many of Ni Tuosheng’s Local Church congregations were also initially affiliated with the TSPM. Others, like Wang Mingdao, were defiantly opposed to the Three-Self organization at the outset and resisted all pressure to join, to the point of imprisonment. The theology of a significant part of the post-war Chinese church has been shaped by the thinking and lived experience of its suffering martyrs, as they strove to hold to their beliefs and proclaim their faith. The Roman Catholic Church also came under severe pressure throughout the 1950s, not least because of its ties to Rome, numerous foreign priests and religious in leadership positions, and history of connection with the Guomindang (Nationalist Party). Enforced unity under the government-sponsored Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association (CCPA) caused a portion of the church to leave, and maintain their links to the Roman church and its rites and beliefs through trusted priests and bishops. In the second half of the twentieth century the label “indigenous and independent” might be used to refer either to the official “Chinese Catholic” church, which is, in global terms, an autarkic body, or to that portion of the church that chose not to affiliate with the CCPA and became an unofficial entity, or underground church; the nomenclature breaks down here. The work to bring about the unity of the Catholic Church in China is ongoing; in the twenty-first century various popes have labored to encourage the repair of divisions. “Non-mainstream” is taken to indicate works that are xi

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not Vatican-approved and come out of Chinese church experience and expression, whether from unregistered clergy or registered clergy writing in a personal capacity.3 In the half-century since the end of the Maoist era when churches and church bodies began to be reinstituted, the unregistered Protestant church landscape has seen great change. Some of the early twentieth-century churches still exist: the True Jesus Church, for example, holds to its charismatic and Pentecostal roots and is actively sending missionaries out across the globe.4 Meanwhile, the explosive growth of Christianity in rural China in the 1970s and 1980s led to new groupings and affiliations of evangelical believers; one of the largest church bodies, the Word of Life house church network, claims to have twenty million affiliated adherents.5 Such figures are difficult to substantiate and document: since new regulations governing religious practice were enacted in 1983 and 1991, all unregistered churches have in effect been extra-legal, and many of their actions illegal. Information-gathering on unofficial religious activity is evidently problematic, hence the wide range in estimates of the numbers of Christians in China.6 The last three decades have seen two new shifts in Protestant Christianity: the first is the move from a predominantly rural church to numeric strength and leadership in the urban church, including the development of the New Urban House Churches. The second is the resurgence of denominations among 3 A good example might be the 2006 book Crying out in the Wilderness: The Crystallization

of Seven Years of Observation and Reflection, A Compilation of Four Years of Study Tours and Preaching, written by the chief editor of the Jilin Catholic diocese journal Shengxin beilei 聖 心蓓蕾, Yu Haitao 于海濤. This work discusses charismatic revival in the Catholic Church and the need for Catholics to return to the Bible, the Holy Spirit, and the foundations of love and mission. See Yu Haitao 于海濤, Kuangye husheng: Qi nian guangcha sikao de jiejing, si zai youxue xuanjiang zhi jicheng 曠野呼聲: 七年觀察思考的結晶, 四載遊學宣講之集 (n.p., 2006), and discussion in Austen Soong 宋怀思, “旷野呼声2006年吉林一个天主教 徒在湖北的救恩复兴宣讲集成” [Crying out in the Wilderness: Notes from a Jilin Catholic on the 2006 Salvation Revival in Hubei Province], paper presented at Yale Conference on Modern Chinese Theologies, June 2021. 4 Yen-zen Tsai, “Glossolalia and Church Identity: The Role of Sound in the Making of a Chinese Pentecostal-Charismatic Church,” in eds. Fenggang Yang, Joy K. C. Tong and Allan H. Anderson, Global Chinese Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity (Leiden: Brill, 2017), 141. 5 Yalin Xin, Inside China’s House Church Network (Lexington, KY: Emeth, 2009), 21. 6 Pew Research data from 2010 gives 67 million, of which 58 million are Protestants and 9 million Roman Catholic. Of the 58 million Protestants, an estimated 35 million are house church members. https://tinyurl.com/3duf88yw. Other sources range from 50 to over 100 million Christians. xii

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unregistered churches, and especially the growth of Reformed churches proclaiming a Calvinist theology. If the theology of Wang Mingdao and Ni Tuo­ sheng’s generation, characterized by personal holiness and a distinction and separation from the world, is still valorized and models Christ for many in China, a new generation of urban house church leaders is as likely to engage with society, and even to challenge the government in law courts over its registration policies. Many of the Reformed church leaders have engaged in lengthy theological exploration and academic debate, popularizing historical theology with their writings. Various house church networks have also created “underground” seminaries, often resourced with Korean or American input. Theology is a dynamic force. It interacts not just with changing social mores, from communist to consumerist, socialist to Sinicized, but also with ecclesial shifts and structural changes. Its mode of expression and means of publication may be constrained and force us to read and respond differently, as when thinkers like Ni Tuosheng spent decades in prison, or where unregistered church pastors now may publish online or in Taiwan if they cannot get official permission—in the form of an ISBN number—to distribute their thought in China. A diverse church landscape has become more complex by inconsistent, and regionally differentiated, implementation of religious regulation across China, and by frequently changing rules and ideological thinking on religion. The first decade of this century saw space for negotiation between unregistered churches and local government bodies, especially those churches who made sure they were known as positive social forces and did not cross mutually understood red lines (such as on size, links to other churches or foreign involvement).7 In the decade of the Xi Jinping era, the anticipated accommodation of unregistered churches within the system has not transpired, and there has instead been selective interdiction of house church activity. This volume offers incisive comment and new research from a panel of experts on the streams of theological thought that may dominate in the Chinese church but are not officially mainstream. Part I begins with two case studies from the early twentieth century on the Pentecostal and charismatic movements: the Spiritual Gifts Movement as seen from the perspective of Presbyterian pastors 7 See Carsten T. Vala, The Politics of Protestant Churches and the Party-State in China: God above

Party? (London: Routledge, 2018), 14. Vala uses the concept of a “public transcript” to explain how illegal groups might violate official policies yet still be tolerated (provided they observe certain norms), and shows how a domination-resistance model often used of illegal religious bodies in China is complemented by a model of negotiation. xiii

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in the region in the 1930s; and the thorny question of the origins of charismatic practices in China, through the lens of the Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission. Kevin Xiyi Yao tackles the revival campaign of the Spiritual Gifts Movement in Shandong through reports from Northern Presbyterian mission stations, in the absence of direct sources, to give an account of this spontaneous, indigenous mass movement and the effects of its exuberant worship on local believers and church congregations. David Kwun-Ho Tai rejects the ascription of Chinese Pentecostal practices to a syncretistic mix of Chinese folk religion and new Protestant practices, and argues that the theology and practice of the Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission—such as the Latter Rain of the Holy Spirit, experienced in healing practices and Spirit baptism—can be traced directly to American Pentecostal influence and the legacy of Azusa street. The next two chapters in this section on theological trajectories jump to the present day, examining the role of women in the house church and the particular strands of (Neo)Calvinism that are emerging in Reformed churches in China. Kang Jie’s important essay traces the effects of the promotion of Reformed theology and the establishment of Reformed seminaries and training in China on extant house church beliefs and leadership patterns. The case studies Kang gives show that as once-charismatic congregations transition toward the Westminster Confession, women, who form the majority in churches, face both the removal of leadership roles and strong encouragement to marry within the church. The final essay in Part I, Xu Ximian’s study of Dutch Neo-Calvinism, explores the reception of Neo-Calvinism in Reformed house churches in Wenzhou, Zhe­jiang. Xu argues that the version of Calvinism introduced to Wenzhou has been American-inflected Westminsterian Calvinism, and that a better understanding, and retrieval, of Dutch Neo-Calvinism would act as a helpful corrective to interpretations of issues from special grace to church-state relations, and enable a richer contextualization of Christianity in China. The second part of the volume offers five essays on one of China’s most significant theologians of the twentieth century. Ni Tuosheng, or Watchman Nee, was a writer, church leader, and witness, who died in a reform-through-labor camp near Shanghai in 1972. He had been sent to prison in the mid-1950s on fraud and corruption charges relating to his business, but was told in 1967 that he would have to renounce his faith to be freed, which he refused to do. While Ni’s life and theological legacy have inspired much debate and reconsideration as new facts emerge, the Local Church that he founded after leaving his early Anglican schooling behind continues to exist and grow not only in China—in xiv

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both unregistered congregations and within the TSPM—but also in Taiwan, the United States, and across the world. Xie Wenyu’s opening essay foregrounds Ni’s systematic writing and especially his doctrine of humanity. Ni’s trichotomous view of the human being (as spirit, soul, and body) inspired his teaching on the nature and growth of spiritual life, and the need for the soul to submit to the spirit for ordered development. In exploring the biblical basis of Ni’s understanding of the human constitution, Xie’s essay contrasts Ni’s schema derived from Ephesians with the concept of life in the Gospel of John, to propose a distinction between “spiritual life” and “faithful life.” Sun Yi’s essay places Ni’s thinking on sanctification in The Normal Christian Life alongside that of John Calvin in The Institutes of the Christian Religion, and explores the differences in the nature and aim of the sanctified life between “substitution” and “union” theories of sanctification, not just to elucidate their respective merits, but to show how the Chinese house church has overlain Reformed beliefs onto its Pietist heritage, and the clarity to be gained by better understanding this development. The third essay in this section returns to the Pietist roots of much of Ni’s theology, and examines commonalities in the relationship between the rational and the spiritual in the writings of Ni and his contemporary, the Presbyterian pastor and professor Jia Yuming. As Brian Siu Kit Chiu shows, Ni and Jia, who both wrote for Jia’s Spiritual Light magazine, came to focus their theological attention on spirituality, whether experienced in becoming a Christ-human or attaining wholeness in mystical union with God. Like Chiu’s essay, most writing on Ni’s theology has examined Ni’s publications from the period of his church career. Liu Ping’s study, however, turns to Ni’s prison writings. Liu begins with a description of the Chinese prison system, and clarifies his understanding of “prison theology” as the theological expression of those imprisoned for the sake of their faith alone, contrasting this with the incarceration of a figure like Bonhoeffer. Liu draws on a small number of Ni’s letters from prison to his family to reconstruct his last years and state of mind, and reads these in the light of Ni’s earlier theological writings to limn a resistance characterized by joy and submission. The final essay in this section, which could equally well appear in Volume III of this series, looks beyond Ni Tuosheng himself to the legacy of his teachings in the Local Church. Yan Zheng examines the doctrine of theosis in the Local Church as it develops out of Ni’s teachings on sanctification to become an explicit and systematic vision of deification under Li Changshou (Witness Lee), and describes its spread and development under the subsequent generation xv

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of overseas leaders. Yan is ambivalent about attempts to trace the Local Church’s teaching on deification to Orthodox roots but affirms the potential of its spiritual practices for the Chinese church. Part III of the volume presents three studies of diverse church voices whose faith and thinking has inspired generations of churchgoers in China. Zhao Pan tackles one of the most prominent Protestant house church thinkers: Wang Mingdao. Zhao’s research complements existing studies of Wang’s theology by analyzing the role of Wang’s moral commitment in his faith and life choices, grounding Wang’s morality in both scripture and his Confucian identification. The second essay in this section centers on a figure who acknowledges his debt to Wang Mingdao’s theology. As Liu Shibo’s study of the influential preacher and leader Lin Xian’gao (Samuel Lamb) shows, this is manifest in an unwillingness to stray beyond scriptural language into “theology,” including a reluctance to use a term like “Trinity” of God, since its source lies outside scripture. Liu’s sensitive study, which excavates the different elements of Lin’s theology, does justice to Lin’s reclamation of the positive value of the term “fundamentalist.” A third church voice, Rev. Yang Shaotang of Shanxi (d. 1969), is little known in the West, despite being labeled one of the “three giants” of the Chinese church in his day, as He Aixia’s essay acknowledges. Rev. He’s brief study of Yang shows the tensions and trials of someone caught between Three-Self belonging and a fundamentalist theology, whose painful witness testified to a much broader ecclesial vision than most of his contemporaries. Yang Shaotang is important for this reason, and the essay concludes the volume on an optimistic note.

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Part I

Theological Trajectories from the Twentieth to Twenty-First Centuries

Chapter 1

THE SPIRITUAL GIFTS MOVEMENT IN SHANDONG PROVINCE, 1930–37 As Narrated by the Northern Presbyterian Missionaries Kevin Xiyi Yao The conservative sector of Protestant Christianity in early twentieth-century China was highly diverse. Churches and mission agencies from a wide spectrum of church traditions, ranging from Anglicanism to independent faith missions, rallied under the banner of unwavering loyalty toward biblical authority, historical orthodoxy, and evangelicalism. Pentecostalism was an important force among these, and of all the Pentecostal groups active in the Republican era, the Spiritual Gifts Movement (靈恩會, SGM) in Shandong province stands out. The significance of this Shandong movement has been recognized in several historical studies.1 However, our knowledge of it is still minimal, and the scarcity of the primary sources renders further study of it almost impossible.2 In the absence of insider sources, this essay approaches the Spiritual Gifts Movement through the (often negative) assessments of the Northern Presbyterian Shandong Mission (NPSM), to try to build up a richer picture—even as mirrored in the condemnations of opponents—of this important revival campaign. As the largest Protestant mission in Shandong province in the early twentieth century, the NPSM encountered the Spiritual Gifts Movement 1 For some of the key studies, see Daniel Bays, A New History of Christianity in China (Mal-

den, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), 134–35; R. G. Tiedemann, “Protestant Revivals in China with Particular Reference to Shandong Province, Studies in World Christianity, 18:3 (2012): 213–36; Lian Xi, Redeemed by Fire, The Rise of Popular Christianity in Modern China (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2010), 98–101. 2 See Lian, Redeemed by Fire, 100–101.

M o d e r n C h i nese T h eo lo g i es

more than any other mission agency. As a result, a considerable number of records of those encounters are preserved in the archives of the Northern Presbyterian Foreign Mission Board. Based on these archival data, this study begins by tracking the historical trajectories of the NPSM and the SGM, and then focuses on highlighting major features of the movement’s beliefs and practices. My hope is that this case study can help to shed more light on the Spiritual Gifts Movement within the Shandong Revival and on the Pentecostalist wing of conservative Protestantism in China in the twentieth century.

Background It is a commonplace that Shandong province has a special position in Chinese history, as well as in Christian history in China, as home to the Spiritual Gifts Movement and famous Shandong Revival. In Chinese Christian narratives of the 1930s, the SGM and the Shandong Revival are inseparable. The term “Shandong Revival” seems to point to several mostly unrelated local revivals taking place primarily between the late 1920s and the beginning of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937. According to contemporary scholars, three major streams can be identified: Marie Monsen and her revival, primarily among Southern Baptists; the revivals associated with Song Shangjie and Wang Mingdao; and the Spiritual Gifts Movement.3 From the perspective of scholarly studies, the first two 3 The Shandong Revival remains a fairly amorphous concept. The term was made famous by

the book The Shantung Revival, authored in the 1930s by Mary Crawford, a Southern Baptist missionary. But this well-circulated book and related publications virtually limit this historical phenomenon to the revival initiated by Marie Monsen of Norway and largely affecting the Southern Baptist mission and churches in Shandong province from the late 1920s to early ’30s. See Mary K. Crawford, The Shantung Revival, second edition (Shanghai: The China Baptist Publication Society, 1933); Marie Monsen, The Awakening, Revival in China, 1927– 1937 (China Inland Mission, 1959); C. L. Culpepper, Spiritual Awakening: The Shantung Revival, An Account of God’s Powerful Movement in the Shantung Province of China (Crescendo Book Publications, 1971); Lewis and Betty Drummond, Women of Awakenings: The Historic Contribution of Women to Revival Movements (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 1997), chapters 10 and 11. Less than ten years later, in his book on the history of Northern Presbyterians’ Shandong Mission, John J. Heeren pinpointed the revivals featuring Wang Mingdao 王明 道 and Song Shangjie 宋尚節 and the indigenous Pentecostal revivals associated with the “Spiritual Gifts Movement” (靈恩運動) and the “Spiritual Gifts Society” (Ling En Hui, 靈 恩會) as the two main forces, and did not even mention Monsen’s name. ( John J. Heeren, On the Shantung Front, A History of the Shantung Mission of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., 1861–1940 in its Historical, Economic, and Political Setting (The Board of Foreign Missions of 4

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are relatively easy to handle. After all, theologically and organizationally, these belonged to the mainstream of the nationwide evangelical revival movement in modern China. But the SGM is more difficult to grasp.4 The Shandong Mission of the Northern Presbyterian Church had extensive encounters with the Monsen and Song/Wang revivals during the first six years of the 1930s, and their narratives also reveal many interesting aspects of the history, beliefs, and practices of the Spiritual Gifts Movement. Since Presbyterian Church (US) missionaries set foot in Shandong in May 1861, the Shandong Mission had gradually become the largest Protestant mission in the province, and the strongest among all Northern Presbyterian missions in China.5 Establishing its first station in Dengzhou (Tengchow, 登州), a port city in the northeastern part of the province, the Shandong Mission steadily expanded its reach from the coastal area in the east toward the interior. In 1871, a station in Jinan (Tsinan), the provincial capital, was opened. In 1883, Weixian (Weihsien, 濰縣), a city in between Yantai and Jinan was added. In the 1890s, the Mission turned its gaze to the southern part of the province, which included some of the most mountainous and poorest regions in the province. In 1890, Linyi (Ichow, 臨沂) station was opened, and two years later, Jining (Tsining, Chiningchow, 濟寧) station was established. The expanding German

the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, 1940), 198–200.) Even in contemporary historiography, historians still cannot agree on what exactly constitutes the Revival. Daniel Bays and Lian Xi have produced arguably the largest number and most influential publications on the revival movement in China. Both identify Monsen’s revival and the Spiritual Gifts Society as two key factors in the Shandong Revival. See Daniel Bays, “Christian Revival in China, 1900–1937,” in Modern Christian Revivals, eds. Edith L. Blumhofer and Randall Balmer (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1993), 173–74; “The Growth of Independent Christianity in China, 1900–1937,” in Christianity in China, From the Eighteenth Century to the Present, ed. Daniel H. Bays (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1996), 312–13; A New History of Christianity in China (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), 99–107, 134–35; Lian Xi, Redeemed by Fire, The Rise of Popular Christianity in Modern China (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2010), 95–101. However, R. G. Tiedemann argues there was a first Shandong Revival of 1909–14, featuring such indigenous revivalists as Li Shuqing 李叔青 and Ding Limei 丁立美 with another “Shandong Revival” associated with Monsen taking place in the early 1930s. See R. G. Tiedemann, “Protestant Revivals in China with Particular Reference to Shandong Province,” Studies in World Chris­ tianity 18:3 (2012): 217–18, 225–27. 4 See Lian, Redeemed by Fire, 100–101. 5 G. Thompson Brown, Earthen Vessels and Transcendent Power: American Presbyterians in China, 1837–1952 (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1997), 78. 5

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colonial presence helped the Shandong Mission open a new station in Qingdao in 1898.6 Given that Shandong province was the birthplace of the Boxer Movement, the Shandong Mission suffered much destruction and evacuation following 1900, but the Mission bounced back quickly and began to expand again, especially in the southern part of the province along the railway connecting Tianjin and Shanghai, with new stations in Yixian (Yihsien 嶧縣), Tengxian (Tenghsien 滕縣), and in 1918, a substation was opened at Qilu (Cheeloo 齊魯) University, completing the Shandong Mission’s network of nine stations. The early years of the twentieth century witnessed the organizational consolidation of the Presbyterian missions at provincial and national level. In 1910, the China Council was established and headquartered in Shanghai as a coordinating body of all PCUSA missions in the country. As the largest China mission of the PCUSA, the Shandong Mission had its own council and administrative committees. Organizationally the center of gravity appeared to be shifting. While the old stations such as Dengzhou and Yantai became stagnant, such new stations as Tengxian showed a lot more vitality. In just a couple of decades, Tengxian Station would grow into a major fundamentalist missionary and theological education stronghold with national influence. Yet by the early 1930s, the Mission entered an internally critical and turbulent period. While the modernist-fundamentalist confrontation caused significant concerns among this group of overwhelmingly conservative missionaries, the drive toward a self-governing, self-supporting and self-propagating Chinese church accelerated considerably. As all of this was happening, Northern Presbyterians found themselves suddenly facing a new challenge: SGM and other revivalistic stirrings in their field.

The Rise and Fall of the Spiritual Gifts Movement Linyi is the area where the SGM originated and became its first hotbed in the province. Located in the southern part of Shandong, Linyi was one of the largest Northern Presbyterian mission fields in China,7 but the station was isolated geographically and understaffed most of the time. Thus when the indigenous Pentecostal movement suddenly arose, the mission and churches were ill prepared to 6 For the German colonial enterprise’s effects on the Shandong Mission, see Heeren, On the

Shantung Front, 107–9

7 According to “Report of the Ichowfu Station, June 1929–June 1930,” (Carroll Yerks Papers,

Box. 2/27, RG153, Yale, “Ichowfu Station Survey,” 1936), (PCUSABS, RG82-53-8, Survey-Station Histories, Correspondences and Reports, 1936). 6

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cope with the change and theological difference it brought. The SGM first started within a Presbyterian church in Feixian (費縣). Toward the end of the 1920s, some key native church leaders became increasingly discontent with foreign missionaries’ dominance, especially in financial matters. In 1930, Ma Zhaorui 馬 兆瑞, a Pentecostalist church leader influenced by the Assembly of God came to the region from Nanjing and held revival meetings.8 Encouraged by Ma, a group of Presbyterian leaders withdrew from the Lingyi Presbytery, and established an Independent Church of Spiritual Gifts (靈恩自立). By 1932–33, the new movement began to impact the entire field of the Linyi Station, and caught the attention of Northern Presbyterian missionaries. The Linyi station reported that this new group had started numerous revival meetings in the Presbyterian church network and spread in the field “like wildfire.”9 As it expanded, the movement began to set up its own leadership and headquarters, and even printed a monthly magazine. Early in 1933, the SGM reached the city of Lingyi itself and quickly sent the mission infrastructure, especially its schools, into chaos.10 Consequently the Presbyterian mission and church in Lingyi was decimated, and a large number of its active pastors and church members left and cut their ties with the mission. After SGM shook the Linyi field in early 1930s, the Northern Presbyterian mission stations in the southern part of the province were also impacted. There is no evidence for any systematic and consistent scheme of dispatching and coordinating of leaders from Linyi. But the same pattern was repeated in 8 Originally from Shanxi 陝西 province, Ma Zhaorui was converted to Pentecostalism by an

American woman named Lawler in Shanghai in the early years of the twentieth century. With the help of W. W. Simpson, a missionary of the Assembly of God, Ma started his own independent church in Nanjing around 1913. To support his family and church, Ma ran a small business producing lacework. Starting in 1916, he began to accept orphans from Shandong and Hebei provinces, providing them with education and work opportunities in his business. See Ma Geshun with Xue Yanli (馬革順口述, 薛彥莉整理), 生命如聖火般 燃燒—合唱指揮家馬革順的人生傳奇 [A Life Burnt like the Olympic Flame: The Legend of Choral-Conductor Ma Geshun] (Hong Kong: Alliance Bible Seminary, 2003), 1–6. Hwang Hsih-an, “Good News of Revival at Feihsien,” China’s Million, Vol. LVI, No. 4 (April 1930): 60. Exactly what Ma did in Feixian remains a mystery. Given the fact that he did not stay there long, and his name was never mentioned as the founder of the SGM in Shandong later, we have good reason to believe his influence did not go beyond the launch stage of the movement. 9 “1932–33 Station Report Ichowfu, Shantung, China.” PCUSABS (Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Foreign Missions, Secretaries’ Files), RG82-48-8, Corres and Reports, 1933.” 10 “Personal Report of Elizabeth Small, 1932–33,” PCUSABS, RG82-48-7, Reports, 1933. 7

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Tengxian, Yixian, Jining, and Jinan: freelance preachers without authorization or permission from the mission and local churches roamed over the field, and started Pentecostal-type revivals within local church communities. However, the Northern Presbyterian stations and church communities in these areas were stronger, and SGM did not penetrate local churches there as much as in Linyi. After the SGM began to lose its momentum in southern Shandong, its renowned mobility and ability to penetrate an area rapidly took it to the eastern part of the province. The SGM quickly turned the city of Weixian into another hotbed of the movement by the early 1930s. According to the report filed by key local church leaders in Weixian, this movement was disturbing peace and order within the local Presbyterian churches to such an extent that “one third of the Chinese pastors (feeble minded [sic]) are influenced and another one third (by speculation) joined in this movement. So we have the danger of division in our church here now.”11 The Northern Presbyterian Weixian Station and local churches quickly acted to contain the spread of the SGM, and in Yantai and Qingdao, SGM’s impact was relatively mild. By the mid-1930s the movement began to ebb across the province.

[128.104.46.206] Project MUSE (2024-04-07 01:48 GMT) UW-Madison Libraries

“The Work of the Holy Spirit” Through missionary pens, the Pentecostal orientation of the Spiritual Gifts Movement teachings and practices is very evident. Several themes and features define the SGM revivals of the 1930s. The Holy Spirit and its work in each person’s life were the most essential and normative beliefs and teaching of the SGM. However, the SGM’s understanding of the Holy Spirit tends to focus overwhelmingly on inner experience and external bodily demonstration. In addition to its common and persistent insistence on public confession of sin, the SGM was famously obsessed with miracles and wonders, ranging from fantastic dreaming and visioning, including seeing in visions other people’s sins, to healing and raising the dead. This was what made the movement attractive to many church-goers and rural folk in Shandong but scandalized the missionary communities. As early as 1931, the intense impact of the revivals in the province could be felt across the Shandong Mission. “Shantung Mission General Narrative, 1931” 11 Li Dao Hwai to the board of Foreign Mission of the Presbyterian Church, February 26,

1934, PCUSABS, RG82-49-3, Corres, 1934, 2. 8

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describes the revivals as one of the major trends in its field, and captures its dynamic in positive tones: Throughout the Church there is being nanifested (sic) a hunger for a spiritual and more vital Christian experience. The year has witnessed a rapidly increasing wave of revival, spreading through our Mission. Various Christian speakers and evangelistic bands have visited a number of the Stations and held special meetings for the Christians. Other services of this sort have been conducted by visiting missionaries and other foreigners. Frequently these have been accompanied by public confession of sin, restitution, the establishment of special prayer meetings, a new stimulus to direct evangelistic effort to reach the unsaved, and the like. Much of this work has been accompanied by considerable emotionalism, and in instances there have been evidences of Satan trying to counterfeit the work of the Holy Spirit and mislead yearning souls. There have been those who have gone off into excesses, and some divisions have resulted, but the whole the movement seems to be largely a genuine work of the Holy Spirit and a real revival movement. In those churches where special meetings have not been held, and undue excitement and public confession have been avoided, the Spirit seems to be working, and a deeper earnestness and more sincere effort to live Christ and to really serve Him is manifested.12 From SGM’s birthplace, the Linyi Station report of 1932–33 describes the rising movement in detail, and highlights some more troubling aspects to the missionary authors: The simple, spiritually-desirous souls are particularly allured by the attraction of a trance to “Paradise” which is invariably a phase of these meetings in every place. Not infrequently several travel together to this spirit-world, eat together its delectable fruits, for hours consciously enjoy its fragrance and delights in each other’s company; then return to this mortal, mundane sphere to “bear witness.”13 12 Shantung Mission General Narrative for the Year 1931, PCUSABS, RG82-43-1, Corres &

Reports, 1931, 2–3. 13 “1932–33 Station Report Ichowfu, Shantung, China.” PCUSABS, RG82-48-8, Corres and

Reports, 1933. 9

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This emphasis on this kind of trance or dream is just one part of the group’s theology and practice. The report goes on to lay out its several key beliefs: This group teaches: one must make public confession of all sins, no matter how far back, when one will receive the fulness of this Spirit; not until one receives this fulness of the Spirit is one really “born again”; proofs of this fulness are one’s personal experiences of “tongues”; visions, trances, performing of miracles, jumping and jerking, rolling and other forms of bodily sensation.14 By the time the Linyi Station Report of 1935–36 looks back at what the station had gone through during the past three years, its report reads: The past three years have necessarily been a time of reconstruction, due to the financial cut and the fanatical ‘cuttings up’, which like an economical and spiritual tornado broke upon the church and station. . . . We have seen God turn that which men meant for evil into good. Our church is immeasurably stronger because of the trials it has gone through. We have now a recognized standard, the Word of God, not jumps, jerks, and jitterings.15 It is obvious that the missionaries were deeply troubled by these latter emotional practices, which were widespread in Linyi’s neighboring counties and cities, and frequently reported by the Northern Presbyterian mission stations there. In its report for 1931–32, the Jining Station reports SGM activities in its field as follows: This year there has been a number of psychic religious movements around us which we neither fully understand nor fully approve. The peculiar accompaniments have been so-called “tongues”, visions, dancing, throwing about of the body, etc. It is encouraging, we think, that our Pastor, Elders and church members, though pressed to go into these movements, 14 “1932–33 Station Report Ichowfu, Shantung, China.” 15 “The Ichowfu Station in Action, June 1935–June 1936,” PCUSABS, RG82-53-8, Reports,

1936, 1. According to some Chinese sources, the churches under SGM continued to exist and operate in the decades to follow, but SGM’s influence appeared to ebb considerably. Pingyi xian zhi 平邑縣誌, 654. 10

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refused, as they did not think they were entirely in accordance with Scripture, and were not sure it was all the work of the Holy Spirit. We heartily approve of the earnestness in prayer and joy that often go with these religious experiences, but cannot, as yet, see that all the strange outward manifestations are necessary accompaniments of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.16 The measured language of this description shows the quandary for Presbyterian pastors in responding to a movement that was beyond their experience but which challenged their church work. However, in some Chinese-language historical narratives, exorcism and faith healing in rather violent forms were reported to be practiced in local SGM events.17 In Weixian, another hotbed of SGM activities, the church leaders of the local Presbyterian church took the matter into their own hands, and compiled for the Northern Presbyterian mission board a special report and petition on behalf of the Weixian Presbytery. This report is significant because it describes major beliefs and practices of SGM in a relatively systematic way. The report starts by listing what typically happened in SGM revival meetings: A. They jump with their utmost efforts and sing a kind of song which they call holy songs to the highest tone till they perspire and lose their voices through excessive singing. B. They kneel down and call shrilly for the Holy Spirit. C. They pray as long as they shiver as they suffer from nerves in the deep night. D. They speak with other tongues as they say this is the utterance of the Holy Spirit. E. They see visions. They say they have opened their holy eyes. F. They dream. They say this is the direction of God. G. They tell their sins in the chapel before the audience as they say this purity, born anew and the only process to get the holy life.18 16 Report of Tsining Station for the Year 1931–32, PCUSABS, RE82-46-3, Corres & Reports,

1932. 17 See Tancheng xian zhi 郯城縣誌 (Shenzhen: Shenzhen te qu chubanshe, 2001), 910.

https://tinyurl.com/3355dzky.

18 Li Dao Hwai to the board of Foreign Mission of the Presbyterian Church, February 26,

1934, PCUSABS, RG82-49-3, Corres, 1934, 1. 11

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Another issue the report identifies is how this movement challenges established doctrines, practices, and church order: A. They say that all the former churches are wrong. B. When they meet in the chapel they appoint provisionally their chairman, the verses of Bible they should read and the one who should give a sermon. C. They tell their sins, visions and dreams in every meeting they hold. D. They say that telling sins is the only proof of the inspiration from the Holy Spirit, and they baptize new church members without giving them any examination. E. They meet in deep night, and they say they see some delicious food on the table which is given by the Holy Spirit, and they say that they can eat it all up together. F. They say they can see the sins inside all other people. G. They say that they can talk and contact with the dead people. H. They say that they need not study. So I say perhaps this is the reason that we have only two students studying in the theology school in these three years, much less than the former time. I. Many people in the country are so superstitious now that some of them have left their works and only wait for coming of Jesus Christ.19 In this outline in negative, we can see delineated both the (reported) practices of the SGM and the effects on the mission churches of these new theologies and practices. The report goes on to name some of “the fruits of this movement”: A. They compel people to tell their sins before the audience. B. They are proud, and they despise all that they dislike. C. They call the people who do not agree with them bad names as dogs and pigs.20 Public confession of sin was one of the most common features in SGM revival meetings. On the one hand, the SGM’s emphasis on confessing sins and being born again was in line with the mainstream revivals within the Shandong Revival. On the other hand, the SGM was unique in its insistence on making 19 Li Dao Hwai to the board of Foreign Mission of the Presbyterian Church, 1–2. 20 Li Dao Hwai to the board of Foreign Mission of the Presbyterian Church, 2. 12

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public confession of all sins absolutely mandatory in worship and for church membership, and in idolizing its external manifestations such as in overly long confession, prayer, and fasting. One rural field affected by the SGM, the Qingdao Station mentions in its annual report for the year 1932: that prevailing in some sections of the church, where there have been great excesses, and all sorts of wild flings have been made by the leaders of these simple country folk (sic). Some claim to have raised? people from the dead. Others claim to have power of healing. Speaking with tongues, so-called, has been a very common occurrence, and emotional meetings, lasting far into the night, with resultant exhaustion, have been carried on in some places. This sort of thing, if unchecked, will no doubt work out to the detriment of the churches’ spiritual life. And so the need of more Bible study and a more aggressive leadership on the part of the conservative element in the church is very manifest.21 The Pentecostal theological orientation and practices of SGM are on full display in these historical records left by the Northern Presbyterian missionaries, alongside their own reflections, criticisms, and plans for reform.

Biblical Authority and Doctrinal Issues With their understanding of the Holy Spirit, SGM tended to undermine and relativize many norms and conventions in the Protestant tradition. Direct communication between God and individuals under the guidance of the Spirit was valued at the expense of printed literature, teaching and education, rituals and rules. Consequently Scripture was often liable to highly subjective and arbitrary interpretation. With its strong anti-intellectualism, SGM rejected the need to study for biblical exegesis and preaching. Such essential worship services as baptism and communion in their conventional forms were either rejected or considerably re-interpreted and altered. In its annual report of 1932–33, Linyi Station points to the SGM’s challenge to a traditional view of biblical authority: 21 A Report of the American Presbyterian Mission, Tsingtao Station, June 1932, PCUSABS,

RG82-46-3, Corres & Reports, 1932. 13

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That it is not of the Holy Spirit we believe there are the following proofs: almost a total lack of the Word of God, and, when used, fanciful interpretations of the Scriptures (the dead church is to be aroused before it is given Bible teaching, not by means of the Bible); open preaching that the Blood of Christ is not sufficient for salvation; the authority of the Scriptures is subject to the interpretations of, or even may be superceded (sic) by, the revelations given while in a state of trance; almost the entire emphasis is on the exhaltation (sic) of the Spirit rather than that “He shall glorify Me,” the Lord Jesus; grasping for power on the part of church leaders; definite statements to the church members and students that they need not submit to their pastors or teachers after they have received this “fulness”; promiscuous mixing of the sexes; and spiritual pride and self-complacency.22 One of the most staunch critics from the missionary community of the SGM— and even other types of revivals in Shandong—was Watson Hayes, a senior Presbyterian missionary in Shandong and long-time president of the North China Theological Seminary (NCTS). Hayes categorically rejected the SGM. In his letter to Robert E. Speer, long-time senior leader of the Northern Presbyterian Mission Board, he gave his assessment of SGM’s influence among the Presbyterian church and threat to the Shandong Mission at the end of 1931. In his own words: We have been having no end of trouble with the so-called “spiritual movement” in various forms. Some of the pastors in the Weihsien field claim that it is not necessary to prepare their sermons—not even choose a text, but simply open their Bibles and speak on whatever verses the eye happens to fall on. If it falls on a blank spot, then that is an indication that the Spirit does not wish them to preach that day. One has gone so far that he claims that anyone may perform the rite of baptism—only they should anoint the feet and not the head. In observing the Lord’s Supper, I hear that he simply passes around an empty plate. Of course, being a “spiritual” ceremony, invisible, “spiritual” food is all that is necessary.23 22 “1932–33 Station Report Ichowfu, Shantung, China.” PCUSABS, RG82-48-8, Corres and

Reports, 1933. 23 Watson M. Hayes to R. E. Speer, December 2, 1931, PCUSABS, RG82-43-19, Corres,

1931. 14

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By 1933–34, SGM was present in the city of Jinan and its adjacent countryside. At the end of 1933, a Jinan Station member working in a small town twenty miles away from the city wrote a letter to the board and made the following observations: You have doubtless heard much of the “revival” spreading in Shantung. In some places it has been held in control and directed by scripture grounded and steady pastors and missionaries. In other places Chinese less qualified for leadership and with inadequate knowledge of the Word have carried groups off into sad excesses and distressing exhibitions of emotionalism. Their converts are going around among other churches at will seeking to introduce their unscriptural and hysterical practices. Thus considerable confusion and division is being caused among Christians.24 In Weixian, one pastor who had worked in local Presbytery for twenty years “has been mentally unbalanced, partly as the result of his religious experience during the revival.” His preaching turned divisive. He even wrote a book entitled “The True Gospel,” claiming “all who confess sins are fit for church membership and without the need for baptism and to partake of the communion.” Consequently the Presbytery took disciplinary action against him and revoked his church membership and preaching license.25 According to the NPSM report for 1934, “The revival which swept over the province during the past three years has by no means spent itself. The excesses of emotionalism, ‘Pentecostal’ in character, have quieted down greatly.”26 Looking back over several years, the report gives a summary and reflection as follows: The emphasis on signs and wonders, the preaching of half truths, the passion for sensation and excitement, the spiritual pride which has accompanied the possession of “gifts,” the fantastic interpretation of scripture have seriously tested the Church’s life. However in most places there is a swing back to a saner faith, a steadying of the church, a growth in understanding of spiritual realities and a clearing of the discernment of the leaders. 24 Reuben Archer Torrey, Jr. to George T. Scott, December 9, 1933, PCUSABS, RG82-47-18,

Corres, 1933. 25 Charles V. Reed to C.H.Fenn, November 16, 1934, PCUSABS, RG82-50-7, Corres. 1934,

3. 26 Report of the Shantung Mission 1934, PCUSABS, RG82-49-19, Reports, 1933, 6. 15

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While it will take time to purge out the leaven of Pentecostalism the work has already gone far. The wisest of our pastors have come through the ordeal and equipped to pilot their parishioners into quieter waters. There has been a strong divisive movement in the Ichow Presbytery, but the worst is probably passed already. Discord, disloyalty and lack of love has torn the Church.27 For Northern Presbyterians, SGM’s idiosyncratic interpretation of the Bible posed a damaging threat, but there was also recognition of the need both for patience and for a wise discerning of what sorts of change were needed in response.

Freelancing Itinerants and Their Challenge to Established Church Order In the Linyi region alone, a sort of SGM organization with directors and a magazine was formed.28 Other than that, there is no evidence for wider SGM organization and coordination across the province and beyond. SGM appeared to spread largely by word of mouth, through freelancing itinerant revivalists, sometimes at the invitation of local church leaders and missionaries. In its short life span, SGM appeared very much a loosely organized or largely spontaneous, unsustainable movement. There were frequent cases of church leaders regretting introducing the revivalists into their congregations. As the principal of one of the mission schools in Linyi, Elizabeth Small found herself in the middle of a worsening storm in the early 1930s. In her personal report to the PCUSA Mission Board in late 1933, she traced what had happened: A series of “revival” meetings conducted by a layman from Feihsien, the county seat of the county to the west of Ichowfu, at various points in the field had created a great deal of interest, not to say excitement, and it was decided by the pastor of the Ichowfu church to invite this man to hold meetings at Ichowfu in April. It was better to draw a veil over the remainder of the school year. Whether the result of extreme emotionalism, 27 Report of the Shantung Mission 1934, PCUSABS, RG82-49-19, Reports, 1933, 6. 28 See “1932–33 Station Report Ichowfu, Shantung, China.” 16

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whether due to occult powers, or what the reason, the atmosphere of the school was changed, going from bad to worse throughout the following two months. Divisions among the teachers, poor class work on the part of the pupils, our plans for the future upset, and the Sunday afternoon work that had given us so much happiness earlier in the spring practically coming to a standstill, all these were the direct result of the meetings.29 Spontaneous revival meetings were initiated by itinerant preachers, often at the invitation of local church leaders. This pattern first emerged in Linyi and was repeated across the province. For instance, in Weixian, Li Daohui (Li Dao Hwai, 李道輝), a leading pastor of the Weixian Presbytery in 1934, told the Northern Presbyterian Mission Board that SGM was introduced by four pastors from Linyi into the city in 1931.30 In fact, a Presbyterian missionary and member of the Station by the name of Charles V. Reed appeared to play a role in making this happen.31 Since then, the SGM activities apparently became rampant in Weixian, and impacted the Presbyterian church greatly there. What Charles Reed reported to the board in 1934 also points to the spontaneity of the SGM activities in Weixian: “The chief difficulty has been with some twenty men and women in the church who have gone forth to hold meetings and to preach on their own initiative and authority.”32 In the early 1930s all Northern Presbyterian mission fields faced, to different degrees, the challenge of this kind of freelance revivalists and their activities. In its report for 1932–33, the Shandong Mission states: Self-styled apostles with tremendous hypnotic gifts have in few instances arisen to trouble the body of Christ. They have been able to gain a following and even to overawe the ministry. Their influence has often been divisive and harmful. Antinomian tendencies have appeared and the 29 “Personal Report of Elizabeth Small, 1932–33,” PCUSABS, RG82-48-7, Reports, 1933. 30 Li Dao Hwai to the board of Foreign Mission of the Presbyterian Church, February 26,

1934, PCUSABS, RG82-49-3, Corres, 1934, 1. 31 Li Dao Hwai to the board of Foreign Mission of the Presbyterian Church, 2. See also “In-

digenous Revival in Shantung,” Chinese Recorder, December 1931, 768. According to a local history of Weixian, two pastors (Yu Tingen 于廷恩 and Wei Jingyi 魏精一) visited the SG church in Feixian in 1932. After coming back, they held lengthy revival meetings, and eventually established a church with five hundred members. The church lasted until the late 1950s. Weifang shi, Weicheng qu zhi 濰坊市濰城區志 (Qinan: Qilu shu she 1993, 773–74) 32 Charles V. Reed to C. H. Fenn, November 16, 1934, PCUSABS, RG82-50-7, Corres. 1934, 2. 17

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accounts of the Pentecostal phenomena which have emerged read like a page from church history. . . . Although the revivals in some instances have been accompanied by violent emotion and manifestations of a crude and primitive nature such as tongues, trances, dreams, dancing and rolling, these childish elements for the most part are gradually being sloughed off and growing less in intensity.33 In 1933 Paul R. Abbot, executive secretary of the Shandong Mission, summed up the seriousness of the situation: “There was a movement on foot fostered by some unauthorized persons who had been holding revivals throughout the field to organize a ‘living’ Church and to split from the Presbyterian Church.”34 It is evident that SGM broke out as a grass-roots movement outside of the Presbyterian mission establishment and posed a formidable threat to the unity of the Presbyterian church in Shandong. Its aftermath and impact on the NPSM was widely reported by the missionaries. The Linyi Station’s Survey of 1936 gives a sobering assessment of and reflection on this unprecedented movement. It begins by pointing out that revival was not a stranger to Lingyi. During the winter of 1909–1910, a revival associated with Ding Limei and Jia Yuming 賈玉銘 had swept through the region, and the Presbyterian churches there benefitted from it.35 In contrast, The worst thing which has happened in the last six years to the Ichowfu work is the “spirit gifts” movement which almost destroyed the church. Characterized by the wildest excesses, taking on an antagonistic spirit toward the established church, antiforeign and partically (sic) antinomian, it swept all of the pastors for a time, and nearly all the rest of the workers, off their feet. Gradually the wiser of the leaders have found themselves and have united with the missionaries, who had been under terrific criticism and psychic attack, in the Herculean task of cleansing the Augean stables and establishing decency and order in worship. Gradually things are clearing up, but it will take a long time before the virus is out of the church. A good many groups have split away from the mother church and 33 The Shantung Mission Report, 1932–1933, 3–4. 34 Paul R. Abbot to George T. Scott, September 15, 1933, PCUSABS, RG82-48-9, Corres &

reports, 1933, 1. 35 Ichowfu Station Survey, 1936 PCUSABS, RG82-53-8, Survey-Station Histories, Corre-

spondences and Reports, 1936), 1. 18

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are still under the spell of emotional excitement. Their people are moved by spiritual unrest, milling about from one revival meeting to another, saying “Lo here” and “Lo there.” The following questions of the revival movement have drawn the Station into a closer unity. Many of the country church members have been impreguated (sic) with the idea sown by traveling “faith” evangelists that anyone who takes a salary from the Church or Mission is a hireling. So the people of the country churches have ceased paying anything toward their pastors’ salaries. Self-support has been at a standstill. The work so well begun in 1914 toward self sustaining church has well nigh been reversed. However the City Church has continued to support its pastor, since a group has split from the mother church. 36 In the eyes of the missionaries, SGM’s impact was evidently largely negative: it ignored and undermined the authority and order of the church, brought chaos, and divided the church. Yet the native Christians’ legitimate concerns and SGM’s positive impact on the local churches were also acknowledged by some missionaries. For example, Yixian Station’s Report for 1932–33 mentions “a revival throughout our whole field,” and goes on to state: In some cases it has expressed itself in intense emotionalism, and always it has been characterized by a new desire to witness for Christ. Several of the lay leaders have spent the greater part of several months going about from place to place, preaching Jesus. We are especially interested in the display of a greater reliance upon their own resources by the people, and a recognition of the fact that the Church will more and more have to shoulder its own burden economically, and advance its own cause, irrespective of the Mission.37 Chinese Christians’ new enthusiasm for native initiatives and self-support was a significant outcome produced by SGM and other revivals in Shandong. The Shandong Mission’s report for 1935 especially identifies Chinese Christians’ discontent with the lifeless status quo within the church as one of the reasons behind a dramatic rise of the revivals: 36 Ichowfu Station Survey, 1936. 37 Yihsien Station Report 1932–1933, PCUSABS, RG82-48-8, Corres & Reports, 1933. 19

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The revival movement continues to spread though not with its initial forces and vehemence. It is now affecting the church more through individuals and groups who have been converted than as a mass movement. The Church has contracted the beneficial habit of witnessing. In general the Church is not going to be satisfied in the future with deadness or intellectual assent, but will demand religious experience. They have tasted of life and will not be content with anything less than a spiritual ministry. . . . In some cities a sort of Pietist movement has sprung up. Small groups of business people meet in shops or homes on week days to study the Bible together, led often by laymen . . . With this sometimes comes a coolness toward organized religion and an estrangement from the regular services of the church. The freedom, warmth and fellowship of these groups attract some of the more earnest spirits discouraged by the somewhat formal life of the church.38 Based on the missionaries’ accounts, we can depict an organizational profile of SGM as a native movement led by native leaders. From its leadership to average participants, they tended to be less educated, theologically less informed, and rural. The leaders whose names were mentioned in historical records were overwhelmingly male. The evidence does not support any direct and persistent links between the movement and the foreign Pentecostal missionary presence in China.39 There is also no evidence for any perceivable direct links between SGM and the Chinese religious sects, as suggested by some researchers.40 38 Shantung Mission Report for 1935, PCUSABS, RG82-51-7, Reports, 1935, 2. 39 For studies of the Pentecostal missions in China with foreign origins, see Bays, “The Prot-

estant Missionary Establishment and the Pentecostal Movement.” Tiedemann, “Protestant Revivals in China with Particular Reference to Shandong Province;” and “The Origins and Organizational Developments of the Pentecostal Missionary Enterprise in China,” Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies, 14:1 ( January 2011): 108–46. The links between the Jesus Family and the Pentecostal missionary enterprise in Tai’an are revealed by scholarly studies (See Tiedemann, “Origins,” 141), however, the Jesus Family are usually not considered a major force in the Shandong Revival and SGM. 40 See Daniel H. Bays, “The Protestant Missionary Establishment and the Pentecostal Movement,” in Pentecostal Currents in American Protestantism, eds. Edith L. Blumhofer, Russell P. Spittler, and Grant A. Wacker (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1999), 63; “Indigenous Protestant Churches in China, 1900–1937: A Pentecostal Case Study,” in Indigenous Responses to Western Christianity, ed. Steven Kaplan (New York: New York University Press, 1995), 138. 20

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Among SGM groups there was a sense of contempt of the established churches associated with the foreign missions for their economic dependence and lack of spiritual vitality. Not surprisingly, the SGM attitudes toward the church and mission establishment in Shandong led to numerous pastoral dismissals, church disciplines, and splits in the 1930s. SGM no doubt upset the status quo of the Mission and Church in a major way. Daily routine was disrupted, disorder created, and people’s lives changed at revival meetings from time to time. Equally, the rapid rise of SGM and its popularity evidently had to do with the Chinese Christians’ yearning for the Chinese Church to be independent from the control of foreign missions and full of zeal and energy. SGM and other revivals did stimulate significant church renewal and progress in the self-support and self-propagation of the Chinese Church in Shandong province, which was widely recognized by foreign missionaries.

Theological Responses to the SGM As a theologically conservative Presbyterian mission, the NPSM had always stressed the centrality of evangelism and church-planting in its work in the province. Church renewal and revival were very close to the heart of the Mission. At a time when the Mission found itself at a low point in the midst of growing nationalism and internal doctrinal dispute, the revivals sweeping the province were initially welcomed by the Presbyterian missionaries. However, the encounter between indigenous SGM and NPSM was much more intense and divisive than that of other revival movements. At the outset, many missionaries’ attitudes toward the movement were skeptical but still open. But as the movement spread, the missionaries were scandalized by its unorthodox teachings and practices, and their view quickly turned overwhelmingly negative and critical. The most common terms used by the missionaries are “emotionalism” and “excesses.” More serious terms used include “psychic” and “Satanic.” The most critical comments usually came from the hardest hit stations such as Linyi and Weixian. To contain and offset the damaging effects of the movement, the Shandong Mission implemented such measures as promoting Bible study and strengthening church leadership training. However, the Shandong Mission as a whole did acknowledge some value and contributions of the SGM. One classic case of Presbyterian missionaries confronting the SGM and other varieties of the revival in Shandong was that of Watson Hayes in Tengxian. 21

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In his lengthy 1933 letter to Robert E. Speer, after lashing out at SGM,41 Hayes expressed his concern about the influence of the ongoing revivals in Shandong and their non-orthodox thought. According to him: Others, since the Shanghai Bethelites were here last summer, have the idea that we can live perfectly sinless lives. The Principal of the M. M. I. here has fallen into that snare, and your friend, Ting Lee Mei, has taken up with both these notions—though he does not go so far in the former as many do. Last Spring he contented himself with the screeching prayer meetings—all helloing at once—some at the top of their voices. I have done my best to counteract these vagaries, showing that God wished to be worshipped, not in those ways, but with “reverence and godly fear.” Just now a new movement is on foot, showing that Communism is entering the church, namely, an advocacy of Acts 2:44, failing to see that the praiseworthy action of that time was due to a special emergency, but is not a model for permanent observance. Whereunto these things will grow is yet a problem.42 Hayes’s words show that different kinds of revivals and groups were causing a great deal of confusion, especially among Chinese churches in Tengxian and on the campus of the North China Theological Seminary. Consequently the fundamentalist orthodoxy in the Calvinistic vein was challenged particularly over the issues of biblical authority and salvation. The confusion was great enough to carry away even some of the top Chinese church leaders, such as Ding Limei 丁 立美 who eventually left the North China Theological Seminary as a result.43 As founder and president of the seminary, Hayes always believed his duty was “in the line of protecting the students from imbibing these new merely emotional fads to which the Chinese recently are so prone . . .”44As we can see, he did not hesitate to refute certain ideas and practices of the revivals. To fight so-called “farfetched exegesis in the Chinese pulpit,” the NCTS launched a Bible-reading 41 Watson M. Hayes to R. E. Speer, December 2, 1931. 42 Watson M. Hayes to R.E. Speer, December 2, 1931. M.M.I stands for the Mateer Memorial

Institute, which was an evangelist and teacher training school located in Tengxian and had a Chinese principal. 43 For the conflict between Hayes and revivals, see Kevin Xiyi Yao, The Fundamentalist Movement among Protestant Missionaries in China, 1920–1937 (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2003), 169–73. 44 Watson M. Hayes to Robert Speer, December 9, 1933, PCUSABS RG82-47-17, Corres, 1933. 22

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campaign among its students in 1933.45 Consequently, Hayes was even labeled by some students at the seminary as one who had not been born again.46 In another major battleground, Weixian, the well-established Chinese Presbyterian Church there did not wait to rein in SGM activities. In November of 1932, the Weixian Presbytery adopted and issued the following resolution regarding SGM: 1. All church pastors and elders must hold more revival meetings in order to deepen the church members’ spirituality and enhance ministry. 2. Peace must be the main theme and purpose of each revival meeting. Before holding a meeting in a place, one must consult and get permission of the majority of the church staffs and members. 3. Every congregation should be notified that it must be the pastor of the congregation, who should lead worship. If the pastor is traveling, then the preacher or elder should take charge. If a special revival meeting is held at a remote meeting point, the pastor in charge must be notified. 4. Without the permission of a church staff or executive members of this presbytery, any church members should not conduct their own itinerant revival meetings. 5. This presbytery categorically bans the following unbiblical and heretical teachings: substituting foot-washing for baptism, substituting spiritual food for holy communion, confessing sins by the souls of the dead people, etc. 6. Whenever there is a revival meeting, all the visions and dreams must be interpreted by the pastor in charge, and must benefit the church. Otherwise, they should not be announced. 7. This presbytery categorically bans the following unbiblical practices in any revival meeting: compelling people to confess sins, claiming to see others’ sins in visions, etc.47 Two years later, the Weixian Presbytery adopted another resolution. Citing the biblical verses, this resolution admonishes the congregations over the following points: 45 Yao, The Fundamentalist Movement, 171–72. 46 Yao, The Fundamentalist Movement, 171–72. 47 “The Presbytery’s Resolution on Revival Meeting (本區會表決奋興會之議案列左),”

PCUSABS, RG82-49-17, Corres, 1934. 23

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1. A baptized Christian should not be baptized again. (Rom 6:3, 4, 10). 2. The boundary and decency between different sexes must be conserved. (1 Cor 7:1 . . .) 3. One should not fast for no reason. (Matt 6:16–18) 4. An unordained individual should not baptize others, and lay hands on them. (Acts 8:14–24) 5. No witchcraft in the name of Jesus. (Acts 19:13–19 . . .) 48 Due to these actions taken under the strong leadership of the local churches, the kind of upheavals and exoduses from the church in Linyi did not happen in Weixian, and the impact of SGM was most of the time under control. In conclusion, the Presbyterians’ reactions to SGM are significant, because they reveal the fundamental theological differences between Presbyterianism and the SGM. The SGM and Shandong Revival were clearly tied to the Holiness or Pentecostal tradition in its theological and practical orientation. Although both NPSM and SGM were against the modernist wings within the Church, they found their differences in theology and practice were so pronounced that they could not be united under the fundamentalist movement that shaped the Protestant landscape in China in the first half of the twentieth century.49 In this sense, the Shandong Mission’s encounter with SGM can be viewed as one of the earliest chapters in the historical clash between Calvinism and Pentecostalism in the context of modern China.

Concluding Remarks The Northern Presbyterian Shandong Mission’s encounter with SGM affords us a unique opportunity to examine the latter more closely. Despite all the denominational and theological bias on the part of NPSM, the missionaries’ reports still provide us with valuable information and insights.50 The missionaries’ narratives by and large affirm and enrich what we know about the movement: that it was an indigenous mass movement, Pentecostal in idea and practice, 48 “The Resolution of the Weixian Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church, 1934 (基督教長老

會濰縣區會議決案 1934 年)，“PCUSABS, RG82-49-17, Corres, 1934. 49 See Yao, Fundamentalist Movement, 13–14. 50 Our knowledge and understanding of SGM to date heavily rely on Western missionaries and

other outsiders’ narratives. No writings or publications from SGM itself have been discovered to avail us an opportunity to piece together their message through their own mouths. 24

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and loosely organized in structure. Apparently no leaders emerged to guide the movement in any consistent way, and no persistent efforts to institutionalize the movement can be detected. In current histography of the Shandong Revival, the SGM is always considered “Pentecostal.”51 As we apply the concept of Pentecostalism to the SGM, we must keep in mind the primitive and fluid nature of the SGM. Put another way, the SGM shared many common convictions and practices with other Pentecostal groups but also demonstrated its own unique features. The evidence available for now does not support the existence of any systematic and sophisticated theologizing or consistent organizational efforts on the part of SGM. Drawing on its pretty crude and minimalist understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit, SGM appeared to preoccupy itself with immediate religious experience and practices such as visions and dreams. Lacking any consistent leadership, it was a spontaneous and decentralized revival movement that swept through the churches in Shandong like a wildfire. As a movement, its life span was short, exploding and ebbing like a tidal wave. Apart from a small number of Pentecostal congregations in Shandong province, SGM failed to go through the transmutation from charismatic/sectarian authority to institutionalized establishment as described by sociologists of religion,52 and thus did not leave any direct institutional legacy. The Presbyterian narratives of SGM are particularly significant in highlighting SGM’s anti-establishment ethos and tendency. Driven by Chinese Christians’ yearning for a more autonomous and vibrant church life, the SGM challenged the Northern Presbyterian Shandong Mission at theological, liturgical, and organizational levels. The dramatic and extensive impact of the SGM on the NPSM was quite rare within the Chinese Protestant community of the 1930s. In many ways, the Spiritual Gifts Movement in Shandong province in the 1930s was not an isolated occurrence. Although there was not much overlap between SGM and other revivals sweeping the province and country at that time, SGM belongs to a larger story of the Shandong Revival. Just as with other streams of the Shandong Revival, SGM put much emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit and public confession of sins. Even placed in the context of 51 The Chinese name for the SGM is 靈恩運動, which is the exact Chinese translation for the

Charismatic Movement. This fact seems to reinforce the view that the SGM is charismatic or Pentecostal. 52 See an excellent summary of relevant sociological theories in Melissa Wei-tsing Inouye, China and the True Jesus, Charisma and Organization in a Chinese Christian Church (New York: Oxford University Press, 2018), 12–13. 25

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nationwide evangelical revival movements, SGM was perhaps one of most indigenous, grass-roots, spontaneous, and dramatic initiatives from the Chinese Protestant community, and can tell us a great deal about the characters and impact of indigenous Pentecostalism and the Holiness tradition in the first half of the twentieth century. Although its direct institutional influence is very hard to trace, SGM is without doubt an astonishing chapter of the history of the Pentecostalist movement in modern China. The striking resemblance between SGM and some of the rural Christian revivals in China of the 1980s–90s is worth further exploration. Finally, the tensions and conflicts between SGM and NPSM serve to highlight the long-standing, delicate relationship between Calvinistic and Holiness traditions in the Chinese context.

26

Chapter 2

THE THEOLOGY OF THE HONG KONG PENTECOSTAL MISSION A Mix of Western Christianity and Chinese Folk Religion? David Kwun-Ho Tai  戴觀豪 Introduction In Chinese Pentecostal Studies, comparing indigenous Christianity with Chinese folk religion has been a mainstream research approach. When Daniel Bays, for example, observed the interaction between heterodox Chinese religion and Christianity in the nineteenth century, he asserted that Christianity “can be seen as a Chinese sect.”1 Bays held that in traditional Chinese society, religions could be classified into two categories: institutional and popular.2 Applying this dual classification, he subdivided Chinese Christianity between 1900 and 1937 into that of the “Sino-Foreign Protestant Establishment” and “Independent Chinese Christianity.”3 In researching the latter, including the True Jesus Church, the Jesus Family, the Assembly Hall, and their indigenous cultural elements,4 1 Daniel H. Bays, “Christianity and Chinese Sectarian Tradition,” Ch’ing-shih wen-t’i 4:7

(1982), 33–55.

2 Daniel H. Bays, “Chinese Popular Religion and Christianity before and after the 1949 Rev­

olution: A Retrospective View,” Fides et historia: Journal of the Conference on Faith and History 23:1 (1991), 69–77. 3 See, for example, Daniel H. Bays, A New History of Christianity in China (Chichester, West Sussex; Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), 92–157. 4 Daniel H. Bays, “Yihetuan de zongjiao tiyan yu 20 shiji 20 niandai shandong jidujiao ‘Yesu jiating’ de bijiao” [義和團的宗教體驗與 20世紀 20年代山東基督教「耶穌家庭」的 比較 A Comparison of the Boxer Religious Experience and the Shandong Christian “Jesus Family” in the 1920s], translated by Song Minmin [宋敏敏], in Yihetuan yundong yu jindai

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Bays concluded that these independent indigenous churches were “syncretic combinations of old popular sectarianism and Protestant Christianity.”5 Because these churches were perceived as Chinese Pentecostal-like sects, the relationship between Pentecostalism and Chinese popular religion became a core question in scholarship.6 Bays wrote: Now, is this problem which I have identified—that is, the mix of Western Christian beliefs and behavior patterns, some of them Pentecostal, with traditional Chinese religious ideas and practices—really a problem? Perhaps not.7 The religious mix of traditional Chinese religion with Western Pentecostalism was defended on the grounds that all religious expansion involves synergizing elements from new religious truths and existing traditional patterns.8 In his influential monograph Redeemed by Fire: The Rise of Popular Christianity in Modern China, Lian Xi reinforced the impression of Chinese Pentecostalism and independent indigenous churches as Chinese sectarian movements and a syncretic blend of Western Christianity and Chinese popular religion. He asserted, In fact, the emergence of homegrown churches since the Republican era points to an evolution of popular religion in modern China, when Christianity joined indigenous beliefs in supplying the core ideology of sectarian movements.9 zhongguo shehui guoji xueshu taolunhui lunwenji [義和團運動與近代中國社會國際學 術討論會論文集 Essays on the International Symposium on the Boxer Movement and Modern Chinese Society], ed. Zhongguo yihetuan yan jiu hui [中國義和團研究會 Society for the Chinese Boxer Studies], ( Jinan: Qilu Shushe, 1992), 521–25; Daniel H. Bays, “Protestantism in Modern China as ‘Foreign Religion’ and ‘Chinese Religion’: Autonomy, Independence, and the Constraints of Foreign Hegemony,” in Confucianism and Spiritual Traditions in Modern China and Beyond, ed. Fenggang Yang and Joseph Tamney (Leiden: Brill, 2012), 229–46. 5 Bays, “Chinese Popular Religion and Christianity,” 73. 6 Daniel H. Bays, “Chinese Ecstatic Millenarian Folk Religion with Pentecostal Christian Characteristic?” in Global Chinese Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity, ed. Fenggang Yang, Joy K. C. Tong and Allan H. Anderson (Leiden and London: Brill, 2017), 35–40. 7 Bays, “Chinese Ecstatic Millenarian Folk Religion,” 40. 8 Bays, “Chinese Ecstatic Millenarian Folk Religion,” 40. 9 Lian Xi, Redeemed by Fire: The Rise of Popular Christianity in Modern China (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2010), 16. 28

T h e T h eo lo g y o f t h e Hon g Kon g P entecosta l M i ss i on

Chinese independent Pentecostal and Pentecostal-like churches have thus been closely associated with the term “popular Christianity,” and commonly labeled as a transformation of Chinese folk religion.10 Chinese Pentecostalism has even been stigmatized as a traditional superstition.11 Not only does the approach of religious syncretism in studies of the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement in the Global South pay close attention to the interaction between the Christian faith and local religions, but it also stresses cultural continuity in local spiritual beliefs and practices. Whatever Western elements might be part of indigenous Christianity, it should still be a local version displaying some continuities with those of the past.12 Critiques of continuity thinking in studies of global Pentecostalism are relevant: as Joel Robbins writes, in many local manifestations, Pentecostalism is rich in disjunctive discourses and practices that rupture with the past, while judgments on similarity are relative to the standard of comparison used, so that the similarity between different cultural practices in one dimension does not preclude difference in another.13 Robbins writes: 10 See, for example, Francis Yip Ching-Wah, “Protestant Christianity and Popular Religion in

China: A Case of Syncretism?” Ching Feng 42:3–4 ( July-December 1999), 130–75; Yeung Tin Yan Timothy 楊天恩, Shenglingshi jidujiao suo dizao de zhongguo bentu jiaohui: jidujiao zai jindai zhongguo fazhan de zaisi 聖靈式基督教所締造的中國本土教會―基督教在 近代中國發展的再思 [Indigenous Church as an Offspring of Pneumatic Christianity: A Re-examination of the Development of Christianity in Modern China] (PhD Thesis, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2002); Tao Feiya 陶飛亞, “Yesujiating yu zhongguo de jidujiao wutuobang” 耶穌家庭與中國的基督教烏托邦 [ Jesus Family and Christian Utopia in China], Lishi yanjiu [歷史研究 Historical Research] 1 (2002), 133; Joseph Tse-Hei Lee, “Christianity in Contemporary China: An Update,” Journal of Church and State 49:2 (2007), 296–300; Tobias Brandner, “Premillennial and Countercultural Faith and Its Production and Reception in the Chinese Context,” Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies 14:1 (2011), 3–26. 11 Sun Shanling 孫善玲, “Zhongguo Minjian Jidujiao” 中國民間基督教 [Chinese Popular Protestantism], Jinling shenxue zhi 金陵神學誌 [Nanjing Theological Review] 2 (1994), 45–51; Li Sifan 李思凡, Xu Tao 徐弢, ‘Zonggjiao kuanggre shi zisheng xiejiao de wenchuang’ 宗教狂熱是孳生邪教的溫床 Religious Fanaticism is a Hotbed for Heterodox Religion], Kexue yu wushenlun [科學與無神論 Science and Atheism] 1 (2006), 48–49; Xu Tai [徐 弢], “Dangdai jidujiao ‘lingen yundong’ ji qi dui zhongguo de yingxiang’ [當代基督教「靈恩 運動」及其對中國的影響 The Contemporary Christian “Charismatic Movement” and Its Influence on China], Zhongguo zongjiao [中國宗教 China Religion] 5 (2008), 63–64. 12 Joel Robbins, “The Globalization of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity,” Annual Review of Anthropology 33 (2004), 117–19. 13 Joel Robbins, “On the Paradoxes of Global Pentecostalism and the Perils of Continuity Thinking,” Religion 33:3 (2003), 221–31. 29

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For when one takes seriously what Pentecostals understand themselves to be doing, one discovers that most often they are trying to change. They are involved, that is, in personal and collective projects of discontinuity framed very much in Christian terms.14 This reminder to pay more attention to what Pentecostals understand about their beliefs and practices is important. Others, such as Chen-Yang Kao, have criticized the approach of religious interaction within studies of grassroots Chinese Protestant Christianity, as “this approach is inclined to over-address the factor of syncretism and to neglect believers’ anti-syncretistic attitude.”15 Forms of Chinese Pentecostalism should not, a priori, be presumed to be a mix of Western Christianity and Chinese folk religion. This article reviews the stereotype of Chinese Pentecostalism as an example of religious syncretism by examining a particular case, the theology of the Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission. In 1906, an American missionary couple, Alfred and Lillian Garr, experienced Spirit baptism in the Azusa Street Revival in America and then itinerated throughout South and East Asia, bringing its message with them. As a result of the Garrs’ preaching, Mok Lai Chi, an elite Hong Kong resident, founded the Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission in 1907, and published Pentecostal Truths from 1908 to 1917.16 Pentecostal Truths was a bilingual periodical that spread Pentecostalism all over China, including Xiangshan and Guangzhou in Guangdong, Wuzhou and Beihai in Guangxi, Shanghai in Jiangsu, Guangzhou in Henan, Beijing in Zhili. Prior to 1949, four branches affiliated with this mission were established in South China, and this independent indigenous Pentecostal denomination greatly influenced the development of the Pentecostal movement in China.17 14 Robbins, “On the Paradoxes of Global Pentecostalism,” 230. 15 Chen-Yang Kao, “The Cultural Revolution and the Emergence of Pentecostal-style Protes-

tantism in China,” Journal of Contemporary Religion 24:2 (2009), 183.

16 Allan H. Anderson, Spreading Fires: The Missionary Nature of Early Pentecostalism (Maryk-

noll, NY: Orbis Books, 2007), 75–95, 109–23.

17 Several scholarly treatments examine the history of the Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission,

for example Connie Au, “Elitism and Poverty: Early Pentecostalism in Hong Kong (1907– 1945),” in Global Chinese Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity, 63–88; Connie Au, “From Collaborations with Missionaries to Independence: An Early History of the Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission (1907–1930),” in Asia Pacific Pentecostalism, ed. Denise A. Austin, Jacqueline Grey, Paul W. Lewis (Boston: Brill, 2019), 85–106; Iap Sian-chin 葉先秦, “Huaren wuxunjiepai zilijiaohui de xiansheng he fanxing: gangjiu wuxunjiehui yu jiulong 30

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Through exploring the writings in Pentecostal Truths, this article illustrates the theology of the Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission and the Chinese Pentecostals influenced by this mission, arguing that this Chinese Pentecostalism was a legacy of American Pentecostalism. The American Azusa Street Revival advocated the Full Gospel: doctrines of the imminent coming of Christ, justification, sanctification, Spirit baptism evidenced by speaking in tongues, and divine healing. The Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission inherited the Azusa Street Revival’s theology and biblical hermeneutics and combined them with their own indigenous interpretation. As a form of Chinese Pentecostalism, the theology of the Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission was therefore a continuation of American Pentecostalism rather than a transformation of Chinese folk religion, and should not be regarded as a mix of Western Christianity and traditional Chinese religion.18

The Theology of the Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission 1. The Imminent Coming of Christ The doctrine of the imminent coming of Jesus Christ played a central role in the theology of the Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission. Pentecostal Truths published wuxunjiehui” 華人五旬節派自立教會的先聲和範型︰港九五旬節會與九龍五旬節 [The Pioneer and Paradigm of Chinese Independent Pentecostal Churches: The Pentecostal Mission, Hong Kong and Kowloon], Logos & Pneuma: Chinese Journal of Theology 道風︰ 基督教文化評論 54 (2021): 62–100; Kwun-ho Tai 戴觀豪, “Xianggang wuxunjiehui: tushengtuzhang zilijiaohui de huayang guanxi (1907–1926)” 香港五旬節會: 土生土長自 立教會的華洋關係 [The Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission: The Sino-Foreign Relation of an Independent Indigenous Church (1907–1926)], Jian Dao 建道學刊 54 (2020): 71–103. 18 Several academic papers focus on the theology of the Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission, but none of them traces its origins and the hermeneutics behind it. Connie Au, “ ‘Now Ye Are Clean’: Sanctification as a Formative Doctrine of Early Pentecostalism in Hong Kong,” Australasian Pentecostal Studies 15 (2013) (accessed 17 February 2019); Chen Mingli, “Wuxun jiezhenlibao dui wuxunjie shenxue zhi jiedu” 《 [ 五旬節真理報》對五旬節神學之解讀 The Interpretation of Pentecostal Theology in Pentecostal Truths], in Hanyu wenxian yu zhongguo jidujiao yanjiu [漢語文獻與中國基督教研究 Chinese Documents and Studies of Chinese Christianity] vol. 2, ed. Tao Feiya [陶飛亞], Yang Weihua [楊衛華] (Shanghai: Shanghai Daxue Chubanshe, 2016), 105–14; Iap Sian-chin, “A Comparative Study on the Two Earliest Chinese Pentecostal Periodicals: Popular Gospel Truth and Pentecostal Truth [sic],” International Journal of Sino-Western Studies 13 (2017), 81–99. 31

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various articles proclaiming Jesus’s imminent return and explaining the church’s eschatology.19 In an official statement of faith, the Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission explained that there would be two appearances under one coming. First, Jesus caught up the adherents, and second, he executed judgment upon the ungodly. The statement further explained in detail what would happen in the last days, by quoting biblical descriptions of the tribulation (e.g., Matt 24:21, 22, 29; Rev 9 and 16); Christ’s millennial reign (e.g., 2 Thess 1:7–10; Rev 20:2, 3); judgment before the great white throne (e.g., Rev 20:11–14; Acts 10:42); a new heaven and a new earth (e.g., 2 Pet 33:12, 13; Rev 21:1–3); and an eternal heaven and hell (e.g., Matt 25:41, 46; Rev 14:10, 11).20 The newspaper emphasized that Christians should watch, pray, and get ready to meet Jesus in the air.21 One writer, Cheng Lau Si, learned from her husband that Jesus would catch up the holy people in the air while the ungodly would be left on the earth to suffer the tribulation.22 Another, Yuen Lai Ching, mentioned that she was looking forward to meeting Jesus in the air.23 The Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission propagated the theory of Latter Rain with an eschatological urgency. Pentecostal Truths quoted the Bible, Joel 2:23 and James 5:7–8, to offer evidence that there would be early and latter rain before the coming of Jesus. Two showers of rain symbolized two outpourings of the Holy Spirit: in the apostolic period, and in contemporary revival. Since 1906, God’s plan of evangelizing the world had been given to all Christians by the Holy Spirit, as in the apostolic era. This Latter Rain of the Holy Spirit fell worldwide, so that signs and wonders were restored. God gave authority to all Christians who believed in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to heal sickness, cast out demons, prophesy, speak in tongues, and interpret tongues. Pentecostal Truths quoted the Scriptures, such as Mark 16:17–18, to prove that it was normative for Christians to have supernatural 19 “Jesus’ Second Return,” Pentecostal Truths 2, no. 13 [sic] ( January 1909), 1; “Jesus’ Soon Com-

ing,” Pentecostal Truths 2, no. 5 (May 1909), 2; Untitled Article and Illustration, Pentecostal Truths no. 35 (October 1912), 2; “How will Jesus Return?” Pentecostal Truths no. 37 (November 1914), 2; Untitled Notice, Pentecostal Truths no. 39 (April 1917), 1. 20 “Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission,” Pentecostal Truths 3, no. 2 (February 1910), 2. 21 “Important Notice,” Pentecostal Truths no. 37 (November 1914), 1; “Podium: Christ’s Coming Nigh at Hand,” Pentecostal Truths no. 37 (November 1914), 1; Untitled Notice, Pentecostal Truths no. 39 (April 1917), 1. 22 Cheng Lau Si, “Unordinary Joy,” Pentecostal Truths no. 38 (March 1915), 2. 23 Yuen Lai Ching, “See a Light from a Band of Angels as Sunshine,” Pentecostal Truths no. 39 (April 1917), 3. 32

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experiences.24 One believer, Lau U Ha, testified that Mok Lai Chi prayed for him earnestly and, assisted by the Holy Spirit, the tobacco demon was driven from him at once.25 Shing Sau Kei witnessed many wonders in a revival meeting. The Holy Spirit filled a Christian who then became mute for ten days and later spoke in tongues. Some female students prophesied about the future and rebuked all hidden sins.26 The eschatology described above originated from American Pentecostalism, and Chinese Pentecostals inherited American Pentecostal premillennialism. In January 1907, for example, the newspaper of the Azusa Street Revival discussed the two appearances of Jesus’s coming.27 The Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission’s faith statement was itself based on an American Pentecostal periodical published in Portland. In July 1909, the mission in Portland published a new faith statement, the template for the Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission statement. This announced that the return of Jesus was just as “literal” as his going away, and Christ’s millennial reign was the thousand years of the “literal” reign of Jesus on this earth. The statement quoted the Scriptures to support each element of its eschatology. All apocalyptic passages in the Bible, including Revelation chapters 19–21, were perceived as foretelling precisely what would happen in the future.28 The editor of Pentecostal Truths translated this template into Chinese. Comparing the eschatological sections of these two versions, all subtitles and quotations from the Bible were identical.29 Biblical literalism was a foundation resulting in premillennialism, and the Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission inherited both premillennialism and the hermeneutics behind it from American Pentecostalism. Moreover, Chinese Pentecostals first learned the theory of Latter Rain from American Pentecostal missionaries and periodicals. Mok Lai Chi attested that he 24 “The Promised Latter Rain,” Pentecostal Truths 1, no. 11 (November 1908), 2–3; “Pray for

It, Pray for It,” Pentecostal Truths 1, no. 11 (November 1908), 3; “Near the Door,” Pentecostal Truths 2, no. 5 (May 1909), 3; “ ‘The Plumbline,’ ” Pentecostal Truths 3, no. 7–8 ( July–August 1910), 4. 25 Lau U. Ha, “A Native Preacher’s Testimony,” Pentecostal Truths 3, no. 3–4 (March–April 1910), 4. 26 Shing Sau Kei, “Incoming Letter,” Pentecostal Truths no. 34 (April 1912), 3. 27 W. J. S., “ ‘Behold the Bridegroom Cometh!,’ ” The Apostolic Faith (Los Angeles, Cal.) 1, no. 5 ( January 1907), 2. 28 “The Apostolic Faith Mission,” The Apostolic Faith (Portland, Ore.) no. 8 ( July 1909), 2. 29 “Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission,” Pentecostal Truths 3, no. 2 (February 1910), 2; “The Apostolic Faith Mission,” The Apostolic Faith (Portland, Ore.) no. 8 ( July 1909), 2. 33

[128.104.46.206] Project MUSE (2024-04-07 01:48 GMT) UW-Madison Libraries

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had learned of the Latter Rain from Alfred Garr.30 In January 1908, when Garr served in Hong Kong, he preached, “At Pentecost, the ‘former rain’ fell and lasted for 200 years. Then came the dark ages, and now the ‘latter rain.’ ”31 Two American missionaries, Lillian Garr and Mrs. M. L. Ryan, spoke of the theory of Latter Rain in their letters to the editor of Pentecostal Truths.32 The editor of Pentecostal Truths translated two articles reporting how India and southern Africa received the Latter Rain from two anonymous Western newspapers.33 As noted above, the writer of Pentecostal Truths quoted identical passages to the biblical citations of American Pentecostals to explain the outpouring of Latter Rain.34 The first issue of Azusa Street Revival’s newspaper already talked about the Latter Rain, quoting Joel 2:23.35 In March 1907, while in India, the Garrs wrote articles mentioning the Latter Rain, quoting Joel 2:23.36 American Pentecostals brought the theory of Latter Rain from America to Hong Kong, and Chinese Pentecostals inherited this American theory, which implied “the restoration of the faith once delivered to the saints.”37 In line with restorationism, both American and Chinese Pentecostals supposed the form of Christianity in the Bible, particularly in Acts, to be ideal. Accordingly, signs and wonders constituted a part of Christian experience similar to those in the times of the apostles. Although Hong Kong Pentecostals learned premillennialism and the concept of Latter Rain from American Pentecostals, their attention to disasters was less marked. Catastrophe greatly influenced the emergence of the Azusa Street Revival. After the San Francisco earthquake incident on April, 14, 1906, many people in Los Angeles interpreted the disaster as an apocalyptic sign that they 30 Mok Lai Chi, “A Sharing of My Baptism in the Spirit, The First Anniversary,” Pentecostal

Truths 1, no. 11 (November 1908), 1; Mok Lai Chi, “A Testimony,” Pentecostal Truths 2, no. 9 (November 1909), 4. 31 A. G. Garr, “Testimony,” Pentecostal Truths 2, no. 13 [sic] ( January 1909), 4. 32 Mrs. M. L. Ryan, “Walked Through Fires,” Pentecostal Truths 2, no. 5 (May 1909), 4; Mrs. A. G. Garr, “Fruit That Remains,” Pentecostal Truths 2, no. 8 (October 1909), 4. 33 “How Did India Receive the Latter Rain?” Pentecostal Truths 1, no. 11 (November 1908), 3; “The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Southern Africa,” Pentecostal Truths 1, no. 11 (November 1908), 4. 34 “The Promised Latter Rain,” Pentecostal Truths 1, no. 11 (November 1908), 2. 35 Untitled Article, The Apostolic Faith (Los Angeles, Cal.) 1, no. 1 (September 1906), 4. 36 Mrs. A. G. Garr, “The Latter Rain,” Pentecostal Power vol. 1 no. 1 (March 1907), 1; A. G. Garr, “Tongues: The Bible Evidence to the Baptism with the Holy Ghost,” Pentecostal Power 1, no. 1 (March 1907), 2–5. 37 “The Apostolic Faith Movement,” The Apostolic Faith (Los Angeles, Cal.) 1, no. 1 (September 1906), 2. 34

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should prepare for the imminent return of Jesus.38 The earthquake resulted in Garr’s visit to Azusa Street meetings, and it seems that Garr still attached Jesus’s second coming to disasters when he preached across India in 1907.39 Writers in Pentecostal Truths perceived disasters, such as pestilences, earthquakes, war, flooding, and fire, as signs of Jesus’s imminent coming;40 however, no Chinese Pentecostals attributed their conversion to disasters. In April 1912, when Mok Lai Chi published articles about famine in Central China, his focus was the need to help the victims, not the message of Jesus’s coming.41 Chinese Pentecostals emphasized that one should confess one’s sins in the last days. From 1914 to 1917, Pentecostal Truths published fifty-five believers’ testimonies about their conversion to Pentecostalism, indicating that the Chinese Pentecostal congregation in South China kept growing. Many realized their sins after learning of Pentecostalism, then repented and confessed to God. They consistently denounced the practice of worshipping traditional gods or idols as serious sins and frequently emphasized worshipping the only God.42 Mrs. M. L. Ryan, an American Pentecostal missionary, visited a Buddhist temple and described it as a place where the “devil reigns” in her letter to the journal. Mok Lai Chi published her letter and supplemented it with a remark on Daoism, declaring that Christianity would eradicate all the works of Chinese traditional religion.43 Another article in Pentecostal Truths recounts how Woo Yuet Chow, an idol worshiper since her youth, was convicted of her sins by the Holy Spirit and led “an army of baptized saints . . . to her home to destroy all idols by breaking and burning them.”44 Chinese Pentecostals were clearly eager to demonstrate their break from traditional Chinese religion.

38 Cecil M. Robeck, Jr., The Azusa Mission and Revival: The Birth of the Global Pentecostal Move-

ment (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 2006), 75–76, 80.

39 A. G. Garr, “Tongues: The Bible Evidence to the Baptism with the Holy Ghost,” Pentecostal

Power 1, no. 1 (March 1907), 2; Kittie Wood Kumarakulasinghe, “The Tongues Earthquake Scare in Ceylon,” The Free Methodist (Chicago) (17 December 1907), 811; A. G. Garr, “Testimony,” Pentecostal Truths 2, no. 13 [sic] ( January 1909), 4; Larry Martin, The Life and Ministry of William J. Seymour ( Joplin, MO: Christian Life Books, 1999), 168. 40 “Signs of Jesus’ Second Coming,” Pentecostal Truths 2, no. 9 (November 1909), 2. 41 M. L. C., Untitled Article, Pentecostal Truths no. 34 (April 1912), 4; “Famine in Central China, An Urgent Appeal for Help,” Pentecostal Truths no. 34 (April 1912), 4. 42 Pentecostal Truths 36 ( January 1914), 2–3; Pentecostal Truths 37 (November 1914), 3; Pentecostal Truths 38 (March 1915), 1–3; Pentecostal Truths 39 (April 1917), 1–4. 43 Mrs. M. L. Ryan, “Walked through Fire,” Pentecostal Truths 2 no. 5 (May 1909), 4. 44 Woo Yuet Chow, “The Power of the Spirit,” Pentecostal Truths no. 37 (November 1914), 4. 35

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2. Justification and Sanctification The experiences of justification and sanctification were the first stage of Christian life in the theology of the Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission. Jesus was expected to descend from heaven very soon, and suddenly, so all people should confess their sins and convert to Christianity as quickly as possible. The editor of Pentecostal Truths listed what a person should do to receive God’s grace: repent, show godly sorrow for sin, confess sin, forsake sinful ways, make restitution, have faith in Jesus Christ, and believe in the Old and New Testaments. The Scriptures were quoted to support these.45 The editor emphasized that according to the Bible repentance included restitution. For example, Luke 19:8–9 recorded that Zacchaeus made restitution before being saved.46 The editor also stated that the blood of Jesus would never blot out any sin people still had to make right. People must have a conscience void of offence toward God and man.47 Consequently, the teachings of restitution indicated that a person who genuinely repented to God would need practical action to correct wrongdoings. According to the article “Urgent Issues for Seeking Spirit Baptism,” a person who genuinely repented and made restitution for their sins would receive justification and sanctification from God. Although these were two distinct Christian experiences, both were definite works accomplished by Jesus’s blood, his atonement.48 Jesus was God’s pure and undefiled lamb, sacrificing himself on the altar for all people so that those who received Jesus would be saved and sanctified by God.49 In two articles in Pentecostal Truths in 1910, the writers traced these two doctrines to Martin Luther and John Wesley.50 Justification and sanctification were explained as acts of God’s grace by which people received remission of sins and became holy, respectively.51 Justification was regarded as Jesus’s atonement to purify a person’s guilt in the past so that they 45 “Urgent Issues for Seeking Spirit Baptism,” Pentecostal Truths 1, no. 11 (November 1908), 2. 46 “Urgent Issues for Seeking Spirit Baptism,” Pentecostal Truths 1, no. 11 (November 1908), 2;

“In Time to Come,” Pentecostal Truths 1, no. 11 (November 1908), 4; “Compensation,” Pentecostal Truths 2, no. 8 (October 1909), 1; “What is Repentance?” Pentecostal Truths no. 34 (April 1912), 3. 47 “Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission,” Pentecostal Truths 3, no. 2 (February 1910), 2. 48 “Urgent Issues for Seeking Spirit Baptism,” Pentecostal Truths 1, no. 11 (November 1908), 2. 49 “Some Writings,” Pentecostal Truths 3, no. 2 (February 1910), 3. 50 “Near the Door,” Pentecostal Truths 2, no. 5 (May 1909), 3; “ ‘The Plumbline,’ ” Pentecostal Truths 3, no. 7–8 ( July–August 1910), 4. 51 “Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission,” Pentecostal Truths 3, no. 2 (February 1910), 2. 36

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could restart life. Sanctification was perceived as Jesus’s atonement to help a person depart from a sinful lifestyle, so that from this point on, they would do no further wrong.52 These various theological understandings may all be traced to American Pentecostalism. The teaching of restitution appeared in the very first issue of the Azusa Street periodical, in an article describing how people had been paying old debts, making wrongs right, and getting hard feelings out of the way.53 Alfred Garr himself contributed greatly to the spread of this teaching. Being a national leader of Burning Bush, a denomination of the Holiness Movement, he closed his church in Los Angeles and took the congregants to the Azusa Street mission in early June 1906.54 The Azusa Street Revival’s doctrinal emphases in its formative period, including restitution, were virtually identical to the teachings of Burning Bush because of the transfer of congregants through Garr.55 As Garr describes his personal experience, he apologized, begged for forgiveness, and repented of his wrong attitudes and actions to his former mentor three times before receiving Spirit baptism.56 Pentecostal Truths recorded how some Chinese Christians repented from their sin and were reconciled to others due to Garr’s preaching, with some women restoring what they had stolen.57 In the second half of the nineteenth century, the Holiness Movement developed rapidly within Methodist churches in America.58 The Holiness Movement upheld the doctrine of entire sanctification, which emphasized the instantaneous character of this second blessing as a “second definite work of grace.”59 In the early twentieth century, the earliest form of American Pentecostalism rose within the Holiness Movement, usually labeled “Holiness Pentecostalism.” From a historical perspective, Holiness Pentecostalism was the child of the Holiness 52 Wong Kei Hing, “Repent You,” Pentecostal Truths 2, no. 8 (October 1909), 1. 53 “The Apostolic Faith Movement,” The Apostolic Faith (Los Angeles, Cal.) 1, no. 1 (September

1906), 2; Untitled Article, The Apostolic Faith (Los Angeles, Cal.) 1, no. 1 (September 1906), 3. 54 Steve Thompson, 20th Century Apostle: The Life of Alfred Garr (Wilkesboro, NC: Morning Star Publications, 2003), 58. 55 William Kostlevy, Holy Jumpers: Evangelicals and Radicals in Progressive Era America (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 133–34. 56 Thompson, 20th Century Apostle, 59–60. 57 “The Difference between Having the Holy Spirit and Being Baptized by the Holy Spirit,” Pentecostal Truths 2, no. 13 [sic] ( January 1909), 2. 58 Donald W. Dayton, Theological Roots of Pentecostalism (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1987), 73–80. 59 Dayton, Theological Roots of Pentecostalism, 68–69. 37

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Movement.60 The Azusa Street Revival’s statement of faith unquestionably showed the influence of the Holiness Movement, stating that justification and sanctification were the first and second works of grace respectively.61 Garr, who formerly belonged to the Holiness Movement, also shared these theologies, stating “I do believe that there are two distinct works of grace in the preparation of one to receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost, namely—Regeneration and Sanctification.”62 The Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission inherited the idea of two distinct works of grace from American Holiness Pentecostalism, but Chinese Pentecostals did not highlight the separation of justification and sanctification. For example, Kung Yin Kwan testified that after she repented, the blood of Jesus washed away all her unrighteousness and sanctified her unclean soul. Later, she received Spirit baptism and spoke in tongues.63 Kung clearly separated Spirit baptism from salvation, while describing salvation as a single combined experience. Chinese Pentecostals often viewed justification and sanctification as simultaneous experiences rather than successive ones. Indeed, the Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission adopted the term “works of grace” but omitted the chronological wordings “first” and “second” used in American Holiness Pentecostal periodicals.64 Without the American Holiness Movement background, Chinese Pentecostals perceived a more integrated understanding of salvation before receiving Spirit baptism. Justification and sanctification were more akin to two different dimensions of the salvation experience than two distinct stages of Christian life. Pentecostal Truths also offered more indigenous checklists about sinful conduct. In an article entitled “Jesus’ Salvation,” the author mentioned certain ungodly behavior in Hong Kong’s context where Chinese and Western cultures were intermixed. For instance, cricket-fighting and horse-racing were traditional Chinese and Western forms of gambling, respectively, which are condemned as 60 Vinson Synan, The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition: Charismatic Movements in the Twentieth

Century (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997), 106.

61 “The Apostolic Faith Movement,” The Apostolic Faith (Los Angeles, Cal.) 1, no. 1 (September

1906), 2.

62 A. G. Garr, “Tongues: The Bible Evidence to the Baptism with the Holy Ghost,” Pentecostal

Power 1, no. 1 (March 1907), 4.

63 Miss Kung Yin Kwan, “Jesus Healed Me,” Pentecostal Truths no. 39 (April 1917), 4. 64 “Urgent Issues for Seeking Spirit Baptism,” Pentecostal Truths 1, no. 11 (November 1908), 2;

“Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission,” Pentecostal Truths 3, no. 2 (February 1910), 2; “The Apostolic Faith Movement,” The Apostolic Faith (Los Angeles, Cal.) 1, no. 1 (September 1906), 2; “The Apostolic Faith Mission,” The Apostolic Faith (Portland, Ore.) no. 8 ( July 1909), 2. 38

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evil deeds.65 Pentecostal Truths reproduced the statements of the American Pentecostal periodicals but supplemented the guidance regarding marriage according to the local context. The American periodical talked only of “no divorce,” while Pentecostal Truths further prohibited male readers having concubines or visiting prostitutes.66 The prohibition needed to be expanded to guard the Christian principle of having only one spouse since in Chinese society it was acceptable or even valued for a man to have more than one wife. It seems that Pentecostal Truths also responded to the active participation of Chinese Christians in political revolution in the late Qing period. In May 1909, the journal denounced Christians partaking in the activities to support the emperor or the revolutionary party, quoting the Scriptures, including Romans 13:1–13, to argue that every soul was subject to the governing authorities.67

3. Divine Healing According to the theology of the Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission, divine healing signified important authority among Christians in the last days. The magazine editorial pronounced that God never withdraws the power and authority to heal from his adherents, according to the Bible.68 An article, “The Atonement Can Heal,” explained a holistic understanding of salvation, citing Isaiah 53:5 to elaborate how salvation covered both the spirit and body, and showed that physical healing was part of Jesus’s atonement. James 5:13–15 was quoted, urging readers to trust Jesus rather than physicians.69 The statement of faith also contended, “All sickness is the work of the devil, which Jesus came to destroy,” and that “Jesus cast out devils and commissioned His disciples to do the same.”70 In Pentecostal Truths, divine healing was an important and frequent theme among Chinese Pentecostals. The magazine documents how one Cheng Shing, who had a fever and cough, was full of faith in Jesus and followed the instructions recorded in James 5:14–15. Although he recovered from his fever and cough, he was still too weak to leave his bed. He recovered at last by earnestly following the 65 “Jesus’ Salvation,” Pentecostal Truths 2, no. 3 (March 1909), 3. 66 “The Apostolic Faith Mission,” The Apostolic Faith (Portland, Ore.) no. 8 ( July 1909), 2;

“Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission,” Pentecostal Truths 3, no. 2 (February 1910), 2.

67 “The Pro-emperor Party and The Revolutionist Party, Behold!” Pentecostal Truths 2, no. 5

(May 1909), 3.

68 “Yahweh Heals You,” Pentecostal Truths 3, no. 7–8 ( July–August 1910), 2. 69 “The Atonement Can Heal,” Pentecostal Truths 2, no. 5 (May 1909), 3. 70 “Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission,” Pentecostal Truths 3, no. 2 (February 1910), 2. 39

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instructions in James, without taking any drugs.71 Lee Woo Si testified to Jesus’s healing among her family members. Through prayers, Jesus eventually healed her first and second granddaughters, who had suffered from diarrhea and cholera respectively. Lee described Jesus as a great physician of the soul and body.72 Wai Yui believed that he had gotten beriberi because the demon was jealous of his joy after receiving Spirit baptism. The symptoms spread from his foot to his chest so that he was feeble and could not eat and walk. He trusted in Jesus, took no medicine for a month, and finally was healed.73 Mainstream Protestantism mostly asserts Cessationism, meaning the age of miracles has passed, and that charismatic gifts, including the gift of healing found in the primitive church, ceased by the end of the apostolic age. However, the American Holiness Movement challenged this dispensational assignment of divine healing to the apostolic era and affirmed that the atonement of Jesus Christ brought deliverance from both sin and disease. American Pentecostalism incorporated the doctrine of healing from the Holiness Movement.74 An article, “The Precious Atonement,” in the Azusa Street newspaper spoke of “not only the atonement for the sanctification of our souls but for the sanctification of our bodies from inherited disease”;75 elsewhere the newspaper stressed that according to the Bible, God can heal.76 Mok Lai Chi translated writings from American Pentecostal periodicals concerning divine healing and published them in Pentecostal Truths. Chiu Wai Wing testified that he read an essay written by an American in Pentecostal Truths sharing the failure of surgical operations. He then relinquished taking medicine and prayed for God’s healing.77 Mok also translated an essay, “Divine Healing,” from an American Pentecostal newspaper called The Bridegroom’s Messenger. It stressed that several patients recovered by praying in the 71 Cheng Shing, “Divine Healing,” Pentecostal Truths 2, no. 3 (March 1909), 4. 72 Lee Woo Si, “Glorious! Saviour is Our Good Physician,” Pentecostal Truths no. 39 (April

1917), 2.

73 Wai Yui, “Beriberi is Healed by the Lord,” Pentecostal Truths 2, no. 13 [sic] ( January 1909), 4. 74 Dayton, Theological Roots of Pentecostalism, 115–41; Kimberly E. Alexander, Pentecostal Heal-

ing: Models in Theology and Practice (Blandford Forum, UK: Deo Publishing, 2013); James Robinson, Divine Healing: The Holiness-Pentecostal Transition Years, 1890–1906 (Eugene, Oregon: Pickwick Publications, 2013). 75 W. J. Seymour, “The Precious Atonement,” The Apostolic Faith (Los Angeles, Cal.) 1, no. 1 (September 1906), 2. 76 “The Apostolic Faith,” The Apostolic Faith (Los Angeles, Cal.) 1, no. 1 (September 1906), 2. 77 Chiu Wai Wing, “Rise from the Dead,” Pentecostal Truths, no. 34 (April 1912), 3; “The Healing Method of God,” Pentecostal Truths 2, no. 5 (May 1909), 4. 40

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name of Jesus.78 In Pentecostal Truths writers such as Shing Sau Kei and Wong Yan Sau quoted verses such as Psalm 103:3 and James 5:15 to explain the theology of divine healing.79 These citations were identical to the teaching of divine healing in two doctrinal statements in Pentecostal Truths,80 translated by the editor from the faith statements of two American Pentecostal periodicals.81 Both Chinese and American Pentecostals interpreted verses such as Psalm 103:3 literally (describing the Lord as the one “who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases”), and stressed that Jesus’s salvation comprised both the soul and body. They believed that if a Christian was full of faith, the experience of miracles was an ordinary expectation. James 5:14– 15 was often quoted by Pentecostals in support of prayer for the sick. “Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up, and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.” Church members restored the practice of anointing the sick with oil. The theology of divine healing encountered favorable circumstances for its spread in China. The notion of God bestowing unlearned languages on missionaries had been discussed in Western mission circles for at least a century before the emergence of the Pentecostal Movement.82 When the Pentecostal Movement arose in America, many Pentecostals believed that they miraculously received gifts of foreign languages for overseas missionary work, Garr among them.83 However, on March 15, 1908 in Hong Kong, Garr talked about his reflections on miracles 78 “Divine Healing,” Pentecostal Truths 2, no. 9 (November 1909), 1; E. A. S., “Divine Healing,”

The Bridegroom’s Messenger 2, no. 35 (1 April 1909), 1.

79 Shing Sau Kei, “Incoming Letter,” Pentecostal Truths no. 34 (April 1912), 3; Wong Yan Sau,

“Testimony of Wong Yan Sau,” Pentecostal Truths 38 (March 1915), 3.

80 “Urgent Issues for Seeking Spirit Baptism,” Pentecostal Truths 1, no. 11 (November 1908), 2;

“Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission,” Pentecostal Truths 3, no. 2 (February 1910), 2.

81 “The Apostolic Faith Movement,” The Apostolic Faith 1, no. 1 (Los Angeles, Cal.) (September

1906), 2; “The Apostolic Faith Mission,” The Apostolic Faith no. 8 (Portland, Ore.) ( July 1909), 2.

82 Gary B. McGee, “The Calcutta Revival of 1907 and the Reformulation of Charles F. Parham’s

‘Bible Evidence’ Doctrine,” Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies 6:1 (2003), 124–25; Gary B. McGee, “Shortcut to Language Preparation? Radical Evangelicals, Missions, and the Gift of Tongues,” International Bulletin of Missionary Research 25:1 (2001), 118–23. 83 Untitled article, The Apostolic Faith 1, no. 1 (Los Angeles, Cal.) (September 1906), 1; “Good News from Danville, Va.,” The Apostolic Faith 1, no. 1 (Los Angeles, Cal.) (September 1906), 4; Mrs. Charles F. Parham, The Life of Charles F. Parham: Founder of the Apostolic Faith Movement (Birmingham, Alabama: Commercial Printing Company, 1977), 52–53. 41

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in the Chinese context. He said, “If I could speak Chinese perfectly and explain to the Chinese that God had given it to me without studying it, they would not believe, but would think I was deceiving them, and at least there would be great room for doubt in their minds. But if we can come to them in faith ‘once delivered to the saints,’ and in the name of Jesus heal their sick, lame, and blind, they can­ not doubt that the blind were blind, nor the lame lame, but will have to know that this work is supernatural.”84 Despite failing to speak foreign languages in India and China, Garr believed he had miraculously spoken an Indian dialect in America in 1906.85 He discovered that the perception of the supernatural was socially and culturally determined. In America, people thought speaking foreign languages was a miracle and were eager for this extraordinary experience, but it was nothing special in Hong Kong. Chinese might know several dialects, and Hong Kong elites, such as Mok Lai Chi, spoke both Chinese and English. Pentecostals commonly recognized the restoration of signs and wonders, but the prevalence of a particular type of miracle depended on the context—and divine healing was a more effective tool for evangelization among the Chinese. The failure of scientific treatments also induced Chinese Pentecostals to trust in prayer rather than medicine. Mok Lai Chi’s family members became sick very often before believing in Jesus’s healing, although he had paid heavily for medical treatments and even made his own medicines.86 An article in Pentecostal Truths described how Sung Teng Man’s baby had a severe attack of pneumonia after suffering from measles, but he did not take the baby to the hospital, because his niece had had a similar attack of pneumonia four years earlier and was conveyed to a mission hospital for treatment, where she died after a few hours.87 Woo Tsz Ho suffered from diseases in the stomach, heart, and dizziness in the head. She suffered greatly from physicians and took medicines continuously for about seventeen years until she was healed by Jesus.88 Not only did medical treatment have a scientific and biological dimension, but it also had a social and psychological dimension. Chinese Pentecostals believed in prayer in part because of a sense of distrust in medicine. 84 H. [sic] G. Garr, “A Letter from Bro. Garr,” Confidence, no. 2 (May 1908), S2. 85 “Garr in India,” The Burning Bush (4 April 1907), in Skeptics and Scoffer, ed. Larry E. Martin

(Pensacola, FL: Christian Life Books, 2004), 167; F. M. Messenger, “Garr in India,” The Burning Bush (18 April 1907), in Skeptics and Scoffer, 181; H. [sic] G. Garr, “A Letter from Bro. Garr,” Confidence no. 2 (May 1908), S1–S2. 86 Mok Lai Chi, “Divine Healing,” Pentecostal Truths 2, no. 3 (March 1909), 4. 87 Sung Teng Man and wife, Untitled Article, Pentecostal Truths no. 33 (August 1911), 4. 88 Woo Tsz Ho, “Testimony,” Pentecostal Truths no. 38 (March 1915), 4. 42

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4. Spirit Baptism Evidenced by Speaking in Tongues Spirit baptism, the most crucial Christian experience for Pentecostal believers, indicated the second stage of the Christian life. The work of the Holy Spirit was the crux of Pentecostal eschatology. Pentecostal Truths declared that its purpose was to proclaim the truth of Spirit baptism, to inspire downcast churches, and to let the whole world know that the grace of the Savior’s Latter Rain would fall upon Christians in time.89 The Scriptures, including John 20:1, were quoted to argue for the separation of Spirit baptism from sanctification. Spirit baptism was the gift of power upon a sanctified life. When a Christian received it, they enjoyed the same signs that the disciples had on the day of Pentecost.90 Acts 2:4, 10:46, and 19:6 were frequently cited to explain that a Christian who received Spirit baptism should speak in tongues as a sign.91 On the nature of tongues, the newspaper quoted 1 Corinthians 14:2 and 14:13 to illustrate that, although tongues might be real languages, they were languages unknown to humans for praying or praising God.92 The doctrine of Spirit baptism advocated by the Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission was another legacy of American Pentecostalism. At the end of the nineteenth century, some American Holiness teachers had already indicated that spiritual gifts were connected to the power of the Spirit and spoke of Spirit baptism as a “third blessing” to be sought, separating Spirit baptism from sanctification.93 The Azusa Street Revival drew from such theologies, and its publications proclaimed that Spirit baptism was a gift of power upon the sanctified life, and that a Christian should speak in tongues when they received Spirit baptism.94 Garr brought these theological ideas from America to Hong Kong. Although he insisted that he spoke an actual foreign language at the Azusa Street mission, he 89 “Notice of this newspaper,” Pentecostal Truths 1, no. 11 (November 1908), 1. 90 “Urgent Issues for Seeking Spirit Baptism,” Pentecostal Truths 1, no. 11 (November 1908), 2;

“Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission,” Pentecostal Truths 3, no. 2 (February 1910), 2.

91 “Essentials for Seeking the Baptism of the Holy Spirit,” Pentecostal Truths 2, no. 13 [sic] ( Jan-

uary 1909), 3; “The Difference between Having the Holy Spirit and Being Baptized by the Holy Spirit,” Pentecostal Truths 2, no. 13 [sic] ( January 1909), 2; “Did You Receive the Holy Spirit?” Pentecostal Truths 2, no. 6 ( June 1909), 2. 92 Chan Si Yuan, “A Letter from Chan Si Yuan, Xianghe County, Shuntian Prefecture, Zhili,” Pentecostal Truths no. 36 ( January 1914), 3. 93 Allan H. Anderson, An Introduction to Pentecostalism: Global Charismatic Christianity (Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 27. 94 “The Apostolic Faith Movement,” The Apostolic Faith 1, no. 1 (Los Angeles, Cal.) (September 1906), 2. 43

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adjusted his standpoint after landing in the foreign field. According to the Bible, Garr explained, being “unknown” languages, the gift of tongues was “the witness” of being baptized in the Spirit. He emphasized that speaking in tongues was the sign of Spirit baptism “in every case” in Acts.95 According to the writings in Pentecostal Truths, Chinese Pentecostals followed Garr’s viewpoint; Mok once testified that the Spirit spoke through him “in the Mandarin dialect, the Hakka dialect, and an African tongue,” but no further Chinese Pentecostals claimed their tongues as a particular and real human language.96 Compared with American Pentecostals, however, Hong Kong Pentecostals prioritized the awareness of missionary work over the doctrine of Spirit baptism. The Azusa Street Revival highlighted the missionary implications of Spirit baptism, with its newspaper describing those who received Spirit baptism as having “a missionary spirit.”97 There were many enthusiasts, such as the Garrs, going to foreign fields. In the case of the Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission, a few Chinese Pentecostals devoted themselves to missionary work, but no one went overseas. Most of the time, Chinese Pentecostals experienced Spirit baptism without any missionary drive. The gift of power became analogous to faith and wisdom in the Christian life.98 Thus, the difference between sanctification and Spirit baptism was ambiguous, as even Mok’s testimony showed. He shared that Spirit baptism “gives me power to become a more faithful child of God, to love Him, to understand His Word, to hear His still small voice, to do His will, to love my enemies, and to resist the devil.”99 Spirit baptism was more like the peak of Christian experience after salvation than another category of experience separate from salvation. Pentecostal Truths emphasized that a Christian who received the Holy Spirit should have the same charismatic experiences as those recorded in the Bible. Besides speaking in tongues, Chinese Pentecostals testified to several spirit-related experiences. Ko Tsui Nam testified that after receiving Spirit baptism she danced and sang in the Spirit.100 Tang Wai Fong shared that the Spirit made her whole body tremble.101 Poon Man Hin reported an ecstatic experience 95 A. G. Garr, “Tongues: The Bible Evidence to the Baptism with the Holy Ghost,” Pentecostal

Power 1, no. 1 (March 1907), 2–5.

96 Mok Lai Chi, “A Testimony,” Pentecostal Truths 2, no. 9 (November 1909), 4. 97 W. J. S., “The Holy Ghost and the Bride,” The Apostolic Faith 2, no.13 (May 1908), 4. 98 “Everyone Should Have the Holy Spirit,” Pentecostal Truths 2, no. 6 ( June 1909), 4. 99 Mok Lai Chi, “A Testimony,” Pentecostal Truths 2, no. 9 (November 1909), 4. 100 Ko Tsui Nam, “The Joy is Undescribable,” Pentecostal Truths no. 36 ( January 1914), 2. 101 Tang Wai Fong, “Jesus’ Blood Cleans Up All Sins,” Pentecostal Truths no. 39 (April 1917), 1. 44

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in detail. Once, when he was praying, his soul suddenly appeared outside of the body. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Watch! Watch!” Later, when he was praying, again in a trance, a light shone around him and he saw a cross in black against the light. He heard a voice commanding him to be a witness to Jesus, because Jesus would return very soon.102 Charismatic practices among Chinese Pentecostals can also be seen to have originated from within American Pentecostalism. The demonstrative worship of the Azusa Street mission coincided with the tradition of the Burning Bush movement,103 with Garr one link between them. Notable features of Burning Bush worship included the physical manifestations that accompanied worship, such as shouting, running, and jumping.104 William Seymour, an African American, played a vital role in modeling the spirituality of the Azusa Street Revival, which incorporated the Black oral tradition in narrative theology and witness, maximum participation, and the inclusion of dreams and visions in personal and public forms of worship.105 Garr fostered these emotional and charismatic experiences in the Spirit among Chinese Christians in Hong Kong, and as Pentecostal Truths recorded, Chinese Pentecostals in the territory first developed a charismatic worship through Garr’s ministry at the end of 1907.106 Not only did Chinese Pentecostals in Hong Kong learn demonstrative worship and charismatic practices from American Pentecostals, but they also followed their argument on biblical literalism and restorationism. Joel’s prophecy in Joel 2:28–29 and Acts 2:17–18, was quoted often, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, ‘That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams.’ ” Chinese Pentecostals interpreted the passage literally and matched it with an eschatology where God poured out the Spirit on all Christians in the last days, so that all would see visions and dream dreams. The apostle Paul’s experience was a prototype for their ecstatic experiences. 102 Poon Man Hin, “A Letter from New Testament Church in Beihai: Poon Man Hin’s Testi­

mony,” Pentecostal Truths 2, no. 5 (May 1919), 1.

103 Kostlevy, Holy Jumpers, 133. 104 William Kostlevy, “The Burning Bush Movement: A Wisconsin Utopian Religious Commu-

nity,” The Wisconsin Magazine of History 83:4 (Summer 2000), 232.

105 Walter J. Hollenweger, “The Black Roots of Pentecostalism,” in Pentecostals After a Century:

Global Perspectives on a Movement in Transition, eds. Allan Anderson & Walter J. Hollenweger (Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999), 33–44. 106 “The Difference between Having the Holy Spirit and Being Baptized by the Holy Spirit,” Pentecostal Truths 2, no. 13 [sic] ( January 1909), 2. 45

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According to Acts 9:3–6, Paul saw a light around him from heaven, fell to the ground, heard a voice, and trembled; while in 2 Corinthians 12:3, Paul was caught up to the third heaven. In revival meetings in Kwai Woo, for example, Lo Hei Mou was caught up to the third heaven and visited hell, where her relatives were residing.107 Biblical apostolic experiences thus became the foundation for Pentecostal expectation.

Conclusion In the Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission, Chinese Pentecostals stressed repentance and restitution to a new and sanctified life. They were also eager to break from Chinese traditional religion. Hong Kong Pentecostals learned the “Full Gospel” theology and biblical hermeneutics from American Holiness Pentecostalism, and combined it with indigenous interpretations. Discontinuities, rather than continuities, between Chinese folk religion and Chinese Pentecostalism were evident. The theology of Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission should therefore be regarded as a legacy of American Holiness Pentecostalism. Scholarly treatments have commonly adopted an approach that sees Chinese Pentecostalism as an amalgam of Western Christianity and Chinese folk religion. This approach highlights the continuity between Chinese folk religion and Chinese Pentecostalism, and leaves Chinese Pentecostalism almost synonymous with syncretism. The understanding of Chinese Pentecostalism as “popular Christianity,” a syncretism of Pentecostalism and Chinese folk religions, overemphasises the “Chineseness” of Chinese Christianity. “Chineseness” has been regarded as the dominant factor in the rise of Chinese independent indigenous churches before 1949, but this undervalues the interaction between Chinese and Western Christians. As Allan Anderson notes: The role of Pentecostalism and expatriate Pentecostal missionaries in the early years of Chinese independent churches, and the links these missionaries made with some of their most significant leaders, are important historical facts that should not be glossed over by a romanticizing vision of ‘indigenous’ or ‘Chinese’ churches without foreign influences whatsoever.108 107 “Meetings for Seeking the Holy Spirit in Kwai Woo,” Pentecostal Truths no. 33 (August

1911), 1.

108 Allan H. Anderson, “Conclusion: Challenges, Theories, and Methods in Studying Chinese

‘Pentecostalism’,” in Global Chinese Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity, 349. 46

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Some recent scholars have described at greater length interactions between Chinese and Western Pentecostals, particularly in the early and formative period of Protestant Pentecostal mission. Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye discusses the interactions between Bernt Berntsen, a Pentecostal missionary, and Wei Enbo, the founder of the True Jesus Church, describing Wei as an important node within the transnational Pentecostal network.109 Iap Sian-chin has also investigated the roots of the True Jesus Church and illustrated how the charismatic experiences of the three founders, Wei Enbo, Zhang Lingsheng, and Zhang Dianju, were to a large extent a continuation of American Oneness Pentecostalism.110 These transnational characteristics of Christianity should be given greater weight in studying Chinese Pentecostalism.

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

Christian Church (New York: Oxford University Press, 2018), 57–85.

110 Iap Sian Chin [葉先秦], Wanyu shengling: zhenyesu jiaohui de zaidingwei yu quanqiu wu-

xunjiepai yanjiu de xiangxiang he zaixian [晚雨聖靈：真耶穌教會的再定位與全球五旬 節派研究的想像和再現 The Latter Rain of the Spirit: Reorientation of the True Jesus Church with Special Reference to the Imagination and Representation of Global Pentecostal Studies] (New Taipei City [新北市]: Taiwan Christian Literature Council [臺灣基督教文 藝出版社], 2019), 119–71. 47

Chapter 3

THEOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATION AND THE CHANGING ROLE OF WOMEN IN THE CHINESE HOUSE CHURCH Kang Jie, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Göttingen

The role of female Christians has changed dramatically in Chinese house churches over the last three decades, a major consequence of the transformation of Chinese theology. Christian women were once the leading force in house churches and often acted in leadership roles, such as preacher or church leader, especially in rural areas. However, since 2000 and the widespread application in China of a rationalized “Reform Theology” coming from the US and South Korea, women’s status has changed greatly. According to this Calvinist theology, women should neither preach nor play a leadership role in church but should only be church helpers or assistants. Domestically, they should be taught to be a submissive wife and responsible mother, since their first duty is to care for their family. Moreover, owing to the fact that women are the majority in most Chinese churches and may only marry fellow Christians, they compete for a limited number of single men at church. Their restricted choice of partners is seen as obliging them to “marry down” and lower their ideal expectations of a mate, while conversely men have more options and can “marry up.”

Introduction The role of women has been a controversial theme in the Chinese Protestant church. As in many Christian churches, female followers often outnumber

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males in Chinese churches. Since 2000, the so-called “three more” in Chinese churches, namely a preponderance of women, of elderly people, and of the illiterate, has changed, especially in urban churches. The main change is in the increasing number of educated young urban dwellers converting to Christianity, although there remain more female churchgoers than males in many urban churches. The role of women has nevertheless shifted observably in urban churches since Reformed theology was introduced to China. In the Pentecostal-style Chinese church of the past, women played a dominant role in spreading the gospel and enabling Christianity to thrive, especially in rural China,1 a reflection of the tendency in global Pentecostalism for women to lead.2 Charismatic female leadership is evident also in the Chinese American church.3 Indeed, the rural Christian revival in China was led by charismatically gifted women, able to heal sickness through the power of prayer and spread the gospel through spiritual gifts. Cao Nanlai describes the rural Chinese indigenous Pentecostal church as “an overwhelmingly female institution” in the 1980s.4 However, Christian women’s leading position has gradually been replaced by male-dominated church leadership. As China rapidly urbanized, new urban churches have emerged that emphasize textual-orientated biblical interpretation and professionalized management.5 Since the end of the 1990s, a systematic and rationalized Reform Theology has been introduced from the 1 Kao, Chen-yang. “The Cultural Revolution and the Emergence of Pentecostal-style Protes-

tantism in China,” Journal of Contemporary Religion 24.2, 2009.

2 Robbins, Joel. “The Globalization of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity,” Annual Re-

views of Anthropology 33: 117–43, 2004; Cucchiari, Salvatore. “Between Shame and Sanctification: Patriarchy and Its Transformation in Sicilian Pentecostalism,” in American Ethnologist 17 (4) 1990: 687–707; Gill, Lesley, “ ‘Like a Veil to Cover Them’: Women and the Pentecostal Movement in La Paz,” American Ethnologist 17: 708–21, 1990; Clifton, Shane, Raising Women Leaders: Perspectives On Liberating Women in Pentecostal and Charismatic Contexts. Sydney: APS, 2009; Fatokun, S., “Women and leadership in Nigerian Pentecostal Churches,” Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae, vol. XXXII, no. 3, 2006: 1–14. 3 Yang, Fenggang, “Gender and Generation in a Chinese Christian Church,” in Tony Carnes and Fenggang Yang eds. Asian American Religions. The Making and Remaking of Borders and Boundaries (New York and London: New York University Press, 2004); Tong, Joy K. C. and Yang, Fenggang, “The Femininity of Chinese Christianity. A Study of a Chinese Charismatic Church and Its Female Leadership,” Review of Religion and Chinese Society 1 (2014): 195– 211. 4 Cao, Nanlai, “The Undercurrent Coming to the Surface: Pentecostal Strategies, Entrepreneurship, and the Nation State in the Chinese World,” PentecoStudies 19.1 (2020): 8–35. 5 Cao, “The Undercurrent Coming to the Surface,” 8–35 and Kang, Jie, House Church Christianity in China: From Rural Preachers to City Pastors (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015). 50

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US and South Korea and has become widespread in urban China. While there was no objection to female church leaders or women generally preaching in rural churches, the urban Calvinist Reformed church now firmly opposes female leadership and women preaching. Domestically, women are taught to be submissive wives, helping and assisting their husbands. The main task of married women is to take care of the household. As a result, highly educated, Christian career women increasingly resign from their jobs once they have children and become full-time housewives. This transformation of women’s role in the Reformed urban church is the obverse of what is occurring among non-Christian urban educated women in Chinese society, who commonly pursue career success at the expense of their family. Why are Christian women willing to sacrifice a promising career to become full-time “home-makers?” What kind of theological understanding and practice is behind this reversal of women’s role in the Chinese church and how has it affected changes in women’s identity and the Christian understanding of a good family/ life? Drawing on over ten years’ ethnographic research on Chinese house church Christianity, this paper attempts to answer these questions by examining the teaching and implications of Calvinist Reformed Theology in general, and the Westminster Confession and Catechisms in particular. The churches studied here are referred to by church leaders as “Calvinist Reformed Churches.” They belong to a huge church network established by church leaders who studied at the same Theological seminaries. The first Reformed Theological seminary was founded by a Korean missionary in 2000 in Chinese city A and subsequently several sub-seminaries were set up in various cities in North China. Over the last two decades, the Reformed church network has grown rapidly in North China. In contrast to other house churches, which do not emphasize denominational distinctiveness, the church group I study explicitly stresses its Reformed denominational features and makes a clear division between itself and non-Reformed churches. As in many Chinese Reformed churches, the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) is of crucial importance and regarded as the fundamental principle and guidance on church and Christian faith. It is often hung on the wall of house churches as a public symbol endorsing the Reformed church, which insists on church coworkers agreeing with the WCF and studying intensively the Shorter (SWC) and Longer Westminster (LWC) catechism versions, in order to unite the community in faith and protect the church against heterodoxy. It provides regular courses for churchgoers to ensure that the theological 51

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doctrine is well received and understood. The Red Cross Church has since 2009 repeatedly offered such courses at least twice a year during the May 1 and October 1 national holidays. The four-day course provides detailed explanations of the Confession or Catechism in relation to its implications and practice in everyday life. Instead of a more common Bible study, it has also organized the weekly study of the SWC among over a hundred cell groups. So, for more than ten years, the Red Cross Church has created a trusting and intimate learning and discussion environment, imparting to church members a solid foundation of the Christian faith. This is called “building the truth (zhenli de jianzao 真理的建造)” of the church. Reformed church members say that through such catechism study, “we are able to know what we believe in” and to have a deep and systematic understanding of biblical truth (mingbai zhenli 明 白真理), which is regarded as the greatest advantage of the Reformed church. I was often told that “the truth is the source of power and the foundation of the faith” and that the biblical truth can be most efficiently transmitted through the traditional Reformed doctrine—the Catechism and the Confession. The major difference between Reformed and traditional non-Reformed Chinese house churches is in the way Bible interpretation is deeply influenced by theological understanding. Reformist doctrine is continually emphasized through the education of the congregation. Non-Reformists’ reading and interpretation of the Bible is allegedly based on individuals’ emotions, imagination, and allegory (Lingyi jiejing 靈意解經6), while, as illustrated in the case study of Sister Yi below, they themselves believe that lingyi jiejing is guided by the Holy Spirit. However, despite being based on (Western) theological doctrine, the Chinese Reformed church has its own distinct interpretation in the Chinese language and takes account of Chinese contexts, and is thus quite different from Western Reformed Christianity. Inspired by Chloë Starr’s view that “Chinese theological texts have to be understood in their textual context as well as their contextual context,”7 one of the focuses of this paper is to pay special attention to some Chinese concepts in believers’ narratives, such as shunfu (obedience 順服), zhuquan (authority 主權), cixu (order 次序), to explore how they are conceptualized, interpreted and explicitly emphasized among Reformed Christians and have become important rules of life. 6 See Kang, “House Church Christianity in China,” 124. 7 Chloë Starr, Chinese Theology. Text and Context (New Haven & London: Yale University

Press, 2016), 2.

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Female Church Leadership Before Reformed theology was introduced in China, there was no regulation against female church leadership and the rural Pentecostal-style church of the time was often female-centred. Women played a crucial role in praying, healing, preaching, and church leadership. However, once they moved to cities, their charismatic power was redefined as pure emotionalism, non-rational, and lacking a systematic theological basis,8 resulting in their gradual marginalization in the urban church. I will illustrate the decline in female church leadership based on a case study of theological transformation at the Gospel Church in city A in north China, which was founded in 1999 by a brother from an urban setting in north China. In 2002, among the church’s six main coworkers and decision-makers, three were women. Sister Yi joined the Gospel Church that year and was made one of the six main church leaders owing to the spiritual gift of her powerful and influential preaching. She started to preach only forty days after her repentance in 1988 in city B, a middle-order city in North East China. She vividly remembers her first time preaching. I was so happy since I had been longing for it. . . . I wanted to let the whole world know what I have learnt and wanted to speak quickly to everyone. On that day, I really wanted to speak. I was feeling that I had a lot to say. I had no fear of standing in front of many people. I was full of joy. From then, I started to feel committed and very happy to preach. After becoming one of the major coworkers in her church in city B, Sister Yi soon became a full-time preacher, claiming that God himself led her and gave her direct instruction in preaching through prayer. God picked many preachers in our church, “moving” them Himself. We just prayed and read the Bible. We didn’t have any reference books or other materials. Everything was taken from the Lord Himself. This was direct guidance by the Holy Spirit. For example, in preparing some sermons, God would not only give the title of the sermon, he would also reveal the relevant Bible verses 8 Cao Nanlai, “Gender, Modernity, and Pentecostal Christianity in China,” in Global Pentecos-

talism in the 21st Century, ed. Robert Hefner (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2013) and Cao, “The Undercurrent Coming to the Surface,” 14. 53

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which would be interwoven with the preaching. When we knelt before God, He would just write the entire sermon on a person’s heart. Even some teachers from a theological seminary admired us. Although we didn’t receive any formal theological training, our interpretation of the Bible was acceptable, all of which was taught by the Holy Spirit. We didn’t understand theory but we knew how to practice. In 2002 Sister Yi came to Beijing and joined the Gospel Church. Before 2005, there was no clear theological division between the main coworkers. However, when Pastor Liu studied at the Reformed theological seminary in 2005, his and Sister Yi’s viewpoints clashed theologically: between, on the one hand, her Charismatic characteristics mixed with an Arminianism theological tendency that had dominated Chinese evangelical house churches before Reformed theology entered China in the 1990s; and, on the other hand, his Calvinist reformed theology. I now show how this theological divergence gave rise to the shift in gender roles. With the promotion of Reformed theology in urban churches, especially through the study of the Westminster Confession and Shorter and Longer Westminster Catechisms, charismatic theological viewpoints were criticized and eventually rejected for being purely emotional and non-rational. Sister Yi complained that “Pastor Liu always claims that I am only emotionally oriented (i.e., not “rational”). But that is not true.” Their different view on the understanding of biblical teaching ended up with the church splitting, with Sister Yi leaving the Gospel Church along with dozens of believers. According to Sister Yi, she felt no unease in her heart in deciding to leave the church at the time and in fact experienced joy and peace “inside her.” This was quite unlike beforehand when she felt no peace in her heart at the thought of leaving. She claimed therefore that God had moved (gandong 感動) her to do so. By contrast, the believers who remained told me that her act was against God’s words that the church should not be split. This view is based on biblical teaching that the unity of the church is in effect the body of Jesus Christ and so should not be dismembered, and that it should not be affected by emotionalism (gandong). The Bible verses justifying this viewpoint are often cited: “And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (Eph 1:22–23); “making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling” (Eph 4:3–4). The split was indeed a body 54

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blow to the church but also became the mark of a new system based on Calvinist theological teaching. While on the surface the split was between rational Reformist theology and charismatic practices allegedly based on emotion, the underlying cause of the clash was disagreement on the legitimacy of women leading the church and, especially, preaching. Sister Yi was one of two female preachers in the Gospel Church; the other was Sister Deng who ceased preaching shortly after Pastor Liu began his Calvinist theological study in 2005. Before leaving the church, and as the only woman preacher, Sister Yi had confronted Pastor Liu’s growing Calvinist objection to women leaders and preachers, but the result was their gradual marginalization and the rise to leadership prominence of Christian brothers whose theological training and promotion within the church was prioritized. Beginning in 2006, Pastor Liu put great effort into a disciple-training program aimed at training potential church leaders and future preachers and pastors. To imitate Jesus’s choice of disciples, every term Pastor Liu chose twelve Christians to attend the program for about two years. However, for the first two terms only male Christians were chosen to attend. Later on, female Christians were allowed to participate, but only if the twelve places could not be filled by Christian men. Moreover, trained male disciples were encouraged and financially supported to study theology further in programs at an approved “zhengtong” (正 統 orthodox) Reformed theological seminary. Later on, they were ordained as preachers or pastors and continued serving at the Gospel Church. Through years of intensive training focused on brothers, the leadership positions were gradually taken by male Christians. The previous leadership team of six coworkers was replaced by one comprising over ten full-time preachers and pastors, each of them in charge of a gathering point (juhuidian 聚會點)9 under the umbrella of the Gospel Church. While previously half the coworkers were women, the new church leaders ordained and entitled to preach or act as pastors were all men. In fact, after sister Yi’s departure from the Gospel Church, an unwritten rule increasingly accepted by church-goers has been that “a sister should not preach from the pulpit.” Faithful and active sisters are often trained as full-time missionaries to be sent to evangelize in other areas within or outside China. They are also encouraged to become church helpers by leading bible study groups or prayer meetings 9 That is, a church plant or local gathering that does not have its own church building. 55

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but not act as decision makers. An ideal sister should be married to a Christian man and build a happy Christian family. Her role is then to support and assist her husband not only domestically but also at church services. Given the fact that women are the majority in most urban house churches, they have to compete for the limited number of single brothers for potential partners, which leads to sisters having to “marry down.”

Christian Family Order Christian family cixu (order) is one of the most important teachings in the urban house church. In the traditional house church before 1990, suffering and enduring economic and political hardship in the name of the Lord was the central theme of gospel teaching and regarded as the highest honor. Individual salvation and repentance was the focus of the Christian faith. Loving the Lord meant spending more time in prayer and praising God. Teaching did not focus on the expectation that the proper relationship between mortals and God and between husband and wife should be based on authority and the divine order. Nonetheless, from a lecture series on the Westminster Confession of Faith in the urban Reformed church, Christians came to understand and follow the moral order as spelled out in question 41 of the Shorter Catechism: “The moral law is summarily comprehended in the ten commandments.” They also learned to submit to the divine order as set out by the Lord. The importance here of “obedience (shunfu)” and “authority (zhuquan)” is explicitly emphasized in the creation of a healthy relationship toward both divinity and humans. In his lecture on the WCF, Pastor Chen, a young pastor at a Reformed church in city A, explained that Chapter 7 in the WSC, “God’s Covenant with Man,” refers to the first covenant made between God and Adam, who transgressed the covenant out of disobedience. The second covenant, that of grace, was achieved through Jesus submitting his life to God the Father. Pastor Chen then concluded that since disobedience caused the first human sin, obedience had to be the key to Christian faith. Being submissive to authority is then extended to family relations, as between husband and wife, parents and children. Standard teaching for building relations between humans and God (to love the Lord) and between one another (love thy neighbor) is often referred to as among the “Ten Commandments,” which both the Heidelberg and Westminster Catechism interpret at length. Family relations are explicitly referred to in the fifth commandment: “Honor thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be 56

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long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” Despite the text specifically referring to the relationship between parents and children, the commandment has been expanded to apply to all relations within family, church, society, and nation, with the teaching again focused on “obedience” and “authority.” Pastor Chen explains the important meaning of the fifth commandment in regard to human relations and the relationship of humans to divinity. The relation with parents consists of shunfu (obedience to parents). Shunfu is the first obligation of humanity towards God. We should completely shunfu. Any form of disobedience is a sin. Our obligation towards our parents is to also shunfu. The most important virtue we teach our child is shunfu. “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right” (Ephesians 6:1). . . . This Commandment can be expanded to apply to relations within church, the community, the nation and the society. God is the source of all authority and all authority is given by God. In a family, the husband is the head of authority. As Jesus is the head of church, so the husband is the head of his wife. While parents have authority (over their children), pastor, deacon, teacher and preacher have authority at church. As indicated in the Scripture, Hebrews 13:17, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with sighing, for that would be harmful to you.” The responsibility of pastor, preacher and co-worker is to be a good shepherd and be watchful and to protect the spiritual life of fellow Christians, who must submit to church leaders’ preachings and exhortations.10 Pastor Chen further suggests that Christians should also submit to their leaders in the workplace, because even secular authority is given by God. He thus urges Christians to pay great attention to the importance of submitting to authority and of following order with regard to family, church, and secular society. As indicated above, Christian family relations are based in part on the divine order, which provides the moral standard for resolving problems, building relations, and educating children. While the husband has authority over his wife and family, of which he is the head, both parents have authority over children. The husband’s love and respect for his wife is complemented 10 Pastor Chen’s lecture series on WSC for house church members in city A in May 2019. 57

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by her submissiveness and obedience toward him, but both are equal before God and are created in God’s image, though different from each other in many ways and for different purposes. Christians illustrate this divine order and its creation of women for men as companion, partner, and helper by quoting the following Bible verses: “But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of the woman, and God is the head of Christ. . . . Indeed, man was not made from woman but woman from man. Neither was man created for the sake of woman but woman for the sake of man” (1 Cor 11:3, 8, 9). It is emphasized that keeping this authoritarian position of men over women and following the divine order is crucial for good family relations. Only by following this principle will Christian marriage and family be blessed and protected by God. The view that a healthy family can only be built based on the right order is not only taught in sermons but also supported in practice by the Chinese Protestant church, which regards the family as its foundation. Thus all church couples are cared for by church leaders, who solve problems through guidance and criticism if family order is not followed. The church also offers courses for marriage preparation and marital life and teaches biblical doctrine on the mutual roles of husband and wife. Age-based female Christian groups support single, married, or senior women to practice biblical teaching. Women are moreover strongly motivated through the circulation of relevant reading material and by sharing life experiences. The story of Sister Wang’s marriage demonstrates how a change in her understanding of a wife’s position transformed her relationship with her husband. When I met her in 2006, she was a young woman in her late twenties, a talented, energetic yet faithful Christian at the Red Cross Church. She was born and grew up in city A and had graduated from one of the best art universities in China, while her husband Brother Chen was a secondary school graduate and a rural migrant in 2001 to city A from a village in north China. They married in 2004. From a socially conventional non-Christian perspective, Sister Wang’s choice of Chen as marriage partner would be seen as unusual and even irrational given the socio-economic gap between them. She told me “When I first visited his parent’s house in the village, I was struck by the gap between us.” In due course she wanted to escape from the marriage and go to the United States to study. However, Pastor Liu and Sister Hu had a serious conversation with her and urged her to stay and maintain her position in the family. She then repented and gave up the idea of studying abroad. However, 58

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her married life was not always smooth. She told me that she often found her husband to be less smart than she is. At the time, Brother Chen was selfemployed and on a low income, while Sister Wang was much better paid through using her talents in art and graphic design. She said, “At that time, we often had fights, because I despised him and all his decisions. I thought that he should listen to me because I am smarter.” Then Sister Wang and Brother Chen went through an economic crisis, and they prayed intensively together to God. Sister Wang recalled, I did suffer from the poverty for a period back then. However, after praying to God with my husband, my heart was filled with joy, a real joy poured from my heart. I describe it as joy rather than happiness. At that moment, I suddenly realized that the inner joy is not affected by outside factors, such as money, family background or social states. People who know us could not understand why we could be so joyful despite our destitution and yet realize that God is with us. This special experience not only helped them get through hardship, it also made her finally realize that the biblical teaching about family order is a truth which leads to family happiness. Finally I realized that a husband should be the head of the family and that I must listen to him. Sometimes I thought I was right but in the end I always regretted not having listened to him. God is amazing. Now our position (diwei 地位) has been completely changed. Back then, I did not keep my own position (shoubenwei 守本位) as a wife. He suffered greatly because I did not submit to him and just did whatever I wanted by following my own will. We were not a real family. I was married but under all kinds of illusions about marriage. I was proud that I earned lots of money. However, suffering poverty was good for me, because it helped me return to my proper position. I did not know how to be a wife. Through this hardship, God led me to a wife’s rightful position. . . . Consequently, marriage is helping us grow, especially myself. I was ignorant about marriage and now I have improved a lot. Sister Wang’s case demonstrates the transformation of women’s roles in a domestic setting, which is clearly different from Socialist feminism and Western feminist ideology. Since the Communist Party took power in China in 1949, women have officially been regarded as playing an equal part to men in society, despite 59

[128.104.46.206] Project MUSE (2024-04-07 01:48 GMT) UW-Madison Libraries

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some deviation in practice. The slogan is that “Women hold up half the sky.” Since the one-child policy in the 1980s was promoted and strictly implemented in China, especially in urban areas, girls have enjoyed equal education rights to boys in cities and their educational level has increased immensely. Women are not only expected to be a good wife but to also have a successful career, with economic achievement becoming a significant criterion of women’s self-realization. Nevertheless, educational equality does not necessarily lead to women’s happiness. In many respects, China remains a deeply patriarchal society. Career success is not a substitution but an addition to women’s domestic roles, so that they have to confront both workplace and domestic pressure. In so-called traditional Chinese society women’s duties were largely confined to taking care of family and children, whereas a modern woman’s struggle is with public as well as private life. In other words, women’s increased economic independence and professional achievement appear to have led to more, not less, struggle and to less certainty than previously. One of the reasons why Christian teaching is so attractive to women may be because it provides an unshakeable certainty of divine faith and protection along with the church’s practical support and special care toward women who are willing to obey a husband and focus on household roles and tasks. The church community plays an important role not only in teaching but particularly in supporting female Christians in following the Christian family order. Since the collapse of the danwei (work unit) system, there is no such institution addressing family conflict and difficulties. The Christian church has in fact partially replaced the role of the danwei and acted as a counselor arbitrating family issues. The Reformed church usually provides pastor counselling to congregations who have marital and parental problems. Some sisters told me that being a pastor is a tough job as they are expected to be available twenty-four hours a day to mediate family issues if necessary. It is not only women who are taught to follow biblical doctrine. Christian men are also given guidance and instruction in how to be a responsible and loving husband. Thus, while there is no authority or institution controlling and supervising a person’s private life in Chinese secular society, male Christians are taken care of and supervised by church leaders. As discussed above, a church leader’s authority is regarded as given by God and thus to be respected and followed. In this respect, it is not only women who are to be submissive and obedient but Christian men also need to follow biblical teaching and church leaders’ guidance. Premarital sex and extra-marital love are strictly forbidden, which is seen as in effect protecting women, especially in a society where men’s extra-marital 60

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affairs are widely accepted. A notorious Chinese expression, “xiao xan” (小三 the third person), is widely used in the media usually to describe a female mistress who destroys an existing marriage and is an indicator of the prevalence of extra-marital affairs, a main cause for divorce.11 In order to protect the family, the Reformed church strives to prevent the danger of divorce by encouraging study of the SWC and WCF, as according to their Christian teaching, premarital and extra-marital sex are seen as adultery, a serious sin. For Pastor Chen, sexual liberation in contemporary China is committed by a “wicked and adulterous generation.” In the SWC, questions 70 to 72 explain the meaning of the eighth Commandment, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” which Pastor Chen seriously warns Christians against. He says, Lewdness is the worst of all sins. This sin is against the Holy Spirit who lives in our body. If you associate with a prostitute, you are not able to remain with the Holy Spirit. . . . The sin is like despising God who is present everywhere and all times. If you feel shame in doing such a thing while someone is present, isn’t God always present? Aren’t you blaspheming and despising him? God’s judgement on those who commit adultery is that His anger and fury will be poured forth upon their body and spirit. Besides such somber warnings, Pastor Chen also encourages brothers and sisters to keep a pure and watchful heart before God by keeping clear of all temptations: “We have to know that our nature tends to sin. Inside us there is an unclean lust in our heart. If we are not watchful, the seed of lust will sprout.” He further emphasizes the important role of the church community in supporting the Christian insistence on sexual morality and on separating itself from secular society. In sum, obedience and submission to divine and religious authority is emphasized in the Reformed church in China. Women are taught to retain their position as family helper and assistant and to obey their husband. By renouncing some rights and freedoms, they receive the protection and security provided by God and the church. Women are moreover encouraged to commit themselves to their family and household rather than to a career. Sister Wang is now a full-time housewife and mother of three sons. Except for occasional design work at home, she has since 2015 amplified her main task of looking after the household and 11 See “33 ways to persuade ‘Xiao San’ to quit,” https://tinyurl.com/387wefax. 61

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children by home schooling her two elder sons. Despite her extremely tight daily schedule, she expressed joy and contentment with her lot when interviewed in 2019. Her case is not uncommon in the Reformed church, in which highly educated Christian women may eventually give up a career in order to focus completely on their family and children who are, in their view, more precious than any professional achievement. The model of the harmonious Christian family often becomes a lively testimony to the faith and may encourage fellow Christians who are single to imitate and be inspired by it.

Single Christian Women Like non-Christians, Christians also confront parental and social pressure to marry once marriageable age is reached. But Christians have extra pressure from the church and its promotion of the importance of marrying a fellow Christian, especially in town, as a condition of producing a family within a happy marriage. Frequently cited are the bible verses: “Do not be mismatched with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and lawlessness have in common? Or what partnership is there between light and darkness? What agreement does Christ have with Beliar? Or what does a believer share with an unbeliever?” (2 Cor 6:14–15). However, for single sisters the choice of marriage partners is limited to the degree they outnumber the single brothers available. A further complication is that single male Christians who are active in the service of the church are regarded as potential church leaders to be trained and supported by the church. Given that a Christian marriage has to be seen as a model, marriage with a (potential) church leader has to demonstrate commitment to the Christian faith. The choice of life-partner is not therefore just a personal matter but one that crucially affects the reputation of the church and Christian belief. Consequently, in addition to the general advantage of having a wide choice from among the available sisters, men who are active in the church have the further advantage of being prioritized in their choice of partners, for their choices are often supported by church leaders. That said, and notwithstanding church leaders’ supportive attitude toward Christian men, marriage choices are also experienced as freely based on love, and so are different from the forced marriages traditionally determined by clanship and practiced in the early period of communist party rule. In short, although both male and female single Christians are equally subject to pressure from both Chinese society and the Christian 62

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church, brothers do enjoy the two advantages in selecting wives that the sisters lack: (1) Single men are fewer and so have more “value.” (2) The support that the men receive from the church in turn induces sisters to follow the men’s choice of prospective marriage partners. The greater difficulty faced by single Christian women in finding a suitable single Christian partner partly reflects the problems of matchmaking found in overall Chinese secular society. Research has shown that the proportion of so-called “leftover” (shengnü 剩女) single women has been increasing in cities, with highly educated professional single women having the greatest difficulty in finding a partner,12 an indication of the dilemma and discrimination confronting such women choosing partners in what is still a culturally embedded patriarchal society. The Christian church is thus a microcosm of the larger society. Pastor Xu, who has been active in matchmaking among Christians, told me that 95 percent of single female Christians have a Bachelor’s degree or higher, while less than 20 percent of male Christians have graduated from university. The educational gap and the imbalanced gender ratio within the Christian church makes his task of matchmaking extremely problematic. However, despite having to face similar challenges and difficulties, Christian women are generally better equipped in overcoming the bias of the educational and economic gap than non-Christian women. Through biblical teaching, Christians have developed entirely different standards in choosing a partner. Personal appearance, economic standing and educational background have become less important in considering a future spouse, while spirituality, godly devotion, and commitment to church are prioritized. It is thus not uncommon for a highly educated sister to marry a less-educated rural migrant brother in urban churches, as Sister Wang’s case illustrates. To some extent, by rejecting the standard criteria for “marrying up,” Christian women enjoy some freedom by feeling able to choose a partner who has a lower socio-economic status. In addition, a Christian family is taught to be independent and separate from their parental family, which contrasts radically from the Confucian emphasis on filial piety and obedience to parents. While parents in the Confucian tradition are prioritized in the family, the relation between husband and wife in a nuclear family is prioritized in contemporary Christian 12 Sandy To, “Understanding Sheng Nu (‘Leftover Women’): the Phenomenon of Late Mar-

riage among Chinese Professional Women,” Symbolic Interaction 36, no. 1 (2013): 1–20. 63

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teaching, which, as a result, eases the pressure and expectation of marrying up imposed by parents. Despite the difficulties, most single Christian women persist in seeking a Christian man as a future spouse. Alongside its biblical teaching of divine blessing, the Christian church is regarded as mediator or guarantor of marriage between two Christians. A serious and healthy relationship is regarded as initiated by seeking church leaders’ advice rather than through one’s own initiative. Only after church leaders’ formal permission is granted is a brother or sister allowed to approach the partner they have in mind. If they are in different churches, leaders in both churches first exchange views and reach mutual consent before the relationship can begin. Church leaders’ approval is seen as guaranteeing the trustworthiness of the partners. In other words, the Christian relationship is from the start approved, cared for, and guided by a church leader, who, as a shepherd of his congregation, vouches for the couple. This is understood as creating a secure and trustworthy precondition for the sister and brother to develop an intimate relationship. In order to help single Christians find partners, urban churches set up fellowships for young people and organize various activities for male and female Christians to meet one another. It is significant that the Reformed church does not usually cooperate in organizing such events with the non-Reformed church, because, as illustrated above, a church’s unity is seen as founded on the same theological teaching and practices. If a sister were to marry a brother from a non-Reformed church, she either has to persuade her future husband to convert to and join the Reformed church or she must leave her Reformed church to join her husband’s church. It is only through such an action that the Reformed church believes it can remain theologically unified.

Conclusion Borrowing Cucchiari’s analysis of religion as a transformative factor in gender discouse, it is evident that Christianity and its teachings historically have not only been a powerful force in changing gender relations, including understandings of masculinity and femininity, but have also inevitably led to changed women’s roles, both publicly and domestically.13 In China, Christian theology provided a powerful spur to gender equality for Chinese women in the early 13 Cucchiari, “Between Shame and Sanctification,” 688. 64

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twentieth century in their battle with Confucian patriarchical dogma. Christian missionaries also helped promote equal educational and working opportunities for Chinese women. Their Christian faith liberated and empowered them to be independent and upwardly mobile and to transition from housewife to professional career. Moreover, it was mainly through Christian campaigning that the practice of female foot-binding was banned.14 While Chinese women were thus tranformed through their Christian faith, the women in turn played a central role in evangelizing the gospel, in revival movements and in establishing the Christian church. It was especially during periods of religious persecution and repression that Christian women were the main agents in preserving Christian beliefs within families and the local community, such as during the Cultural Revolution.15 As Chow puts it, it is Chinese women who “hold up half the roof of the church in China.”16 Paradoxically, the recent emergence of Calvinist Reformed thinking and practice seems to have had an opposite effect by discouraging women from taking on leadership roles at church and instead fostering male dominance both at church and domestically. Chong also observes how “Confucian-patriarchal principles of female inferiority and male superiority, sanctioned through conservative interpretations of the Bible, are firmly institutionalized, and the secondary status and subservient roles of women are perpetuated”17 in the Korean church. To explain why women are attracted by and convert to such a gender conservative religious institution, Chong refers to the “paradox of submission,” which works as a strategy for changing husbands’ behavior and easing domestic conflict. By obeying husbands, women in fact submit themselves to God’s supreme authority and therefore feel morally on par and even superior to men. Chong argues that this paradox of Christian doctrine is experienced by Korean women as emancipation through subordination, and resistance through submission. Furthermore, by examining the increasing number of Chinese female missionaries in the UK, Huang Yuqin claims that women’s “paradoxical 14 Kwok Pui-lan, Chinese Women and Christianity, 1860–1927 (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press,

1992) and Jessie G. Lutz, Pioneer Chinese Women: Gender, Christianity, and Social Mobility (Bethlehem: Lehigh University Press, 2010). 15 Li Ma, Christian Women and Modern China: Recovering a Women’s History of Chinese Protestantism (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2021). 16 Alexander Chow, “The Remarkable Story of China’s ‘Bible Women,’ ” Christianity Today 2018 https://tinyurl.com/2r3pk258, accessed on 21/06/2022. 17 Kelly H. Chong, Deliverance and Submission: Evangelical Women and the Negotiation of Patriarchy in South Korea (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009), 32. 65

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subjectivities” and “identity crisis” result from and reflect the different gender ideologies imposed by distinctive political ideologies and discourses over different historical periods: from early Confucianism in the past to high socialism and now to a post-socialist market economy.18 In responding to such complex and often contradictory gender concepts, Christianity provides women with a certain autonomy and helps them gain self-esteem and self-fulfillment, so effectively solving the identity crisis. Like Chong, Huang thus argues that Christianity leads to a paradoxical transformative process of liberation through submission. Similar to the situation in Korea and the UK analyzed by Chong and Huang respectively,19 Chinese Christian women in China have also experienced this transformative gender paradox. On the one hand, Reformed Christian doctrine promotes male leadership, and women are expected to be submissive and obedient to male authority. On the other, by acting submissively to male authority, Christian women understand that they are returning to the position that God had originally created for them. In doing so, they feel set free through a sense of God’s protection from the double burden of expectations of career/professional success and of family/domestic harmony imposed by society. By safeguarding their own position, women strategically encourage and justify their requests to their husbands to take responsibility for themselves by avoiding immoral behavior, such as keeping a mistress or other forms of sexual misbehavior. The ultimate goal is to lead a harmonious and healthy family. Moreover, while women are encouraged to be helpers at home and church, it is noted that God Himself is in fact a helper. Therefore, being an assistant or helper is not necessarily regarded as subordinate; rather, it is an honor to be in the likeness of God. Different theological interpretations may lead to different gender discourses, so that while women often play a leadership role in the Charismatic church, female leadership is not welcome in the Reformed church. By contrast, a great number of women have been theologically trained and ordained as professional pastors in the government-sanctioned Three-Self church.20 Given the authoritarian nature of the Chinese government, we may ask why the Three-Self 18 Yuqin Huang, “Becoming Missionaries: Gender, Space and Subjectivites in Chinese Chris-

tian Communities in the UK,” The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology, 18:3 (2017): 215–19.

19 Chong, Deliverance and Submission; Huang, “Becoming Missionaries.” 20 Kwok Pui-lan. Chinese Women and Chrisitanity, 1860–1927 (Atlanta, GA: Scholars Press,

1992).

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church, as a part of state bureaucracy, seems to promote a more equal gender structure than that of the house church group. A possible explanation lies in theological difference: while the Three-Self church is theologically liberal, the house church group is regarded as based on conservative evangelicalism. Future research is needed to explore further this interactive and interweaving relationship between women’s roles, theology, culture, historical traditions, and political systems.

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Chapter 4

GIVE US DUTCH NEO-CALVINISM Retrieving and Reconsidering Dutch Neo-Calvinism in the Chinese Context Xu Ximian 徐西面, School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh Over the past four decades, Calvinism has gained ground and grown rapidly in China. In this theological movement, Neo-Calvinism, which originated in nineteenth-century Netherlands, gradually became prominent. Many works by Neo-Calvinist theologians have been translated into Chinese.1 Notions such as “cultural mandate” and common grace, which are typical of Dutch Neo-Calvinism, are widely used among Chinese Christian intellectuals and churches to express Christianity’s mission to engage with Chinese culture and society.2 Against this backdrop, this paper aims to examine Neo-Calvinism in the Chinese context with attention to the house churches that embrace a Reformed faith. My focus on the house churches, which mostly comprise grassroots 1 Abraham Kuyper, “Lectures on Calvinism” [加爾文主義系列講座], in This Was John

Calvin [加爾文傳], trans. Wang Zhaofeng (Beijing: Huaxia, 2006); for another Chinese translation, see Abraham Kuyper, Lectures on Calvinism [金石之言：從加爾文主義論宗 教、政治、學術和藝術], trans. Guo Xi-an (Taipei: Reformation Translation Fellowship, 2018); Herman Bavinck, Our Reasonable Faith [基督教神學教程], trans. Charles Chao, 1st ed. (Taipei: Reformation Theological Fellowship, 1989); Herman Bavinck, Philosophy of Revelation [啟示的哲學], trans. Zhao Gang (Sichuan: Sichuan People’s Publishing House, 2014); Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics: Abridged in One Volume [改革宗教義學: 精 縮版], trans. Zhang Baoluo, Li Pengxiang et al., ed. John Bolt (Orlando: Covenant Evangelical Theological Seminary, 2016). 2 For example, the journal Almond Flowers (杏花), founded by Beijing Shouwang Church (北 京守望教會), dedicated its fourth issue of fourth volume (Winter 2008) to exploring the topic of cultural mandate.

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believers, is in tune with Jie Kang’s recent study where she points out that “the major factor in the spread of Calvinist theology is the grass-roots Christian network in China, and that this supersedes the influence of overseas Chinese or politically high-profile public intellectuals.”3 The paper investigates the reception of (Neo-)Calvinism in Reformed house churches, primarily those that are located in Wenzhou in Zhejiang Province. By ‘Wenzhou Reformed house church’ (WRHC), I refer to the Wenzhou house church that sides with or leans toward Reformed faith or Calvinism. Wenzhou Reformed house churches make a good case study because Jonathan Chao (趙 天恩), a prominent Chinese advocate of Reformed theology, visited various Wenzhou house churches several times in the 1990s and introduced and taught Calvinist theology there. Since then, Calvinist theology has gradually become more significant in Wenzhou. This paper argues that the received Neo-Calvinism in Wenzhou is primarily of the Westminsterian version that was shaped by American theologians, especially Cornelius Van Til. As such, Dutch Neo-Calvinism as received by the WRHC is secondhand, and its principal hallmark and motifs are not fully unfolded and may even be misunderstood. Constructively, the paper suggests that the WRHC needs to retrieve and reconsider Dutch Neo-Calvinism and then contextualize it in Wenzhou. To this end, the Dutch Neo-Calvinist foundational principle of “grace restores and renews nature” may be most conducive to achieving the purpose of contextualization. In what follows, I will first analyze the difference between Dutch Neo-Calvinism and a Westminsterian Neo-Calvinism primarily influenced by Cornelius Van Til. Then, I proceed to elaborate on the Dutch Neo-Calvinist principle of “grace restores and renews nature” and explore its benefits for the WRHC, which can advance the contextualization of Calvinism and Reformed faith in Wenzhou.

Which Neo-Calvinism? In the nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Netherlands, Calvinism was revived to penetrate every sphere of national life. This theological movement, led by Abraham Kuyper (1837–1920) and Herman Bavinck (1854–1921), and which 3 Jie Kang, “The Rise of Calvinist Christianity in Urbanising China,” Religions 10, no. 8 (2019):

481 (3) https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10080481. 70

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came to be termed “Neo-Calvinism,” was influential not only in the Netherlands but also in the United States. From 1840–1920, there were waves of migration from the Netherlands to the United States.4 Long-term immigration built a connection between the churches and theological academia of the two countries. Dutch Neo-Calvinism became influential in the United States in Kuyper and Bavinck’s own day and has remained so ever since. As the two leading Neo-Calvinist figures, both Kuyper and Bavinck were invited to deliver the Stone Lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary, for example.5 Furthermore, Geerhardus Vos (1862–1949), the first Professor of Biblical Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, was Bavinck’s lifelong friend and “nicknamed the American Bavinck.”6 Vos was a public advocate of Bavinck’s thought and introduced Kuyper’s theology and Dutch NeoCalvinism to the United States of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.7 The influence of Dutch Neo-Calvinism in the United States came to the foreground in the schism within Princeton Theological Seminary in the 1920s. During that period, the reception of theological modernism in American churches gave rise to debates between the modernist and the orthodox wings, which eventually resulted in the establishment of the Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia (WTSP) in 1929, led by J. Gresham Machen (1881– 1937). Although this Seminary was established to continue the Old Princeton tradition, it nevertheless soon became an American aerodrome where Dutch 4 See Robert A. Swierenga, “Dutch Immigration Patterns in the Nineteenth and Twentieth

Centuries,” in The Dutch in America: Immigration, Settlement, and Cultural Change (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1985), 15–42. 5 Kuyper delivered his lectures in 1898, later published as Calvinism: Six Lectures Delivered in the Theological Seminary at Princeton (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1899); Bavinck presented his lectures in 1908, and the lectures were published as Philosophy of Revelation: A New Annotated Edition, ed. Cory Brock and Nathaniel Gray Sutanto (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2018). 6 George Harinck, “Herman Bavinck and Geerhardus Vos,” Calvin Theological Journal 45, no. 1 (2010): 27; James Eglinton, Bavinck: A Critical Biography (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2020), 154. 7 See Harinck, “Herman Bavinck and Geerhardus Vos,” 154; George Harinck, “‘Give Us an American Abraham Kuyper’: Dutch Calvinist Reformed Responses to the Founding of the Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia,” Calvin Theological Journal 33, no. 2 (1998): 303, 306; George Harinck, “Geerhardus Vos as Introducer of Kuyper in America,” in The Dutch-American Experience: Essays in Honor of Robert P. Swierenga, ed. Hans Krabbendam and Larry J. Wagenaar (Amsterdam: VU, 2000), 243–61; John Halsey Wood, “Dutch Neo-Calvinism at Old Princeton: Geerhardus Vos and The Rise of Biblical Theology at Princeton Seminary,” Zeitschrift für Neuere Theologiegeschichte 13, no. 1 (2006): 1–22. 71

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Neo-Calvinism landed.8 To many, Machen “seemed a second Abraham Kuyper.”9 Along with Machen, several professors who were closely connected to the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Gereformeerde Kerken in Nederland)— Kuyper and Bavinck’s denomination—joined the faculty of WTSP. Among them, Cornelius Van Til (1895–1987) and N. B. Stonehouse (1902–1962) particularly favored and promoted Neo-Calvinist theology.10 The Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia became the primary channel through which Neo-Calvinism flowed to China. WTSP’s connection with Chinese Christianity has a long history. The North China Theological Seminary (Huabei shenxueyuan 華北神學院), founded by the American presbyterian missionary Watson McMillan Hayes (1857–1944) in 1919, was called the sister school of WTSP. Both seminaries offered criticisms of theological modernism.11 Moreover, several Chinese theologians studied theology under Van Til directly at WTSP. Jonathan Chao (1938–2004) was one such prominent student who was dedicated to the dissemination of Reformed theology in China.12 He by and large followed Van Til’s Neo-Calvinism, writing his Master of Theology dissertation on Van Til’s theology of common grace.13 Neo-Calvinist thought became widely accepted among Chinese churches largely through Jonathan Chao.14 For example, Chao edited A Training Manual for Church Ministers in 1995 for mainland China churches, which was used in unregistered theological seminaries. This manual elaborates on the notions of general revelation, special revelation, common grace, special grace, and cultural

8 A historical account of WTSP, see W. Robert Godfrey, “The Westminster School,” in Re-

formed Theology in America: A History of Its Modern Development, ed. David F. Wells (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1985), 89–101. 9 Harinck, “Give Us an American Abraham Kuyper,” 309. 10 Moisés Silva, “A Half-Century of Reformed Scholarship,” Westminster Theological Journal 50, no. 2 (1988): 248–49, 254. 11 Kevin Xiyi Yao, The Fundamentalist Movement among Protestant Missionaries in China, 1920–1937 (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2003), 139–82. 12 The others include Che Bin Tan (陳濟民), Wilson Chow (周永健), Gao Jile (高集樂) and Samuel Ling (林慈信). The first three theologians and Jonathan Chao together founded China Graduate School of Theology first in the United States in 1969 and later in Hong Kong in 1972. 13 Jonathan Chao, Commentary on Common Grace [普遍恩典導論], trans. Wang Zhiyong (Taiwan: RTF, 2012). 14 Alexander Chow, “Jonathan Chao and ‘Return Mission’: The Case of the Calvinist Revival in China,” Mission Studies 36 (2019): 442–57. 72

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mandate.15 Needless to say, Neo-Calvinism occupies a significant place in Jonathan Chao’s propagation of Calvinism in China. Another contemporary, Stephen Tong (唐崇榮, 1940–) of the Reformed Evangelical Church of Indonesia fostered the spread of Neo-Calvinism in China. He joined the movement of lay lectures on Reformed theology, which was initiated by Jonathan Chao in the 1980s.16 Like Chao, Stephen Tong gave great weight to Neo-Calvinist ideas, and in the 1990s, pirated audiotapes and books of Stephen Tong’s lectures on Reformed theology were circulated among Reformed house churches in Wenzhou. This brief historiographical account may mislead readers to infer that Neo-Calvinism has gained significant influence and spread in Wenzhou and beyond in China. In fact, however, Neo-Calvinism has yet to become a mainstream theology in China in two senses. Firstly, Neo-Calvinism is non-mainstream in China because it has not captured scholarly interest in mainland China universities. Over the past few decades, Chinese theology has paid heed to Western theologians such as Karl Barth, John Macquarrie, or Jürgen Moltmann.To date, no university academic has specialized in Neo-Calvinism.17 Secondly, NeoCalvinism is a non-mainstream theology in China insofar as it is mostly received in house churches, particularly those that endorse Reformed theology. Politically speaking, house churches sit outside of the mainstream, in contrast to ThreeSelf churches. Neo-Calvinism’s status in China is partly, yet significantly, a result of the inaccessibility of Dutch primary sources by Dutch Neo-Calvinist theologians. As far as I know, no Chinese theologians have yet been able to study Neo-Calvinism based on Dutch texts. Even in the Anglophone world, many of Kuyper’s and Bavinck’s writings were not translated into English until the first two decades of the twenty-first century. Although several of Bavinck’s, Kuyper’s, and Vos’s writings have been translated into Chinese, a severe shortage of primary sources on Dutch Neo-Calvinism hinders Chinese theologians from a comprehensive 15 Jonathan Chao ed., Jiaohui gongren peixun shouce [教會工人培訓手册] (Taipei: China

Ministries International, 1995).

16 Stephen Tong [唐崇榮], ‘The Pastor Who I Know: Jonathan Chao’ [我所認識的趙天恩

牧師], China Ministries International, accessed by 28 March 2021. http://cmiusca.org/ page/2894894:Page:5094. 17 The first Chinese journal article on the Neo-Calvinist theologian Herman Bavinck is by Shao Kai Tseng, “ ‘Orthodox yet Modern’: Herman Bavinck and Hegel’s Speculative Philosophy,” Logos & Pneuma: Chinese Journal of Theology 53 (2020): 25–53. 73

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study.18 In turn, this shortage results in a Chinese Neo-Calvinism that is derivative and dependent upon WTSP and Van Til. WTSP and Van Til’s theology can be considered as a contextualized Dutch Neo-Calvinism in the United States, being termed Westminsterian Neo-Calvinism in this paper. That being so, two questions arise here: is there any distinction between Westminsterian NeoCalvinism and Dutch Neo-Calvinism? To what extent does the Neo-Calvinism in China take on the spirit of Dutch Neo-Calvinism? In order to address these questions, I will compare Van Til with Kuyper and Bavinck in terms of their views of common grace. Van Til spells out his theology of common grace primarily in Common Grace and the Gospel (1972).19 According to him, common grace should be construed based on the antithesis between the Christian and the non-Christian. He argues that “when both parties, the believer and the non-believer, are epistemologically self-conscious and as such engaged in the interpretative enterprise, they cannot be said to have any fact in common. . . . Metaphysically, both parties have all things in common, while epistemologically they have nothing in common.”20 Van Til explicates Kuyper’s theology of common grace, claiming that Kuyper and Bavinck alike ground common grace on the catholicity of Christianity—that is, Christianity’s “appreciation of everything good and beautiful that God has given to sinful men.”21 Van Til perceives two traits of Kuyper’s theology of common grace. Kuyper stresses that the essence of common grace is to restrain sin after the human fall and, at the same time, that common grace serves the progress of human beings.22 Van Til proceeds to appraise Kuyper’s theology of common grace critically. His basic judgment is that both Kuyper and Bavinck’s view on common grace

18 Two Chinese translations of Vos’s translations are as follows: Biblical Theology: Old and New

Testaments [聖經神學舊約和新約], trans. Li Jin and Ma Li (Hong Kong: China Trinity Press, 2020); The Kingdom and the Church [耶稣對國度的教訓], trans. Ren Yisa (Taipei: RTF, 2010). 19 Cornelius Van Til, Common Grace and the Gospel (Nutley: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, 1977). The first part of this book is also published as Common Grace (Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, 1947), and has been translated into Chinese: [普遍 恩典與福音], trans Wang Zhiyong (Taipei: RTF, 2012). 20 Van Til, Common Grace and the Gospel, 5. 21 Van Til, Common Grace and the Gospel, 14. 22 Van Til, Common Grace and the Gospel, 15–17. Van Til cites Kuyper’s contention from Abraham Kuyper, Common Grace: God’s Gifts for a Fallen World, Volume 2: The Doctrinal Section, trans. Nelson Kloosterman and Ed M. van der Maas, ed. Jordan J. Ballor and J. Daryl Charles (Bellingham: Lexham, 2019), 687. 74

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slides into “abstract thinking.”23 The emphasis of Van Til’s criticism falls on the second trait of Kuyper’s theology of common grace. For him, Kuyper’s view on the progress of humans under the auspice of common grace overestimates the knowledge of God in history and creation and, that being so, plays down God’s incomprehensibility.24 He adds, “There is a vagueness inherent in Kuyper’s treatment of common grace. He seems to be uncertain in his mind as to what is common to the believer and the non-believer.”25 In the same way, Van Til goes on to criticize Bavinck’s theology of common grace. Van Til asserts that Bavinck develops a moderate realism—which is the middle way between rationalism and empiricism—as the philosophical foundation for theology. In this connection, Van Til contends that Bavinck fails to hold fast to his own viewpoint that Scripture is the only external principium for theology.26 From the vantage point of this observation, Van Til estimates that “Bavinck sometimes seems to offer us a natural theology of a kind similar to that offered by the church of Rome,”27 and continues: “Neither of [Kuyper and Bavinck] has been able to cut himself quite loose from a non-Christian methodology.”28 For Van Til, the fundamental problem of Kuyper and Bavinck’s theology of common grace consists in their mistreatment of the relationship between the Christian and the non-Christian—a question of prime importance for the Chinese church—and their tendency to develop a natural theology that is antithetical to Holy Scripture. The distinction between the Christian and the non-Christian is always the dominant principle of Van Til’s theology of common grace. On the basis of this principle, Van Til moves on to describe the role of common grace in history. Common grace will diminish still more in the further course of history. With every conditional act the remaining significance of the conditional is reduced. God allows men to follow the path of their self-chosen rejection of Him more rapidly than ever toward the final consummation. God increases His attitude of wrath upon the reprobate as time goes on, until at the end of time, at the great consummation of history, their condition 23 Van Til, Common Grace and the Gospel, 34. 24 Van Til, Common Grace and the Gospel, 38–39. 25 Van Til, Common Grace and the Gospel, 40. 26 Van Til, Common Grace and the Gospel, 44–46. 27 Van Til, Common Grace and the Gospel, 49. 28 Van Til, Common Grace and the Gospel, 52. 75

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has caught up with their state. On the other hand God increases His attitude of favor upon the elect, until at last, at the consummation of history, their condition has caught up with their state. While in this world, though saved and perfect in Christ, they are yet, because of their old nature, under the displeasure of God.29 Three notable observations can be made in reference to this passage. First, Van Til basically rejects the two traits of Kuyper’s common grace. Although Van Til to a certain degree recognizes that common grace serves to restrain sin after the human fall, he makes it clear that common grace cannot truly achieve this goal insofar as it “will diminish” in history. In this light, it stands to reason that he rejects Kuyper’s view that common grace serves for the progress of humans. Common grace is too weak to advance human culture. This low view of culture was common in the Wenzhou Reformed House Church, and one purpose of our retrieval of Dutch Neo-Calvinism is to rectify this negative judgment on culture. We will return to this point later. Second, Van Til implicitly defines special grace as competing somehow with common grace. His emphasis on the diminishing of common grace is coupled with the increasing of special grace that is given to the elect. The impression remains that Van Til’s accent on the decline of common grace is intended to highlight the necessity of special grace, namely, the grace of God’s redemption. By doing so, he gives shape to the rivalry between common and special grace. This rivalry is echoed by many Reformed ministers in Wenzhou who refuse to respond to political and public issues. Third, Van Til merely stresses the renewal of creation. His understanding of the relationship between common and special grace leads to the conclusion that creation (nature and history) must be renewed by grace on the grounds that nature is “under the displeasure of God.” In short, characterized by the antithesis between the Christian and the non-Christian, Van Til’s view of grace can be summarized as follows: common grace is waning, and special grace renews nature. It is this stance that characterizes the majority of Reformed churches in Wenzhou and needs to be redressed. Through the above analysis, it can be seen that Van Til’s criticism of the Dutch Neo-Calvinist view of common grace reflects his low view of nature and modern culture. In my estimation, Van Til’s difference from Kuyper and Bavinck lies with his understanding of the relationship between special and common 29 Van Til, Common Grace and the Gospel, 83–84. 76

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grace. According to Van Til, Kuyper and Bavinck’s view of common grace may give rise to a natural theology that eclipses Holy Scripture and special grace. In fact, Van Til misunderstands Kuyper and Bavinck’s formulation of the connection between common and special grace. Jeffrey Skaff notes that “[f ]or both Kuyper and Bavinck, common grace maintains and preserves humankind for special grace.”30 The function of maintenance and preservation is clearly unfolded in Bavinck’s Christocentric approach to the relationship between common and special grace. This gratia specialis, however, can be fully appreciated only when it is viewed in connection with its prevenient preparation from the time of earliest man onward. . . . It is God himself, the Creator of heaven and earth, who in Christ fully reveals and gives himself to his people. But this grace, having fully appeared in Christ, is now intended for all men. . . . The two, special and common grace, separated for ages, once again combine. And thus united, they henceforth make their way together among the Christian peoples of the world.31 Bavinck never thinks of any tensions between common and special grace precisely because “the God of creation and of regeneration is one.”32 That is to say, the harmony between common and special grace is grounded in the unity of God’s work ad extra. Hence, both Bavinck and Kuyper are convinced that human culture is a gift, and “they expect an eschatological ingathering of the fruits of humankind’s cultural labors.”33 The Dutch Neo-Calvinist stance on special and common grace can be summarized in the following catchphrase: grace restores and renews nature.34 For Dutch Neo-Calvinist theologians, God never gives up the nature that God 30 Jeffrey R. Skaff, “Common Grace and the Ends of Creation in Abraham Kuyper and Herman

Bavinck,” Journal of Reformed Theology 9, no. 1 (2015): 13. Emphasis original.

31 Herman Bavinck, “Common Grace,” trans. Raymond VanLeeuwen, Calvin Theological Jour-

nal 24, no. 1 (1989): 44.

32 Herman Bavinck, “Calvin and Common Grace,” trans. Geerhardus Vos, The Princeton Theo-

logical Review 7, no. 3 (1909): 462.

33 Richard J. Mouw, He Shines in All That’s Fair: Culture and Common Grace (Grand Rapids,

MI: Eerdmans, 2002), 50.

34 Jon Stanley, “Restoration and Renewal: The Nature of Grace in the Theology of Herman

Bavinck,” in Revelation and Common Grace, ed. John Bowlin, The Kuyper Center Review, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2011), 81–104. 77

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created in the beginning but restores and renews it to its consummation in Christ. Thus far, one explicit differing point between Westminsterian and Dutch Neo-Calvinism comes to the fore: while Kuyper and Bavinck underline both the restoration and renewal of nature, Van Til merely stresses the renewal of nature. In the circle of Chinese Christianity, it is Westminsterian Neo-Calvinism that plays a significant role in the rise of Calvinism. That is, WRHCs and many Chinese Reformed churches focus much attention on renewing nature and are more often than not oblivious to restoring nature. Jonathan Chao effectively took on Van Til’s theology of common grace and introduced it to the circle of Chinese Christianity. In his Master of Theology dissertation, Chao argues with Van Til that Kuyper’s view on common grace confuses the Christian with the non-Christian and that Bavinck is under the influence of non-Christian thought.35 Furthermore, Chao maintains that the common path on which Christians and non-Christians walked before Jesus’s crucifixion began to bifurcate at the cross. Thereafter, Christians move upward, non-Christians downward.36 Doubtless, Van Til’s stance on the relationship between common and special grace is latent in Chao’s argument. In this light, Chao upholds the Westminsterian Neo-Calvinist principle of “grace renews nature,” which has a significant bearing on his view of Christianity’s relationship with Chinese culture. In A Training Manual for Church Ministers, Chao includes Stephen Tong’s “Theology of Evangelism,” which examines the relationship between the gospel and culture.37 According to Tong, culturalness (文化性) is embedded in human nature due to the human creation in the imago Dei, but culture was built up after the fall.38 Although evangelism does not negate all culture in the world, it is necessary to pinpoint everything that contradicts the word of God and then build a new system of culture according to God’s truth. By doing so, Christians can fulfil their cultural mandate, which was entrusted to humans at creation. What does a “new system of culture” mean? Jonathan Chao and Stephen Tong do not expand upon this point from a Reformed perspective, much less 35 Chao, Commentary on Common Grace, 39–43. At the same time, Chao criticizes Van Til for

confusing metaphysics with epistemology (41).

36 Chao, Commentary on Common Grace, 52. 37 Stephen Tong, “Theology of Evangelism” [Budao shenxue 佈道神學], in A Training Manual

for Church Ministers, chapter 8.

38 For Stephen Tong, wenhuaxing 文化性 is intrinsic to human nature and so I prefer “cultur-

alness” to “cultural” as the English equivalent of 文化性 in that the former implies something intrinsic to the nature of humans. 78

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from a perspective of contextualizing Calvinism. In any case, the Westminsterian Neo-Calvinist principle of “grace renews nature” stands in the foreground. In what follows, I intend to retrieve and reconsider the Dutch Neo-Calvinist principle of “grace restores and renews nature” in order to explore the possibility of contextualizing (Neo-)Calvinism in China.

Contextualizing Dutch Neo-Calvinist Principles The distinction between Westminsterian and Dutch Neo-Calvinism boils down to the Dutch Neo-Calvinist emphasis on the restoration of nature by grace. In turn, this focal point entails three aspects that are conducive to the contextualization of Calvinism in China: (1) creation comes before recreation and they are united as a whole, (2) grace never contradicts nature because common and special grace come from the same God, and (3) a theology of culture can be developed to articulate a dialogue between Calvinism and Chinese culture.

Creation and Recreation as United as a Whole Although the Wenzhou Church was founded by the Scottish Presbyterian missionary George Stott (曹雅直, 1835–1889), it soon came under the influence of Methodism after the arrival of the Wesleyan Methodist missionaries Robert Inkerman Exley (李華慶, 1855–1881) and William Edward Soothill (蘇慧 廉, 1861–1935). According to Philip Schaff, “Methodism owes its success to this untiring zeal in preaching the gospel of the new birth and a ‘full and free salvation’ to the common people.”39 This means that the Methodist faith is, from the beginning, characterized by its emphasis on soteriology. As Kenneth Wilson notes, “Methodists are a thankful people: . . . Methodist theology is rooted in thankfulness for God’s gifts of life, health and salvation in Christ.”40 The Methodist emphasis on soteriology has long been characteristic of Wenzhou churches. After the ten-year Cultural Revolution, the schisms that emerged in Wenzhou churches were caused by two primary factors: the Three-Self Movement and the debates on salvation. The former defined much clearer boundaries between the two groups of the official and unregistered (house) church around 39 Philip Schaff, The History of Creeds, The Creeds of Christendom, with a History and Critical

Notes, Volume I (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1878), 884.

40 Kenneth Wilson, Methodist Theology (London: T&T Clark International, 2011), 79. 79

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the early 1980s.41 The latter was entangled with the question of the theological legitimacy of the slogan “once-saved-always-saved” (一次得救，永遠得 救), which occurred in the 1970s, before the import of Reformed theology and Calvinism into Wenzhou churches. This soteriological slogan, which has been extensively discussed in most, if not all, of Wenzhou churches for five decades, was interpreted in two different ways. Some argued that Christians are always saved after repentance and baptism regardless of their behavior. By contrast, others contended that God secures the believer’s salvation to the Parousia and the believer’s duty is to live out her faith in daily life. In most cases, these two interpretations were not clearly distinguished.42 The thriving of Calvinism in Wenzhou heightened the traditional soteriological concerns among Wenzhou churches. The Reformed doctrine of “Perse­ verance of the Saints,” the fifth point of TULIP as laid down at the Synod of Dordt (1618–1619),43 teaches that those who are elected in Jesus Christ will be secured by God’s power and grace to obtain eternal glory. Many Wenzhou house churches came to know Reformed theology and Calvinism from this soteriological perspective, and this soteriological concern has prevailed among those Wenzhou churches that embraced Calvinism from the 1980s onward. For many, Calvinism is summarized in the TULIP and the doctrine of predestination. Here we can see an imprint of Westminsterian Neo-Calvinism on Wenzhou Reformed House Churches’ reception of Calvinism. That is, given that Westminsterian Neo-Calvinism one-sidedly emphasizes soteriology with the principle of “grace renews nature,” Calvinism in Wenzhou is in line with Westminsterian Neo-Calvinism such that house churches in Wenzhou lack the attempt to indigenize Calvinism in their own context due to their low view of anything non-Christian. They borrow American Presbyterian polity directly and 41 Through my personal conversations with some ministers who are over sixty, I learned that

the boundaries between the groups of the official and the unregistered church in Wenzhou were not well-defined until the early 1980s, the years when the Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches (TSPM) was revived. Of course, one could argue that the splits in the 1950s had already given birth to these two groups. In fact, Christians in Wenzhou started to have Sunday services in personal houses after 1958, the year when all churches in Wenzhou were closed. The term “house church” was not used in the sense of standing against the TSPM in Wenzhou until the 1980s. 42 The discussion on “once-saved-always-saved” is the summary of what I was taught since childhood in a Wenzhou house church and what I learned through my deep involvement in the ministry of churches located in the different regions of Wenzhou. 43 TULIP is the acronym of the following five points: Total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistible grace, and Perseverance of the saints. 80

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require church ministers to subscribe to Reformed confessions, particularly the Westminster Confession of Faith. As such, the development of the Reformed house churches has mainly been a process of Westernization. In this sense, “they are not Chinese churches but Western Presbyterian churches in China.”44 The retrieval and reconsideration of Dutch Neo-Calvinism can mitigate this one-sided interpretation of Calvinism and facilitate its contextualization in Wenzhou. I suggest that the Dutch Neo-Calvinist theologians’ stress on the doctrine of creation serves to adjust the Wenzhou house churches’ partial appropriation of Calvinism and Reformed theology. Bavinck submits that creation comes before and thus is the foundation for recreation. “Regeneration presupposes natural birth, recreation presupposes creation, and Scripture presupposes nature. The world, the earth, is the foundation of the church; without the one the other would be impossible, just as revealed theology is impossible without natural theology.”45 As per Bavinck, the claim that recreation presupposes creation is grounded in the unity of the triune God. Moreover, he contends that “the essence of the Christian religion consists in the reality that the creation of the Father, ruined by sin, is restored in the death of the Son of God and re-created by the grace of the Holy Spirit into a kingdom of God.”46 In this light, the triad of creation, restoration, and recreation denotes that the triune God’s work ad extra is united as a whole. Recreation neither devalues nor counteracts creation insofar as the Creator and the Recreator are the same One.47 Bavinck makes it clear that the harmony and affinity between creation and recreation is rooted in the doctrine of the God who is three-in-one. The multiplicity of God’s work in creation is ultimately grounded on the unity of God.48 Viewed in this light, Dutch Neo-Calvinism offers a critical reminder that Wenzhou Reformed House Churches should attend to creation so as to construe 44 Ximian Xu, “The Scientific Calling of the Church: Herman Bavinck’s Exhortation for the

Churches in Mainland China,” Studies in World Christianity 27, no. 2 (2021): 156. In the article I generally characterize Reformed churches in mainland China as “Western Presbyterian churches in China.” 45 Herman Bavinck, Reformed Ethics, Volume 1: Created, Fallen, and Converted Humanity, ed. John Bolt et al. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2019), 234. 46 Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, trans. John Vriend, 4 vols., ed. John Bolt (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2003–2008), 1:112. 47 See also Abraham Kuyper, Pro Rege, Living Under Christ’s Kingship, Volume 1: The Exalted Nature of Christ’s Kingship (Bellingham, WA: Lexham, 2016), 389. 48 Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, 2:318. 81

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recreation fully, which in turn would advance their understanding of the doctrine of the trinity. That is to say, it is not sufficient to say that grace renews nature. Instead, God’s recreation must conjoin the renewal and restoration of nature. This observation lays a theological foundation for the following two aspects of the contextualization of (Neo-)Calvinism in Wenzhou.

The Holism of Common and Special Grace As demonstrated above, a critical distinction between Westminsterian and Dutch Neo-Calvinism lies in their differing stances on the relationship between common and special grace. The Westminsterian Neo-Calvinist emphasis on recreation leads to its one-sided stress on special grace. Given Westminsterian Neo-Calvinism’s influence in the revival of Calvinism in Wenzhou, it stands to reason that the WRHC has not yet paid due attention to the theology of common grace, let alone clarified the relationship between common and special grace. This theological predicament has become more noticeable in Wenzhou in the past few years. With an increasing number of churches espousing Reformed faith, cooperation between these churches emerged. The bond between them is largely conditioned by soteriology and ecclesiology. The soteriological condition stresses TULIP and traditional Reformed thought. The ecclesiological condition emphasizes Presbyterian polity and the church’s independence of the state. At the same time, many churches begin to reflect on Reformed faith and Calvinism in their local Wenzhou context, but this contextual exploration is generally enmeshed in ecclesiology. That is, these churches have reconsidered women’s preaching in face of the more conservative Reformed posture toward women’s ordination. Needless to say, their preoccupation with soteriology and ecclesiology proves their biased emphasis on special grace. However, these churches also fail to articulate a robust theological construal of Christianity’s involvement in public affairs and engagement with Chinese culture. Although a few Wenzhou Reformed ministers are interested in the ideas of other Chinese Reformed ministers such as Jin Mingri 金明日—who was once invited to preach at a missionary conference in Ouhai District, Wenzhou—and Wang Yi 王怡 who engage actively in public and political affairs, the majority of Reformed churches and ministers are reluctant to deal with issues concerning China’s society, politics, and culture. In my personal conversations with many Wenzhou ministers—who are in sympathy with Reformed faith—in the last few years, I found that some of them were reluctant to talk about politics and even criticized Hong Kong churches’ involvement in the political movement in 2019. The charitable bodies 82

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founded by boss Christians in Wenzhou prove Wenzhou churches’ awareness of the public nature of the Christian faith. Yet, these Christian organizations are sporadic and incipient and often seek to integrate philanthropy with business. In this light, they are outside of the mainstream, in contrast with non-Christian charities, and more commercial than religious.49 To a certain degree, I suggest, the WRHC is still under the shadow of theologies of the early house-church leaders, including the likes of Wang Mingdao 王明道 and Watchman Nee 倪柝聲. In their thinking, a world-flight outlook is indispensable to Christians, which eventually leads to a secular-sacred dualism. Given this, the Dutch Neo-Calvinist stance on the holism of common and special grace opens up the possibility to delineate the public nature of the church theologically. This is so for two reasons. First, Dutch Neo-Calvinism forces the WRHC to articulate a theology of common grace. In Dutch Neo-Calvinism, especially according to Bavinck’s Christological approach, the holism of common and special grace means that neither of them can be fully construed without reference to the other. Bavinck claims that “[s]pecial grace is encircled by common grace; the vocation which comes to us in faith is connected and connects us with the vocation presented to us in our earthly calling; the election revealed to us in faith through this faith communicates its power to our entire life; the God of creation and of regeneration is one.”50 Accordingly, the public nature of the church is not based on special grace alone; instead, common grace is another footing on which this public nature is placed. Second, Dutch Neo-Calvinism can ease Wenzhou house churches’ preoccupation with the antithesis between the Christian and the non-Christian, which is influenced by the Westminsterian Neo-Calvinist interpretation of common and special grace. Of course, Calvinism of any sort does not deny the fact that the non-Christian needs to be transformed and redeemed by the regenerative work of the Holy Spirit, which must, more or less, give rise to the antithesis between the Christian and the non-Christian. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that this antithesis should not stand in the way of conversations between the Christian and the non-Christian. Rather, this antithesis serves to maintain Christian identity in such a conversation, which helps Christians to move toward the understanding of the synthesis of God’s work ad extra. In this connection, the Dutch 49 Nanlai Cao, Wenzhou Christians and the Grassroots Globalization of China (Hong Kong: The

Chinese University Press, 2017), 100.

50 Bavinck, “Calvin and Common Grace,” 462. 83

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Neo-Calvinist interpretation of common grace lends support to developing the idea of the publicity of the Christian faith in such a conversation. As Skaff notes, “Because [common] grace is universal, Christians have no excuse for not living in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ (Philippians 1:27) in all ‘spheres’ of which they are a part.”51 To delineate the publicity of the church in view of proactive Christian conversation with the non-Christian, the WRHC can reconsider how they can fully receive Neo-Calvinism in the Dutch Neo-Calvinist manner. In the meantime, they can present Calvinism afresh to other local churches and clear up misunderstandings about Neo-Calvinism, which are partly caused by the Reformed churches outside Wenzhou. In contrast with the WRHC, many Chinese church ministers and public intellectuals influenced by Neo-Calvinism opt for a politically liberal response to deal with the state-church relationship in China.52 On January 25, 2021, many house-church ministers signed the Wenzhou Consensus (温州共識), which levels its criticism at Neo-Calvinist political theology as well as Calvinism.53 This Consensus insists that the center of the Christian faith is Jesus Christ rather than the sovereignty of God, thereby rejecting the doctrine of predestination. Furthermore, with an emphasis on Christ’s redemption, it registers the critical argument that God only uses political powers to test and purify his people and that the Kingdom of God is not actualized on earth. We can observe that beneath the surface of the Consensus’s argument is its construal of Neo-Calvinism as seeking for the actualization of an earthly Kingdom of God, which is antithetical to their Christocentric understanding of the Christian faith. The Dutch Neo-Calvinist account of common and special grace described above shows that the Consensus de facto misunderstands Neo-Calvinism from the ground up. Bavinck’s Christological approach to common grace shows that the Christocentric understanding of common grace must entail the church’s wholescale involvement in public affairs and, of course, in the political sphere. Moreover, the holism of common and special grace paves the way for the contextualization of (Neo-)Calvinism in Wenzhou. To this subject we now turn. 51 Skaff, “Common Grace and the Ends of Creation in Abraham Kuyper and Herman Bavinck,” 5. 52 On further, see Alexander Chow, Chinese Public Theology: Generational Shifts and Confucian

Imagination in Chinese Christianity (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018), 101–5; Alexander Chow, “Calvinist Public Theology in Urban China Today,” International Journal of Public Theology 8, no. 2 (2014): 158–75. 53 The Wenzhou Consensus was circulated in digital form, for example, through WeChat. 84

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A Theology of Culture and the Contextualization of (Neo-)Calvinism The unity of creation and recreation and the holism of common and special grace together demonstrate that Neo-Calvinism supports the theological justification of nature (the natural world). As Bavinck argues, “nature and grace are not opposed, but nature is the terrain in which grace works to re-create.”54 This affirmative account of nature gives birth to a theology of culture that undergirds the contextualization of (Neo-)Calvinism in Wenzhou. Combined with the Dutch Neo-Calvinist principle that grace restores and renews nature, Bavinck’s construal of the connection between nature and culture gives the promise that the WRHC can explore the contextualization of Calvinism through engagement with Chinese culture. For Bavinck, culture is God’s gift and, broadly speaking, “includes all the labor which human power expends on nature.”55 The following lengthy passage is worth quoting to amplify the Neo-Calvinist theology of culture. But this nature is twofold; it includes not only the whole visible world of phenomena which is outside man [sic], but also, in a wider sense, man himself; not his body alone, but his soul also. The faculties and powers which man possesses have not been acquired by him, but are given to him by God; they are a gift of nature, and these gifts are a means for cultivating the external world, as well as an object which must be cultivated. Thus there are two great circles of culture. To the first belong all those activities of man for the production and distribution of material goods, such as agriculture, cattle-rearing, industry, and trade. And the second circle includes all that labor whereby man realizes objectively his ideals of the true, the good, and the beautiful, by means of literature and science, justice and statecraft, works of beauty and art, and at the same time works out his own development and civilization.56 As per Bavinck, there are two sorts of culture, but they are intertwined. In other words, owing to creation, the same nature is foundational to both. 54 Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, 1:234. 55 Bavinck, Philosophy of Revelation, 198. 56 Bavinck, Philosophy of Revelation, 198–99. 85

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Contemporary Wenzhou Christianity has already deeply engaged with the culture of the first sort. Nanlai Cao’s study points out that the revival of Christianity in Wenzhou after the 1970s is indexed to the city’s rising economy.57 Many Christian entrepreneurs actively take part in church ministry and evangelism via their businesses. Indeed, the Wenzhou model of boss Christians and church leaders is a unique mode in which Christianity is closely connected with China’s society. This model is also adopted widely by the WRHCs and, consequently, is one route that the WRHC can take to contextualize Reformed faith. For example, in view of the severe industrial pollution in Wenzhou, the Dutch Neo-Calvinist principle of “grace restores and renews nature” could be actualized and contextualized through the Wenzhou Christian entrepreneur’s ecological awareness in running her enterprise. That said, the Reformed house churches in Wenzhou have seldom engaged with culture of the second sort. Generally, they are oblivious to the need to deal with Confucian philosophy, Sinicized Marxism, Chinese nationalism, scientism, and so forth.58 In this sense, they are, so to speak, living in a cultural vacuum. To my mind, this cultural indifference is caused by three factors. First, the traditional sacred-secular dualism in Chinese house churches still holds sway, intensified by Westminsterian Neo-Calvinist views on culture and the diminishing of common grace. Second, many contemporary ministers and leaders of WRHCs were born before or during the Cultural Revolution and thus have received little formal education. It stands to reason that they lack cultural awareness. Third, the rapid economic development in Wenzhou gives shape to the mercantilism that eclipses education and consequently breeds indifference to Chinese culture and prevalent ideologies. Seen from this perspective, the cause of the failure to contextualize Calvinism in Wenzhou is complex. In light of Bavinck’s definition of culture above, the Wenzhou house churches have shown an ambivalent attitude to their surrounding culture, engaging in the culture of the first sort yet ignoring the second type. 57 Nanlai Cao, Constructing China’s Jerusalem: Christians, Power, and Place in Contemporary

Wenzhou (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2011), 24–41.

58 Some Chinese theologians outside the Wenzhou churches realize that the church’s cultural

mandate means responding to various types of culture in China; for example, Song Jun [宋 軍], “中國基督徒文化使命謅議” [On Chinese Christians’ Cultural Mandate] Xinghua 杏 花 [Almond Flowers] 4 (Winter 2008): 18–24. 86

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In other words, the WRHC’s ambivalence lies in the fact that its indifference to the culture of actualizing the true, the beautiful, and the good, is at variance with its active interaction with cultural production of necessities for life. With an emphasis on both the restoration and renewal of nature, Dutch Neo-Calvinism unites the two sorts of culture into a whole. As such, it lends support to mitigate the WRHC’s ambivalence and advances the contextualization of Calvinism in Wenzhou. At this point, Bavinck’s pearl and leaven ideals can serve to develop a Dutch Neo-Calvinist rationale of contextualization for WRHCs. With regard to the relationship between Christianity and human culture, Bavinck argues: Christ did not portray for his disciples a beautiful future in this world, but prepared them for oppression and persecution. But, nevertheless, the kingdom of heaven, while a pearl of great price, is also a leaven which permeates the whole of the meal; godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life which now is, and that which is to come.59 This passage strongly rebuts the criticism raised in the Wenzhou Consensus, which speaks of Neo-Calvinism as seeking a worldly kingdom of God. Dutch Neo-Calvinism is clearly aware that the significance of the Christian faith does not lie in its influence on culture or in this world; rather, the Christian faith itself is a pearl of great price.60 In this sense, Dutch Neo-Calvinism resonates with the traditional Wenzhou church’s and the WRHC’s emphasis on special grace. The Christian faith as a leaven should permeate the whole of the meal, that is, be a blessing to all human life. Permeation requires that the leaven should first go into the meal. Likewise, the Christian faith should go into all human life and culture, which brings forth the contextualization of Christianity in a particular culture. In short, Bavinck’s pearl and leaven ideals offer a Neo-Calvinist principle that does not undermine the WRHC’s stress on special grace and re-creation but 59 Bavinck, Philosophy of Revelation, 211–12; James Eglinton, “To Transcend and to Transform:

The Neo-Calvinist Relationship of Church and Cultural Transformation,” in Calvinism and Culture, ed. Gordon Graham, The Kuyper Center Review, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2013), 163–84. 60 Herman Bavinck, “Christian Principles and Social Relationships,” in Essays on Religion, Science, and Society, trans. Harry Boonstra and Gerrit Sheeres, ed. John Bolt (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2008), 141. 87

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rather strengthens this theological gravity center by advancing the contextualization of Calvinism in Wenzhou.

Conclusion This paper has assessed the status quo of Calvinism in Wenzhou and Wenzhou Reformed House Churches. Having been brought up in Wenzhou, I recognize the benefits of Calvinism to the house churches. A large number of sources on Calvinism promote the theological development and construction of Wenzhou churches. Nonetheless, it is indisputable that Calvinism has not yet been fully contextualized in Wenzhou. In order to fill in this theological lacuna, this paper has demonstrated that WRHCs should go beyond the Westminsterian Neo-Calvinist principle of “grace renews nature” and retrieve the Dutch Neo-Calvinist principle of “grace restores and renews nature.” Grounded in the unity of God’s work ad extra, Dutch Neo-Calvinism steers a contextualizing course that strikes the balance between creation and recreation, between common and special grace, and which derives an affirmative posture toward Chinese culture. By doing so, Dutch Neo-Calvinism facilitates the shaping of a Calvinism that fits in with the context of Wenzhou and will, in the end, stimulate the development of Chinese Reformed churches.

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Part II

Doctrine and Life: Watchman Nee

Chapter 5

SPIRITUAL LIFE AND FAITHFUL LIFE An Analysis of Watchman Nee’s Doctrine of Humanity Xie Wenyu 謝文郁, Center for Judaic and Inter-religious Studies, Shandong University

Watchman Nee’s doctrine of humanity is the only construct in the history of Chinese theology that can be seen as systematic. Nee examines humanity in terms of three elements, that is, spirit, soul, and body, as he quotes from 1 Thessalonians (5:23), which contains the three Greek words pneuma, psyche, and soma (πνεῦμα, ψυχὴ, σῶμα) and on which basis he develops a theology of humanity, his “spiritual life perspective.” The main feature of this spiritual life perspective is to advise Christians to live a life in which they suppress the soul’s dominance over the spirit, so that God’s will may direct their lives. This article draws together terms from the Gospel of John and Paul’s epistles relating to “life” (that is, adding zoe ζωή and sarx σάρξ, to pneuma, psyche, and soma), and analyzes the relationships between them, presenting two types of life: a life of sarx with psyche dominating soma, and a life of zoe (eternal life) with pneuma dominating soma. The latter is the life of a Christian: the believer trusts God’s sovereignty and in faith receives God’s will and follows Jesus Christ; I call this the “faithful life.” The spiritual life and the faithful life are both forms of Christian life, but the spiritual life emphasizes judgment in grasping God’s will, while the faithful life requires the believer to receive God’s will in faith. In real life, the spiritual life and the faithful life entrain two quite different lifestyles, and the differences between them merit attention. Watchman Nee proposed the use of the three concepts—spirit, soul, and body—to understand the constitution of humanity. Through analyzing the relationship between these three elements, he provides an understanding of human Translated by Sharon S. Yao.

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life, particularly of a life of faith once the Holy Spirit dwells within a person. His treatment, in its simplicity, can to a large extent explain the experience of Chinese Christians within a Chinese cultural context. The theological thinking is Chinese in style. Theologically, Watchman Nee emphasizes the individual’s training in spiritual capability, and on this foundation discusses communication with God. We call this the spiritual life—and yet, Nee seems to have neglected the distinction between two types of lives elaborated in the Gospel of John, as well as the different references between “flesh” and “body” discussed in Paul’s letters. It is from these distinctions that we learn about another view of life—an understanding of humanity that emphasizes how the Holy Spirit affects believers externally, one that emphasizes believers’ faithful surrender of sovereignty to become followers. We call this the faithful life. The spiritual life and the faithful life lead to two different ways of Christian living. This article first traces the outline of Nee’s theology of humanity, then analyzes related discussions and terms in the Bible, with the aim of delineating the relationship between the theologies and Christian living. Through this I hope to promote theological discussion in a Chinese language context.

Watchman Nee’s Doctrine of Humanity At the beginning of The Spiritual Man, Watchman Nee quotes 1 Thessalonians 5:23, “May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (NRSV). The three terms, spirit, soul, and body, appear in this verse, and from this, Nee sets out to develop his understanding of the inner structure of humans. It is worth pointing out that the Bible has no discussion solely focused on the structure of a human being. Nee constructed a doctrine of humanity based on passages from the Bible. At the same time, he undertook a brief but appropriate analysis of certain keywords in their original Greek. However, since the Bible has neither discussions focused on the structure of human being, nor is its related discussion limited to the use of the above three terms, I think Nee’s doctrine of humanity is a kind of extrapolated understanding of related discussions in the Bible. In terms of Nee’s biblical interpretation, there are some blind spots worth discussing. Nee’s doctrine of humanity is neither purely speculative nor solely academic. What he cared about is how to make sense of one’s own faith experience starting from the Bible, and thereby to live in accordance with biblical teaching. It was, in fact, through working within this interpretive framework 92

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to analyze his own faith experience in depth that he developed his “spiritual life” perspective (“屬靈生命”觀). To facilitate our discussion, let us begin with the following extract from The Spiritual Man 1.3: The whole person is made of the following three elements: spirit, soul, body. God’s original will is that the spirit be at the top of the hierarchy, controlling the soul. If one becomes “of the soul,” the spirit serves the soul. If one becomes fleshly, the body, which is at the base of the hierarchy, becomes the ruler. Human beings have fallen from being “ruled by the spirit,” to being “ruled by the soul,” and from “ruled by the soul,” to being “ruled by the body.” Step by step they have descended: truly a pitiful sight. The above excerpt acts as a summary. Nee thought that since spirit, soul, and body are biblical language,1 human beings are therefore made up of these three elements. We need first to define the three elements, then to explain the relationships (both normal and abnormal) between each of them. A “normal” relationship refers to a relationship the Bible teaches and requires. This normal relationship is also the normal life, the life Christians should enter into.2 For this reason, Nee believes that constructing a correct outlook on life is the most important key to Christian life. On the spirit, Nee held that since it is the highest authority within human beings, as the originating point of human thought, emotions, judgment, and decision-making, it cannot be perceived by humans. This is the first characteristic of the existence of the spirit; and yet, its existence is real. According to the book of Genesis, Adam’s body was made by God with clay. After making the body, God breathed into Adam so that he became a living being. Nee explained that this breath is spirit, writing, “Adam existed because of the breath of life, which is the spirit.” As the originating point of human beings, the spirit’s presence cannot be 1 According to Nee, “If God says so, the spirit, soul, and body of human beings must be distinct

in meaning. Thus, humankind is made up of the spirit, soul, and body.” We will analyze Paul’s understanding of the statement in depth later. In this section, I will attempt to focus on analyzing relevant discourses according to Nee’s train of thought to present his triadic theory in its entirety. 2 Ed. note: see Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life, ed. Angus Kinnear (Eastbourne, UK: Kingsway, 1961). This was Kinnear’s editing of speeches Nee had given in the UK and Europe in 1938 with some added Chinese materials in translation.

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felt unless one engages in deep reflection: “This spirit dwells in a place deeper than one’s consciousness, beyond the reach of a person’s feelings.” (Vol. 1, Ch. 1). Even though the spirit cannot be felt, humans cannot exist without it. Moreover, Nee believed that we can know about its existence through analyzing its functions (conscience, intuition, communication). Nee believed that conscience is the function or organ responsible for distinguishing right from wrong. We know that the ability to distinguish right from wrong is the starting point of judgment. Here, Nee actually refers to humans’ ability to judge as conscience: “The conscience does not depend on the influence of knowledge in the mind to distinguish between right and wrong, but gives a spontaneous and direct judgment.” (1.2) Conscience is the power of judgment. Nee did not analyze this power of judgment in depth, and in fact, only emphasized that this power of judgment is present in everyone’s existence. Human existence goes on in the process of making judgments and choices. Without judgment, there can be no making choices and therefore no way of entering into existence. However, every judgment has a basis; humans cannot make judgments out of thin air. Nee believes that the judgment of conscience is “a spontaneous and direct judgment” that can be unaffected by knowledge of good and evil. What kind of judgment is this? He further explained, “The work of conscience is mostly done alone and directly; it is not dependent on external opinion” (1.2). We can see that in Nee’s choice of words, “spontaneous” and “autonomous” are used in the same sense. I do not plan to engage in in-depth analysis of his concept of conscience here.3 I think Nee’s belief that conscience equates to the power of judgment contributes to his entire theology. Concerning intuition, Nee defines it as follows: “the reason it is called ‘intuition’ is because this kind of perception is direct, and independent” (1.2). He further explains that we can sometimes acquire knowledge directly, without other pathways. That is to say, there are things we can understand without thinking. This understanding is intuition. Here, Nee does not provide any epistemological analysis, nor even any illustrative examples. This raises the question of where 3 The concept of conscience has been a contentious issue in the history of Western thought.

Concerning this debate in the history of Christian thought, see for example Xie Wenyu 謝文 郁, “古希臘哲學中的良心與真理” [Conscience and truth in classical Greek philosophy], Shehui kexue 2018 (2). Nee’s use of conscience is based more on Wang Yangming’s concept of conscience (良知). Yet, judgment must have a basis, so cannot be innate. In most cases, the basis of judgment is a ready-made concept of good and evil. Since Nee was constructing his theological thought, not analyzing the concept of conscience, he does not address this. 94

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Nee’s intention lay in defining intuition. Nee’s aim in writing The Spiritual Man was to construct a theology, not to conduct an epistemological study of the phenomenon of intuition, and so his understanding of intuition is constructive. In other words, he understood intuition in this way for the sake of his entire theological construction, so it is an arbitrary provision. Given this, we need make sense of his definition within a Chinese context. In Chinese, the use of the term intuition is not complex, it refers to the kind of cognitive phenomenon where we always experience the feeling of suddenly gaining understanding in the process of recognition. This understanding seems to appear independently, and not rely on any other aids: I think Nee uses the term intuition within such a context.4 It is not difficult to see that the explanation of the spirit with the concepts of conscience and intuition in Nee’s texts is neither epistemological analysis nor biblical commentary; it is theological construction. Even though Nee cites much Scripture to support his explanation, we will not find any direct references in the Bible. There are no such statements to the effect, for example, that the spirit functions in our conscience, or that the spirit is intuition. From a theological perspective, when Nee explains the concept of the spirit, what he intends is to establish a channel between humans and God. He writes, “The spirit senses God, knows God’s voice, communicates with God, and has a keen knowledge of God” (1.3). With this channel, and by keeping it unblocked (through spiritual exercise), humans can connect their life to God’s salvation. Humans receive God’s revelation through conscience and intuition, as God speaks to humans through conscience and intuition. Nee calls this the third function of the spirit. He writes, “All of God’s revelation and all movements of the spirit are known to believers through intuition. The voice of conscience and the guidance of intuition are what believers should follow” (1.3). It is evident from the above that understanding the concept of spirit through conscience and intuition is the basic principle in Nee’s view of the spiritual life. 4 Of course, if we call this phenomenon intuition, it needs pointing out that it cannot explain

intuition as “direct and independent.” For example, our knowledge of a kind of thing begins with the particular. As our knowledge of the particular accumulates, we may suddenly realize that we finally understood the nature of its kind (or species, concept, etc.). It feels as though the process of understanding from a specific particular to the general grasp is often abrupt and disconnected. However, without the accumulation of knowledge about a specific particular, no general understanding could suddenly arise. The cognitive process involved is extremely complex. German philosopher Edmund Husserl’s phenomenology attempts to explain this cognitive process through the intuition of essence. In fact, from the perspective of epistemological analysis, Nee’s usage of the term intuition is ambiguous. 95

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The makeup of humans also comprises the element of the soul. Nee notes “the soul is the master of a person because the person’s will belongs to the part that is the soul” (1.1). Later, he further defines it, “The human soul is the inner life of the person, that consists of feelings, will, thought, and so on.” (1.1) As the dominant element in humans, he emphasizes that “The term for soul—‘仆宿 刻’ means ‘life of the animal’ in the original text.5 Therefore, this soul-life is the kind of life that people have as animals. This soul-life is natural. This life is not necessarily all sinful . . . it may be kind, lovely, and meek” (5.1). We can see from the above discourse that Nee attributes humans’ main conscious activities to the human soul. As the master of a person, the soul is the bearer of judgment and choice. Humans cannot make judgments without a basis. To Nee, before the Fall, the human soul was subject to the spirit, which receives the will and command of God through conscience and intuition. In this state, the human spirit, through the soul, maintains the standing which it had at the outset. He writes, “The spirit senses God, knows God’s voice, communicates with God, and has a keen knowledge of God. After Adam fell, his spirit died” (1.3). The spirit lost its function because of the fall. Since then, the human soul no longer makes judgments and choices according to the will of the spirit. Since then, the soul accords with the body (and its various desires). Nee refers to this state as “the body wielding power” (體掌權) (1.1). What is the “body”? On this issue, Nee’s discussion is severely inconsistent. In chapter 1 of part 1, he says: “the body, like the outer court, is on the outside, and is the life which everyone sees.” Here, the body is discussed as a passive body that has four limbs and basic bodily wants like the need to eat and sleep. These physical needs are neutral; there is no question of whether they are good or evil. However, when focusing on the body in part 2, the body becomes so united with what belongs to the soul, such as lust and evil thoughts, that we cannot distinguish between soul and body. Perhaps he wants to illustrate that after the Fall, the soul is so drawn to the body that they have merged into one. Nee’s way of phrasing these ideas somewhat conflicts with his original intention. He had wanted to give a constructive explanation of the three basic elements of the human—spirit, soul, and body—but realized the impossibility of strictly differentiating them. 5 We do not know which Greek dictionary Nee used. The term “仆宿刻” is ψυχή in Greek,

used to refer to beings who can move on their own, so can be understood as the nature of animals. Even more, it refers to the human soul, which is the fundamental factor driving bodily movement. In Chinese, “life” (性命) has a richer meaning than “soul” (靈魂). 96

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The confusion diminishes the strength of his “tripartite theory.” I do not intend to explore this problem in depth.6 Here, I am more concerned about Nee’s use of the spirit, soul, and body structure to order the Christian way of life. Nee himself also felt the concern, so in the epilogue, he warned readers to experience in their hearts but not deliberately misunderstand his words. I attempt to follow this caveat in my following analysis. After the fall of humankind, Nee believed that the human soul was controlled by the body and the spirit no longer transmitted God’s will, so all actions were directed by bodily desires. However, when humans are reborn (regenerated) in Jesus Christ, “The Holy Spirit from this point lives in their spirit, so they are transferred into the realm of the spirit. The spirit is now resurrected, and once again exercises authority.” (2.1) Yet, because the soul has been subject to the body for a long time, people often fail to discern the voice of the Holy Spirit. In this case, a spiritual Christian needs to train so that their spirit can accurately receive the teaching and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Nee said, “To follow the spirit, one needs to put to death one’s own will, preferences and thoughts, and only follow the intuition and revelation of the spirit, which requires us to carry our cross daily” (6.1). It is not easy to “follow the intuition and revelation of the spirit” because “firstly, we mistake other senses as the intuition of the spirit and secondly, we misunderstand the message from intuition” (6.1). How can we avoid such “misunderstandings”? As Christians, this requires internal discipline in daily life. This is a matter of spiritual exercise. Spiritual exercise is a very complex matter. On this matter, Watchman Nee incorporated his own spiritual experience to conduct an in-depth analysis. I do not intend to discuss the spiritual practices he elaborated one by one. In essence, Nee believes that spiritual exercise is war with the devil and its purpose is to let the spirit rule over the soul so that the flesh loses its leading role and the soul obeys the guidance of the spirit. He writes, “Once the spirit sinks, the soul surrounds the spirit and seeks to dominate the spirit, so believers must learn to 6 Watchman Nee’s confusion on this issue stems from his failure to distinguish between the

use of σῶμα and σάρξ in the New Testament. Due to Plato, σάρξ had already gained a negative connotation. For Plato, the human soul lives in three parts of the body respectively: the head, chest, and abdomen. The soul in the chest is in charge of passion, and the soul of the abdomen is in charge of desires. Thus, the human body (σάρξ) is not purely a body, but a body controlled by the soul. However, humans still possess something called a body, that is, σῶμα. In St. Paul’s view, the body (σῶμα) can be cleansed while the flesh (σάρξ) needs to be “put to death.” For a more in-depth discussion, see Xie Wenyu 謝文郁, “身體觀：從柏拉 圖到基督教” [On the body: from Plato to Christianity] Yunnan Daxue Xuebao 2010 (5). 97

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protect and maintain the spirit’s outward direction instead of remaining within. The believer should know that if his spirit does not go out to attack Satan, Satan will then attack his spirit and cause it to sink” (6.2). To Nee, “going out to attack Satan” means to be honed in experience, which is something that everyone needs to experience personally. He says, “There is no shortcut. It’s not as if we can gain some knowledge that will protect us for ever. On the contrary, all experience needs to be personally gone through” (6.1). We can see that Nee’s anthropological view ultimately seeks to illustrate a kind of spiritual life, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and coupled with spiritual training, whereby a person’s life returns to the state in which God created it in the beginning. We call this the “spiritual life” perspective. This is a life that requires training one’s inner self, just as Nee warned, “In short, the spiritual path is flanked by traps. Believers will fail if they are not careful” (6.1).

The Concept of Life in the Gospel of John To furnish our discussion with a solid textual basis, I would like to use the Gospel of John, coupled with relevant discourses in the letters of Saint Paul, to present another perspective on life (生命觀). Since Nee’s perspective on life is also based on the Bible, and the Gospel of John is the book within the Bible that addresses most systematically the concept of life, I believe my approach is appropriate. Watchman Nee notes that there are three words in Greek that refer to life: bios, zoe, and psyche (βίος, ζωή, and ψυχή).7 In brief, among these three words, bios and zoe refer to all biological forms, including plants, animals, and human beings. Psyche emphasizes life itself and is often used to refer to soul in forms of substance. To the Greeks, the essence of life itself lies in a thing’s autonomous movement. If a thing can move by itself, it has a soul, or life. Thus, psyche is the term most valued in philosophy. In Plato’s writings, psyche is generally translated as the soul. In a person, the soul has three dwelling places: the soul that dwells behind the liver is called the soul of desire; the soul that dwells in the lungs is called the soul of passion; the soul that dwells in the brain is called the soul of reason. In this definition, the soul includes human desires, emotions, 7 See chapter 1 of part 1. However, Watchman Nee’s knowledge of the relationship between

ψυχή (soul and life) and σάρξ (flesh) was lacking, so his understanding of the concept of life in the Gospel of John is insufficient. The third part of this article will discuss this issue in depth. 98

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and thoughts. From the perspective of phenomena, an existence with desires, emotions, and thoughts is a living person. Thus, the possession of a soul implies that the person is alive.8 After Plato, people hoped to reveal the essence of life by this word. Yet, in the Hellenistic period, especially in Stoicism, pneuma (spirit, essence, breath) gradually replaced psyche as the main term to explain the essence of life. The Stoics believed that pneuma comprises mainly fire and air; it moves upward (fire) and provides breath (air), so provides the vitality of life. Zeno used it to explain the essence of the human soul, saying that the soul (desire, feeling, thought, emotion, etc.) is nothing but the manifestation of pneuma.9 In terms of vocabulary, the Gospel of John abandons bios when talking about life and distinguishes between zoe and psyche, holding that zoe is the only true life while psyche is a life that perishes; furthermore, πνεῦμα is used to refer to the source of life. According to such definitions, zoe is the real life that stems from the truth, is bestowed by God, and never perishes, and so is also called eternal life. As the principle of life, pneuma is something like light. Even though it cannot be present in the senses, it is the source of life, that supplies life. In translation, we can translate it as the spirit. In the Gospel of John, it refers to the Holy Spirit after the addition of the definite article. It is the force of life itself that comes from God. Taking into account the Stoics’ extensive discussions on psyche and pneuma, the Gospel of John replaces psyche with zoe to refer to true life and redefines pneuma. Such treatment suggests that the author consciously avoided following the paths of thought and discussions of Greek philosophy. This point is worth noting. Let us try to analyze the definitions of the two terms in the Gospel of John. Regarding the usage of zoe and psyche, we see in the following passage Jesus says, “Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” ( John 12:25 NIV) “Life” appears five times in this verse in the Chinese Union Version of the Bible. In the original Greek text (including pronouns), the first three occurrences are psyche while the last two are zoe. I translate psyche as xingming 性命 (life in the sense of sustained by one’s nature) and zoe as shengming 生命 (life in a true sense). We should note that for the sake of precision, Jesus avoids using psyche when he is referring to the eternal 8 This living creature is also called the flesh. The flesh is alive instead of dead. Dead objects can

be corpses, but they are not flesh. Therefore, in the Gospel of John, the flesh always refers to human existence. 9 See A. A. Long & D. N. Sedley, eds., The Hellenistic Philosophers, Vol. 1 (Cambridge University Press, 1987), 53B. 99

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life that comes from God. In other verses, such as 10:11, 15, 17; 13:37–38; and 15:13, when talking about sacrifice, psyche (性命) is used. We can see that life (性命) can perish or be given up, so has nothing to do with eternity. In contrast, life (生命) is bestowed by God; it is an eternal existence. The Gospel of John expresses the following thinking in the usage of the two words: humans’ true life is bestowed by God; it cannot be confused with the life that humans pursue. The existence that Greek philosophers talk about is merely worldly life (性命), such as human happiness, the virtue of self-control, etc. Such life-seeking existence is a process of losing one’s life (性命). It does not bring about eternal life (生命). In other words, Greek philosophers merely seek psyche (性命, or their own desires, passion, ideas, etc), none of which are related to the eternal life (zoe). The eternal life begins with the truth. We can see that the Gospel of John uses zoe to refer to a concept of life which responds to the pursuit of existential concerns in Greek philosophy. The question is a matter of the life’s starting point, which directs one’s life pattern. For instance, bodily desires drive one’s choosing and one’s life pattern; ideals direct one’s efforts in a direction and creation of a lifestyle. From this perspective, any change in the mode of existence originates in the starting point of existence. If a person starts from the wrong concept of goodness, their pursuit of goodness will fail and lead them toward destruction. In fact, when one pursues one’s own worldly life (性命), one starts from one’s psyche, meaning that one starts from a certain desire, emotion, or concept of goodness. As these lack the truth, one’s worldly life will then be directed to destruction. To obtain eternal life (生命), humans must change their starting points of existence, give up their wrong concepts of goodness, accept what the truth grants us, and start with the truth. The issue of the two kinds of lives (性命 and生命) is concerned with the tension between two starting points of existence. Chapter 3 of the Gospel of John records a conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, where Jesus says to Nicodemus, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” He then explains that rebirth refers to being born again in the spirit (pneuma), “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.” Toward the end of the conversation, Jesus said, “It is so that everyone who believes in me may have eternal life (zoe) in him.” Jesus’s message in this conversation is that humans must be reborn in the spirit, that is, believe that Jesus is Christ, the only Son. In other words, to believe that Jesus is 100

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the only Son is the only path for humans to have eternal life. This is the main message in the Gospel of John concerning the matter of life. The language on pneuma is unique to the Gospel of John. We know that when the Stoics discussed the concept of life, they discuss pneuma in depth. To them, psyche (desires, emotions, thoughts) are merely expressions of life, while in essence, life is determined by pneuma. The original meaning of πνεῦμα refers to air in motion, such as breath and wind. In Stoicism, pneuma is not typical air, but it is warm, a kind of fire: just as the breath of a living person has heat, so it carries force; we can translate this as jingqi 精氣 (“vital air/spirit”). According to the Stoics, this vital air appears at the moment of conception when the sperm enters the egg to form an embryo. At first, the embryo is a chaotic mass of vital air. As the embryo grows, it starts to develop and expand with its own fixed pattern and respond to the external world, thereby showing characteristics such as desires, emotions, and thoughts. When the body automatically responds to external stimuli, it means the body has life. By the end of pregnancy, this mass of vital air has differentiated into the four limbs and five sense organs that are responsible for different vital activities.10 If we compare the usage of pneuma by Stoics and the author of the Gospel of John, pneuma consists of fire and air, so it has vitality. In Stoic terminology, psyche, pneuma, and fire are used in conjunction. By comparison, pneuma is also used in the Gospel of John but it is used in conjunction with light (phos φῶς). Light is the source of humans’ eternal life; “the life was the light of all people” (1:4). What is interesting is that the three words—zoe, pneuma, and phos—are used interchangeably in the Gospel of John. In terms of the words, fire and light convey the same meaning. Where there is fire, there is light; where there is light, there is fire. However, there is an important difference between the two: light conveys the sense of giving, as in the light that comes from the sun, moon, and stars. Fire usually refers to the giver of light and heat. For instance, when a log burns, there is fire and it gives out light and heat. As long as the log keeps burning, there is still fire; when the log has burnt out, there is no longer any fire. As vital spirit, pneuma gives out heat like fire. When human breath is still warm, the person is alive. A person’s life depends on this inner heat. Of course, each of our vital spirits will burn out eventually. Once it has burnt out, the person is dead. Thus, our worldly lives (性命) are perishable. However, in the Gospel of John, eternal life (zoe) is given by pneuma (spirit). This spirit is a kind of light 10 Long and Sedley, eds., The Hellenistic Philosophers, 53B. 101

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that gives human life, that can only shine in from without. The light-like spirit does not preexist within the human body. It is from God and is bestowed on humans. Without the spirit, there is no human life (zoe). As we can see, the fire-like pneuma and the light-like pneuma are completely different kinds of pneuma. The former is internal and burns out; the latter is external and as long as this external source of light persists, it will give continuously without ceasing. Thus, pneuma in the Gospel of John is no longer a concept of Greek philosophy but a theological one and can be translated as “spirit 靈” in Chinese. It is a kind of existence that comes from God, is with God and gives to humans. If we try to comprehend the concept of life in the Gospel of John from this perspective, we can make sense of the idea of “eternal life” in Jesus’s conversation with Nicodemus in chapter 3. This life is bestowed. When humans are reborn in the spirit and receive the life given by God, this spirit continuously gives life without ceasing. As long as the spirit persists in giving, life does not end. In the Gospel of John, the word “life” is always used with “eternity.” In other words, when we have life, we have eternal life. It is worth noting that the concept of eternal life is not paid much attention in Greek and Hebrew cultures. Greek mythology imagined an “underworld” beyond this world. After death, the soul leaves the human body to enter the underworld. After a certain period of time, the soul comes out of the underworld and is reincarnated in the world. This notion of immortality of the soul is in a sense a concept of eternal life. However, the existence of the soul in the current world and underworld is discontinuous. When the soul leaves the underworld, it must drink a mouthful of water from the Styx to forget everything in its previous life. Life in the past, present, and future worlds is not identical. The Old Testament also contains stories that deal with the question of eternal life. For instance, in his old age Elijah was taken up by God to enjoy eternal life with God. However, since then, Elijah has had nothing to do with the present world, so this kind of eternal life is an isolated case and not relevant to other people. Clearly, the view on life in the Gospel of John is a new perspective. First, eternity is a feature in the concept of life in the Gospel of John, which talks about eternal life in the sense that “eternal life is given by God.” Since God is the source of life, as long as God is still giving, our lives continue indefinitely in time. As long as God’s giving continues in time, human life cannot be restricted by time. Evidently, if God stops supplying sustenance for life at a certain point in time, life ends at that point. As for the source of life being in God, it is eternal. From this perspective, we can easily understand the question of life after death. 102

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Clearly, if God still sustains us after our physical death, then our lives will not end. Second, the starting point of life is faith. Jesus asks Nicodemus to be reborn in the spirit, meaning that Nicodemus was to give up his own judgment, believe in the identity of Jesus as the Messiah and receive God’s grace from Jesus. Nicodemus only knows a life that is lived in desires, emotions and thoughts; he could not comprehend the concept of life Jesus spoke of. The life Jesus talks about is not in human desires, emotions, and thoughts; rather, it is given to us when we surrender our sovereignty. Faith is the prerequisite for this life. Without faith, humans cannot receive God’s gift nor feel the presence of the spirit, so they cannot have this life. In short, without faith, there is no eternal life. Third, life is about constant renewal. It is important to emphasize that the faith, as the starting point of eternal life, is a dynamic process of growth. In faith, a person surrenders their own judgment and becomes a recipient, receiving all that God grants them. Let us consider this situation closely. What a person receives from God in faith, from their current perspective, may not be what they wished to receive (such as being in suffering). That is to say that their current mindset cannot comprehend God’s good intent. However, this person believes what God gives must be good, and over time, they endure suffering in faith. This is a process of experiencing God’s guidance. When the person finally understands the goodness involved, they start to give thanks and praise. At this time, we say that this person’s thinking has been elevated and renewed. It is this kind of life, a life of renewal, that the Gospel of John talks about. Paul has profound insight concerning this kind of life. He writes, “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom 12:2). In sum, the Gospel of John ascribes the sovereignty of life to God, and humans can receive this gift of life through faith in Jesus’s identity as Christ. This is a kind of rebirth, a replacement of one’s starting point for existence. In our own thinking, humans are controlled by their desires, emotions, and thoughts, and eventually die in their thinking. This kind of existence is a process that burns worldly life (性命) out. In faith, however, humans receive God’s gift and enter into a process of renewal of the mind. This is eternal life. This concept of humanity requires disciples to surrender their sovereignty and submit to the guidance of the Holy Spirit entirely: in faith, humans surrender their sovereignty, observe God’s work, accept the Holy Spirit’s work of renewal, and enter into a life of absolute obedience. 103

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We can see that the Gospel of John opposes the Stoic view of the spirit (pneuma) and holds that only the Holy Spirit is the true spirit. Humans have a soul (psyche) but not a spirit. However, the Holy Spirit comes in the name of Jesus; once a person believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Holy Spirit enters this person because of faith. The Holy Spirit’s entrance brings about a person’s rebirth, and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the person is renewed and finally enters into truth. In other words, on the basis of faith, Christians accept the indwelling and the guidance of the Holy Spirit and enter into eternal life (zoe). We refer to this kind of life as the faithful life. Let us make a simple comparison. The concept of life in the Gospel of John involves the spirit (pneuma, or Holy Spirit), soul (psyche, or worldly life 性命) and life (zoe, or eternal life). This concept of eternal life may not conform to Watchman Nee’s spiritual life. In terms of terminology, the Gospel of John holds that the true life is a life under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, which is eternal and will not perish. Humans only need to hold on to faith that Jesus is Christ. This is a faithful life. Meanwhile, in Watchman Nee’s words, when the Holy Spirit indwells in one’s consciousness, one begins to have a spiritual life, which must go through a spiritual disciplining. The faithful life and the spiritual life are both Christian life, but they are still two different lifestyles. Watchman Nee delineates a Christian life in terms of spirit, soul, and body, while the Gospel employs five terms (pneuma, psyche, zoe, soma, sarx) to demonstrate a Christian life. These two kinds of Christian life still have some commonality. They both emphasize that a Christian must live under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, obedient to the teaching of the Holy Spirit. However, Watchman Nee thinks that Christians should train their spirits (conscience and intuition) in order to perceive clearly and accurately the teaching of the Holy Spirit. This kind of spiritual discipline is inner work that requires personal training to become a Christian. In this requirement, a person’s self-effort is essential for them to be a Christian. The Gospel of John meanwhile requires disciples to be obedient to the guidance of the Holy Spirit in faith, thus living a life with trust. The renewal of our minds is not done through our personal effort but only by the work of the Holy Spirit. To be a Christian living a faithful life, one must surrender one’s sovereignty and trust the Holy Spirit’s guiding, in which one becomes receptive to God’s giving. A Christian living a faithful life is receptive to God’s will, and a Christian living a spiritual life must be trained to listen to God’s will. Both of them want to make God’s will the starting point of life. How then to differentiate these two kinds of Christian life? We need to further analyze these two theologies of humanity. 104

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Spiritual Life and Faithful Life As noted above, Watchman Nee quotes the following verse at the start of The Spiritual Man, “May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess 5:23). Based on this verse, Watchman Nee determined that the Bible asserts that humans are composed of three elements, so he proposed his “trichotomous theory.” The Greek reads: Αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ θεὸς τῆς εἰρήνης ἁγιάσαι ὑμᾶς ὁλοτελεῖς, καὶ ὁλόκληρον ὑμῶν τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ καὶ τὸ σῶμα ἀμέμπτως ἐν τῇ παρουσίᾳ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τηρηθείη. Here, Paul is offering words of blessing before he ends his letter. In my opinion, he has no intention of defining the concepts of spirit, soul, and body (τὸ πνεῦμα, ἡ ψυχὴ, and τὸ σῶμα). In other words, we cannot infer from this passage that Paul has a holistic view of the person. Since the verse Watchman Nee quoted is from Paul’s letters, we need to look into the terminology of Paul’s letters. We notice that Paul uses the word spirit (pneuma) in two contexts: Holy Spirit (as one of the Three Persons) and the human spirit (Rom 8:16, referring to the human mind). He uses the word soul (psyche) more loosely, sometimes referring to the mind (Eph 6:6, Phil 1:27, Colossians 3:23), sometimes referring to life (生命 or 性命; Rom 11:3 and 16:4, Phil 2:30), other times referring to the soul (Rom 2:9 and 13:1; 2 Cor 1:23). As for the word body, Paul uses two words throughout: σῶμα (soma, body) and σάρξ (sarx, flesh). Watchman Nee does pay attention to the difference between the Holy Spirit and the human spirit, and notices that the subjection of the human spirit to the human soul (after the Fall) makes it hard to distinguish between the human spirit and soul. However, his use of conscience and intuition to explain the human spirit seems far-fetched. As for Paul’s three meanings of the word soul, Watchman Nee offers no comments or analysis. Although Nee attempts to distinguish between soma and sarx, holding that the former is the body before the fall and the latter is the flesh after the fall, he finds it hard to make this distinction when talking about the relationship among the spirit, soul, and body. In fact, the discourse on “body” in part 2 is based on the premise of the flesh (sarx) and neglects the body as soma. For this reason, we need to examine Paul’s usage of the term. 105

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Take Romans 8:10–13 (author’s translation): If Christ is in you, the body (σῶμα) is dead because of sin while the Holy Spirit (πνεῦμα) is life because of righteousness. If the Holy Spirit (πνεῦμα) who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, He who raised Jesus from the dead gives you life; the dead body (σῶμα) is given life through the Holy Spirit (πνεῦμα) who lives in you. Brothers, seeing it this way, we owe a debt, but not the flesh (σάρξ) so that we exist in obedience to the flesh (σάρξ)—if you exist according to the flesh (σάρξ), you are doomed to death, but if you obey the Holy Spirit (πνεῦμα) to cancel out the debt of the body (σῶμα),11 you will live on. I have translated this passage directly from the Greek. The main reason for doing so is that I think current Chinese translations do not fully convey the meaning of the original text. Paul addressed his letter to the Romans to believers in the church in Rome. In terms of tone, Paul was speaking to Christians. For Paul, Christian living consists of at least two factors: the body that is dead in sin (or in 11 The original of “cancel the debt of the body” is τὰς πράξεις τοῦ σώματος θανατοῦτε. In the

King James Version, it is translated as “mortify the deeds of the body.” The Chinese Union Version translates it as “治死身體的惡行.” Πράξεις poses difficulty in translation (“deeds” in English, “惡行” in Chinese). The root meaning of the Greek word refers to commercial activities like transactions and trade, extended to refer to behavior, moves, and acts in social interactions. Since transactions and trade involve settling accounts, the word is often used to refer to collections, fines, penalties etc., extended to debt obligations, or debts. Since Paul talks about “debt” prior to this discourse, I think Paul is talking about debt-related issues in this passage. In general, the more a person owes, the more the person needs to obey the will of the creditor to the point of becoming a slave. This is debt. The body is subject to the control of the flesh, so it is indebted to the flesh. Under this debt, whatever the person does is done in accordance with the flesh. Thus, I believe that τὰς πράξεις τοῦ σώματος (debt of the body) here refers to the series of acts done by the body in accordance with the flesh. The direct translation is: those acts of the body. This is how the KJV uses “deeds.” However, “deeds” sounds too neutral, failing to express that such acts are done under the subjection of the body to the flesh, so the Chinese Union Version uses “evil deeds 惡行” to supplement its meaning. The translation of the Union Version makes sense, but this Chinese expression causes the neutral body to be perceived as an evil presence. I translate it as “debt of the body,” which is a somewhat sense-for-sense translation. The acts of the body done in accordance with the flesh are all subject to the stipulations of the flesh. Thus, we can stop the fleshly acts of the body by removing these stipulations. We can also translate it as: “Fleshly acts of the body” of “indebted acts of the body.” What Paul wants to express is that obedience to the Holy Spirit who lives in us cancels (θανατοῦτε: cause to perish or stop) this debt (or fleshly acts) so that we can be brought back to life. 106

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debt to the flesh) and the Holy Spirit that gives life. The life-giving Holy Spirit works in the body that is dead in sin, enabling the body to return from death to life. In other words, Christian bodies have two directions—one is to be subject to the flesh and die in sin, the other is to obey the Holy Spirit and be brought from death to life. Thus, Paul exhorts the recipients of his letter to obey the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This passage involves the Holy Spirit (πνεῦμα), flesh (σάρξ), and body (σῶμα). Clearly, Paul cares very much about the distinction between these words. We can analyze it this way: sarx (flesh) has a “human” nature that is the basic force of human opposition to God’s will; it is a kind of force that runs counter to the Holy Spirit. To obey the flesh is to die in sin. In contrast, soma (body) is a purely material existence that has no active desires and emotions. In terms of its expression, the body is a wholly neutral or passive existence: it heads toward death in obedience to the flesh (in debt) or comes back to life in obedience to the Holy Spirit. From another perspective, the body can unite with sin to head toward destruction or come back to life under guidance of the Holy Spirit. To recognize the neutrality or passivity of the body is key for us to understand its usage in Paul’s epistles. The body (soma) led by the Holy Spirit (pneuma) is Christian living, or existence that possesses life (zoe). This is a new way of living. Precisely because a new mode of existence emerged within fleshly existence, Paul gained insight into a kind of neutral existence of the body within the context of old versus new ways of living. The neutral body itself is passive, without thoughts of the mind or emotions of the will. Because of its passivity, it can accept either the pull of the flesh or guidance of the Holy Spirit. Paul experienced both of these states of the body in living as a Christian. From another perspective, non-Christians only have one direction in existence—obeying the drive of flesh (human will) and dying in sin. On the level of consciousness, all that humans can think of is existence driven by the flesh (human will). In this context, the concept of a neutral body is not plausible. The body, flesh, and human will all coexist within the same existence; they manifest as one indistinguishable thing in the consciousness. Different wills do lead to different modes of existence. However, no matter how different they are, they are still human wills. Therefore, there is no fundamental difference between the different modes of living under different wills, so there is no way of experiencing a neutral body. We see that the key point in Paul’s differentiation of the body and flesh is his experience of a way of living led by the Holy Spirit. Paul discovered that living 107

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under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and under the flesh are two fundamentally different ways of living, and both ways can be seen as Christian life. Thus Christians must face the follow-up question: Can humans be free from the flesh? What is existence like free from the flesh? Is a disembodied person still human existence? From another perspective, each of us (whether Christian or not) can directly feel their own existence. People living in the flesh (including Christians) naturally think that the flesh is the vehicle of our existence, and that without flesh, there is no human existence. However, in Christian existence, people have felt a kind of existence without flesh, but still of a body under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In this feeling, the flesh is not essential to human existence. If the flesh is not the vehicle of existence, what else can bear our existence? Thus, we face the following question: What kind of human existence is that without flesh? This is the so-called problem of the flesh, or vehicle problem, and is a real existential problem for all Christians. In terms of expression, the flesh/vehicle problem can be transformed directly into a resurrection problem. Living under the guidance of the Holy Spirit is new existence, and resurrection is a fundamental characteristic of the new existence. If that is the case, the flesh/vehicle problem can be expressed as: what is resur­ rected in the resurrection? Paul paraphrased the question in this way, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” (1 Cor 15:35). Paul thought that Christians raised this question because they have not fully understood the concept of the neutral body. He points out that the vehicle for human survival is ultimately a neutral body, not the fleshly body that people usually have taken it. The flesh is only one state of bodily existence, an existence based on human will. In Christian living, the body has another kind of existence, one under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He said, “It is sown a physical body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body.” (1 Cor 15:44). The “natural body” and “spiritual body” mentioned here are the two states of existence of the neutral body. We can see that Paul’s view of the body is built on his profound experience of the two states of human existence. As for this state of existence, Paul observed that the body and flesh are connected together, so it is a kind of existence restricted by sin and heading toward death. In this present state, all that humans know is their flesh. This is an existence entirely governed by human will, where the individual is their own ruler, in which they cannot recognize the neutral nature of the body. In other words, in reality, humans cannot depend on themselves to know their own bodies. In this existence, humans only have 108

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fleshly consciousness, not bodily consciousness. However, when the Holy Spirit enters our lives and lives within us, the starting point of our existence changes: the initial “human will” (flesh, soul) is replaced by guidance of the Holy Spirit. Thus, the body obtains a new starting point. From this starting point, the body starts to grow apart from the flesh and is freed from the domination of the flesh. It is in this “separation” that the neutral body emerges in human consciousness. In the concept of the neutral body, Paul expresses the following view of life: a life that relies on faith. This way of life requires complete submission to the absolute sovereignty of God. In this life of faith, people only look to God for guidance and observe God’s work; they do not need to cultivate a certain kind of power to accept God’s will. Observing God’s work in faith can bring about renewal of the human mind, and, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, lead at last into the truth. Let us return to Watchman Nee’s view of life. For Nee, the spiritual life is a life that requires personal endeavor and discipline. This way of life is one that also pursues the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Since the human spirit (conscience and intuition) only obeyed the human soul and flesh after the Fall, Christians need inner discipline to free their spirit from the control of the soul and flesh, and learn to listen to the teachings of the Holy Spirit. Obviously, this kind of life is also built upon the foundation of faith. Watchman Nee writes that “believers who walk according to the spirit must walk by faith” (7.5). However, Watchman Nee’s view of life has no concept of the “neutral body.” In his discourse, the body (flesh and body) seems to be the determining factor in the Fall. At the same time, added to Nee’s concept of life is the term human spirit, and he uses terms like “conscience” and “intuition” to analyze the human spirit. Given this, how to deal with the relationship between the Holy Spirit and human spirit becomes key to Christian life. In brief, Watchman Nee’s concept of life can be referred to as “the spiritual life”; meanwhile, in the Gospel of John and Paul’s life experience, it is “a faithful life.” The distinction between the two lies in the following: A life of faith requires that believers observe God’s work in faith and from it receive God’s will; the spiritual life requires believers to exercise their spiritual abilities (conscience and intuition) under the premise of faith to make sure that they can accurately perceive and be in possession of God’s will. I want to further illustrate the differences between these two Christian ways of living through analyzing the following example. Not long ago, I had an in-depth conversation with a preacher on the issue of the Christian life. This brother in Christ shared his testimony on living his Christian faith over the 109

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years. He spoke of how spiritual discipline is the basic work in his life. He talked about how because of prayer, he has lived a victorious life and avoided various difficulties and obstacles. Of course, he has also had experience of failure. He explained that the reason for failure is because his prayers were not up to par, so he had to cultivate deeper prayer practice. Only in this way could he enjoy deep fellowship with God and accurately perceive and obtain God’s will. In his opinion, fellowship with God requires a special ability, and this ability must be gained through personal hard work and discipline. My initial reaction to the testimony of this brother is that, linguistically speaking, he is deeply influenced by Watchman Nee’s view of life. We can ask the following question: Can we have a complete grasp of God’s will before we act so that we act (or at least attempt to act) completely according to God’s will, or do we observe God’s work in faith and perceive God’s will after we begin to act? The issue at hand concerns the starting point of existence. In the spiritual life, faith is seen as a kind of subjective will. Watchman Nee notes, “How many believers do not know that to live according to the spirit means to live according to the will that is united with God. (The will that is not in union with God is unreliable and cannot last; only by complete submission to God’s will can one always long for what the spirit longs for)” (7.5). This subjective will is maintained through the “human spirit” (conscience and intuition). In this mode of existence, aspiration is the starting point; conscience and intuition act as auxiliary forces (as abilities cultivated in spiritual exercise) to help people securely “live according to the will in union with God.” As for its aim, this way of living pursues the will of God. However, God’s will is presented to human consciousness in conscience and intuition, and so obtained through human conscience and intuition. Of course, once humans obtain God’s will, they can judge and make choices according to God’s will and enter life. The problem is, what we have obtained in our conscience and intuition may not be God’s will. Thus, Watchman Nee emphasized that believers still needed to continuously train their spirit until they can correctly obtain God’s will. This is called the sanctified life. It is clear that the life that the brother above is pursuing is such a spiritual life. However, in the life of faith, Christians do not need to do any spiritual exercises. The person only needs to believe that Jesus is the Christ. To believe means that a person gives up their judgment in matters of truth, admits to living in sin and so trusts that Jesus is the savior who can save them from sin and lead them into truth. This faith refers to the Christian faith. In faith, one surrenders one’s 110

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sovereignty; God’s will enters one’s mind through this faith (the giving up of judgment). Christians may still make judgments and choices, but in faith they surrender these judgments and choices to God, and trust that God will take care of their judgments and choices. In this way, they will be able to observe God’s work in their actions, relying on God’s will, and being renewed through the process. This kind of life is also called “justification by faith” (or begotten by faith); it is a way of living that has faith as the starting point. One may ask: How can a person be sure that what they receive in faith is God’s will? Is it possible that what one has received in faith is actually the will of the devil? This way of questioning is inappropriate for the life of faith. We can even say that this questioning equates to asking Christians to renounce their faith. In faith, Christians surrender their judgment, believing that Jesus must be able to guard them. In other words, when one surrenders one’s judgment in faith, one is no longer able to distinguish whether what one has received is from God. However, such a person believes that God has absolute sovereignty in the spiritual realm, so God will guard them no matter what they have received. As to whether the message received is right, it is not the person’s responsibility. Here, any effort to discern will lead to loss of faith. In this sense, Christians living in faith ought not to live in such fears. However, one who lives in a spiritual life as advised by Watchmen Nee may hold on to such a fear, as Nee says: “In short, on the spiritual path, traps are on every side; if the believer is not careful, they will fail” (6.1). Faith that acts as the starting point of existence within Jesus Christ’s promise can only be maintained in faith. Existence that has faith as the starting point is an existence that observes God’s work. Christians believe in God’s sovereignty and believe in the guidance of the Holy Spirit. A Christian certainly needs to pray ceaselessly, placing their thoughts, judgments, and choices as well as what they do into God’s hands. According to Jesus’s promise, as long as Christians surrender their sovereignty in this way, God will be with them. At the same time, for the Christian, their faith enables them to see God’s work in them. In fact, whether they succeed or fail in what they do, God’s will is in it; and it is in success and failure that the Christian observes God’s work and receives God’s will. A concluding statement that is not a conclusion: my analysis of the spiritual life and faithful life does not aim to judge them in terms of what the correct view of life should be. In fact, there is no way to arrive at such a “correct” judgment. I only wish to point out that different theologies of humanity lead to different ways of Christian living. We need to pay attention to this point. The 111

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Bible is the starting point for Christian living. However, our interpretation of the Bible is built upon our current understanding, so it is inevitable that different interpretations arise. If different interpretations lead to different ways of Christian living, and if we do not simply use one way to invalidate another, then the further question is—can there be communication and interaction between different kinds of Christian living? This is a question that needs to be explored further.





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Chapter 6

TWO VIEWS OF SANCTIFICATION Watchman Nee’s and Calvin’s Accounts of the Christian Life Compared Sun Yi 孫毅 The traditional Chinese church, influenced as it was by the previous generation of native Chinese theologians, has been dominated by the theological tradition of Pietism. Since the 1990s, however, many emerging Chinese churches have been influenced by Reformed theological thinking. Unless we make a conscious effort to disentangle these two theological traditions, both of which are influencing the present generation, and in particular to distinguish between their theories of sanctification, we could see further disagreements arise. Works representative of these theological traditions are Watchman Nee’s formulation of his theology in The Normal Christian Life, which was undoubtedly influenced by the traditions of the Brethren and the theological thinking of the Keswick Convention, going back roughly to the tradition of Pietism, and Calvin’s The Institutes of the Christian Religion, which is without question the main source of the later Reformed and also Puritan theological traditions. This article compares the two books, and by explaining the starting-point, course, and final aim of sanctification as articulated by Watchman Nee and Calvin in their respective books, enables us to uncover both the commonalities of their sanctification theories, and their differences. These theories are referred to in this paper as the “substitution” theory of sanctification and the “union” theory of sanctification respectively. The aim of the former is to live out, in our human lives, the life of God, which is different to that of human beings; the aim of the latter is to live out, in our human lives, the sanctified life that a grace-filled person should lead. Translated by Caroline Mason.

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Introduction The first book on theology that I read after my conversion to Christianity was Watchman Nee’s The Normal Christian Life. Many years later, having gained a better understanding of theology, I reread it and found that certain of the views it expressed were still very familiar and had in fact influenced me throughout my life and growth. Interestingly, however, my better understanding of theology was due to Calvin’s The Institutes of the Christian Religion, so a few years ago, concerned about what Calvin said about the Christian life in his book, I extracted that section and published it as a booklet entitled The Christian Life.1 It was only when, not long ago, I came to set the two books side by side and found the ideas in them so enlightening, that I realized that my earlier life and growth had actually been influenced by both views of sanctification concurrently, and it was simply that I had never specifically thought about it. The present article is an attempt to tease out the differences between the two theories of sanctification and their starting points, stages of development and aims.

Background to the Theories of Sanctification Both Calvin and Watchman Nee make a distinction between justification by faith and sanctification, and although the two are closely connected, their explications of the theory of sanctification rest on this distinction. They share a tradition of religious reform, which differs from the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church. In the third volume of Institutes of the Christian Religion, when setting out the doctrine of salvation, Calvin distinguishes clearly between “repentance and forgiveness of sins—that is, newness of life and free reconciliation.”2 Here, Calvin equates “repentance” with sanctification, and uses the phrase “forgiveness of sins” to refer to the principal element of justification by faith. He refers to sanctification not only as “repentance” but also uses the term “rebirth” to convey his meaning. 1 Calvin 加爾文, ed. Sun Yi 孫毅 trans. Qian Yaocheng 錢曜誠, Jidutu de shenghuo 基督徒

的生活 (Beijing: Sanlian, 2011).

2 Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion 3.3.1. Chinese version Calvin, trans. Qian Yaocheng

钱曜诚 and ed. Sun Yi and You Guanhui 游冠輝, Jidujiao yaoyi 基督教要義 3.3.1 (Beijing: Sanlian, 2010). Trans. here taken from Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960), 592. All English references are to this edition. 114

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“By partaking of him [Christ] we principally receive a double grace: namely, that being reconciled to God through Christ’s blamelessness, we may have in heaven instead of a Judge a gracious Father; and secondly, that sanctified by Christ’s spirit we may cultivate blamelessness and purity of life. Of regeneration, indeed, the second of these gifts, I have said what seemed sufficient.”3 Plainly, for Calvin, rebirth means not merely a changed identity or status, but, in addition, a new life that it is truly possible to live during the process of sanctification. The order in which Calvin explains this is not the order in which we normally understand it. Usually, we discuss justification in the grace of God first and sanctification second; Calvin reverses this, first discussing the connection between faith and sanctification and then the link between faith and justification. His explanation for this is that he believes that once people have understood that sanctification depends on the mere grace of Christ and human faith in it, “it will better appear how man is justified by faith alone, and simple pardon.”4 However, another interpretation of the order in which Calvin places these might be the following: It is even more important for us, when we live out a new life in the sanctified life, to understand our salvation in the grace of Christ. Although we believe that when our sins are pardoned we are justified by faith before God and receive grace and salvation, we have a clear assurance of this grace and salvation in Jesus Christ, which is actually revealed in the sanctified life. In The Normal Christian Life, Watchman Nee likewise makes a distinction between justification through faith and sanctification, relating justification to forgiveness for external behavior (sin) and sanctification to the substitution and renewal of the inner life: “I need forgiveness for my sins, but I need also deliverance from the power of sin. The former touches my conscience, the latter my life. I may receive forgiveness for all my sins, but because of my sin, I have, even then, no abiding peace of mind.”5 For this reason, he distinguishes two substitutions, “a Substitute on the Cross who secures our forgiveness and a Substitute within who secures our victory.”6 To be specific, the former means the precious blood that flowed from Christ on the Cross washes away our sins, helps us to gain 3 Calvin, Institutes 3.11.1. (725). 4 Calvin, Institutes, 3.3.1 (593). 5 Ni Tuosheng 倪柝聲, Zhengchang de jidutu shenghuo正常的基督徒生活 [The Normal

Christian Life] in Ni Tuosheng wenji 倪柝聲文集 [Collected Works of Ni Tuosheng] 2.13 (Taipei: Taiwan Fuyin, 1992), 5; English version from Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life, ed. Angus Kinnear (Eastbourne, UK: Victory Press, 1961), 10. 6 Nee, The Normal Christian Life, 9. 115

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forgiveness before God, and allows our conscience to be at peace. Here, I refer to this as the first meaning of the Cross. The latter is related to sanctification, and signifies that humanity was crucified on the Cross along with Christ; the death of Christ on the Cross also implies the death of the old person, allowing us to obtain new life together with him. Here, this is referred to as the second aspect. In his book, Watchman Nee actually goes on to identify two further aspects of the Cross of Christ, which are here bracketed together as the third aspect of the Cross: that is, that we carry the Cross in our everyday lives to help us deal with our flesh, and thereby allow Christ to reign in our lives.7 It seems from Watchman Nee’s exposition here that the difference between justification and sanctification is manifested more across a time dimension. Our recognition of ourselves as sinners frequently occurs some time after we come to believe in the Lord, and it is only when we are willing to live in accordance with the principles of the Bible, and this starts to affect the way in which we deal with the flesh, that we become aware of it. “When once I have received forgiveness of sins I make a new discovery, namely, the discovery of sin, and I realize not only that I have committed sins before God but that there is something wrong within.”8 In the past, recognizing oneself to be a sinner was usually on the level of sinful conduct, but now we recognize that we are irredeemable sinners on the level of our sinful natures and that we are still living under the influence of the flesh (our sinful natures). As to winning salvation through the grace of Christ, if we do not deal with our sinful natures we will still be in bondage to sin. Only then will we begin to recognize the uses of the Law and the truth of the Gospel. Which is to say that not until we have started to live a sanctified life can we gain a greater recognition of the essence of justification through faith, and this does not usually happen at the moment of justification or conversion. The most important example of this is the interpretation in Nee’s book of Romans 7, which leads to a topic he wants to discuss later: that we can still be “people of the flesh” even after we are justified by faith. We can see, therefore, that the two authors are alike in recognizing that without a deep awareness of sanctified life we will inevitably lack a deep awareness 7 Nee, The Normal Christian Life 139–40. Ni distinguishes four aspects to the cross (the Blood

of Christ to deal with sin and guilt; the Cross of Christ to deal with “sin, the flesh and the natural man”; the life of Christ to “indwell, re-create and empower”; and the working of death “that the indwelling Life may be progressively manifest”). This article conflates his third and fourth meanings into one. 8 Nee, The Normal Christian Life, 10. 116

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of justification through faith. However, we also note that although for both of them the discussion of sanctification is based on making a distinction between justification and sanctification, the methods they use to make that distinction differ. For Calvin, what matters is the order in which they are discussed, whereas Watchman Nee focuses more on the order of time. This points to the differences in their interpretations of the link between justification and sanctification.

The Starting Point and Course of the Sanctified Life That the renewal of our hearts is the starting point of the Christian’s sanctified life is made clear by both Calvin and Watchman Nee. In The Normal Christian Life, Watchman Nee explains that it is ultimately impossible for a person to change themself on the level of actions: “At the beginning of our Christian life we are concerned with our doing, not with our being; we are distressed rather by what we have done than by what we are. We think that if only we could rectify certain things we should be good Christians, and we set out therefore to change our actions. But the result is not what we expected. . . . The more we try to rectify matters on the outside the more we realize how deep-seated the trouble is within.”9 It might seem that after turning to Christ life begins with the alteration of our actions, but without rebirth and renewal at the level of the heart or soul there can be no change in our lives. Calvin takes the same view in Institutes of the Christian Religion. He considers that, compared to other Hellenistic philosophies, the knowledge of Christ “is a doctrine not of the tongue but of life. It is not apprehended by the understanding and memory alone, as other disciplines are, but is received only when it possesses the whole soul, and finds a seat and resting place in the inmost affection of the heart.”10 Not until the most profound recesses of our hearts have been touched and this has effected changes in our thought patterns and ideas can our conduct and our external lives be changed. In this sense, “the beginning of right living is spiritual, where the inner feeling of the mind is unfeignedly dedicated to God for the cultivation of holiness and righteousness.”11 On this basis, Calvin identifies three key elements, or components, in the Christian life: self-denial, bearing the Cross, and meditation on the future life, 9 Nee, The Normal Christian Life, 25–26. 10 Calvin, Institutes, 3.6.4 (688). 11 Calvin, Institutes, 3.6.5 (688–89). 117

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whereas Watchman Nee speaks of four steps: “the conditions of living the normal Christian life are fourfold. They are: a) Knowing, b) Reckoning, c) Presenting ourselves to God, and d) Walking in the Sprit, and they are set forth in that order.”12 After finishing what he has to say about the fourth step, “walking in the Spirit,” the author then spends two chapters on the connection between the natural life and carrying the Cross, using this to examine “The Path of Progress: Bearing the Cross.” We can regard this link either as a constituent of the fourth step, or as a fifth step. We shall see from what follows that, although the steps or terminology used to describe the distinction may differ, Watchman Nee’s four steps (including carrying the Cross) basically correspond to the first two of Calvin’s elements, that is, the former’s knowing, reckoning and consecrating oneself to God more or less correspond to the latter’s first key element—self-denial, and the former’s Holy Spirit and carrying the Cross more or less correspond to the latter’s second element—bearing the Cross. Calvin’s brief explanation of self-denial is: “That a man depart from himself in order that he may apply the whole force of his ability in the service of the Lord . . . the Christian philosophy bids reason give way to, submit and subject itself to, the Holy Spirit so that the man himself may no longer live but hear Christ living and reigning within him (Gal 2:20).”13 A comparison shows us that Calvin’s description of “self-denial” is quite similar to Nee’s “reckoning.” “Reckoning” is an affirmation and reminder, that by faith we live out the reality that we already have in Christ; for Ni, this reality is that we have died with Christ (“I reckon myself to be dead” and in chapter 4, “Our reckoning must be based on knowledge of divinely revealed fact, for otherwise faith has no foundation on which to rest.”) Seen in this way, “reckoning” is basically a synonym for faith. In addition, Nee uses the word “substantiate”: “Faith makes the real things to become real in my experience. Faith “substantiates” to me the things of Christ.”14 These days there may still be a great disparity between the external environment and reality, but we already have within us the capacity (faith) to “substantiate” the reality that ordinary people are unable to see into a fact that we are able to see. However, a prerequisite for “reckoning” is that humanity already knows for a fact that we are in Christ, that we have been crucified with him. This relates to 12 Nee, The Normal Christian Life, 33. 13 Calvin, Institutes 3.7.1 (690). 14 Nee, The Normal Christian Life, 50. 118

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the second meaning of the Cross of Christ. In Him, the old “I” has died: “That Christ has died is a fact, that the two thieves have died is a fact, and that you have died is a fact also. Let me tell you, you have died! You are done with! You are ruled out! The self you loathe is on the Cross in Christ. And ‘he that is dead is freed from sin’ (Rom 6:7). This is the Gospel for Christians!”15 Many years ago it was shocking to read such things. Calvin also spoke of the death of our old person, as, for example, in his definition of repentance as also including “the mortification of our flesh and of the old man and in the vivification of the spirit.”16 But here, when he uses the term “mortification” he is actually speaking of the third meaning of the Cross. Watchman Nee, on the other hand, expounds more clearly on the second meaning of the Cross. This may be because he lived after the Age of Enlightenment, and subconscious distinctions were already being made between subjective experience and objective fact, intellectual knowledge and spiritual knowledge. To highlight the death of our old “I” is, in the context of such distinctions, an accomplished objective fact, and the connection between the two is easier for our modern generation to understand. It is simply that we must rely on the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of our hearts, so that we can see a historic fact. As Watchman Nee puts it, “seeing” is a precondition for “mortification”: “People are always trying to reckon without knowing. They have not first had a Spirit-given revelation of the fact; yet they try to reckon and soon they get into all sorts of difficulties.”17 The third step toward a holy life is consecrating oneself to God: “A day must come in our lives, as definite as the day of our conversion, when we give up all right to ourselves and submit to the absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ. There may be a practical issue raised by God to test the reality of our consecration, but whether that be so or not, there must be a day when, without reservation, we surrender everything to Him—our selves, our families, our possessions, our business and our time. . . . Not till every controversy is settled and the Holy Spirit is given full sway can He reproduce the life of Christ in the heart of any believer.”18 Watchman Nee makes a point of saying that there will always come a time in our lives when we can consecrate ourselves wholly to God. Obviously, this is not an easy decision or action to take. However, once it happens, we will be able to gain assurance. It is such a precious experience to know that we belong to 15 Nee, The Normal Christian Life, 25–26. 16 Calvin, Institutes, 3.3.5 (597). 17 Nee, The Normal Christian Life, 42. 18 Nee, The Normal Christian Life, 97–98. 119

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Him: “How good it is to have the consciousness that we belong to the Lord and are not our own. There is nothing more precious in the world.”19 This moment is the start of a truly Christian life: “My giving of myself to the Lord must be an initial fundamental act.”20 Unless we have entrusted ourselves entirely to God and consecrated ourselves to Him, there can be no fourth step, that of “walking in the Spirit.” Only when we consecrate ourselves wholly to God can we manifest the operation of the Holy Spirit in us, and show the reality of His indwelling and capacity to guide us. But if we are asked to give up everything we cling to so tightly, we may need God to work in a special way or to prepare an opportunity for us, and this often means painful pruning. This section relates to what both writers refer to as “carrying the Cross,” but their understanding of the phrase is evidently not the same. For Calvin, if “self-denial” means putting aside the self in the heart and turning to God, then “bearing the Cross” means all the more that in his daily life the believer will be attacked and suffer hardship, “for whomever the Lord has adopted and deemed worthy of his fellowship ought to prepare themselves for a hard, toilsome and unquiet life, crammed with very many and various kinds of evil.”21 It may be due to our pride and our sins, or natural disasters, or because of our belief and justification, or for other reasons, that we encounter adversity in life, but whatever the reason, as long as we turn to Christ in the midst of our troubles and trust in Him, the Cross which appears in the form of these troubles will become the blessing of our spiritual life, and will enable us to recognize our incapacity and to learn obedience, patience, awe, humility, and joy.22 Unlike Calvin, Watchman Nee understands “bearing the Cross” mainly from the point of view of a person’s heart “obtaining deliverance from the Law.” This is related to his explanation of Romans 7. The law tests us all and shows us to be weak: “Had it not been for the Law we should never have known how weak we are.”23 The weakness tested here is our ‘inner’ weakness. We want to act, but we lack the strength to do so. When we acknowledge our weakness, it means that we have gained some awareness of what is within us. As Nee describes it, this can only be experienced by those who have consecrated themselves to Jesus. He explains that, once our will has been consecrated to Him, and we are eager 19 Nee, The Normal Christian Life, 71. 20 Nee, The Normal Christian Life, 72. 21 Calvin, Institutes 3.8.1 (702). 22 Calvin, Institutes 3.8.2–8 (703–8). 23 Nee, The Normal Christian Life, 106. 120

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to live according to the Bible and to serve God, if what we want to do to please God is in line with our own wishes, we are still “men of the flesh” and we need the experience of being dealt with by the Cross to make us acknowledge our weakness. Hence, what the Cross must deal with is “men of the flesh”: “The trouble in Romans 7 is that man in the flesh tried to do something for God.”24 Being dealt with by the Cross allows such weakness to reach extremes, so that, like Paul, we cannot but utter the despairing cry: “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?”25 It is precisely in such despair, when we acknowledge our weakness and incapacity, when we allow God to have power over us, that the work of the Holy Spirit becomes apparent. This relates to the third meaning of the Cross of Christ, its dealing with the flesh: “The Cross has borne me, now I must bear it; and this bearing of the Cross is an inward thing. It is this that we mean when we speak of ‘the subjective working of the Cross’. Moreover it is a daily process; it is a step by step following after Him.”26 Although in each of us our old person has died, that means only that while the flesh may not rule our bodies, it is still present. As long as we live, we will always be influenced by the flesh, and subconsciously we will continue to do things in the same fleshly way that we have done them in the past. The most obvious sign of this is that we do things in accordance with our own will. The function of the Cross is thus not only to liberate us from the Law but also to allow us to see clearly that the will of the individual is useless: “let us be fully assured that the will is useless here. For me to exhort you to exercise your will in this matter would be but to offer you the vain religion of the world, not the life in Christ Jesus.”27 This concerns the tension that exists between our natural ability (soul ability) and renewed life (the Christ-life). Only after we have been touched by the Cross, and our soul life has been crushed or broken, can the spirit be liberated: “It comes only when our soul, the seat of our natural energy, will and affections, has been brought, by the touch of the Cross, under His sway.”28 The tension we see here in Nee’s sanctification theory stems from the contrast we often make between those who do things actively in accordance with the tenets of the Law (fleshly people) and those who simply wait for guidance from the Holy Spirit 24 Nee, The Normal Christian Life, 105. 25 Romans 7:24. 26 Nee, The Normal Christian Life, 169. 27 Nee, The Normal Christian Life, 131. 28 Nee, The Normal Christian Life, 177. 121

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(spiritual people). We cannot have the experience of Romans 8 unless we have had the experience of Romans 7. Indeed, it is only after making such an either/ or comparison that we modern humans, long accustomed to binary expressions, can comprehend what is meant by attending to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and what such a life is like. However, according to Calvin’s discussion of the third function of the law,29 if we live willingly in accordance with the law and do not expect that by doing so we should receive anything in return from God (as implied by the word “willingly”), then that is the path our lives and growth should take, or at least the one that we are taking at the moment, and not a mark of being “fleshly.” What often happens in our daily lives is that when we desire to live in accordance with the Bible, but at the same time find ourselves weak because of this, we can return to His presence and beseech the Holy Spirit for support and guidance.

The Aim and Ultimate Direction of the Sanctified Life We have seen that differences between the two men’s theories of sanctification start to appear when it comes to “bearing the Cross.” An even more important distinction arises, however, when it comes to “meditation on the future life.” The latter is connected to the two men’s ideas about the ultimate aim of the sanctified life. Watchman Nee’s book is a collection of sermons, not a systematic exposition of his theory of sanctification; therefore he does not emphasize the link between sanctification and meditation on the future life. However, the fact that he halts the process of sanctification at “the spirit,” the last of the four steps set out in his book, largely reflects his general view on the sanctified life and embodies his idea of its ultimate aim. The previous steps have demonstrated that the life of Adam represents the life of man and that our natural life has been done away with in the death of Christ on the Cross: “ . . . what is in us by nature is a self-life, subject to the law of sin. Adam chose a self-life rather than a divine life; so God had to gather up all that was in Adam and do away with it.”30 Instead, from Christ we have obtained resurrected life: “The Lord Jesus now has a resurrected body, a spiritual body, a 29 Calvin, Institutes 2.7.12 (360–61). 30 Nee, The Normal Christian Life, 79. 122

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glorious body, and since He is no longer in the flesh He can now be received by all.”31 There is an essential difference between our natural life and the life we have obtained from Christ, and the two exist on different planes. Nee identifies three planes of life: animals, humans, and God. “Are you a man? If your life is on a lower plane than that of God’s life, then you cannot belong to the divine family.”32 But we have already become God’s sons and daughters, and look on Jesus Christ as God’s firstborn son and our brother, so we now have a divine life, and that means our life has entered a higher plane, a plane that exists in Heaven: “Do you realise that we have the same life to-day that God has? The life which He possesses in Heaven is the life which He has imparted to us here on the earth. That is the precious ‘gift of God’ (Rom 6:23).”33 In this context then, the aim of the sanctified life is to eliminate or crush the (essentially) dead natural life and to grow the life of Christ in us. Therefore, Nee draws a distinction between “reproduction” and “regeneration”: “How many Christians believe in ‘reproduction’ in this sense, as something more than regeneration? Regeneration means that the life of Christ is planted in us by the Holy Spirit at our new birth. “Reproduction” goes further: it means that new life grows and becomes progressively manifest in us, until the very likeness of Christ begins to be reproduced in our lives.”34 It is not simply that regeneration grows on the foundation of reproduction—more importantly, this new, regenerated life replaces our original natural life, which we received from Adam. To differentiate this particular theory from other theories of sanctification, I refer to it as the “substitution” theory of sanctification. Nee had his own eschatology, but where his theory of sanctification is concerned, if it stops at this point the tension between the two becomes very apparent. Such a binary clash can extend to a binary vision of the world and develop into a conflict between binary worldviews. Jesus Christ was crucified in this world, and the Cross signifies a judgment on the world, a negation of it; for us as individuals, with the death of our old self the previous world dies too. Yet at the same time, with Christ’s resurrection, a brand-new spiritual world, the kingdom of God is drawing closer, corresponding to the growth of the new life within us. Thereupon, the conflict and tension between the two lives become conflict and tension between these two worlds. What does the co-existence of the two worlds 31 Nee, The Normal Christian Life, 79. 32 Nee, The Normal Christian Life, 80. 33 Nee, The Normal Christian Life, 81. 34 Nee, The Normal Christian Life, 122. 123

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(or kingdoms) signify? How do they relate to one another? From the eschatological angle of “already but not yet,” a theory of sanctification would seem to be inescapable. If this is truly the case, then Calvin’s “meditation on the future life” provides a solution to the conflict between them. For Calvin, there are two aspects to the third element in his theory of sanctification, meditation on the future life. The first is that, after the ordeal of the Cross and a foretaste of heavenly blessings, believers increasingly despise this world and yearn for the eternal beauty to come. Against this background, meditation on the future life is first manifested in meditation on one’s own future death, and thus not only conquers the fear that natural life has of death but also moves beyond the gates of death to consider what beauty we will see after we pass through those gates, so that it is truly possible to wait joyfully for death to arrive. “Let us, however, consider this settled: that no one has made progress in the school of Christ who does not joyfully await the day of death and final resurrection.”35 However, meditation on death and the life to come does not logically beget hatred and disgust for this present life. This is an erroneous conclusion reached through logical reasoning by those who have not practiced such meditation. In reality, meditating on the future life has the reverse effect, and allows us to look at what remains of our life in this world with new eyes: we look on it as a preparation for the life to come, and thus our hearts are filled with gratitude and we treasure it: “And this is a much greater reason if in it we reflect that we are in preparation, so to speak, for the glory of the Heavenly Kingdom.”36 The life of a person in this world becomes a pilgrimage toward the heavenly kingdom to come. The second aspect of meditation on the future life is that, in addition to being a preparation for our imminent death, there are two other strands of preparation that confront us on our life’s journey through this world. The first of these is that we should carry out the responsibilities of the position God has allotted us, according to His command: “For it is like a sentry-post at which the Lord has posted us, which we must hold until he recalls us.”37 The second is that we must use the things of this world, and God’s blessings, according to the principles of the Bible. This involves both using things to the full in accordance with their created nature and also 35 Calvin, Institutes 3.9.5 (718) 36 Calvin, Institutes 3.9.3 (715) 37 Calvin, Institutes 3.9.4; (716). 124

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not being dependent on the things of this world, but learning how to be content under any conditions.38 From this we can see that the aim of Calvin’s theory of sanctification, the goal to which it pointed, was that in union with Christ, humanity should gradually be renewed, and ultimately become holy people commensurate with the grace received: “I do not insist that the moral life of a Christian man breathe nothing but the very gospel, yet this ought to be desired, and we must strive toward.”39 Of course, a virtuous life here does not just mean changing our outward behavior, for, as has been said above, that is brought about by changes in our heart. In this sense, then, the aim of a sanctified life is to make us genuine people, people worthy of being the children of God. This end cannot be attained by depending on humans but depends on the union between humanity and Christ: “When we hear mention of our union with God, let us remember that holiness must be its bond; not because we come into communion with him by virtue of our holiness! Rather, we ought first to cleave unto him so that, infused with his holiness, we may follow whither he calls.”40 Holiness is not a precondition for union between humanity and Christ, it is an aim which can be achieved through such union. It is the goal toward which one strives all one’s life, and in the journey toward that goal “when today outstrips yesterday, the effort is not lost.”41 We can refer to this theory as the “union” theory of sanctification. To sum up, then, the third element of Calvin’s theory of sanctification, meditation on the future life, brings together the sanctified life of the believer and their everyday worldly life, making of them a pilgrimage toward a life in the heavenly kingdom which is to come, and satisfactorily resolving the tension of duality between the two lives, and the two kingdoms which correspond to them.

Two Theories of Sanctification In the above, we have tried to disentangle two theories of sanctification that are similar in some respects and different in others, by explaining the starting point, course, and ultimate aim of sanctification as laid out by Calvin and Watchman Nee in their books. These can be referred to as the “substitution” theory of sanctification and the “union” theory of sanctification. The aim of the former is to 38 Calvin, Institutes 3.10.2–5 (720–23). 39 Calvin, Institutes 3.6.5; (688). 40 Calvin, Institutes 3.6.2; (686). 41 Calvin, Institutes 3.6.5; (689). 125

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live out, in our human lives, the life of God, which is different to that of human beings; the aim of the latter is to live out, in our human lives, the sanctified life that a grace-filled person should lead. In what follows, we will look more closely at the differences between the two theories and then proceed to elaborate further on the significance of the union theory. From the perspective of sanctification theory, according to the second aspect of the meaning of the Cross of Christ as referred to here, the changed identity of those who turn to Jesus Christ and become sons and daughters of God, demonstrates one fact: the death of the old person (the old “I”). Both Calvin and Watchman Nee go on to explain that it is not the “flesh” which has died, but the “old I” which used to identify with the flesh, and that “I” is now separate from the flesh and no longer thinks of it as itself. This breaks the chains of sin that used to control our life: sin controls the flesh by death, and the flesh uses desire to control the “I” as “I.” This is not, however, to deny that the flesh, or the force of its habits, is still in us. We have by no means cast off the flesh; instead, life is lived alongside the flesh, but is no longer under its control, and no longer in its debt.42 Such an understanding attributes the death of the old person (the old I) to a transformation in self-identity. If we understand things in this way, what the “new person” (or new I)43 means is a brand new “I” who acknowledges Jesus Christ as Lord, and the “I” who lives is no longer “I” (the I of the past) but an “I” in whom Christ lives (the present “I”).44 It is no longer the flesh that rules within me, but Christ—that is what we mean when we say that Christ lives within us. This relates to how, once we comprehend rebirth, we express “the life of Christ” within us. Nee is not sufficiently clear or consistent on this point, sometimes correlating the new life within us with Christ within us, but at other times correlating it with the Holy Spirit within us. A more important question, however, is whether, if the new life within us (the new person) is a divine life and therefore above the human plane, this could cause confusion in us as to what is divine and what is human. As Calvin understands it, the true meaning of the new life of Christ which we have in us is that through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and his work of 42 Romans 8:12. 43 Cf. the Chinese Union Version (CUV) has “新人” where the NIV, NRSV etc., have “new

self.” “You have stripped off the old self (舊人) with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self (新人), which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator.” (Colossians 3:9–10 NRSV). 44 2 Corinthians 5:17. 126

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renewal in us, we are made to recognize that we belong to Christ, look on Him as Lord, and always put Him first in our lives. In our specific life practice, the Holy Spirit gives expression to the fact that the life of Christ reigns in us by illuminating the hearts of men with the words of Christ. In this sense, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the renewal of life in us by the Word is not a rejection of our natural life, provided that our natural life is guided by the Holy Spirit and the Word. The two are connected, as Paul says: “The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirits, that we are children of God.”45 The Holy Spirit works with our spirits and operates in us through our spirits. To say that this is achieved through the words of Christ, and allows the name of Christ to reign in us as Lord and King, does not contradict what we often say about the life of Christ being within us: the new life can only show that it is truly a new life if it constantly confesses Christ as Lord, and looks on man’s natural life as His, hidden in him. This is what it means to be “in Christ.” In other words, only in Christ, when we see ourselves as His, is our existence as new lives (new people) manifested as true. The first step in the process of sanctification is to put the self aside (selfdenial), which means recognizing that our “I” has been disconnected from the flesh and the old “I,” which identified with the flesh and was dominated by the flesh, has died, thus enabling the self to escape from the force of fleshly habits and return to be “in Christ” forevermore. This is a lesson in obedience, and is even more fundamental than acting in accordance with the principles of the Bible or the law. Adhering to the guidance of the “I” by the Holy Spirit through the Word is not a choice that “I” make under the rational direction of the will, but is the surrender of an “I” at a level deeper than that of reason and will. As we saw above, when Nee spoke about acknowledging this fact he was clearer. However, if we stress only that “I have died with Christ” but that He is alive in me, and fail to emphasize the existence of the “I” as a new person, we could fall into the error of annihilating the “I.” When we cleave to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, there seems to be two factors involved: the guidance of the Holy Spirit (usually through the words of Christ), and surrender in our spirits. How do we understand the action and role of the will of the “I” here? “For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil his good purpose.”46 It is due to the operation of the Holy Spirit, which enables us to will and to act in Christ, that the reality of human desires is 45 Romans 8:16. 46 Philippians 2.13. 127

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manifested, allowing them to be established as his will. Of course, human desires reveal that the “I” exists in the will, but if we look deeper we see that it is the Holy Spirit working in us. The “I” would not be able to will and act without the operation of the Holy Spirit. This process illustrates the complex relationship between these two aspects, both of which truly exist in humanity. The “I” who is a “new person” truly does exist. Because it is only “in Christ” that “I” manifests as the true “I,” the one which belongs to Christ, these two aspects appear at the same time, and this is the essence of the union theory of sanctification, which holds that the only route to the sanctified life is the union of the individual with Christ.47 I am grateful here for Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s terminology and the distinction it reflects: only when there is an ultimate reality can the penultimate reality be manifested.48 This is absolutely not to say that the individual disappears “in Christ”; on the contrary, only “in Christ” does the individual have reality. In some sense, then, the union theory can better reflect the spirit of the tenets of Chalcedon: in the life of the new person there is no confusion between the human nature and the divine nature—they coexist. According to the union theory of sanctification, in union with Christ the “new person” will experience growth, that is, they will grow in union with Christ, and this growth will gradually manifest as various kinds of renewal, such as “reason,” “will,” and “emotions,” which see Christ as Lord and faith as the foundation.49 The renewal of these aspects can actually be seen, from a different perspective, as the result of their surrender to the domination of the Holy Spirit, even though they retain some natural characteristics. In other words, provided they are positioned appropriately under the domination of the Holy Spirit, they can give full play to their renewal features. This does not imply the emergence of some kind of higher plane of life, rather that they are placed under

47 John 15:1–10. See Kevin Dixon Kennedy, Union with Christ and the Extent of the Atonement

in Calvin, Chapter 4, Section 2, The meaning of Union with Christ (New York: Peter Lang, 2002), 116–33. 48 The concepts of (the things of ) ultimate reality and (the things of ) penultimate reality are taken from Bonhoeffer, and refer respectively to God (and the aspect of God’s will) and humanity as a created being; see Bonhoeffer, “Ultimate and Penultimate Things” in Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethics, ed. Clifford J. Green, trans. Richard Krauss, Charles C. West, and Douglas W. Stott, vol. 6, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 2005), 146–70. 49 Sun Yi 孫毅, Shiji lingcheng san jie 拾級靈程三階 [Three stages of spiritual formation] (Hong Kong: Dehui wenhua, 德慧文化，2021), Chapter 4. 128

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the control of the Holy Spirit and the Word and overall can appear as entirely new people.

Conclusion Watchman Nee’s The Normal Christian Life is a collection of sermons that he gave in various different churches when he traveled to Europe in 1938. During his stay in Europe, he attended the well-known Keswick Convention, along with Theodore Austin-Sparks and others.50 He had actually been in contact with the Brethren for several years before this, and therefore his theology as laid out in this book had no doubt been influenced by both the traditions of the Brethren and the theological thinking of the Keswick Convention. But in either case, it can be traced back roughly to the Pietist tradition. Calvin’s Institutes of Christian Religion, on the other hand, was definitely the principal source of the later Reformed religion and even of the Puritan tradition. Hence, it is very useful to place these two books side by side and examine how their theories of sanctification are correlated and where they differ, in order to investigate the theories of sanctification that religious reform has bequeathed to us. These correlations and differences should be noted and discussed. Because, like the present author, the traditional Chinese church has been influenced by the previous generation of China’s native theologians, its theology has been largely guided by Pietism. Since the 1990s, however, many of the new Chinese churches have been influenced by Reformist theology. With both of these theological traditions, and in particular their theories of sanctification, influencing our generation at the same time, we may become more aware of conflicts arising between them before we have been able consciously to clarify them. But once we have consciously disentangled them in our minds, this may be a useful resource for thinking about an integrated theology and enabling a renewal of the theological tradition of the Chinese church as it is carried forward.

50 See Jinmier 金彌爾 (Angus Kinnear), Zhongliu dizhu—Ni Tuosheng zhuan 中流砥柱—

倪柝聲傳[Against the Tide—The Story of Watchman Nee] (Taipei: Zhongguo zhurixie, 1977), 135. 129















Chapter 7

THE SINICIZATION OF CHRISTIAN PIETISM Jia Yuming’s and Watchman Nee’s Approaches to the Problem of ‘Rationality versus Spirituality’ Brian Siu Kit Chiu, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University In exploring the relationship between rationality and spirituality in Christian faith, the modern Western Christian thinker Blaise Pascal (1623–1662) famously wrote, “The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of. We know this in countless ways.” (Pensées 277).1 Pascal’s statement, as a reaction to Descartes’s rationalism, indicates that reason is not the only faculty by which humans know the truth. According to Pascal, although an inner tension between rationality and spirituality always exists in the Christian faith, Christianity does not oppose rational thinking (rationality), such as logic, reasoning, and judgment, per se, but affirms that rationality alone can never apprehend the full knowledge of God. The Christian faith includes a mystical dimension (spirituality),2 expressed in intuition, inspiration, sense, and experience as alternate ways of knowing God. Augustine of Hippo (354–430) was an early example of a Christian scholar who developed a Trinitarian theology of experience, clarified the nature of impressions and ecstasies, and shared his own participation with God in his Confessions.3 Augustine speaks of knowing 1 Blaise Pascal, Pensées, trans. Alban John Krailsheimer, rev. ed. (London: Penguin Books,

1995), 154–55.

2 In this paper, “Christian spirituality” is defined as “a lived Christian experience about living

all of life before God, through Christ, in the transforming and empowering presence of the Holy Spirit [and] about encountering with the transcendent living, personal triune God, [leading to] growing in Christlikeness and participating in the larger purposes of God.” See Glen G. Scorgie, “Overview of Christian Spirituality,” in Dictionary of Christian Spirituality, ed. Glen G. Scorgie (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), 27. 3 Evan B. Howard, “Mysticism,” in Dictionary of Christian Spirituality, 179.

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the love of God in terms of the mystical idea of five spiritual senses: light (lux), sound (vox), fragrance (odor), food (cibus), and embrace (amplexus) of his inner being. This knowledge of God is acquired other than through the exercise of human reason because God in God’s nature is superior to all creatures.4 In his De trinitate, Augustine distinguishes spiritual knowing from physical knowing and emphasizes that spiritual knowing can only be achieved by a sharing or participation in the object. Augustine states that one must approach knowledge of God as Trinity and spiritual realities such as goodness and truth by sharing in God’s love.5 As Christianity developed in Western church history, it was characterized by a mystical dimension—the pursuit of spiritual knowledge and the experience of a spiritual union with God in Christ—beyond its rational dimension.6 This mysticism is an inherent essence of Christianity and a dimension of human experience that transcends religions and cultures.7 As Christianity continues to find a new home in a new cultural setting in China, the tension between missionary spirituality and Chinese rational thinking remained with Chinese Christians, bringing them into a deeper reflection on faith, and thus leading to a new expression of theology. This paper focuses on the spiritual theologies of two prominent Christian teachers, Jia Yuming (Chia Yu-ming, 1880–1964) and Watchman Nee (Ni Tuosheng, 1903–1972), in the Republican era of the early twentieth century, often called the “Golden Age” for Christian mission.8 The paper centers around the question: “What is the relationship 4 Augustine, Confessiones, X.vi. in Saint Augustine Confessions, trans. Henry Chadwick (Ox-

ford: Oxford University Press, 1991), 183.

5 Augustine, De trinitate, 8.3.5. See Edward Howells, “Understanding Augustine’s On the Trin-

ity as a Mystical Work,” in Christian Mysticism and Incarnational Theology Between Transcendence and Immanence (New York: Routledge, 2016), 160. 6 In this paper, I follow Edward Howells in referring to the word “mystical” as the Christian mystical tradition in Western church history, as covered by Bernard McGinn’s emerging multi-volume history: The Presence of God: A History of Western Christian Mysticism, vols. 1–6 (New York: Crossroad, 1992–2020). See Howells, “Understanding Augustine’s On the Trinity as a Mystical Work,” 155; c.f. Louise Nelstrop and Simon D. Podmore, eds., Exploring Lost Dimensions in Christian Mysticism: Opening to the Mystical (New York: Routledge, 2013). 7 Anthony J. Steinbock, Phenomenology and Mysticism: The Verticality of Religious Experience (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2007), 23–24. 8 Daniel H. Bays, A New History of Christianity in China (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), 87.

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between rationality and spirituality in Jia’s and Nee’s spiritual theologies?” This will be answered by exploring the role of reason (or the mind) and its interaction with spirituality in their theologies in light of Christian mystical and pietist traditions. In the period following the 1919 May Fourth New Culture movement,9 Christianity was attacked as an obsolete and foreign religion that hindered China’s modernization, and even as an imperialistic tool of cultural invasion. In the 1910s, missionaries and Chinese Christians increasingly realized that they needed to express a Christian faith that satisfied China’s modern needs. A good number of Protestant leaders, such as Wu Leichuan and Zhao Zichen (T. C. Chao), sought a thorough reexamination of their faith to express it in a way that suited the present cultural and socio-political context.10 Alexander Chow offers a tripartite typology that considers cultural context alongside historical and theological elements in classifying theologians of the early twentieth century. Chow identifies Nee’s theology as a “law-oriented” theology that endeavors soul-saving and church expansion,11 but Jia’s theology seems not to fully fit any one type in the model.12 Baiyu Song has suggested that Chow’s model does not address well theologians who share a general concern for Christian spiritual growth, and has since proposed a new “spiritual” type as a complement to Chow’s classification. Nevertheless, in many aspects, and especially his anthropology and sanctification, Nee does share a similar spiritual theology to Jia. This paper develops 9 Some scholars refer to the movement as “the Chinese Enlightenment.” See Vera Schwarz,

The Chinese Enlightenment: Intellectuals and the Legacy of the May Fourth Movement of 1919 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986). 10 Alexander Chow, Theosis, Sino-Christian Theology and the Second Chinese Enlightenment: Heaven and Humanity in Unity (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), 3–4. 11 Chow, Theosis, Sino-Christian Theology, 6–14. Referencing the writings of Justo L. González, Stephen B. Bevans, and Roger P. Schroeder, Chow adapted González’s framework to the Chinese context and categorized Chinese Christianity into three types: type A (the law-oriented theology that endeavors soul-saving and church expansion), type B (the truth-oriented theology that discovers truth), and type C (the history-oriented theology that seeks “a history with all the events of time pointing toward God’s purposes.” In addition, Chow identifies Watchman Nee (1903–1972), T. C. Chao (1888–1979), and K. H. Ting (1915–2012) as representatives of the three respective theological types to study in detail. Chow considers Eastern Orthodoxy to be type C theology (15–18, 163). 12 Baiyu Andrew Song, “Jia Yuming (1880–1964)—A Chinese Keswick Theologian: A Theological Analysis of Christ-Human Theology in Jia’s Total Salvation,” Journal of Global Christianity 4, no. 1 (February 2008): 72–74.

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Song’s proposal by using “spiritual” as an additional classification type to reflect on the diversity of Christianity in China in the early twentieth century and by placing both Jia and Nee in the same type. Jia and Nee’s writings have both been categorized as “spiritual theologies,”13 which Simon Chan defines as a theological approach that “seeks to understand spiritual growth from beginning [of the Christian life] to [its full perfection in the] end, making use of biblical and experiential data.”14 In the first half of the twentieth century, there had been missionaries spreading a spirituality-based theology in China. Jia and Nee were representatives of this approach: they employ spirituality as the starting point for adapting the Christian faith to the Chinese context as they spread the gospel. In the paper I argue that, facing the missional challenge in China, Jia and Nee adopt an empirical theological approach, which successfully adapted the Christian faith for the Chinese public in the early twentieth-century socio-economic context. Each developed a unique understanding of the interaction between rationality and spirituality: Jia proposed the idea of “spiritual rationalization-rational spiritualization,” while Nee proposed the idea of the mind “being broken; renewed; assisting the spirit.” The first part of this paper briefly depicts the theological origins of Jia and Nee. The second and third parts analyze respectively how Jia and Nee understood the role of reason/mind in their theologies.15 A final section outlines the ancestry and expansion of Pietism in early twentieth-century China, to better understand the relationship between rationality and spirituality in their theologies in light of Christian mystical and pietist traditions. 13 Ambrose L. Tse (謝龍邑), 基督人—賈玉銘的靈修神學 [Christ-Man: Spiritual Theolo-

gy of Jia Yuming ] (Taipei: China Evangelical Seminary Press, 2008), 15. Wing-hung Lam, 倪柝聲的屬靈神學 [The Spiritual Theology of Watchman Nee], 3rd ed. (Hong Kong: China Alliance, 2003), 278. 14 Simon Chan, Spiritual Theology: A Systematic Study of the Christian Life (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1998), 18. The Christian life is an intentional process aimed at a goal that is variously called union with God (Catholic), deification (Orthodox) and glorification (Protestant). 15 The texts of Jia’s works studied in this paper are mainly taken from three of his most important works: Shendao xue 神道學 [Doctrinal Theology] (1921), Wanquan jiufa 完全救法 [Total Salvation] (1945), and Shengjing yaoyi 聖經要義 [Bible Essentials], plus Lingxiu rike 靈修日課 [Spiritual Nourishment, Day by Day] (1935). Nee’s texts are mainly from “The Renewal of Mind” from The Present Testimony (1933) and The Spiritual Man (1934, 2nd ed.), The Breaking of the Outer Man and the Release of the Spirit, and The Ministry of God’s Word (1948–1949). 134

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Theological Origins and Vision Shared by Jia and Nee Through his ministry, Jia Yuming served as a Presbyterian pastor (1904–1926), a seminary professor (1915–1936), and later a spiritual supervisor (1936– 1956).16 His ministry reveals the steps he took to move from speculative doctrinal approach to a more empirical approach. Graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 1901 from Tengchow College (登州文會館), an institution established by the American Presbyterian Church, Jia entered a Presbyterian seminary (教士館) and was ordained a pastor in 1904. Before his early years of service at a Presbyterian church in Shandong Province, Jia received a set of doctrinal Reformed teachings under missionaries such as Watson McMillan Hayes (1857–1944) and Hunter Corbett (1835–1920). With a solid three-year theological training, Jia was well-equipped in the use of reason in addressing the Christian faith.17 This is demonstrated by the fact that he published a four-volume systematic theology in 1921, the first systematic Protestant theological work in China from a local theologian.18 The work was published after Jia had been teaching systematic theology for two years at Nanking (Nanjing) Theological Seminary.19 His fellow faculty member, Philip Frank Price (1864–1954), wrote an introduction for the work, pointing out that “the work is based upon ‘Systematic Theology’ by Dr. [Augustus Hopkins] Strong and with a parallel reading of [Charles] Hodge’s Theology.” Moreover, the work is “one half translation and adaptation and one half original matter [ Jia’s]” and is arranged in an order according to the themes in traditional, doctrinal theology. It is worth noting that Jia’s work has a chapter on “The Spiritual Life,” which was not covered in the works of the two reformed theologians Strong and Hodge. This shows a glimpse of his concern for developing a spiritual theology for Chinese Christians. The work became one of the most widely adopted textbooks by seminaries and schools in the country,20 yet Jia soon came to perceive that there were 16 John Y. H. Yieh, “Cultural Reading of the Bible: Some Chinese Christian Cases,” in Text &

Experience: Towards a Cultural Exegesis of the Bible, ed. Daniel Smith-Christopher (Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995), 136. 17 Tse, Christ-Man, 46–47. 18 Jia Yuming, Shendao xue 神道學 [Doctrinal Theology], vol. 1 (repr. Taipei: Olive Love Foundation, 1996), 2. 19 Philip Frank Price, “English Introduction” in Shendao xue 神道學 [Doctrinal Theology], vol. 1, 4th ed. (Taipei: Shaonian guizhushe, 1979), 5–6. Jia, “Preface,” Shendao xue, 1:1. 20 Tse, Christ-Man, 52. 135

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deficiencies in doctrinal theology and shifted his own attention to a more spiritual approach and form. When teaching at Nanking Theological Seminary in the 1920s, Jia established a publishing house, the Spiritual Light Publishing Society (靈光報社), associated with the Presbyterian Mission, in Nanjing, and published The Spiritual Light, a bimonthly magazine that focused on Christian spiritual growth.21 The magazine, which contained outstanding articles by Christian writers and provided Chinese Christians ways of spiritual growth, soon became a leading magazine in the country.22 In 1936, Jia launched the “Chinese Christian School of Spirituality” (CCSS), a Bible school that prioritized ​​spiritual development.23 His spiritual inclination was evident in the names he chose for his publishing house, magazine, and school. The Spiritual Light served as a vital link between Jia and Nee, the two genera­ tions of Christian leaders. Between 1921 and 1925, Nee wrote and published over twenty articles in The Spiritual Light, which showed that his burden and ministry was focused on spiritual development for Chinese Christians.24 To gain experience in publishing, Nee was invited to work as a helper at Jia’s publishing society in Nanking for a short time in 1924.25 In 1927, Nee published his first compiled book on spiritual formation, The Christian Life and Warfare.26 In 1928, Nee published The Spiritual Man, his famous work on Christian spiritual 21 Tse, Christ-Man, 53. 22 Witness Lee, Watchman Nee: A Seer of the Divine Revelation in the Present Age (Anaheim,

CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1993), 104. The magazine The Spiritual Light continued until 1927, when the revolutionary army occupied Nanking and destroyed the Spiritual Light Publishing Society. Li Yuanru (also known as Ruth Lee), who was an editor at the Spiritual Light Publishing Society, then went to work completely with Nee (Lee, Watchman Nee, 105) 23 Tse, Christ-Man, 56. 24 See Watchman Nee, Wozhi lingcheng 我之靈程 [My Spiritual Journey] 2nd ed. (Hong Kong: Shizhen 拾珍 [Found-Treasury], 1997). Nee’s first article published in The Spiritual Light was entitled “My Spiritual Journey.” The Spiritual Light 8 (December 1921): 15–16. 25 Angus I. Kinnear, Against the Tide (rev. ed., Eastbourne, UK: Kingsway, 2005), 90, 116–17. Dana Roberts, Secrets of Watchman Nee (Orlando, FL: Bridge-Logos, 2005), 21. Ruth Lee invited Nee to work with her and she later became one of the most important coworkers of Nee. See also Witness Lee, The Collected Works of Witness Lee [CWWL], 1981, ed. Living Stream Ministry (Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 2015), 2:30. Lee, Watchman Nee, 104–5, 200. 26 Watchman Nee, The Collected Works of Watchman Nee [CWWN], ed. Living Stream Ministry (Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1992), 1:3. The original Chinese title of the work published in June 1927 was, literally translated, The Details of Spiritual Cultivation 靈修指微. “The present English title was provided by the author himself on the title page of that book. The original book was composed partly of messages translated from English by Brother Watchman Nee and partly of messages written by him in the years prior to 1927. Some of 136

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growth. Nee remarked in the book’s preface that he bore similar testimony to the Pietist (and Mystic) authors throughout church history.27 This colossal work, combining Nee’s understanding of the Bible and the Pietist works, as well as his profound spiritual experience, can be considered the foundation work of his theology. In a testimony given in 1936, Nee stated again that after completing The Spiritual Man, he received a calling from God to stress “the living word of life” and hence resumed publishing the magazine, The Present Testimony, to assist God’s children in spiritual life and warfare.28 Besides publishing his own works, Nee’s publishing house, the Bible Truth Depot (福音書局, later renamed the Gospel Bookroom 福音書房)29 also translated and published a number of Western Christian works that Nee hoped to introduce to Chinese readers, especially the translated works of the Pietists and the Mystics.30 These translations suggest he was familiar with the Pietist tradition, which was most likely introduced to him by his spiritual mentor Margaret E. Barber (1866–1930).31 In the fifteenth issue of The China “Mission” Year Book in 1928, published by the Christian Literature Society, the contemporary largest church publishing organization in the country, a few publications from Jia and Nee were selected as the best Christian books in Chinese for the year, showing the high quality and wide acceptance of their works. “Spiritual Nourishment, Day by Day [靈修日課],” written by Rev. Chia Yuming had a very good sale and is one of the best books produced by a the chapters first appeared in the early issues of The Present Testimony magazine in 1923” (Editor’s Preface). 27 CWWN, 12: xvi. The names Nee mentioned included Andrew Murray, F. B. Meyer, Otto Stockmayer, Jessie Penn-Lewis, Evan Roberts, and Madame Guyon. 28 CWWN, 26:477–8. See also Andrew Yu, 2005, “The Origin of Theological Thinking Watchman Nee” (paper presented at the Symposium on the Ministry of Watchman Nee, Hong Kong Truth Book Room, Hong Kong, October 29–30, 2005), 7–8. 29 Taiwan Gospel Bookroom Editorial Section, “Preface,” CWWN, vol. 1. Nee, CWWN, 18:319. 30 As seen, for example, in Jeanne Guyon’s autobiography Sweet Smelling Myrrh, Short and Easy Method of Prayer, Andrew Murray’s The Cross of Christ, Jessie Penn-Lewis’s Union with Christ in Death and Resurrection, T. Austin-Sparks’ The Secret Revealed, and The Overcoming Life Is a Sure Fact, and Charles Usher’s The Reigning Life. Glen G. Scorgie, “The Diffusion of Christian Mysticism: From the Medieval Rhineland to Contemporary China,” Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality 20, no. 1 (Spring 2020): 16–19, https://doi.org/10.1353/ scs.2020.0017. See also Zheng Yiling, “A Study of Watchman Nee’s View of Regeneration” 倪柝聲的重生觀研究 (Master’s thesis, Shanghai Normal University, 2020), 15, 46. 31 Scorgie, “The Diffusion of Christian Mysticism,” 16. 137

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Chinese. Other books of devotion have been produced by the Spiritual Light Publishing Society and the Nanking Bible Truth Depot. This latter has put out quite a few books recently, some of which are “The Christian Life and Warfare [靈修指微],” by W. Nee, and “The Spiritual Man,” in six volumes.32

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Jia’s Understanding In his spiritual theology, Jia firmly positioned both human rationality and spirituality within God’s creation. He affirmed that humanity was created in God’s image and that humans are like God in His attributes, such as holiness, righteousness, and goodness.33 Jia held the same anthropological view as Luther, that a human is a miniature of God’s temple, divided into three parts: spirit, soul, and body.34 These three parts correspond to the three parts of the temple—the holy of holies, the holy place, and the outer court—respectively.35 For Jia, the root of human spiritual life is Godself, who is Spirit ( John 4:24), “the living Spirit,” as Jia writes.36 In Jia’s tripartite anthropology, the human spirit is the primary part. With their God-created spirit, humans can be “elevated to heaven, connecting with the spiritual realm related to God.”37 Before the Fall, humans could know God, and through this knowledge of God, God’s attributes could be reflected through human nature.38 Human rationality for Jia is mainly related to the soul, which includes the intellect, emotions, and will. Additionally, rationality includes the spirit (the highest rationality from the divinity) and the body (the physiological brain), and is therefore related to the three parts of humans, whereas spirituality, though above rationality, is related only to the spirit, and is manifested as morality.39 32 Z. K. Zia 謝頌羔, “Best Books in Chinese” in The Christian China Year Book: 1928, ed.

Frank Rawlinson (Shanghai: Shanghai Christian Literature Society, 1928), 371.

33 Jia Yuming, Wanquan jiufa 完全救法 [Total Salvation] (Hong Kong: The Bellman House

Publishers, 1987), 59–60.

34 See “The Magnificat,” Luther’s Works. vol. 21, ed. Jaroslav J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald, and H. T.

Lehmann (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1963).

35 Jia, Wanquan jiufa, 60. 36 Jia Yuming, Shendao xue 神道學 [Doctrinal Theology], vol. 2 (Taipei: Olive Love Founda-

tion, 1996), 4–8.

37 Jia, Shendao xue, 2:80. 38 Jia, Shendao xue, 2:4. See Tse, Christ-Man, 99–108. 39 Jia Yuming, Shendao xue 神道學 [Doctrinal Theology], vol. 3 (Taipei: Olive Love Founda-

tion, 1997), 322, 327.

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In line with the Reformed doctrine of total depravity, Jia affirmed that both the spirituality and the rationality that are related to every part—spirit, soul, and body—of humanity are ruined by sin. Jia explained that sin has darkened the spirit by alienating it from God’s Spirit.40 As a result, an unsaved person has never communicated with God’s Spirit, and both the spirituality and the highest rationality from the divinity in the human spirit can never be developed. But rather, such a person possesses only a natural rationality in the soul. Sin also ruined the fibers of the brain of a person, which frustrates intellectual development and causes a person to sate certain lusts.41 Because the human spirit has malfunctioned, an unsaved person can only take their soul as the subject and use it to work out their morality according to the conscience and the law that God puts in everyone’s hearts (Rom 2:15).42 To be reborn, for Jia, sinners must receive God’s “spirit-life,” and a person can partake of God’s spirit-life only if they are first enlightened and illuminated by the “spiritual light” of Christ ( John 1:9, 8:12).43 As the spirit-life enters the sinner’s spirit, it becomes the true light that regenerates a spirit and restores its function, allowing it to communicate with God. As the spiritual light continues to shine forth from the spirit to the soul, a person’s rationality will then be restored to its normal function. Eventually, the spirit can take over from the soul in working out the morality that God demands.44 Spirituality, according to Jia, is ultimately “the expression of one’s morality,” as Jesus is, whose life is the “model of a perfect human,” the “pattern of humanity.”45 Pursuing spirituality entails making moral improvements, but this morality is attained not via self-cultivation or external imitation, but rather by possessing the very spirit-life of Jesus and having this life fully developed.46 Jia believed that the goal of Christian spirituality is not only to be like Christ, to have a Christlike ethos, or to live an exceptionally moral and ethical life, but also to be fully “Christ-ified” and become a “Christ-human,” for whom “to live is Christ”

40 Jia, Shendao xue, 2:191–92, 3:327. 41 Jia, Shendao xue, 3:327. 42 Jia, Shendao xue, 3:327. 43 Jia Yuming, Shengjing yaoyi 聖經要義 [Essentials of the Bible] (Shanghai: The National

Committee of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches in China and China Christian Council, 2008), 1:67–68. Shengjing yaoyi, 6:86–87. 44 Jia, Shendao xue, 3:327. 45 Jia, Shendao xue, 3:324. 46 Jia, Shendao xue, 3:260–63. 139

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(Phil 1:21).47 For Jia, rationality is crucial in the development of Christians into Christ-humans. Following the Reformed scheme of ordo salutis, Jia highlighted the relationship between rational activities and spiritual pursuits in the process of spiritual growth (sanctification). Jia proposed three levels of change in this relationship between rationality and spirituality in believers’ growth: “rationalizing spirituality,” “spiritualizing rationality,” and “assimilating spiritualized rationality with spiritualized spirituality.”48 The first level, rationalizing spirituality, is the initial level that can be experienced by those who have not yet gained salvation, and also those who “do not fully believe in the Bible but have faith in the salvation of Jesus.”49 For genuinely saved believers, they must advance to the second level, spiritualizing rationality.50 If Christians want to become Christhumans, they must pursue the third level of experience—“a spiritualized rationality assimilated with a spiritualized spirituality so that their whole persons are spiritualized.”51

Rationalizing Spirituality The initial experience of rationalizing spirituality, for Jia, means “subjecting human spirituality to natural rationality.”52 Jia held that spirituality first needs to be corrected by natural rationality.53 Natural rationality refers to a rationality that has not yet been spiritualized or cleansed by God’s Spirit. However, even a natural rationality is useful to help develop spirituality. Jia saw faith as “non-objective,” “non-hereditary,” and “non-superstitious.”54 Faith, connecting people to the spiritual realm through the human spirit, transcends psychological effects and is beyond knowledge, yet still requires human natural reason and knowledge.55 Taking Pentecostal Christians as an example, he pointed out that in many situations, these believers did not use their natural reason to correct their pursuits of supernatural experiences. As a result, they gave evil spirits a chance to work, as seen, for example, in the claims of some that they had received additional special revelation from God with the same authority as the 47 Jia, Shendao xue, 3:321. 48 Jia, Shendao xue, 3:327. 49 Jia, Shendao xue, 3:324. 50 Jia, Shendao xue, 3:324. 51 Jia, Shendao xue, 3:328. 52 Jia, Shendao xue, 3:327. 53 Jia, Shendao xue, 3:322. 54 Jia Yuming, Lingxiu rike 靈修日課 [Spiritual Nourishment, Day by Day] (Taipei: Olive

Love Foundation, 1994), 56–57.

55 Jia, Lingxiu rike, 57–61. 140

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Bible. Therefore, all actions of the human spirit need to be adjusted by rationality from time to time.56 Jia also pointed out that the development of spirituality may be restricted by natural rationality. The Bible includes supernatural things, such as miracles, the virgin birth, Jesus’s atoning death for the world, the resurrection of Jesus’s body, and Jesus’s return. If one refused to believe in these Bible truths and considered them unreasonable and unscientific, such unbelief would hinder a person from growing in spirituality. This situation prevailed among many contemporary Chinese intellectuals and modernist Christians who relied solely on their rationality and frustrated him the most.57 Drawing an analogy from “light,” Jia believed that philosophers and scientists are seeking knowledge and wisdom in this world, but their knowledge and wisdom are mere “sunlight and moonlight, not spiritual light.”58 Although their intelligence and philosophical knowledge brings substantial contributions to the world, their seeking is just like chasing after the wind, a vanity, if they do not let their intelligence and philosophical knowledge be spiritualized by receiving spiritual light from the Holy Spirit. If those fragments of knowledge are spiritualized, however, they will become true wisdom.59 In brief, Jia did not completely deny the natural reason that had not been spiritualized. Instead, he believed that natural rationality could help balance and correct abnormal spiritual development, but emphasized that natural rationality may also restrict normal spiritual development, so rationality needs to be spiritualized.

Spiritualizing Rationality The second level of “spiritualizing rationality” entailed “making unspiritual rationality spiritual.”60 This advanced experience occurred because rationality needs to be renewed, spiritualized, and then used by the spirit. Jia explained that after a person’s rationality is baptized by the Spirit, it would be subject to spiritual wisdom in the spirit, with emotions subject to spiritual sense and will to the divine will. For such a person, rationality would become “livelier, more powerful, and more useful,”61 having not only human wisdom but also spiritual wisdom, which enables a person to understand the spiritual meaning of the Bible and to comprehend the mystery of the spiritual world. Jia believed that only when 56 Jia, Shendao xue, 3:322–23. 57 Jia, Shendao xue, 3:323. 58 Jia, Shengjing yaoyi, 4:212–14. 59 Jia, Shengjing yaoyi, 4:212–14. 60 Jia, Shendao xue, 3:327. 61 Jia, Shendao xue, 3:325. 141

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rationality has been transformed can it be used and governed by spirituality. This, he emphasized, “does not mean that reason has lost its function,” but that “reason becomes more usable” because “the spiritual light shines into a person’s soul so that light shines out of their reason.”62 The key to letting rationality be used by spirituality is to pass the sovereignty of reason from itself to spirituality, where “[reason] is willing to be supported by spirituality, be managed by spirituality, be used by spirituality, be obedient to and work in the spirit.”63 Jia called this experience “the salvation of the soul” (1 Pet 1:9). For such a believer, the soul has not lost its function, but rather has become “more active.”64 Jia suggested two requirements for believers’ reason to be subordinated to spirituality: consecration and prayer. Jia stated, “A person with a spiritualized reason is a consecrated person. We must go through a consecration that gives up the sovereignty of our spirit, soul, and body. Then, reason will be governed and used by the spirit.”65 The second requirement is prayer. For the soul to be spiritualized, Christians must pray and sometimes even fast and pray all day long. Jia offered the example that many pastors had often prayed for a long time to receive inspiration from their reason before they wrote the most spiritually nourishing sermons.66

Spirituality Assimilating with Spiritualized Rationality The highest-level relationship between spirituality and rationality is that of  “spiritualized spirituality assimilating with a spiritualized rationality.” In the phrase “spirituality,” the first “spirit” refers to the Holy Spirit, and the second “spirit” refers to the human spirit. Jia explained that once a believer’s spirit is filled and possessed by the Holy Spirit and becomes a spiritualized spirituality, it can assimilate with a spiritualized reason. At this point the whole person becomes completely spiritualized, meaning that not only is a person’s spirituality spiritualized, but reason too, and even every cell in the body and brain are spiritualized.67 In the highest level of the Christian experience, the reason of the spiritual persons would be baptized in the Spirit so that they might possess “spiritual wisdom” (Col 1:9; cf. 1 Cor 2:6, 11–16).68 62 Jia, Shendao xue, 3:325–26. 63 Jia, Shendao xue, 3:326. 64 Jia, Shendao xue, 3:326. 65 Jia, Shendao xue, 3:326. 66 Jia, Shendao xue, 3:326. 67 Jia, Shendao xue, 3:327–28. 68 Jia, Shendao xue, 3:328. 142

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Being Christ-Humans Jia’s discussion of the relationship between spirituality and rationality must be placed alongside his “Christ-human” theory. As a perfect human, Jesus was not only a spiritual (moral) human but also a rational human. Jia proposed that the goal and end of Christian development in spirituality and rationality is the personification (人格化) of Christ,69 that is, a fully “Christ-ified” person who has Christ’s (1) abundant life, (2) stature, (3) glorious image, (4) full power, (5) spirit of love, and (6) glory. Such a Christian has experienced Christ’s full salvation and achieved the goal of Christ’s salvation.70 In his Wanquan jiufa (完全救法 Total Salvation), Jia commented that these three levels of interaction regarding rationality and spirituality correspond to the three stages of believers’ sanctification. Jesus’s full salvation was to save the whole being of believers: spirit, soul, and body.71 When the spirit is saved, true light will shine on the spirit so that the person may receive spirit-life, the eternal life of Christ, within. Being reborn, the person is then able to communicate with God’s Spirit dwelling in their spirit as God’s spiritual house. As a believer reaches the stage of salvation of their souls—the spiritualizing of their souls, with their reasons baptized by the Spirit—they become “spiritualized rational” persons.72 Reason can now be used by spirituality, making it more developed, more applicable, and more flexible. Finally, spirituality and rationality can be mutually used and respond to each other and become “rational spiritualization of spiritual rationalization.”73 At this highest level of experience, believers experience the salvation of their bodies, for which Jia means: “not only [to] the future redemption of the body, but also [to] today’s believers experiencing the Lord’s full salvation, in which ‘the power of the Lord Jesus’ resurrection’ (Phil 3:10) is manifest in the body, ‘giving life to the mortal bodies’ (Rom 8:11), eliminating the law of sin in the body, and annulling the body of sin so that humanity will be restored to its original perfect and holy state in creation.”74 As such, “to live is Christ” (Phil 1:21), which, for Jia, is “the most wonderful experience in life. Since the law of sin and death has been eliminated by the law of the Spirit operating in the body, there will be a wonderful change in the body—the power of the spirit-life will 69 Jia, Shendao xue, 3:324. 70 Jia, Shendao xue, vol. 3, 329–30. 71 Jia, Wanquan jiufa, 72. 72 Jia, Wanquan jiufa, 74–75. 73 Jia, Wanquan jiufa, 75. 74 Jia, Wanquan jiufa, 76. 143

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pass through the soul from the spirit and reach the body, and the body will be dramatically changed. Such a change is the salvation of the body.”75 At this stage, not only is the spirit saved, but the soul is also saved, and the body is restored to its original human nature. The body is resurrected and saved because of the power of Jesus’s resurrection, and full salvation experienced. This does not mean that Jia rejects a literal, physical, bodily resurrection, but that Jia believes that believers are able to experience full salvation in this present life even before the redemption of the body in the future.76 Finally, Jia believed that, besides representing individual believers, the temple also represents the true church. Jia’s ecclesiastic view is grounded in his Christ-human theory that the true church is constituted of those genuine believers who are becoming Christ-humans.77 The true church is the invisible church in which a group of Christians lets spiritual light shine out from their spirits and through their souls and bodies. As Christians have become fully spiritualized Christians, the Holy Spirit fills their whole persons, and God’s glory is manifest through them, as it was manifest through Solomon’s temple.78 In Jia’s words, “God is also manifest today through the spiritual temple, that is, the true church and believers (1 Cor 3:16). For a truly spiritual person, God’s glory must shine forth from his holy of holies, through the sanctuary, to the outer court, that is, from his spirit, through the soul, to the body. As such, the whole person being—spirit, soul, and body—will be filled with spiritual light, manifesting the glory of God, and filling the temple with the glory of God.”79

Watchman Nee’s Understanding Influenced by Western Christian writers, especially the Pietists and those of the Keswick tradition, Nee also accepted a tripartite anthropology, where human beings are composed of three distinct parts: spirit, soul, and body that resembles the three parts of God’s temple (1 Cor 3:16).80 Nee insisted that these three parts cannot exist independently but are interrelated; a person must have all three to be regarded as a “whole being” or a “complete person.”81 Nee points out that there are three words 75 Jia, Shengjing yaoyi, 7:87–88. 76 Jia, Wanquan jiufa, 76–77. 77 Jia, Shengjing yaoyi, 6:5–6. 78 Jia, Shengjing yaoyi, 1:223. 79 Jia, Shengjing yaoyi, 3:128–29. 80 Nee, CWWN, 12:11. 81 Nee, CWWN, 12:3. 144

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for “life” in New Testament Greek: (1) bios, (2) psyche, and (3) zoe, corresponding to the life in the body, soul, and spirit, respectively.82 Nee suggests that the body is the “world-consciousness of a person, the soul is the “self-consciousness,” represent[ing] one’s personality, the true “I,” the self; and the spirit is the “God-consciousness.”83 The soul has three main functions: mind, emotion, and will. The mind is the thinking organ; the emotion is the organ of love, hatred, and sentiments; and the will is the deliberating organ to make decisions. The spirit has three major functions: conscience, fellowship, and intuition. The conscience’s function is to discern right and wrong according to the knowledge in the mind; the intuition is to receive the knowledge directly from God; and the fellowship is to worship God.84 For Nee, the soul and the spirit are two distinct faculties but closely related in function. In Nee’s definition, the spirit enables humans to contact, communicate with, and unite with God, but the soul expresses all that the spirit receives from the Holy Spirit and communicates it to the body. The Holy Spirit (God) cannot govern the whole being of a person without the proper function of the soul.85 Hence, the soul is as important a part of a person as the spirit. According to Nee, human rationality is mainly the intellectual function of the soul, whereas spirituality originates from the spirit, the part that comes from God and is bestowed by God. Spiritual knowledge of God received through intuition is different from intellectual knowledge acquired through the intellectual function of the soul.86 Nee pointed out that in the original order of the three parts given to humans by God, the spirit governs the soul and the soul governs the body,87 and that in this original state of human creation, the three parts were not opposed to each other but were “fully in harmony,” without any conflict.88

Becoming a Spiritual Person Similar to Jia’s “Christ-human,” Nee argued that the purpose and highest goal of being human is to become a “spiritual person.”89 Being a spiritual person, Nee 82 Nee, CWWN, 12:23. 83 Nee, CWWN, 12:8. 84 Nee, CWWN, 12:15–16, 20, 25, 27. 85 Nee, CWWN, 12:9–10. 86 Dongsheng John Wu, Spiritual Knowledge and Spiritual Life: Watchman Nee in Dialogue with

Spiritual Traditions (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2012), 89–90, 128–29.

87 Nee, CWWN, 12:12–13. 88 Nee, CWWN, 12:6. 89 Nee, CWWN, 13:247. NB the English translation in CWWN uses “man” for “human,” “men”

for “human beings.”

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explained, is not being like an angel, who is a spirit without a soul and a body; being a spiritual person means to be subject to the rule of the human spirit: “The spirit is the highest part of the whole person. . . . The functions and faculties of man’s soul and body are not canceled because a man is spiritual. A spiritual man still has a soul and a body.”90 Nee emphasized that a spiritual person still has the will, mind, and emotion of their soul because these functions are the essential elements that make a person human. For a spiritual person, the functions of the soul have not been eliminated but “have died, been renewed, and are resurrected. Therefore, they are now completely united with the spirit to be the instruments to express the spirit.”91

Intuition and Knowledge of God Nee contended that after the Fall, humans became independent of God and the order of spirit and soul was reversed within their being. Instead of becoming spiritual, humans became “soulish,” meaning that the faculty of the soul, instead of the spirit, became the leading part of the entire person’s life.92 In a soulish person, the human spirit has become dead, losing its function of fellowship with God; the soul has replaced the spirit as the ruling part of the person.93 Nee concludes, “Sin has killed the spirit, and now spiritual death has come to all [humans] so that all [humans] die in sin and transgressions. Sin has also caused the soul to become independent so that the soulish life now becomes an independent and selfish life.” Nee points out that when a believer is reborn, the Holy Spirit not only gives a new heart and a new spirit, but the Spirit also enters and dwells in the renewed spirit and puts God’s life into it so that the spirit is enlivened. Nee continued to argue that this life, the highest life, the life of God that carries the divine nature (2 Pet 1:4), is called “eternal life” (zoe) and is the spiritual life of humanity.94 In this life, a reborn believer has the spiritual ability to know God and be able to develop and grow into a spiritual person.95 Nee’s theological epistemology proposed that all three faculties are needed to obtain knowledge of God: (1) the intuition of the spirit, (2) the mind of the soul, and (3) the brain of the body. These three faculties are interconnected 90 Nee, CWWN, 13: 247–48. 91 Nee, CWWN, 13:248. 92 Nee, CWWN, 12:29–31. 93 Nee, CWWN, 12:36–39. 94 Nee, CWWN, 13:222–25. 95 Nee, CWWN, 13:222. 146

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and work collaboratively.96 The source of knowledge is the “revelation” of God’s Spirit, usually also called the “illumination” of the Holy Spirit. As Nee elaborates, “Revelation means nothing less than the Holy Spirit revealing the reality of a matter in a believer’s spirit and causing him to know such a matter.”97 Nee believed that intuition in the spirit, not the mind in the soul, is the primary faculty that receives God’s revelation; the mind is a secondary faculty to understand the revelation received through intuition.98 The Spirit resides and operates in the believer’s spirit to make the spirit know, and then the believer’s spirit makes the mind understand.99 The knowledge the believer gains through intuition is completely different from the head knowledge gained through their rational activities,100 and the essence of Christianity is this intuition of God (the Holy Spirit) in the human spirit. A person may be familiar with (doctrinal) theology, but only revelation in the spirit can regenerate people and cause people to truly know God. For Nee, this is the essence of true Christianity.101

The Breaking of the Soul-Life Nee believed that every reborn believer can continuously gain knowledge of God through their spirit as they grow spiritually. However, believers are still in the process of sanctification, and, experientially, they have not fully been saved to become God’s new creation. As far as believers’ experience is concerned, they are still often affected by their “soulish” life and live in the old creation. Nee argued that for this reason the cross of Christ plays a critical role in sanctification.102 On the objective side, believers have to know God’s fact that their old persons and lives have been crucified with Christ (Rom 6:6; Gal 5:24).103 On the subjective side, the cross of Christ is a tool for God to save believers completely in their experience from the old creation and bring them to the new creation.104 The Holy Spirit applies the work of the cross of Christ to believers in their spirit, bringing their soul-life to Christ’s death ( John 12:24–25) so that they no longer rely 96 Nee, CWWN, 10:571–72. See Wu, Spiritual Knowledge and Spiritual Life, 146–49. 97 Nee, CWWN, 13:298. 98 Nee, CWWN, 14:561–62. 99 Nee, CWWN, 13:293–94. 100 Nee, CWWN, 13:292. 101 Nee, CWWN, 13:298–99. 102 Nee, CWWN, 12:176–77. 103 Nee, CWWN, 12:89–90. 104 Nee, CWWN, 12:91, 98–99. 147

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on themselves but allow the Holy Spirit to reign over their entire being.105 Nee emphasized that this does not mean that believers no longer use their mind but that their minds are now subject to the power of the Holy Spirit through their spirits. Nee understood the Greek word psyche to have two different meanings: “soul,” the faculty created by God and originally good, and “soul-life,” the old life that takes the soul as the lead faculty of a being.106 What believers need to lose through the cross is not their soul itself but their soul-life. Believers must continuously let their spirit use their soul.107 The soul-life (the outer person) of the believer must be broken so that the mind can be completely subject to and used by the Holy Spirit through the spirit. This for Nee is one of the highest and deepest lessons in the spiritual life believers must learn.108 In this sense, Nee holds the same view as Jia that affirms the value of believers’ souls in their sanctification. As a part of a whole person, the soul has an important place in both soteriologies, needing to be redeemed, renewed, and sanctified in God’s full salvation.

The Renewal of the Mind Nee believed that this “renewal of the mind” is of paramount importance to the spiritual growth of believers. Even after being saved, a believer still retains the old mind, which needs to be renewed in the process of spiritual growth. Believers’ minds, the “strongholds of the enemy” (2 Cor 10:4–5) must be overthrown so that their thoughts may be completely obedient to Christ.109 Their minds need to be renewed to their pristine state, to glorify God (Rom 12:2; Eph 4:23): “The goal of God’s salvation is not that we would continue to use the same mind that was defiled by sin. God wants our minds to be renewed in the same way that our spirit is renewed. God wants our mind to be restored to the perfect condition that existed at the time of His creation so that we will not only glorify God in our living but also with our mind.”110 Through denying the soul-life, believers do not eliminate their soul as a faculty but renew and use it. As Nee affirms, God wants believers to actively use their minds to investigate and understand God’s will and use their own will to obey God: God does not negate the faculty of the 105 Nee, CWWN, 12:89–97, 194–96, 54:151–57. See Wu, Spiritual Knowledge and Spiritual

Life, 98–104, 141–44. Nee, CWWN, 12:24. Nee, CWWN, 12:196–97. Nee, CWWN, 12:198. Nee, CWWN, 14:497–503, 567, 53:174–77. See Wu, Spiritual Knowledge and Spiritual Life, 144–45. 110 Nee, CWWN, 14:502. 106 107 108 109

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soul but wants the mind and the will of the soul to be renewed so that it becomes consistent with the intuition in the spirit.111

Mind Assisting Spirit If a believer’s mind is renewed, the mind can actively work with the spirit because the mind has been restored to its original order. In creation, an interdependent relationship exists between mind and spirit, and the mind is supposed to be the spirit’s “best assistant” working together with the spirit,112 a principle Nee describes as “the mind assisting the spirit.”113 Nee explains how, by actively minding the things of the Spirit (Rom 8:6), the mind can help the spirit in at least four ways: first, the renewed mind can help believers examine, understand, and “interpret” God’s will by interpreting the intuition in the spirit.114 Second, a renewed mind gives believers a quicker understanding and a better understanding of the Bible.115 Alongside intuition, the mind is another crucial organ through which believers receive the shining of the Holy Spirit in reading Scripture.116 Third, the renewed mind can serve as an outlet for the Holy Spirit. God expresses His intentions and thoughts through the human spirit, and then the renewed mind expresses the human spirit.117 With a renewed mind, the Holy Spirit is able to flow unhindered from a believer’s spirit to others. Fourth, when the spirit is weak, down, or asleep, the renewed mind can help the spirit awaken when believers actively use their minds to arouse the activity of the spirit and make it lively. Therefore, Nee emphasizes repeatedly that believers must pray and sing not only with their spirit but also with their minds (1 Cor 14:15) so as to stir up their spirit.118 Once the spirit has been awakened, believers can have the sense of the spirit, walk according to the spirit, engage in spiritual warfare, proclaim God’s truth effectively, intercede for others, and live in the spirit of being raptured.119 For this, in practice, believers need to actively and diligently set their minds on spirit, including by keeping an open mind to God’s truth, being watchful of the source of their every thought, filling their minds with God’s words, asking God 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119

Nee, CWWN, 14:515–16. Nee, CWWN, 13:398–99, 14:560–63. Nee, CWWN, 13:393–95. Nee, CWWN, 14:563–64. Nee, CWWN, 10:590–92, 599, 601–2. Nee, CWWN, 13:401–2. Nee, CWWN, 14:562–63. Nee, CWWN, 13:395, 62:384. Nee, CWWN, 13:393–99. 149

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to purify their minds, and being attuned to the same mind as fellow believers (1 Cor 1:10).120 In his later period of ministry, Nee stressed the same principle concerning the functions of the mind and the spirit cooperating for the Christian’s daily walk and growth in life with the illustration of “seeing” with eyes, “hearing” with ears, and “touching” with hands: The function of the mind is very much related to the function of the spirit. God communicates with us in our spirit, but He also communicates through our mind. . . . The mind is the organ by which we understand the feeling of the spirit. Before the Lord we must first have an open spirit to establish a living communication with Him. After we understand the leading of the Holy Spirit, we need to exercise our mind. After a blind man’s eyes are opened, he does not discard his ears and hands from that point onward. Instead, he has to learn to adjust his eyes so that they will coordinate properly with his other faculties.121 Nee stressed that believers should not discard the function of their mind but instead should coordinate their minds with their spirit, feel with their spirit, and then understand and express these feelings with their minds in their daily walk, reading the Bible, and prayer, and particularly in two matters: first, translating the thoughts from God’s Spirit, who dwells and moves in the human spirit; and second, fulfilling the ministry of God’s Word.122 Last but not least, Nee testified that the burden of his ministry is not to produce many fully renewed and mature yet individualistic “spiritual people”; but rather, through spiritually mature Christians, local churches may be built up to be Christ’s body as his expression and testimony on earth.123 When Christ is glorified through his church, according to Nee, God’s enemy may be quickly destroyed to usher in the kingdom.124 In this way, Nee associated the development of believers’ spirituality with his ecclesiology and eschatology. For him, spirituality has both communal and eschatological dimensions: the individual spiritual growth of believers is for them to build up together in their respective 120 121 122 123 124

Nee, CWWN, 14:565–71. Nee, CWWN, 62:384. Nee, CWWN, 62:385–91. Nee, CWWN, 26:479. Nee, CWWN, 26:478. 150

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local churches to become Christ’s body, as God’s corporate witness to bring forth the kingdom on earth.

Summary of Jia’s and Nee’s Spiritual Theologies In Jia’s and Nee’s spiritual theologies, their understandings of spirituality and rationality portray a whole person formation under a holistic tripartite view. The spiritual development of believers is Christocentric: humanity was created in the image of Christ and both the human spirit and reason/mind originated from God to know and glorify God. After a sinner is saved and reborn by believing in Christ, Christ indwells in the believer’s spirit through the Holy Spirit to restore the “right” order—the spirit as the master and the soul (mind) as the servant. This is the initial stage of believers’ spiritual development. The more believers obey the Holy Spirit and allow God to rule in their lives, the more their spirit receives the inner light of the Holy Spirit that enables them to know God, and their minds will be continually spiritualized and renewed. As such, God can use believers’ reason/mind to express God’s will through their spirit. As believers continue to grow, their whole being not only becomes sanctified in Christ, and restored in their harmony with God, neighbors, and nature, but also manifests God’s life, becomes transformed into Christ’s image, and gradually they become fully united with God—to become “Christ-humans,” in Jia’s words, or “spiritual people,” in Nee’s words. In this way, believers will experience God’s full salvation while on earth and be able to build Christ’s church and the kingdom of God on earth. Both Jia and Nee thus regarded a person’s experience of Christ living within through the Holy Spirit as the essence of true Christianity.

Christian Mystical and Pietist Traditions in Modern China The above understandings of Jia and Nee on the relationship between rationality and spirituality are characterized by a form of mysticism and pietism. Pietism can be traced back to mysticism,125 a tradition that is central to historic Christianity and often found in monastic communities. Prior to the Protestant Reformation, as McGinn notes, those Christians in this stream were mainly pursuing the knowledge of God not through the rational activities of human beings but 125 Scorgie, “The Diffusion of Christian Mysticism,” 2–13. Justin Davis, Pietism and the Founda-

tion of the Modern World (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2019), 8–24. 151

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through the encounter of the soul with God and receiving knowledge directly from God.126 This desire is usually expressed in the form of a spiritual journey to God, with complete union with God the telos of human life. Such spiritual activities are mostly personal and experiential, and bring transformation in every aspect of human life, including rational renewal.127 The desire for direct knowledge of God is shared by humanity, transcending various times, regions, traditions, cultures, and contexts. The mystical dimension continued in European churches in the Middle Ages and was a factor that triggered the Reformation. Luther was deeply inspired and influenced by fourteenth-century mysticism authors and works such as Theologia Germanica, as seen in his commentaries on Psalms and Romans.128 The mystical dimension of Protestantism is most evident in the Pietist movement in (but not limited to) German Lutherans from the late seventeenth century to the early eighteenth century. In response to the rationalism, confessionalism, and dogmatism prevailing in Protestant Orthodoxy (or Protestant scholasticism), the Pietists advocated the mystical dimension of the Christian faith that sought a more empirical experience of God in the hope of restoring the spiritual impact of the Reformation.129 In contrast to the Scholastics on dogma, the Pietists, especially those from Halle, emphasized the practice of piety and the search for personal spirituality in the faith community over the systematic interpretation of abstract theological concerns, but without flatly rejecting the developed Lutheran systematic theology.130 German Pietism arose during the Enlightenment and eventually evolved into a spiritual renewal movement that has had a profound impact on today’s global Christianity. The Pietists injected a new force of revival into the Protestant faith and brought forth a wave of the modern missionary movement. From the late seventeenth to early eighteenth century, European churches revived by Pietists established missions, such as the Anglican Mission in London and the Moravian Brotherhood Mission led by Nikolaus von Zinzendorf (1700–1760), and sent hundreds of missionaries overseas.131 The Pietists deeply influenced the 126 Bernard McGinn, “Introduction,” in The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism, ed. Ber-

nard McGinn (New York: Random House Publishing, 2006), xiii–xvii.

127 McGinn, “Introduction,” xiii–xvii. 128 Paul Lehninger, “On the Cross and in the Cradle: The Mystical Theology of Martin Luther,”

Logia 27, no. 4 (2018), 9.

129 Davis, Pietism and the Foundations of the Modern World, 25–36. 130 Davis, Pietism and the Foundations of the Modern World, 36. 131 Douglas H. Shantz, An Introduction to German Pietism: Protestant Renewal at the Dawn of

Modern Europe (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013), 237–40. 152

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Methodist movement led by John Wesley in Britain and North America, greatly contributing to the nineteenth-century Protestant world missionary movement and delineating the contours of today’s evangelicalism.132 The intercontinental network created from the Pietist revival paved the way for the Protestant cross-denominational mission to China. The British and German missionaries were mostly spiritually fostered by the Pietists and were highly optimistic about the transformation of the unreached land of China throughout the nineteenth century and in the dawn of the twentieth century.133 Modern China underwent substantial changes in politics, society, education, economy, and culture in the early twentieth century. The new republic in 1912 overthrew the feudal system and monarchy that had operated for more than two thousand years. A Western-inspired education system gradually replaced the Chinese imperial examination system that had lasted for more than 1,300 years. Many Chinese intellectuals welcomed science and other Western values disciplines that were considered helpful for China’s modernization process. Finding a new way to preach the gospel in the new context became an urgent challenge to missionaries and indigenous Christian leaders. Examining Jia’s and Nee’s theological sources and their understandings of the relationship between spirituality and rationality in the Christian faith reveals a broad common theological concern shared with the Pietists, as well as the fact that they constructed their spiritual theologies with common Pietistic characteristics. Pietist concerns can be traced back to Philipp Jacob Spener’s Pia Desideria (1675), in which he lays out his hopes for the church in six proposals for renewal. As listed by Roger Olson and Christian Winn, there are ten traits that characterize Pietism as a response to contemporary Protestant Orthodoxy (or Protestant Scholasticism), and which are considered the marks of true Christianity by Pietists, namely, (1) accepting and upholding the orthodox Protestant doctrine, (2) the empirical knowledge of God that brings transformation in the Holy Spirit, (3) the rebirth of the “inner human/person”; (4) Godliness (Gottseligkeit)—A strong commitment to building a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, (5) a living faith and acts of love, (6) a love of the Bible as God’s word and as a medium for building a relationship with God, (7) a communal life of believers, (8) a zeal for evangelism to expand God’s kingdom to 132 Shantz, An Introduction to German Pietism, 237–40. 133 Albert Monshan Wu, From Christ to Confucius: German Missionaries, Chinese Christians, and

the Globalization of Christianity, 1860–1950 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2016), 30–33, 39–40. 153

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the world, (9) promoting the ecumenical spirit among Christians and Christian peace in society, and (10) the priesthood of all genuine believers.134 From the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1851–1864) to the siege of the International Legations (1900), China underwent a half-century-long period of wars. After the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911, the country experienced constant warfare among the warlords, civil wars between the Nationalist Party (Guomindang [GMD]) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), followed by the Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). The thirty-year period from the Warlord Era (1916–1928) to the end of the Civil War in 1949 thrust China into perpetual economic and political instability, with severe damage to productivity, mass migration, and social unrest. Given the dehumanization brought by the cruelty of war, the restoration of humanity became an urgent concern during wartime China. For many in the country, an overly intellectualized Christianity was problematic, while mystical Pietism offered a more pragmatic alternative. In 1938, the year following the full-scale Japanese invasion and the Nanjing Massacre in 1937, Nee made his second trip to Europe and attended the annual Keswick convention in England, a convention for the deepening of spiritual life. At the convention, where “the war havoc in China was fresh in everyone’s mind,”135 Nee offered a prayer, “a prayer that few who were privileged to be present forgot,”136 asking for “standing in [God’s] will,” the “spiritual forces” of God’s enemy to be bound, and “the interests of [God’s] Son in China and in Japan” to be fulfilled.137 From Nee’s perspective, his ministry had to meet God’s need to restore humanity, which was made in his image, by emphasizing the subjective aspects of Christian faith, deepening the experience of Christian life and comforting the suffering Chinese souls with the hope of eternal life and the goal of restoring humanity to a state that God willed.138 It was at the climax of the Sino-Japanese war that Nee’s Gospel Book Room published the first Chinese translation of

134 Roger E. Olson and Christian T. Collins Winn, Reclaiming Pietism: Retrieving an Evangelical

Tradition (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2015), 84–85.

135 Angus Kinnear, Against the Tide: The Unforgettable Story of Watchman Nee (Fort Washington,

PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 2017), 202. Lian Xi, Redeemed by Fire: The Rise of Popular Christianity in Modern China (New Haven, CN: Yale University Press, 2010), 176. 136 Angus Kinnear, Against the Tide, 202. 137 Keswick Convention, ed., The Keswick Convention, 1938: Notes of the Addresses Revised by the Speakers (London: Pickering & Inglis, 1938), 246. 138 John Weborg, “Pietism: ‘Fire of God which . . . flames in the heart of Germany,’ ” in Protestant Spiritual Traditions, ed. Frank C. Senn (New York: Paulist Press, 1986), 180. 154

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the French Mystic Jeanne Guyon’s (1648–1717) autobiography, Sweet Smelling Myrrh (1938), and introduced it to Chinese Christians.139

Conclusion This paper has explored the relationship between rationality and spirituality in Jia’s and Nee’s spiritual theologies by examining the role of reason (the mind) and how it interacts with spirituality in their theologies in light of Christian mystical and pietist traditions. The study shows how Christian mysticism and pietism is a significant theological source for their spiritual theologies, and that their theological concerns are consistent with Pietism in seeking a more empirical experience of God. Like the demands of the seventeenth-century German reformers, Jia and Nee emphasized the Bible as the living word of God and the Holy Spirit as the one who guides believers into knowledge of God and all the spiritual realities, as well as transforms believers’ tripartite beings into spiritual maturity. In the early twentieth century, Jia Yuming and Watchman Nee’s spiritual theologies addressed the spiritual needs of many modern citizens and were largely embraced by the public, impacting the lives of contemporary Christians and churches in China. Even though the independent churches led by Jia and Nee were suppressed after 1949, their theologies have affected the development of house churches through until the present day. Although taking an empirical approach with a tripartite anthropology, Jia and Nee did not neglect the tension between spirituality and rationality or downplay the interaction between reason and spirit. For them, as Wu evaluated, spirituality and rationality are not an either-or relationship; rather, they are both indispensable for spiritual life and mutually influencing and complementary to one another.140 This can be seen from the fact that Jia and Nee never denied the interdependence between spirit and mind; they never believed that rationality and spirituality could develop independently or that spirit and mind act against one another. Both Jia and Nee insist that the mind is indispensable for knowing God and spiritual things. They unequivocally state that in developing their spirituality, the fallen mind of humans needs to be renewed and used by the spirit, assisting the spirit to receive the illumination of the Holy Spirit, test the will of God, live and act according to the spirit, and express God’s life on earth. 139 Scorgie, “The Diffusion of Christian Mysticism,” 1. Xi, Redeemed by Fire, 176–77. 140 Wu, Spiritual Knowledge and Spiritual Life, 156–57. 155

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Moreover, they reiterated that the three parts of humans will eventually achieve a state of harmony and operate holistically in spiritual development. Neither held a negative view of the soul or body. With this close reading, labels such as “anti-intellectualism,” “spiritualism,” “subjectivism,” and “body-soul dualism” attached to their theologies should be reexamined and removed. On the positive side, Jia and Nee’s ideas about the relationship between rationality and spirituality will continue to guide the churches in China in the twenty-first century, reminding us that reason should be spiritualized in order to serve spirituality and confirming the importance of human rationality and the integrity of human beings in the development of the whole person while contributing a spiritual impact to the global church.

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Chapter 8

JOY AND SUBMISSION The Prison Theology of Watchman Nee Liu Ping, Department of Religious Studies, Fudan University This paper focuses on eight letters sent home from prison by Watchman Nee in his later years, and reveals a unique Chinese political theology constructed through the life and actions of a prisoner of over twenty years. Watchman Nee’s prison theology is embodied in his being sanctified by “joy” and “submission” as fruits of the Holy Spirit. Such a spiritual theology is part of the Chinese Christian theological tradition. Given the increasingly secular nature of contemporary society, the significance of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ as revealed in Watchman Nee’s prison theology is ever more profound. The life of Watchman Nee (1903–1972) can be divided into three distinct periods: an early period (1903–1920), when he received infant baptism but had no Christian faith; a middle period (1920–1952), when he was converted and became a missionary; and a late period (1952–1972) spent in prison. In terms of his mission and writings, the second period of Watchman Nee’s life offers a sharp contrast with the third: during the thirty-two years of the middle period, in adhering absolutely to the Bible he broke away from denominations and founded an indigenous church in China, the Christian Assembly (also known as the “Little Flock” or “Local Church”), creating what can be thought of as a contextualized Chinese denomination. Nee left as many as sixty-three volumes of theological writings, mainly exegetical works and sermons.1 He spent his last two Translated by Chen Long. Liu Ping is professor in the Department of Religion, School of

Philosophy, Fudan University. 1 Watchman Nee, The Collected Works of Watchman Nee (Taipei: Taiwan Gospel Book

Room, 1991). This collection of 63 volumes is divided into three series: the first published in December 1991, the second in June 1992, and the third in June 1993. This collection is not the complete works of Watchman Nee, but is a collection edited in chronological order and an authoritative edition for the academic study of Watchman Nee’s theological thought.

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decades, for well-known political reasons, in prison or in labor camps in Shanghai and Anhui province, where it was impossible for him to preach or write.2 Accordingly, much has been written about Watchman Nee’s second period while his later years have received little attention. The reasons for this are twofold: there are few extant firsthand sources, which makes it almost impossible to study Nee’s theological thought from this period. Second, the study of Nee’s later theological thought inevitably comes up against the contemporary political ideology of mainland China. Given that Watchman Nee’s life cannot be extricated from the first thirty years of the mainland’s ultra-leftist history (1949–1978), it would be a sensitive matter and politically incorrect to study Watchman Nee and his seemingly tragic end as long as he has not legally and politically been publicly rehabilitated, and while the ultra-leftist history and its origins have not yet been thoroughly exposed and analyzed. Research into Watchman Nee’s late thought can make up for the absence of research on his theology, contribute to the study of his thought in the middle period, and expose the catastrophe of the Cultural Revolution from 1966–1976, which official ideology now recognizes as having “brought severe disaster.”3 In Christian intellectual history, from the apostolic era to the postmodern era of the twenty-first century, the phenomenon of Christians imprisoned for their beliefs is scarcely rare. St. Paul, the first apostle to bring the Christian faith to the European continent, was imprisoned several times4 and ended up in the city

2 According to Wu Youqi’s account in “Watchman Nee in Prison,” Watchman Nee preached

to Wu Youqi and others during his two decades in prison, and converted Wu Youqi; a deep friendship developed between them. Wu Youqi was the only Christian to care for Watchman Nee in his later years. Wu recalls, “I spent nine years (1963–1972) with Watchman Nee, and we were separated for about two years during that time. Praise the Lord that He eventually brought us together again until three days before Watchman Nee was received by the Lord.” From this document, we also know that Watchman Nee continued to write while in prison, see http://shanghaichristianassembly.org/?page_id=57. Retrieved 1/22/2016. 3 On the official commentary on the Cultural Revolution, see Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party since the Founding of the People’s Republic of China (Adopted by the Sixth Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on June 27, 1981). The characterization of the Cultural Revolution as “catastrophe” is not found in this document. However, the word “catastrophe” began to appear in both official and private circles afterward. For full text of this document, see http://news.xinhuanet.com/ ziliao/2002-03/04/content_2543544_4.htm. Retrieval date: 1/22/2016. 4 The Apostle Paul was imprisoned four times: first in Philippi (Acts 16:16–24), second in the Jerusalem Temple (Acts 21:27–30), third in Rome (Acts 28:30–31), and again in Rome where he was martyred (2 Tim 4:6). 158

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of Rome where he “gave his neck to the sword”;5 St. Peter was executed by crucifixion;6 before the adoption of Christianity as the state religion in the Roman Empire, martyrdom was the seedbed of the gospel;7 in the Middle Ages, many were imprisoned and even burned at the stake for heresy by the Roman Catholic Church;8 Anabaptist and Anglican clergy and laity were imprisoned and martyred on the European continent and in the British Isles during the Reformation period;9 and Christians are still being sent to labor camps or killed for their faith in present-day North Korea.10 This paper refers to Christians in prison in a specific sense, meaning Christians of any denominational affiliation who have been imprisoned simply because they have upheld and defended their faith. In this sense, imprisonment refers to the experiences of Christians such as Wang Mingdao (1900–1991), Watchman Nee, and Hu Zhenqing (胡振慶1918–1995),11 but not to other Christians who have been imprisoned in defense of social justice and human peace, such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who fought against the tyranny of Nazism and was executed before the Allies liberated Germany,12 or Martin Luther King, Jr., imprisoned in Birmingham, Alabama, in the 1960s for defending the right to equality for Afr­ ican Americans, and eventually assassinated after his release from prison.13 In mainland China, during the Cultural Revolution alone, many Christians were 5 John Foxe, Fox’s Book of Martyrs, ed. William Byron Forbush (Philadelphia and Chicago: The

John C. Winston Company, 1926) 4.

6 Foxe, Fox’s Book of Martyrs, 4. 7 Tertullian, Apology, trans. T. R. Glover (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977),

227. For more on Christian martyrdom in the Roman Empire, see in particular Eusebius, The Church History, trans. Paul L. Maier (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 1999), 93–168. 8 Foxe, Fox’s Book of Martyrs, 43–184. 9 On the imprisonment and martyrdom of Anabaptists, see Bruce L. Shelley, Church History in Plain Language, 3rd ed. (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2008), 247–55. On the imprisonment and martyrdom of Protestants in the British Isles, see John Foxe, Fox’s Book of Martyrs, 189–314. 10 According to Stoyan Zaimov’s report “Two North Koreans Killed for Christian Faith,” Opens Doors USA confirmed the deaths of the two North Korean Christians, one shot dead while leaving for Bible training in China, and another dying in a labor camp. See The Christian Post (18 January 2013 | 06:33), quoted from The Christian Post’s official Chinese website. https://tinyurl.com/4bn2f4vc. Retrieval date: 2/23/2016. 11 Hu Zhenqing, Mountain of Myrrh: A Biography of Hu Zhenqing (1918–1995) (Alhambra, CA: Chinese Christian Testimony Ministry, 2001). This is a new simplified Chinese edition. See publisher’s website http://www.cctmweb.net. 12 Eric Metaxas, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2011). 13 Martin Luther King, Jr., The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr., ed. Clayborne Carson (New York: Warner Books, 1998). 159

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imprisoned or killed simply for standing up for their beliefs, although the exact number still remains a mystery. However, from the memoirs of survivors and related materials, it is easy to ascertain that a large number of Christians experienced the pain of imprisonment during this period of history, which is being deliberately forgotten, and that many of them, including Watchman Nee, were martyred for the sake of Christ. Some materials remain, left by Watchman Nee and those like him, or by other survivors, providing us an invaluable resource for understanding and studying the full extent of this unique, catastrophic period and the achievements of Chinese Christian theology in this period at the cost of blood and lives.

Prison and Prison Theology in the Age of Mao Zedong from the Perspective of the Theology of the Cross In general, “prison” refers to the institutions, agencies, and facilities in which a society punishes and rehabilitates criminals in accordance with its own laws. The “crimes” committed by “criminals” in this context refer to the actions or thoughts of people in a society that are contrary to the laws established by the society in which they live. The prison in which Watchman Nee stayed for two decades had the general attributes of such a prison, yet the term here is a specific concept: a system, institution, and facility for the punishment and reform of criminals in accordance with laws during the Mao era (1949–1976). These facilities include not only prisons but also a large number of prison farms located in remote areas of the country. The prison system of the Mao era went through three periods: establishment, development, and destruction. During the initial stage (1949–1954), labor reform institutions for convicts were rapidly established throughout the country, and convicts were organized on a large scale to participate in national capital construction projects, such as hydraulic engineering projects, in railways, mining, agriculture, and other industries. From 1966 China’s prison system entered a phase of destruction, when it was seriously undermined during the “Cultural Revolution,” mainly through the violation of prison regulations and the disruption of supervision in prisons. During these three phases there was no prison system in the modern sense of the word, and the system largely took the form of re-education through labor. 160

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During all three stages, the establishment of the prison system essentially depended on the personal will of the leader and the administrative regulations of the authorities.14 It was not until 1994, when the regulations on labor reform were formally abolished and the Prison Law of the People’s Republic of China was promulgated, that a prison system in the modern sense, based on rule of law, began to emerge in China. This overview provides the historical context for understanding Watchman Nee’s later years. At the time, prisoners such as Watchman Nee were also labeled “counter-revolutionaries,” guilty of “counter-revolution.” Watchman Nee was imprisoned for, among other things, conspiring against the revolution.15 The term “counter-revolution” was the most serious crime of the Mao era. First defined as a criminal offence in law in 1927, the term was incorporated into the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China in 1956 where it remained for forty years until 1997, when it was officially renamed “Crime against National Security.” The term “counter-revolution” was removed from the Constitution two years later.16 The “crime of counter-revolution” is a political concept with an extremely vague connotation and extension. Throughout the entire Mao era, everything opposed to, or inconsistent with Mao’s thought belonged to the “crime of counter-revolution.” This crime was not based on the fundamental criterion of whether it endangered society or violated criminal law, but rather on the principle that thought was more important than action, and that the highest criterion was whether or not one was ideologically 14 For the division of the above three periods, see Li Chenguang, Wang Yunhong and Xia Lin,

“A Study of the Staging of the History of Prisons in New China,” Crime and Rehabilitation Studies, 2013, no. 9, 69–73; Wang Zhiliang, A History of Prisons in China (Guilin: Guangxi Normal University Press, 2008), 191–96. 15 Angus I. Kinnear, Against the Tide: The Story of Watchman Nee (Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1974), 221. For more information on Watchman Nee’s life and the last two decades of his life, see: Chen Zhongdao, My Uncle Watchman Nee (New Enlarged and Revised Edition), (Hong Kong: Golden Lampstand Publishing Society, 1999); Chen Zexin, A Brief History of Brother Watchman Nee (Hong Kong: The Christian Publisher, 1973); Wei Guangxi, Watchman Nee’s Three Public Testimonies, 4th ed. (Hong Kong: The Christian Publisher, 1997); Leslie Lyall, Three of China’s Mighty Men; Witness Lee, Watchman Nee: A Seer of the Divine Revelation in the Present Age; Newman Sze, Martyrdom of Watchman Nee (Rosemead, CA: Testimony of Christ Mission, 1995); Yuanwei Liao, Pei-Yuan Lyu, et al., The Pursuit of Spiritual Reality: Watchman Nee’s Thought in Light of Scripture, History, and Theology, ed. Archie Hui (Taipei: Chinese Evangelical Seminary Press, 2003), 279–91. 16 See Guo Wei, “A Historical Survey of Crimes of Counter-Revolution” (MA Thesis, China Youth University of Political Studies, 2007). 161

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and behaviorally opposed to the thought of Mao Zedong. In this sense, any person who merely disagreed with or criticized Mao Zedong verbally could become counter-revolutionary. Christianity was defined as a “foreign religion” and a tool of imperialist aggression in China during the Cultural Revolution, so anyone who practiced Christianity was in danger of being labeled counter-revolutionary. Watchman Nee, because of his Christian faith and his refusal to accept Marxist atheism, was, according to the logic of the Cultural Revolution, a backward counter-revolutionary who needed to be reformed through labor in order not to “sit idle” under socialism. For Nee, the prison of the Mao era was not only a physical confinement and spatial separation from family, friends, brothers, and sisters, but the torment and suffering of reform through hard labor and a spiritual battle. This was Watchman Nee’s Babylonian captivity, his later years of Egyptian slavery. Nee and those like him maintained their faith in prison at the cost of their own lives. This provides a unique intellectual resource for contemporary Sino-theology to reflect on its theological implications. Prison theology is the study of Christians who enter prison as believers in order to care for and keep their faith. Prison, from the non-believer’s point of view, is a place of punishment for convicts and an institution and system for maintaining and operating that punishment. The problem here, however, is that there is a certain difference between this understanding of “sin”17 and Christian views. Christianity recognizes that God has given universal grace to human beings so that they can make laws to regulate the most basic morals of society, and that any breach of such laws is a sin, but also proposes another notion of sin—namely, apostasy or unbelief in God. Watchman Nee was indeed imprisoned for having violated the so-called laws and dominant ideology of the Mao era. In this sense, he committed a crime of counter-revolution. However, the charges brought against him during the Mao era have themselves been removed from history. Therefore, in the post-Mao era, Watchman Nee and those like him would not have committed a crime. The crucial point is that Watchman Nee was forced to go to prison for a crime in the secular sense in the Mao era, but this “crime” was not a sin from the perspective of the Christian faith. Instead, those who convicted him and sent him to prison, together with their thoughts and actions, committed a crime: not only did they violate the laws of the post-Mao era by disrespecting religious freedom, but they also stood against God and violated the law in the 17 Ed. note.: “sin” and “crime” are the same character in Chinese. 162

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biblical sense for failing to respect the object of belief of those who are entitled to freedom of religious belief. What prison theology seeks to investigate is the theological expression of the action and thought of Christians who are imprisoned in this way. Prison theology is not, therefore, a theology of prison ministry, nor a theology of Christian believers entering prison for the sake of universal social justice but is concerned only with the theological expressions or implications of Christian believers entering prison for the sake of their own faith. Obviously, Nee and those in the same situation could not have received pastoral care when they were in prison; not only was this practice strictly forbidden by the dominant ideology of that time, but most of those who could have provided such care were also in prison. In his review of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Letters and Papers from Prison, He Guanghu (1950–) introduced the concept of “prison theology” to Sino-theology. What He called “prison philosophy” referred to a genre that is distinct from prison literature or death row literature. For He, the letters of Bonhoeffer, a theologian and priest, are not only prison literature but can also be called prison theology, since they contain a series of theological reflections during his imprisonment.18 Yet Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King, Jr., were imprisoned for the sake of divine justice, and so did not lack a religious life in prison, to the extent that the assassins of the Führer like Bonhoeffer could even read, pray, preach, and write. In this sense they were not imprisoned for the sake of God alone. Latin American liberation theology also presents a prison theology. Based on the hope of liberation and justice, it pushes the church to engage in the liberation of human beings from unjust laws.19 Bob Fu (1968–) has presented a further view on prison theology in Christian History, as the willingness to go to jail for the name and glory of Jesus Christ.20 The first two examples belong to a prison theology in the wide sense, while the latter is a prison theology in the narrow sense. Though both kinds of prison theology can be said to be for the sake of Jesus Christ, 18 He Guanghu, “Preface” to Chinese translation of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers

from Prison, trans. Gao Shining, rev. He Guanghu (Chengdu: Sichuan People Press, 1997), 2–3. This translation was republished by New Star Press in 2011. 19 S. Pounder, “Prison Theology: A Theology of Liberation, Hope and Justice,” Dialogue, vol. 47, no. 3 (2008): 278–91. 20 Bob Fu, “Prison Theology,” Christian History, no. 109 (2014), 24. https://www. christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/prison-theology/. Retrieval date: 23/1/2016. 163

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the former is fundamentally about defending the universal grace of Jesus Christ—righteousness and justice—while the latter is about defending the particular grace of Jesus Christ, the salvation of souls. The difference allows us to understand why Christians like Dietrich Bonhoeffer were able to maintain their faith in prison and have a certain amount of freedom to preach and teach. The latter is the subject of this essay. Prison theology has biblical roots but is also rooted in the early church tradition. The four New Testament books of Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon are collectively known as Paul’s “prison epistles.” These epistles tell us that Paul was imprisoned for the sake of Christ and wrote them as a prisoner. The four epistles make clear references to Paul’s own imprisonment.21 Besides Paul, a representative figure in the early church was the apostolic father Ignatius of Antioch. Between c. 110 and 117 CE, this bishop was arrested for his faith in Jesus Christ and taken to Rome, where he was cast into the Colosseum to die a horrible death. During his journey to Rome, he wrote seven letters in Greek: The Letter to the Ephesians, The Letter to the Magnesians, The Letter to the Trallians, The Letter to the Romans, The Letter to the Philadelphians, The Letter to the Smyrnaeans, and The Letter to the Polycarp.22 During his last thirty-eight days (22 April–30 May 1972), Watchman Nee wrote a series of letters home. In common with Paul and Ignatius of Antioch, he was imprisoned for the sake of Jesus Christ and wrote from prison to people outside of prison. The difference is that the prison letters of Paul and Ignatius of Antioch are mainly pastoral, responding directly to contemporary Christian theological issues and addressed to fellow church members. It can be inferred from this that the Roman Empire, which was brutally persecuting Christianity at the time, did not deny Christians the most basic rights of religious freedom. Believers in a banned religion could still discuss and write about that religion while in prison. Instead, during the Cultural Revolution, Watchman Nee and those like him in China were forced by external totalitarian political pressure not to speak directly and explicitly about their religious beliefs in their letters but only about their own lives, and only to their own families. Nevertheless, we can still see from these few writings that Watchman Nee made his own contribution to prison theology. 21 See Ephesians 3:1, 4:1, 6:20; Philippians: 1:7, 13; Colossians 4:3, 10, 18, Philemon 1, 9, 10,

13, 23. 22 Clement et al., The Apostolic Fathers, trans. Kirsopp Lake (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Uni­

versity Press, 1965).

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Watchman Nee’s Babylonian Captivity: Joy and Submission in the Midst of Suffering In Watchman Nee’s final months of incarceration, prison brought to life the tensions between holy and secular, Christ and antichrist in one of the most extreme and cruel ways. There is nothing in the eight letters left behind by Watchman Nee before he died that did not reflect reality:23 they form a true picture of a saint before the destruction of his earthly tabernacle. From the content of these letters, we can see how in the prison and reform farm where Watchman Nee lived, the dignity and freedom of the human being was completely and utterly denied in the name of “reform through labor,” or “Arbeit macht frei.” In the last prison in which Watchman Nee lived he was abandoned in his own homeland and reduced to a foreigner. But whether in a Chinese Auschwitz or Babylonian Captivity, Watchman Nee’s submission and joy allowed candlelight to shine, through faith in Jesus Christ, in a darkness that did not permit light. Watchman Nee’s two decades of prison life provide the most objective and original materials and examples for us to understand the meaning of the cross that he carried, as well as reliable documents for a prison theology. For Nee, the two decades of reform through labor (“Laogai” for short) that Mao Zedong promoted was not as simple and lightly abstract and sparse as black words on white paper, but as heavy and concrete as the cross drawn in black and white ink by Dao Zi (1953–), penetrating the heart and soul. But in the midst of the heavy, concrete pain of the human heart there is a submissive resistance and a joy in suffering. From the eight letters home, it is clear that the aged Watchman Nee was in fact terminally ill, suffering from severe hypertension and a heart condition that could have put his life at risk at any moment. Watchman Nee’s record of his own health in the letters is full of pathos: “You know my physical condition is chronic, an illness of the organ itself . . .” (Letter 1).24 “My sickness is chronic and has frequent setbacks. I have simplified my life as much as possible, so as not to bother others” (Letter 2). “On Saturday night, I had another relapse. For a few 23 Watchman Nee’s eight letters from prison are included in two books: (1) Witness Lee,

Watchman Nee: A Seer of the Divine Revelation in the Present Age, 181–89. Facsimiles of the letters are included in the “Appendix: Facsimiles of Letters and Photographs”; (2) Silas H. L. Wu, Breaking the Shell: Watchman Nee’s Imprisonment and Transformation (Boston: Pishon River Press, 2004), 180–85. 24 Written to Nee’s sister-in-law. 165

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Fig. Dao Zi, The Sacrifice with Holy Blood for Redemption, ink and wine on paper, 80 × 96 cm, 2007. hours, my heart was quivering. Later I took some Digoxin and was able to carry on.25 On Sunday, I slept the whole day. . . . When you come, bring with you one catty of Taicang pork floss and one catty of dried beef. Because of my myocardial infarction, the doctor has told me not to eat egg yolk, fat, or any internal organs, for fear that the illness will worsen; I should eat a little lean meat. But if I do not 25 “Digoxin” is the trade name for “Niacin,” Niacinamide or nicotinic acid. In his later years,

Watchman Nee suffered from chronic angina pectoris, caused by myocardial ischemia. 166

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eat anything, I will lack the amino acids found in protein. It’s difficult” (Letter 4). “I am old and with much illness” (Letter 5). Even under the burden of serious illness, Watchman Nee continued to be a saintly worker through his faith in Jesus Christ. Although age and illness necessitated special food, the prison farm did not care. Watchman Nee had to ask his sister-in-law to bring along “one catty of Taicang pork floss and one catty of dried beef ” if they visited. To relatively well-off people now, the food may not seem special, but in the old days of the planned economy, when supplies were scarce and controlled by coupons, “one catty of Taicang pork floss and one catty of dried beef ” were extremely expensive and hard to find. For old people who were undernourished and had particular dietary needs, these could have been of great help. In the dilapidated reform farm building, where the daily lives of the prisoners had been reduced to the bare minimum to sustain their basic existence, Watchman Nee took the initiative to further simplify his own life in order not to annoy the people around him. This meant that in his final years Watchman Nee ended up essentially bedridden, waiting for the Lord to receive him into the kingdom of heaven. Watchman Nee’s bleak situation is confirmed by the recollections of his cellmate Wu Youqi: We spent another five years together at the Baimaoling Farm, Anhui Province. . . . He was already in poor health, old and had difficulty walking. We lived about 60 or 70 meters away from the dining hall. . . . To get to the hall, we had to climb two steep slopes and cross the road. This was impossible for Uncle Nee to do. So every day, I helped him to get three meals and brought them back to him. Suddenly one day, the prison guard found me in his office. He asked me why I was helping Watchman Nee with his meals every day. I said, “He is too old and physically weak to climb up two slopes, so it is my duty to help him with his meals and take care of him.” To my surprise this guard turned and said to me, “Nonsense, he is pretending to be sick, let him do his own cooking and don’t do it for him in future.” It was clear that they were deliberately trying to make things difficult for Uncle Nee, but of course I ignored their warning. After a few days, I went back to the dining hall to get my food, and the staff in the kitchen told me that the guards had informed me that no one could help Watchman Nee with his food and that he would have to come himself. Under these circumstances, I had to go back to the dormitory and tell Uncle Nee once and for all. I knew that Uncle Nee was a very 167

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knowledgeable man, and I told him to hurry up and think of something. I sat next to him and waited for him to make up his mind. After waiting for a long time, he finally opened up and said, “I would like to let things be as they are.” I was amazed at what he said, “Listen to what is natural, and obey the Lord in all things.” I was so angry and anxious, not thinking how he could say such a thing. “You don’t want to eat, do you?” I didn’t want to contradict him, so I gave him some of my own food. As I was sharing my meal, I thanked and praised the Lord that He had given me, a foolish man, a good idea: I had been given five taels of rice for lunch, but now I could say to the caterer that I was tired from working today and that I wanted to buy an extra tael. The canteen will not suspect me. I would then buy six taels of rice, and when I came back, I would give two taels to Uncle Nee. He was very old and two taels of rice was enough for him; I had four taels, which was a little less, but I could still get by. In this way, we shared the food every day and finally got through the difficult times.26 From the above we can see that when Watchman Nee was seriously ill and bedridden, the staff of the prison farm (the guards and kitchen staff ) deliberately failed to help him and, even more horrifyingly, proactively prevented the prisoners from giving him the humanitarian help he needed. On the brink of death, Nee needed his wife’s care most. But not only was Watchman Nee unable to receive daily care from his wife, but Zhang Pinhui (1902–1971) was in a situation not substantially different from that of her husband, except that one was in prison and the other outside. She suffered from the same severe hypertension and heart disease as Watchman Nee, and was also denounced for the crime of counter-revolution. Tragically, Zhang Pinhui pre­ deceased Nee, which caused him great pain in his later years. On learning the news of his beloved wife’s death, he wrote a short, heartfelt poem: A thousand bouts of crying, a thousand times calling out. I am used to hearing your voice, how is it that you do not respond? The totalitarian, anti-humanitarian prison system deprived Nee of even the most basic human rights: he could not see his wife for a last time; he was not 26 According to Wu Youqi’s account in “Watchman Nee in Prison.” 168

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informed in time of her illness; he could not attend his wife’s memorial service; he could not even dispose of his wife’s ashes himself. As Watchman Nee was still serving his sentence and was not allowed to leave prison, disposing of his wife’s ashes became an urgent problem, as he wrote to his sister-in-law (Letter 3). Even in his last letter to his sister-in-law, written on the day of his death, Nee was still mindful of the need to make arrangements for his beloved wife’s ashes; his last words were to ask his sister-in-law to take full responsibility for their burial: “Pinhui’s ashes will be left to your care. I am trusting in you for everything. I give my consent to everything” (Letter 8). Six months after his wife’s death, Nee confessed his feelings in a letter home. He did not complain about his two decades in prison, nor say a word about the hardships he had endured, but he left tears of sorrow, regret, and longing for the death of his wife. Too many changes have transpired during the past half a year. In reminiscing over the former days, and in perusing and caressing the articles left behind by her, I could not help but grieve with an aching heart. In over twenty years, I have not been able to take care of her once. This will be a lifelong regret to me. It was all because of me; I owe her so much and have given her so much hardship. . . . For the past ten days or so, I could not help but think of and long for Sister Hui (Letter 2). Watchman Nee, who had no children, was, in the eyes of the world, frail, poor, sick, and lonely at the time of his death. Nee’s final days were not unlike those of Job before God spoke in the whirlwind. In a sense, Watchman Nee was even more miserable than Job: like Job, he was penniless, childless, and ill. But even more tragic than Job was the fact that at the end Watchman Nee did not even have a wife who could complain about him, or three friends who had traveled far to comfort him, let alone the freedom to move about. Not only was he confined to his bed by illness, but he was forced by religion to walk only within a defined area in the wilderness. Nee might have had a chance to return home after his sentence in his final days. But in reality he no longer had his own home on earth, and even if he had, would not have been able to return to it. The letters inform us that: I have talked with the supervisor concerning the question of my leaving the farm here [i.e. release from the reform farm]. He told me, “You 169

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cannot go to Beijing and Shanghai. You can only go to a small place, a village. As long as the verification papers come, the government will deal with the matter according to the set policy. There is no need to discuss this with me.” So please find for me someone among my relatives who can liaise for me. You can explain to them that I can take care of my own living. I hope that they can take me in and can ask the commune administration there to issue a certificate saying that I can stay and that they will accept me. I hope that someone can be found among my relatives. Ma Xingtao may be willing to do it. Please discuss it with him, or with others. (Letter 4) Not allowing Watchman Nee to live in Shanghai or in his sister-in-law’s place in Beijing after his release was clearly to eradicate the influence of his counterrevolutionary poison and prevent it from spreading in a big city. According to procedure, Watchman Nee first had to find a relative in the countryside who was willing to accept someone convicted of a “crime of counter-revolution,” then a certificate of acceptance would be issued by the local work unit and sent to Watchman Nee’s reform farm, which would then issue a certificate of release and repatriation. Given the complicated bureaucracy and speed of information traffic at the time, Nee’s release from prison would have taken eighteen months. For a widower whose life was endangered, the possibility of his release from prison was virtually impossible. However, the release process had been initiated and his sister-in-law was coming to visit him from a great distance. All of this gave Watchman Nee a ray of hope or warmth during his last days. Unfortunately, Watchman Nee died on the day he wrote his eighth letter and was cremated the next day. In the end, he was unable to fulfill his wish to return to his roots and to see the last of his family. The conditions of life on reform farms were extremely difficult. Watchman Nee could not have described this; otherwise it would have been further evidence of his counter-revolutionary crime, that is, dissatisfaction with the Party’s reform-throughlabor policy decided by the Chairman Mao and the Central Committee, and thus dissatisfaction with the Chairman and the Party Central Committee, a most heinous counter-revolutionary crime. Thus, Watchman Nee did not say a word about the miserable daily life on the reform farm. However, we can infer from the letter’s request to send the most basic daily necessities, that he did not have these: All the things you mentioned in your letter I have received. I am very grateful to you. (Letter 1, to sister-in-law) 170

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I have no particular needs. Just bring an electric flashlight. (Letter 3) You know that my eldest sister [Watchman Nee’s sister in Hong Kong] is supplying my household needs; so living is no problem. . . . As for going to Zhejiang, I’ve heard there may be a problem with food coupons. I think that since I eat very little, we will be able to make do; don’t worry about it. (Letter 5, to nephew) The letters clearly show that Watchman Nee’s daily expenses in prison required regular financial support from his family, even to the extent that an electric flashlight had to be mailed from distant Beijing to the remote Anhui countryside. At that time, the entire Chinese economy was wholly controlled by the state. Food coupons were a product and evidence of the planned economy, and were divided into those that circulated nationally and those that circulated locally. Watchman Nee’s original urban residency rations were not in the countryside. This posed a new challenge to his basic survival: he was not supplied with food in the countryside, and there was no surplus food in the countryside itself to be traded in the market— which would have been illegal speculation during the Cultural Revolution—with his former urban food rations unlikely to be honored in the countryside. The letters specifically mention that the doctor of the reform farm advised Nee “not to eat egg yolk, fat, or any internal organs, for fear that the illness will worsen.” One could infer from this that the daily diet at the workhouse was extremely rich, with eggs, fatty meat, and offal being regularly available, and that Watchman Nee may possibly have aggravated his heart condition by overfeeding on these high-protein foods; but this was simply the standard advice given by doctors to patients to avoid certain food in daily life, advice undoubtedly contradicted by the words that followed: “I should eat a little lean meat. But if I do not eat anything, I will lack the amino acids found in protein. It’s difficult.” In fact, given the conditions of life prevailing throughout China at the time, and especially conditions on Chinese reform farms, Watchman Nee was merely paraphrasing the words of a medical doctor, suggesting to his sister-in-law that it was “a problem” for him to obtain high-protein foods. Nee’s sister would have fully understood the intended meaning of the passage. Watchman Nee longed for family affection in his final days. What is noteworthy is that he also received the universal grace of God in the Trinity, namely, the conscience of human nature and the love of kin. In his isolated and helpless situation, his longing for family reunion was unimaginable for normal people: 171

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In my sickness, I truly miss my relatives and long to be with them. . . . How is your [sister-in-law’s] health? You are always in my thoughts. As a senior, you should take more care of yourself. Are you still thinking about coming to the south? I do not know what to say for the best. I can only wish you well. (Letter 2) I hope that you [sister-in-law] can stay longer and have more rest. Given my sickness, I long to be in contact more with my relatives. (Letter 3) In my sickness, I deeply long to return to my own relatives and be with them, as a falling leaf returning to its roots. (Letter 4) I am old and with many ailments, longing very much to return to my relatives; as a falling leaf returns to its root, so I seek a final resting place. I earnestly hope that you [nephew-in-law] could take on this responsibility for me. I am depending on you for everything. . . . When your aunt [Watchman Nee’s wife] was alive, she frequently mentioned Ni Huiyi and her children. I wonder how the children are now? I miss them. (Letter 5) I hope very much to get back home to my relatives. (Letter 7) The letters all call for the warmth and care of family members. This desperate longing to “return to my own family” and “return to my roots” further reflects the fact that the remote and impoverished reform farm where Watchman Nee lived was a desert, or wasteland, of love. Despite illness, the loss of his wife in old age, the lack of nutrition, and circumstances that deprived people of their dignity, Watchman Nee did not give up his faith. Although none of his letters mentioned his favorite words “God,” “Jesus Christ,” or “spiritual”—and strict mail censorship would never have allowed him to do so, as it would have been an added crime and the letter could not have been mailed—yet he still revealed that he had not abandoned his faith in spite of his Babylonian plight. I maintain my joy, so please do not worry. I hope you [sister-in-law] will also take care of yourself and be filled with joy in your heart. (Letter 1) However, I submit to the arrangements of my environment. (Letter 2) In my sickness, I still remain joyful at heart . . . (Letter 8) 172

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This “Chinese Job,” more Job than Job, in his last, most distressing moments, revealed his faith most in the fact that “joy” and “submission” could still be felt in daily life. Watchman Nee not only rejoiced himself but wished his relatives joy as well; he rejoiced not only when he was healthy, but also when he was on the verge of death; he not only rejoiced in captivity, but also passed on this joy to those around him, thus testifying to one of the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit, joy (Gal 5:22–23). At the same time, Nee made no complaint about the two decades of injustice he had suffered, and merely “submitted” to those in power in China at the time. In his letters he said that he submitted to the arrangements placed on his environment, that is to say, he submitted to everything, politically, economically, naturally and in terms of the relationships around him, and he did so to the end.

Watchman Nee’s Prison Theology and the Chinese Christian Spiritual Tradition: Joy and Submission With only eight brief letters of Watchman Nee from prison, it is necessary to use Nee’s writings from his middle period to understand the references within them to the joy and submission of faith. Nee’s theological thinking is largely focused in his middle period (1920– 1952). The authoritative edition of The Collected Works of Watchman Nee contains all of his writings from this period, edited into three series, subdivided into stages.27 Nee’s thoughts on joy and submission are found throughout these three series. Joy is clearly defined and discussed in Nee’s early, renowned work, The Spiritual Man. The believer’s spirit should have a sorrowful (Psalm 51:17) attitude towards itself; but at the same time, it should rejoice in God. It is joy, not because of joy itself, nor because of any experience, work, blessing, or circumstance that one has, but because God is the center of one’s heart. In fact, there is nothing but God that can make a believer happy. 27 Series 1: Early Writings, 1922–1934, comprising two dozen volumes; Series 2: Middle Writ-

ings, 1935–1942, comprising two dozen volumes; Series 3: Late Writings, 1943–1952, comprising sixteen volumes. Watchman Nee, The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, 4th ed. (Taipei: Taiwan Gospel Book Room, 2004). 173

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If the believer’s spirit is weighed down with anxieties, sorrows and griefs, his spirit will immediately fail in its duty and sink, losing its rightful place and failing to fulfil the guidance of the Holy Spirit. As soon as the believer’s spirit is weighed down by these burdens, it immediately loses its lightness, freedom, and brightness, and is called to fall again from its ascended position. If the period of sorrow is prolonged, there will be no end to the harm done to the spiritual life. In such a time nothing can be done but to rejoice in God, in what makes God God, and in how He has succeeded in all His ways as my Savior. The believer must not lose his Alleluia voice.28 As the above quotations from Watchman Nee’s masterpiece show, joy in his understanding is a spiritual joy, an inner joy that is opposed to worldly joys. Nee presents his own view of joy on the basis of a binary division between the world and God. Nee’s account of joy consists of two opposing sides: joy in God and joy in the world. Christian joy, in its negative aspect, is not joy because it is joyful, that is, it is not a purely inner psychological pleasure, nor is it joy because of external factors; in short, it is not a worldly joy. It is, in a positive sense, a joy because of God, that is, a God-centered joy. This God-centered joy is twofold: “in what makes God God, and in how He has succeeded in all His ways as my Savior.” In other words, this joy is based on the nature of the trinitarian God and on the economic trinity. This joy is not an individual state of mind, nor is it an abstract conceptual joy, but rather a joy where a human with personhood rejoices in the persons of the Trinity. In other words, it is a joy between two persons, that is, between the human person and the Trinitarian God in three persons, for the reason that what makes a human being a human being is that he or she is made in the image of the Trinitarian God, so the human not only obtains personhood from the God in three persons, but also the joy given by the Trinitarian God in three persons. The Trinity is joy, and gives joy. For Watchman Nee, Christian joy and Christian sorrow are two sides of the same coin in the Christian’s spiritual life, inseparable from each other yet distinct: they are distinct in that one is sorrowful because of sin and the other is joyful because of God; they are connected in that to be sorrowful because of sin is to be joyful because of God, because the root of sorrow because of sin is the joy that comes from God, and conversely, 28 Watchman Nee, The Spiritual Man, Vol. 2, in The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Series 1,

Vol. 13, 229–30.

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because of the joy that comes from God, Christians are sorrowful over sin. Such joy and sorrow together form the hallelujahs or sounds of praise in sacred music. To rejoice in God means that God is the source of Christian joy, and the object and goal of Christian joy. In his later years, Watchman Nee achieved the kind of sanctification which “sustains its own joy,” as he continued both to break the entanglements of the old self with the flesh and to regard the Trinitarian God as his joy. In his final days, Watchman Nee maintained the fruit of the joy he had been given by the Holy Spirit since conversion. This joy was not so much a reflection of Nee’s life as it was a reflection of God. These were extreme circumstances, when the outside world wanted to deprive Watchman Nee of everything in the world—special experiences, work, blessings, material circumstances—in order to humiliate him and make him abandon his own faith. However, the end result was not the triumph of Mao, and the “Cultural Revolution” that Mao had vowed to carry out to the end came to be defined as a “disaster” by the Communist Party of China, which Mao had helped to create. Mao, who was lauded with cries of “Long live Mao! Long live Mao!” by millions, now sleeps on Tiananmen Square where such cries were heard. Although Watchman Nee’s tent on earth has been reduced to dust, his joy in Christ lives on forever. He fought with joy against the temptations of the world, and could have gained his own freedom had he disavowed his belief in God. He was willing to exchange such suffering and pain as normal mortals can scarcely bear, and even death, for the crown of the kingdom of heaven, and dealt with all the temptations and trials of the world with joy. This joy, in the midst of lowliness and humility, exalts in and reveals the glory of God when all earthly glory is nil; this joy, in the midst of the heavy cross of suffering, is graced with the glory of the Trinitarian God when earthly glory is lacking. Herein lies the difference between Watchman Nee’s spiritual joy and the spiritual joy of Christians in normal society. The latter spiritual joys are derived from God in the midst of perceived fame and fortune when facing the world’s abundant wealth and fame; the former are spiritual joys that come from the Trinitarian God in the midst of total lack, deprived by the world of all wealth and fame. Christians often think that the former is more difficult in terms of sanctification, but it is actually the latter that is more difficult. This is because in this situation the saint receives from the world humiliation, insults, and denigration; a contempt and hatred that tramples them underfoot; material deprivation, lack of physical health, the trampling of personality and the denigration of human feelings. However, saints like Watchman Nee still rejoice in renouncing 175

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the richness of the world. The testing of the joy in Ni’s spirit was not the usual temptations of money, status, power, or physical pleasures, but rather the lack or absence of them all. But it is in this situation of being despised and belittled by the world that the Triune God bestowed on Watchman Nee a special gift, the “oil of joy” of Third Isaiah. Although the sorrows of this world were not diminished and he was daily troubled by pain, yet the “oil of joy” replaced the sorrow and anointed his soul. Watchman Nee is not the heroic and marvelous figure of a Cultural Revolution-era Revolutionary opera, but rather a Christian following the example of Christ, exalted in humility, lowliness, and humiliation. Nee not only rejoiced in his spirit but in the face of extreme persecution was able to submit fully until death to those earthly powers, in accord with the letter of the Bible. Watchman Nee’s “submission” has a specific meaning, forming a theology of submission that is inherited from the Bible and developed in the Chinese context. Watchman Nee’s thinking on Christian submission to political authority is rich, and is concentrated in his later work, The Orthodoxy, Authority and Submission of the Church.29 This text helps us to comprehend Nee’s ideas on submission more comprehensively, and is important for our understanding of Watchman Nee’s two decades of prison life—given the temporal proximity of writing and the actual practice of submission. Watchman Nee’s ideas on submission can be broadly summarized as follows.30 First, Watchman Nee starts from Scripture and inherits the two-kingdom theory from theological tradition, presenting the idea of dual authority—namely, direct authority (i.e., God) and representative authority (i.e., the human being who represents the authority of God). Christians are to submit both to heavenly authority and earthly authority because the earthly authority is established by God. Second, in terms of submission itself, Nee makes a specific distinction in order to present a theory of limited obedience to authority. In this respect, he offers his 29 Watchman Nee, The Orthodoxy of the Church & Authority and Submission, in The Collected

Works of Watchman Nee, Series 3, Vol. 47.

30 For the following summary, see Watchman Nee, “Chapter 11: The Proper Limit of Submission

to Authority,” in The Orthodoxy of the Church & Authority and Submission (see in The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Series 3, Vol. 47), 220–23; Watchman Nee, “Chapter 23: Questions concerning Authority and Submission,” in Miscellaneous Records of the Guling Training, Vol. 1 (see in The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Series 3, Vol. 59), 261–76; Watchman Nee, “Chapter 52: The Christians and the State,” in Miscellaneous Records of the Guling Training, Vol. 2 (see in The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Series 3, Vol. 60), 239–52; Watchman Nee, “Chapter 53: Waiting for the Lord’s Return,” in Miscellaneous Records of the Guling Training, Vol. 2 (see in The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Series 3, Vol. 60), 253–66. 176

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own understanding and interpretation. For Nee, submission is an internal matter of attitude, while obedience is an external matter of behavior. Submission is absolute and unconditional, while obedience is relative, not absolute. Christians are to be submissive both to direct authority and representative authority, but obedience is somewhat different: Christians owe unlimited obedience to the direct authority, while to the representative authority, Christians owe limited obedience. If the representative authority enacts laws and regulations that deal with fundamental Christian issues, and these do not conflict with them, they are to be obeyed; if they do conflict with them, for example, if the representative authority prohibits conversion, or evangelism, then Christians may submit but not obey. In short, Christians may submit without limit but obey with limits; they can submit unconditionally but obey with conditions. Watchman Nee thus offers his own insights or claims on conditional obedience, and his own theory of limited obedience to authority in relation to representative authority. He gives an example of this: “As a child, you can offer suggestions to your parents, but not in an unsubmissive manner. Our submission should always be absolute, and we should be submissive in some things that we can obey and also in others that we cannot. Even when proposing suggestions, we should be submissive. It is all a matter of attitude.”31 In this case, the child is to be absolutely submissive to the parent in authority, but not absolutely obedient; they are to be submissive in attitude, but not necessarily obedient in action. When the representative authority conflicts with the direct authority, Christians may submit to the representative authority rather than obey. Watchman Nee briefly summarizes this in three points: 1. Obedience is a matter of action, and is relative; submission is a matter of attitudinal sensitivity, and is absolute. 2. God alone is the object of unlimited submission, and those who are inferior to God deserve limited obedience. 3. If a command from a representative authority is clearly contrary to the command of God, there can only be submission and not obedience. Submit only to the authority that comes from God and do not obey the command that offends God.32 31 Watchman Nee, “Chapter 11: The Proper Limit of Submission to Authority,” in The Ortho-

doxy of the Church & Authority and Submission (in The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Series 3, Vol. 47), 221. 32 Nee, “Chapter 11: The Proper Limit of Submission to Authority,” 222. 177

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From the first two points, Watchman Nee deduces the third point: when the representative authority conflicts with the direct authority, Christians are to be absolutely submissive in their attitude and relatively obedient in their actions. This is the key to Watchman Nee’s theory of limited obedience to authority. Nee believed that these ideas have a biblical basis. He argues that all of the New Testament maintains representative authority, except for the account in the Acts of the Apostles, where the Sanhedrin pressed Peter not to preach in the name of the Lord, and Peter said, “We must obey God rather than any human authority” (Acts 5:29). Nee comments, “It is when the representative authority is clearly contrary to the command of God and offensive to the Lord himself that the representative authority is rejected. Therefore, this can only be said in such cases, but in all other cases the representative authority should be obeyed. We cannot be sloppy, and we cannot use betrayal to achieve obedience.”33 Finally, one of Watchman Nee’s main theological reasons for not advocating active participation in politics as a means of reforming or ameliorating the injustices and corruption that are everywhere present in politics, is eschatological. In Nee’s view, the main work of Christ’s first coming was to save human souls, while the main work of the second coming of Jesus Christ is to solve all social problems. When Christ came to the world the first time, his main task was to complete the work of dealing with sin: to save humans from sin and to give them new life. It is only in his second coming that Christ appears to solve all social problems and to renew all political systems. It was at the Lord’s first coming that personal salvation was clearly and fully resolved. The nations, societies, and systems around us will be resolved when he comes a second time.34 In Watchman Nee’s view, the work of Jesus Christ’s first coming is spiritual and unrelated to the world: The Lord does not reign. This is not because He is not able to change politics or save the Jewish nation, but because His purpose on earth is to save sinners; His work is spiritual, not of the world, and has nothing to do with politics.35 33 Watchman Nee, “Chapter 7: God Intends that Man Submit to the Representative Authority,”

in The Orthodoxy of the Church & Authority and Submission (see in The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Series 3, Vol. 47), 184. 34 Watchman Nee, “Appendix 1: The Christian Attitude to the State and Society” in Conferences, Messages and Fellowship (see Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Series 3, Vol. 46), 248. 35 Watchman Nee, “Chapter 52: The Christians and the State,” in Miscellaneous Records of the Guling Training, Vol. 2 (see Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Series 3, Vol. 60), 240. 178

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On the basis of this binary division between the spiritual and the worldly, since Christians are to imitate Christ and follow the example of all the saints, the same should be true in the matter of church-state relations: We should all follow in their footsteps, and refrain from political activities and from associating with politics so as not to be used for political gain. Our purpose on earth is for the heavenly kingdom of God.36 In the light of these ideas on church-state relations, the choice for Christians, when the direct authority and the representative authority come into conflict, is either to run away or, if that is not possible, to submit to the suffering of imprisonment and (even) death. It is clear that Watchman Nee was faced with a double conflict of authority in his later years. He exemplified and interpreted his own theological ideas from Scripture and tradition through his two decades in prison—the “submission” he referred to in his letters from prison was precisely this: in response to external power and persecution, he submitted to the totalitarian Maoist regime and its state apparatus, but he did not obey the regime and its state apparatus when it required him to do things contrary to the commandments, regulations, and laws promulgated by direct authority in the Bible. Watchman Nee thus lived in a state of severe, painful tension between submission and obedience. Outwardly, Watchman Nee seemed powerless to resist except by not renouncing his faith, and during his two decades in prison he could read only the works of Marxism-Leninism and Mao, which he had long been immersed in and knew so well that he was more proficient than the Chinese who worshipped Mao as a deity at the time. Watchman Nee could “recite by heart” all four volumes of the Selected Works of Mao Zedong that had been published at the time.37 Even at the end of his life, he asked his family in a letter to send him at the remote Anhui reform farm three of the most politically correct and popular Marxist-Leninist works in his family’s collection published during the Cultural Revolution (i.e., History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks), Dialectics of Nature and Anti-Dühring).38 But Watchman Nee’s non-resistance was precisely a Christian resistance. This non-resistance presupposes absolute and unconditional submission and obedience to the direct authority as 36 Nee, “Chapter 52: The Christians and the State,” 244. 37 Wu, Breaking the Shell, 116. 38 Wu, Breaking the Shell, 183. 179

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the source of creation, and by virtue of this life-giving water Watchman Nee offered his own resistance, that is obedience, while submitting to the representative authority. This obedience is neither a kind of blind loyalty to Mao and his regime, a confused abandonment of his own belief, nor an unprincipled muddle. It is obedience in the form of absolute submission to the unjust representative authority to manifest the glory of Christ and through it the work of sanctification in this world—joy in God and obedience to Him. In other words, Watchman Nee’s obedience was achieved through attitudinal non-resistance, and in this he followed the example of Christ. Such attitudinal non-resistance is weak and vulnerable in the face of brute force and power, but the bruised reed resists external destruction with its own pliability. Nee’s submission and obedience to totalitarianism therefore has two main meanings: first, it safeguarded his own faith and conscience in his innermost heart and actions; second, in his actions, he overcame the strong with the soft, the high with the low, pride with humility. Watchman Nee took on suffering and tears for the sake of his faith to reflect the glory of God and the darkness of sin in the world. The significance of Nee’s final days lies in the fact that he provided a double witness: a witness to Jesus Christ, and a witness to a sinful world that would be judged in the future by the sins of the innocent. In this way, Watchman Nee’s joy and submission was a true victory: over all darkness in the spirit and over all injustice in his actions. Nee’s poem “God, You Are Rearranging My Future,”39 written in his middle period, also reveals this theology of joy and submission. I God, you are rearranging my future, You are also tearing down my buildings, The days of faithful service are fewer and fewer, Misunderstandings are increasing and clarity is fading. My eyes are beaded with tears, I cannot see your face, As if your words are less true than before; You have made me less, so that you may add more; So that your will may be sweeter than before. 39 Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Three Christian Patriotic Movements ed., Poetry

(Bound Volume), (Nanjing: Nanjing Amity Printing, 2014; first edition 2009), 304–5. 180

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II I almost ask you to stop your hand, When I felt that I have no strength to suffer any longer; But you are God, how can you give way? Do not give way, but wait for my submission. III If your will and your joy Is for me to bear the yoke of pain, May my joy be in to suffer in submission to your will. IV As if the price of your joy Is that I should fall by your hindrance, So I welcome your hindrance So that I may make you joyful. V You give vehicles to other people to ride in, You have caused them to run over my head, You are depriving me of all that I have, Leave me your hand of deprivation.

Relational Theology, Prison Theology, and Nee’s Contemporary Significance Watchman Nee’s letters from prison belong to an art of writing under persecution. This kind of writing is often characterized by both the explicit and the implicit. By explicit, I mean that Watchman Nee mentions openly in his letters matters that can pass prison censorship. However, given the pressure and censorship imposed on him, Nee’s writing inevitably also concealed a great number of “hidden secrets” behind the text. This hidden writing is reflected in Watchman Nee’s relational theology in the letters. The central idea of the Trinity, whether economic or immanent, is that of relationship: that is, the three persons are expressed as a one-in-three and three-in-one relationship in both the immanence and the economy. 181

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Watchman Nee specifically outlines the God of the Bible as “a three-in-one God.”40 In prison, Watchman Nee was deprived of his spousal relationship, kinship relationships, and brother-sister relationships within the church. In this situation, the Triune relationship seems to have been isolated, if not annhiliated, by the politics of the far left. However, in the network of relations alluded to in Nee’s letters from prison we can see that the Triune relationship did not disappear but shone through Watchman Nee as a faint, warm candle in the darkness of terror. Relationships were evident not only in the direct expression of his conjugal love in the letters but also in his longing for his sister-in-law to come south to visit him in prison and send goods; in the willingness of his cellmate, not yet converted, to bring food from the canteen for Watchman Nee during his final days, and in the medical advice given by the farm doctor out of professional ethics. In the totalitarian Mao era, those who had any contact with counterrevolutionaries could suffer for it, or even be branded counter-revolutionary crimi­nals themselves. It was common for such political grounds to lead to the end of marriages and the severance of parent-child or sibling relationships. Watchman Nee became a virtual pariah in isolation. But not only is universal grace still present in the human conscience, but Christian spiritual relationships cannot be cut or blocked by external totalitarianism or geographical space. Nee’s wife, sister-in-law, niece Nee Huiyi, and nephew-in-law Ma Xingtao,41 all extended warm hands their help. This help was not just a gift in the normal sense of the word but putting their own lives on the line; it was an exchange of lives. If the above relationships were explicit, Nee’s references to “joy” and “submission” in his letters from prison indirectly expressed the fact that he himself had not the least bit of unsubmission in his faith, and that he was constantly thinking of his brothers and sisters in the Lord in spirit. Thus, behind the explicit relationships there was an important implicit relationship, that of spiritually inseparable brotherly and sisterly relations, and the fact that the human conscience was still alive and well among family and friends. Outside of prison, church brothers and sisters not only visited Watchman Nee’s wife, but also continued to pray for him and to seek his whereabouts.42 These implicit relationships brought great 40 Watchman Nee, “Question and Answer Box (2),” in The Christian, Vol. 5 (originally pub-

lished in The Christian, No. 3, c.f. The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Series 1, Vol. 7), 80.

41 Wu, Breaking the Shell, 189, n. 3. Watchman Nee’s niece, Nee Huiyi, was also known as “Nee

Youhui” and his nephew-in-law, Ma Xingtao, was formerly known as “Ma Xingdao.”

42 Angus I. Kinnear, Against the Tide, 63. 182

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comfort to Watchman Nee at the end of his life. In his final days, it was the operation and work of the Triune relationship in a sinful world that Watchman Nee leant on, as he lived in this Triune relationship, witnessed to it, and relied on it for his constant joy and submission. This was Nee’s weapon in the face of death and his shield in the face of totalitarianism. Watchman Nee’s letters from prison provide one of the darkest and most glorious examples of “Cultural Revolution” theology. The cramped cells, the guarded and hostile cellmates, the hard labor and the lack of nutritious food, and the constant deterioration of his health, all put an unbearable physical strain on Watchman Nee. The isolation from his family and the lack of social interaction forced Nee to live in a human desert. In addition, he was subjected daily to ideological and political education or brainwashing so that he continuously bore the weight of spiritual detention. What was glorious was that as a believer, Nee turned a condensed model of the sinful world into a blessed temporary dwelling. Through his words and acts, he kept his faith while at the same time turning it into a living testimony, so that prisoners and staff could see for themselves the glory of Jesus Christ as revealed through Watchman Nee. If darkness was an unbearable burden, then the glory of Jesus Christ revealed through Watchman Nee’s sufferings was the grace purchased through Jesus Christ. It was with such a heavy price of grace that Watchman Nee supported the finite weight of this life with the infinite weight of grace. Such a grace for Nee is the truth of the few words left by him on his deathbed, pressed under his pillow: Christ is the Son of God who died for the redemption of sinners and resurrected (sic) after three days. This is the greatest truth in the universe. I die because of my belief in Christ. Watchman Nee.43 Such glorious and precious grace gave Watchman Nee the perseverance in Jesus Christ that not only enabled him to shoulder the heavy burden of the cross and thereby continually renew his own life, but also to live this life renewed by the Triune God in the real, joyful, and submissive relational nature of the Triune God through the isolation of the human condition. This is the aspect of Watchman Nee’s thinking that shines most prominently in his later years, as he reflects the divinity of the Triune God through his belief 43 The authenticity of this material has long been disputed. Cited in Witness Lee, Watchman

Nee: A Seer of the Divine Revelation in the Present Age, 190; c.f. Wu, Breaking the Shell, 143. 183

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in the “greatest truth in the universe.” Watchman Nee’s Babylonian captivity reflects the light of God: the glory of God. This constitutes the final chapter and the ultimate goal of Watchman Nee’s sanctification. Watchman Nee lived in a period of relative freedom of faith in his middle period. He was able to work toward sanctification through preaching and writing as well as through his own daily life. Such a sanctified life, though also full of suffering and competition, is relatively easy to identify, and more evident. During the time of captivity, his sanctification may have been obscured and seemingly hidden from view, easy to overlook. Watchman Nee’s prison theology is a tragic exercise in the theological thinking of his middle period. The greatest problem with it is the strict dichotomy between the spiritual and the earthly that underlies his ideas on church-state relations. In Nee’s theology, Christian sanctification is based on the spiritual life, while matters and areas relating to politics, the state, and such are secular and need to be strictly distinguished, so that in the end Christians should not enter politics, become revolutionaries, or go to war.44 This resolute division brings Watchman Nee into the early church tradition of the Egyptian Desert Fathers. The problem is also obvious: the complete surrender of the whole of secular life to the secular. If the Trinity is a sovereign God, then such a cession is no doubt a total cession of the secular to Satan in the name of sanctification. So, while this exit strategy may preserve the godly life of an individual or a minority, this isolated sanctification from the world fundamentally ignores the idea of God’s sovereignty, and besides, sanctification not achieved in the world is always questionable—for Christians always work out sanctification in the tension between being-in-the-world and being-not-ofthe-world. The being-not-of-the-world-ness without in-the-world-ness may be very pious, but the sanctification without the trials and tribulations of the world may be untenable. Fortunately, Watchman Nee’s later years, with two decades in prison, went some way to revising his own theology: it is possible to be not of the world in two decades of being in the world. Although Watchman Nee might have wished to remove himself from this earthly situation, the fact that he had to be in the world made for an appropriate repair to Nee’s middle period thinking. 44 Watchman Nee, “Chapter 7: God Intends that Man Submit to the Representative Author-

ity,” in The Orthodoxy of the Church & Authority and Submission (see The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, Series 3, Vol. 47). 184

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In the era of reform and opening up after the Cultural Revolution, the possibility of entering prison through faith alone, as Watchman Nee did, seems to have disappeared. But, in fact, the possibility not only exists but may be presented in a different way: how can one be sanctified in the prison of the whole sinful world? Or, how can Christians imitate Christ in the midst of the modern world, which is one vast prison, and through faith resist this lavishly decorated and ostentatious prison? In terms of the dominant ideology of contemporary Chinese society, such a prison is not only atheism but also godlessness in the form of consumerism and hedonism, or else it is a theistic idolatry of money and the body. Watchman Nee and those alike in “the bread of adversity and the water of affliction” (Isa 30: 20), were still absolutely submissive to the direct author­ ity and the representative authority established by the direct authority, delighting in the Triune God and Christ in the midst of persecution, and expressing their own faith in the form of obedience. This is the prison theology of Watchman Nee and those like him. In the twenty-first century, it is clear that such a prison theology has not become obsolete or invalid. In a sense, in the light of the increasing worldliness of modern society, the significance of the cross of Jesus Christ, as expressed in this prison theology, is even more profound.45





45 Acknowledgment: in the course of writing this article, The Collected Works of Watchman Nee

was provided by the Taiwan Gospel Book Room. 185

Chapter 9

THE DOCTRINE OF THEOSIS IN THE CHINESE INDIGENOUS CHURCH A Case Study of the Local Church Yan Zheng, Malaysia Baptist Theological Seminary Introduction Theosis, also called divinization or deification—the participating in, and partaking of, God’s divinity1—was one of the most important early Christian doctrines. In recent years, a growing interest in the study of deification in Western churches has led indigenous Chinese churches and the Chinese theological community to pay attention to and reflect on this proposition. Although there have been writings on deification over the two thousand years of Christian history, outside of the Orthodox church, deification for the most part has been isolated theologoumena,2 and has not become core doctrine of a particular faith community. Only the Orthodox Church and the Local Church—founded in China in the 1920s—have taught the doctrine of deification as a common faith teaching and made it the goal of the individual lives of 1 Theosis/deification is the preferred theological term for what the New Testament describes as

“becoming partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4) and Eastern Orthodox theologians refer to as “becoming God.” Other related terms used in scholarly discourse include: transfiguration, perfection, sanctification, glorification, Christification, sophianization, ingoding, and Divinehumanity. See Michael J. Christensen and Jeffery A. Wittung, Partakers of the Divine Nature: The History and Development of Deification in the Christian Traditions. (Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Presses, 2007), 15, nt 2. Christensen and Wittung’s study traces the idea of deification at different periods in Christian history and discourses on “humanity becoming God” from the church fathers and Early Orthodox Church through to Luther, Calvin, and Wesley. 2 That is, theological opinions not authoritative doctrine. See Wittung, Partakers of the Divine Nature, 43.

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believers and the life of the Church.3 The Local Church was founded by Watchman Nee (Ni Tuosheng 倪柝聲, hereafter “Nee”4) in 1922 in Fuzhou, China. The Church emphasizes the practice of Christian living and church shepherding based on revelation and the teaching of the Bible. After a short century of development as a church of Chinese origin, the Local Church has taught and practiced deification as a core theological doctrine in different parts of the world, and its writings, testimonies, and influence have spread across six continents. Two questions have yet to be resolved: Does the Local Church’s teaching on deification have any relationship to the teaching of the Orthodox Church? What are the similarities and differences in their teaching and practice of deification? This article tries to answer these questions in the hope that future researchers will delve further into the different deification teachings and practices of the Orthodox Church and the Local Church.5 This paper first introduces two core concepts of theosis, then briefly outlines the key implications of Orthodox theosis, and finally concludes with an overview of the development of the Local Church and a discussion of the core doctrinal teachings of the Local Church on theosis.

Core Concepts of Deification: Likeness to God and Participation Norman Russell’s book, The Doctrine of Deification in the Greek Patristic Tradition, provides an overview of the development of the idea of deification in the Church from the second to the eighth centuries, and in doing so, constructs a systematic discourse on apotheosis. Russell argues that the basic idea of deification is that 3 The terms “the Local Church” and “Lord’s Recovery” both refer to the same Christian faith

community, also called the “Christian Assembly,” and frequently referred to as “Little Flock” in the West. 4 Watchman Nee (1903–1972) was arguably the most important and influential Christian in Chinese church history, and one of the few Chinese Christians who had a certain influence in the West. He started the Local Church in the 1920s, contributed to the church with his written ministry, and his representative work, The Normal Christian Life, has had a significant impact on many Christians. 5 I am grateful to Professor Zhang Baichun, who has long worked on Orthodox deification, for his generous guidance and assistance. Given its aim to introduce Local Church teachings, this paper is not strictly comparative and engages with the deification teachings of the Orthodox Church only in so far as they relate to the Local Church. 188

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humanity attains likeness to God (homoiosis) through methexis or “κοινωνία” (koinonia, participation) in God.6 “Likeness to God” and “participation” are two important concepts of the idea of deification. The word “participation” speaks of the approach and manner of deification, while “likeness to God” speaks of the result and goal of deification. In Julie Canlis’s study of participation in God in the writings of Calvin, she notes that “the early Greeks had a veritable cache of words to describe group-consciousness and the notion of community-of-being,” and while New Testament writers used both methexis and koinonia for participation, “Paul uses κοινωνία (never methexis) to express the large world of the relationship with Christ and the Spirit into which humanity is beckoned,” a term that “covers a wide range of theological loci, such as Christ’s sharing our humanity, our sharing his passion, glory, and ongoing eucharistic meal, and even the sharing of ourselves with one another by the Spirit.”7 “Likeness to God” is usually based on a set of biblical verses that express how humanity is made in the image of God (Gen 1:26), transformed into the same image as the Lord Spirit (2 Cor 3:18), marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13); and how when Christ is manifested, we will be like him (1 John 3:1, 2) and perfect as the heavenly Father (Matt 5:48). The term expresses the belief that humans are creatures in some sense called to become god, and that by repossessing the image of God and “appropriating the likeness of God” as far as possible, the believer brings about the glorious manifestation of God.8 Both the Orthodox Church and the Local Church point to the “likeness to God” of the believer as the end result of deification, but the latter emphasizes that deification, as the goal of God’s salvation, includes not only the personal perfection and sanctification of the believer, but also the corporate sanctification of the Church, as a community of faith (the sons of God, the bride of Christ). Furthermore, there is a significant difference in the approach and manner in which the two emphasize “participation” in God: The Orthodox Church emphasizes participation in God through participation in God’s energies, the Local Church emphasizes that believers are partakers of God’s life and God’s nature through experiencing the fullness 6 Norman Russell, The Doctrine of Deification in the Greek Patristic Tradition (Oxford: Oxford

University Press, 2004), 2.

7 Julie Canlis, Calvin’s Ladder: A Spiritual Theology of Ascent and Ascension. (Cambridge: Wm.

B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2010), 6, 5, 9.

8 See Christensen and Wittung, Partakers of the Divine Nature, 26–27.

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of God’s salvation. Different teachings have produced different practices of faith, but both limit the scope, content, virtue, and results of deification. Both emphasize, and both clearly define, that deification is not ontologically becoming God.

Orthodox Teaching and Practice of Deification

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The writings and teachings of the early Greek Fathers are permeated with rich ideas of deification. After the fourth century CE, only the Orthodox Church generally taught the doctrine of deification and made it the goal of the individual lives of believers and the life of the Church. Orthodox teaching holds that “the idea of deification must always be understood in the light of the distinction between God’s essence and His energies. Union with God means union with the divine energies, not the divine essence: the Orthodox Church, while speaking of deification and union, rejects all forms of pantheism.”9 The Orthodox scholar Andrew Louth has tried to show in a different way the place of theosis in the framework of Orthodox theology. In “The Place of Theosis in Orthodox Theology,”10 he quotes extensively from theologian Fr. Sergius Bulgakov to demonstrate that deification is related to God’s will for the creation of humanity, which is the main arc of the Bible. Deification belongs to a broader conception of the divine οἰκονομία:11 deification is the fulfillment of creation, not just the rectification of the Fall. One way of putting this is to think in terms of an arch stretching from creation to deification, representing what is and remains God’s intention: the creation of the cosmos that, through humankind, is destined to share in the divine life, to be deified. Progress along this arch has been frustrated by humankind, in Adam, failing to work with God’s purposes, leading to the Fall, which needs to be put right by redemption. There is, then, what one might think of as a lesser arch, leading from Fall to redemption, the purpose of which is to restore the function of the greater arch, from creation to deification.12 9 Timothy Ware (Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia), The Orthodox Church (London: Penguin,

1993), 232.

10 Andrew Louth, “The Place of Theosis in Orthodox Theology,” in eds. Christensen and Wit-

tung, Partakers of the Divine Nature, 43.

11 On Οἰκονομία, see note 51 below. 12 Louth, “The Place of Theosis in Orthodox Theology,” 34–35. 190

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The Local Church not only concurs with the idea that deification is the true fulfillment of creation, but goes even further and sees deification as the fulfillment of God’s selection and predestination (Eph 1:4, 5), as discussed below. Deification occurs by God’s plan and through the provision of grace from God, but it also requires the cooperation of humanity. Through an active response to God’s salvation, humans experience a change of life, deification, and are enabled to attain likeness to God. In this, too, the Orthodox Church and the Local Church teaching are alike. In Andrew Louth’s view, deification “witnesses to the human side of theosis in the transformation involved in responding to the encounter with God offered in Christ through the Holy Spirit—a real change that requires a serious ascetic commitment on our part.”13 Louth goes on to explain in detail that deification is seen as an effect of the Incarnation, as a human response to the Word coming among us, that entails “a transformation, a transfiguration, of human beings” which indicates “a real change: a change that is the result of coming to share in the Life of God. This change involves a kind of reconstitution of our humanity.”14 He believes that this change stems from God’s grace but requires people to submit to God sincerely and fully cooperate with God. Such an ascetic commitment is key to Orthodox theology.15

Union with the Divine Energies through Hesychasm In practice, how can believers unite with the divine energies? The Orthodox Church emphasizes the path of hesychasm, the spiritual inner stillness of the believer. Sergey Khoruzhiy, a Russian scholar who has studied Orthodox spiritual practices in depth, argues that hesychasm as a distinct anthropological practice is at the core of the Orthodox practice of deification.16 St. Paul writes “it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20); based on this “life in Christ” dimension, Khoruzhiy argues that the practice of deification involves behavioral and sacramental aspects.17 Maximus (580–662) 13 Louth, “The Place of Theosis in Orthodox Theology,” 43. 14 Louth, “The Place of Theosis in Orthodox Theology,” 36. 15 Louth, “The Place of Theosis in Orthodox Theology,” 37. 16 Sergey Khoruzhiy (霍魯日), trans. Zhang Baichun, “靜修主義人學” [Hesychasm Anthro-

pology], Shijie zhexue [World Philosophy] (2010, Vol. 2): 92–100.

17 Zhang Baichun, “Practice and Intuition in Orthodox Spirituality—Khoruzhiy’s Reconstruc-

tion of the Process of Hesychasm” Dongzhengjiao yanjiu 東正教研究 [Orthodox Studies] 191

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argued that the beginning of deification is already present in baptism; in the Orthodox Church, ordinary believers experience the practice of deification more through religious rituals such as the Eucharist, while asceticism, especially hesychasm, is a practice followed predominantly by monks, a minority of religious believers who have vowed to devote themselves completely to their faith.18 Khoruzhiy portrays the practice of hesychasm as a ladder that leads upward to a certain goal: union with God.19 Unlike ordinary human mental activity, which mostly involves moving on the same ontological level, the theosis practice of the hesychists is to ascend vertically from one rung to another on the ontological ladder. Union with God occurs through the action of the Holy Spirit in three stages: repentance, purification, and silence (perfection). The first stage, repentance, is related to the surrender of the will; after that, the main task of the intermediate stage is to create the motivation for practice (i.e., the union of prayer and attention) and the “invisible struggle” against the state of human consciousness represented by eight main desires, so that one is released from lust. When the struggle with desire is complete the practitioner enters a state of silence (hence the name hesychasm) and their consciousness changes to another way of being, the reality to which they are ascending. This is the end of hesychasm, union with God, that is deification. At this point the whole substance of a human changes to meet the energy of another way of being (the energy of God), as the two energies meet.20 Over a thousand years of development, the Orthodox Church has developed a set of rules, tools, and manuals for hesychasm, as well as theoretical exposition from Maximus to Palamas and beyond, that presented deification as a thoroughly Orthodox and definitive answer to the question of humanity’s vocation, as well as to the question of the purpose and end of hesychasm.21 It is no coincidence that deification is at the heart of the theological system of the Local Church, which Lee calls “the High Peak of divine revelation.”22 (1st series), edited by Shi Hengtan 石衡潭, Li Dongcai 李棟材, (Beijing: Minzu chubanshe, 2017), 72. 18 Zhang Baichun, “Practice and Intuition in Orthodox Spirituality,” 72. 19 Khoruzhiy, “Hesychasm Anthropology,” 93. 20 Sergey Khoruzhiy (霍魯日), trans. Zhang Baichun “拜占庭與俄國的靜修主義” [Byzantine and Russian Hesychasm] Shijie zhexue [World Philosophy] (2010, Vol. 2): 83–91. 21 Dongzhengjiao yanjiu, 86. 22 Witness Lee, “Living a Life According to the High Peak of God’s Revelation,” CWWL, 1994–1997, vol. 1. 192

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The Development of the Local Church and the Origin of its Ideology of Deification This section offers an overview of the development of the “Local Church,” from its beginnings in China in the 1920s to its expansion in the United States and beyond in the 1950s. Compared to the Orthodox Church, the Local Church has a brief history of development. In terms of its deification theology, this hundred-year history may be divided into three periods according to leadership changes: 1. Watchman Nee’s period (1922–1952),23 the preparatory period for the idea of deification. Nee did not use the word “deification,” but mostly used “sanctification” to express the idea of deification; however, his ministry already incorporated many important elements of the idea of deification. Nee’s discourse on the “sanctification” of believers was inherited almost completely by Lee. 2. The period of Witness Lee (1950–1997). Li Changshou, 李常受, hereafter “Lee”24 was Nee’s successor, and the idea of deification was established as Lee built a theological framework centered around deification. 3. The period of the collective leadership of the third generation of leaders (1997 to the present), a period of widespread expansion of the teaching and practice of deification, when co-workers nurtured by Lee have lead local churches around the world through collective leadership, deepening the deification teaching of Nee and Lee in the personal and ecclesial life of Christians. Watchman Nee’s ministry lasted only thirty years, beginning in 1922 and effectively ending in 1952 when he was imprisoned for his faith until his martyrdom; during this time Chinese society faced dramatic changes and years of war, and 23 The Local Church edited and published Nee’s writings as The Collected Works of Watchman

Nee (CWWN for short, 60 volumes), (Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1992).

24 Witness Lee (1905–1997) founded the publishing organization Living Stream Ministry

in the United States; he wrote extensively throughout his life and led the compilation of the Recovery Version Bible (RCV), its English version being the first English Bible whose translation was directed by a Chinese. Lee’s writings have been edited as The Collected Works of Witness Lee (CWWL for short, 138 volumes) (Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 2018), Life-Study of the Bible (63 volumes), and The Conclusion of the New Testament (8 volumes); most translated into multiple languages. See https://www.witnesslee.org/. 193

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Nee did not have the opportunity to complete the construction of a system of divine discourse. Watchman Nee had wholeheartedly committed his life to the service of the Lord after accepting Jesus as his Savior at the age of seventeen in 1920.25 In February 1928, Nee held his first conference in Shanghai (the “Overcomer Conference”); its central message spoke of God’s eternal plan and the victory of Christ. Nee’s ministry was clearly God-centered, Christ-centered (rather than human-centered) and oriented to God’s plan. This became the vision that governed and dominated all the ministries of the Local Church for nearly a century.26 As Elliot Miller notes, “What Nee lacked in formal training he made up for by voracious reading of as much Christian literature as he could get his hands on, and by hands-on experience in evangelism and church planting.”27 Through this experience Nee developed a reputation for insight into both contemporary Christian life and New Testament church life, on which he regularly published. Witness Lee of Yantai in Shandong Province was drawn to the Local Church vision through Nee’s writings. Lee, who was raised Southern Baptist and had accepted Christ as Savior in 1925, invited Nee to speak at a church he had planted in 1933, and subsequently moved to Shanghai in order to coordinate his ministry more fully with Nee’s.28 Over the following years Nee wrote several books and held regular conferences and training events for church workers. Nee, Lee, and others planted churches up and down China and in Southeast Asia, numbering at least six hundred by the time of the Communist Revolution in 1949.29 “A truly indigenous Chinese movement that came to be known 25 This overview draws on a study of the Local Church by Elliot Miller, editor-in-chief of Chris-

tian Research Journal, who has observed and studied the church over four decades, see “We Were Wrong—A Reassessment of the “Local Church” Movement of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee,” Christian Research Journal, Special Edition, Vol. 32 No. 6 (2009). In recent years, more researchers have paid more attention to the deification teaching and faith practice in the Local Church. A six-year research project in the early 2000s under the Christian Research Institute, “A Reassessment of the ‘Local Church’ Movement,” led by Hank Hanegraaff, Gretchen Passantino and Elliot Miller, concluded that the Local Church is a genuine expression of authentic New Testament Christianity, and, as a group forged in the cauldron of persecution, has much to offer to Western Christianity, see Christian Research Journal, Special Edition, Vol. 32, No. 6 (2009), 4, 51. 26 Witness Lee, The Governing and Controlling Vision in the Bible. (Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1998), 17–18. 27 “We Were Wrong,” 10. 28 “We Were Wrong,” 10. 29 “We Were Wrong,” 10. 194

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by outsiders as the ‘Little Flock’ (because they sang from a Plymouth Brethren hymnal called Hymns for the Little Flock), they emphasized an experiential knowledge of Christ, the consecrated life, and the recovery of the New Testament pattern for the Local Church.”30 To help ensure that the movement, and the New Testament truths they had “recovered,” would survive, in 1949, Witness Lee accepted Watchman Nee’s vision and arrangement to establish local churches overseas to deepen the blueprint for church building. In Taiwan, this movement grew to sixty-five churches with twenty thousand participating “saints” (the Local Church’s preferred term for believers) by 1955, when Lee assumed the mantle of leadership.31 Witness Lee confessed that he was helped and perfected by Nee in many ways over the next eighteen years, including the unveiling and implementation of the vision and the building of the church according to the blueprint of the “revelation on the mountain.” In particular, Lee established a normative approach for the interpretation of the Bible and the teaching of biblical truth with “God’s plan” as its central course.32 Lee saw his own ministry as responding to a call to spread the “recovery” in the United States,33 from where it has since spread to six continents, where there are now over 3,000 local churches overseas (not including those in Mainland China). The publication of the New Testament Recovery Version (RCV) in 1986, translated and annotated under Lee’s leadership, was a landmark event in which the theological thinking of the Local Church was rigorously standardized and expressed in footnote commentary on relevant passages.34 30 “We Were Wrong,” 10. As Miller notes, “Many of the movement’s ideas, such as the plurality

of elders as the collective “pastor” of the Local Church, the abolition of the clergy-laity distinction, and worship centered on the Lord’s Table, were derived from the Exclusive (Plymouth) Brethren, to which both Nee and Lee had ample exposure,” 10. 31 See “The Lord’s Recovery of Experiencing Christ and Practicing the Church Life in Oneness, History, “The Present Recovery—One City, One Church (A.D. 1937–Present),” https:// tinyurl.com/bde4n29x. Accessed 10 Oct 2022. 32 Witness Lee, The Governing and Controlling Vision in the Bible (Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1998), 17–18. 33 “We Were Wrong,” 11. 34 Most of the writings of the Local Church are organized and compiled on the basis of sermons and messages, and these are frequently colloquial materials. However, the footnotes in the Recovery Version Bible (RCV) are rigorous and concise, so that the theological thought of the Local Church can be clearly, concisely, and comprehensively expressed in the commentaries on the relevant scriptures. Therefore, when citing documents in this article with similar or identical content, priority is given to citing the footnotes of the Recovery Version Bible (RCV). 195

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Lee himself developed a number of Nee’s teachings, including the mingling of God and humans, Christ as life-giving Spirit, and the church as New Jerusalem, alongside some of the devotional practices for which the Local Church has become best known, such as “pray-reading” and calling on the Lord’s name.35 These were presented as new revelations, not in the sense of a new truth that goes beyond the Bible, but rather in the sense of a biblical truth that had been lost sight of but that the Spirit has uncovered and the church has recovered.36 In the early 1990s, Lee began to cite and discuss the deification idea of the early church father Athanasius in On the Incarnation: in Lee’s version, “God has become man in order to make man God,” regarding this as “the diamond in the box” of the Bible.37 Lee taught that “God became man so that man may become God in His life and nature, but not in His Godhead.”38 In this passage he further explains that we are “baby gods,” and that with God’s life and nature we are “partially like him” but that when Christ returns we will be “wholly and entirely” like him.39 “God became man” indicates that the origin of deification is God, that God initiated it. “In life and nature” defines the dependence (the life and nature of God) and the scope of humanity’s becoming God; it also reveals that the application of salvation is a long journey. “Not in the Godhead” sets a clear boundary that leaves no room for deliberate misinterpretation of the truth by humans. This precise statement is intended to define clearly the scope and boundaries of the truth of deification, eliminate unnecessary misunderstandings, and prevent heretical ideas from distorting the truth of deification. Lee took the notion that God makes us like him as the main arch of Local Church doctrinal teaching and faith practice; before passing away in 1997 he established a systematic expression of the Local Church’s teaching on deification and incorporated many previous theological discourses into the framework of this teaching. Some of the coworkers that Lee trained have since collectively led the 35 See The Present Recovery—One City, One Church (A.D. 1937–Present), 19, http://www.

lordsrecovery.org/history/iv.html, cited in “We Were Wrong,” 10. The Local Church is careful in defining the term “mingle” as not speaking of a change in the nature of God or human. See “ ‘Mingling’—Was There Ever a Better Word?” in Affirmation and Critique 3 ( July 1996), 31, 62. 36 “We Were Wrong,” 10. For a thorough explanation of their beliefs regarding the restoration of biblical truths and the movement’s role in Protestant history, see the History section of the website, The Lord’s Recovery of Experiencing Christ and Practicing the Church Life, http://www.lordsrecovery.org/history/index.html. 37 Lee, Life-Study of First and Second Samuel, 204. 38 Lee, The Christian Life (Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1994), 133. 39 Lee, Life-Study of First and Second Samuel, 167. 196

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Local Church to teach and practice the doctrine of deification, in different language regions across six continents. Ron Kangas, one of the third generation of the Local Church leaders, has affirmed in updated language that “believers in Christ can and will become God without ceasing to be human and without encroaching upon the Godhead.”40 Kangas reiterates and clarifies the nature of deification, we become God in the sense of being born of God through regeneration and then being saturated and permeated with God until we are wholly sanctified, transformed, and conformed to the image of Christ, the firstborn Son of God. This process of deification, of becoming God, neither effaces our humanity nor alters our status as creatures. We shall remain creatures and humans forever. Furthermore, deification certainly does not mean that we shall be exalted to become part of the Godhead or that we shall share God’s incommunicable attributes. After we have been deified in full, we shall not be able to create out of nothing, and we shall never be omnipotent, omniscient, or omnipresent. Likewise, we shall not advance to the point of self-existence, a condition unique to God.41 Kangas goes on to clarify that humans shall remain eternally dependent on God and will never be worshipped; they do not become God by nature but by grace, and are only ever God in God, not in themselves. This can be seen as a clear statement of the current doctrine of deification in the Local Church. Miller’s definitive study of the Local Church doctrine of deification concludes by addressing the nature of that union, as “becoming one with God in His communicable attributes (e.g., moral nature) and intimately ‘mingled’ with Him through His indwelling, a oneness that “involves a closer union with God than most Protestants are taught to anticipate, but not one that violates the biblical distinctions between Creator and creation.”42

The Origin and Genealogy of the Idea of Deification of the Local Church From the current literature, there is no clear evidence from either Nee’s or Lee’s readings, teachings, and writings that their theological thought was influenced by the Orthodox Church (and Lee explicitly claims not to have been influenced 40 Ron Kangas, “Becoming God,” 16. 41 Ron Kangas, “Becoming God,” 16. 42 “We Were Wrong,” 30–31. 197

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by any teaching on deification but to have drawn inspiration from study of the Bible43). Where, then, did the idea of deification of the Local Church come from? Alexander Chow’s Theosis, Sino-Christian Theology and the Second Chinese Enlightenment attempts a comparative analysis of the ideas of Chinese theologians Watchman Nee, Zhao Zichen, and Ding Guangxun with reference to the Orthodox doctrine of theosis, pointing out that theosis is not only a central element of the Orthodox Church but also a common theme of Chinese Christianity. Chow argues that Nee’s doctrine of salvation coincides with the Orthodox tradition and that both believe that sanctification is not a work of divine grace alone, nor a work of humans alone but a collaboration between God and human. Chow affirms that Watchman Nee’s doctrine of sanctification has no connection to the Orthodox Church in terms of origin and transmission, and he speculates that the influence of Watchman Nee’s doctrine of sanctification may be related to the traditional Chinese philosophy of the unity of heaven and humanity, but admits that he cannot find evidence for this.44 Elliot Miller, who has thoroughly examined the lives and writings of Nee and Lee, discounts East Asian influences, arguing that “it is important to note that neither Lee nor Nee came from a Buddhist background. The mystical leanings in their writings are not traceable to Eastern religions, as has been alleged, but to Western Christian inner life teachers45 such as Jessie Penn-Lewis, Andrew Murray, and Madame Guyon.”46 This reminder is important, and it speaks to the genealogy of the origin and transmission of the idea of the deification of the Local Church. In an early study of sanctification in Nee’s theology, Robert Kingston Wetmore points to the central role of the spirit in Nee and the importance placed on “the instantaneous re-creation of the human spirit by the indwelling Holy Spirit at regeneration,” a work grounded in the death and resurrection of Christ’s death” where “The Holy Spirit’s presence so characterizes the human spirit that the two cannot functionally be distinguished. The goal of sanctification is to return the spirit to its role of governing the soul and body, which will enable the 43 Lee, Life-Study of First and Second Samuel, 167. 44 Alexander Chow, Theosis, Sino-Christian Theology and the Second Chinese Enlightenment:

Heaven and Humanity in Unity (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), 52, 53.

45 These influences included the c17 Henry Scougal’s The Life of God in the Soul of Man; the

China missionary Ruth Paxson’s Life on the Highest Plane; Mary E. McDonough’s 1922 book God’s Plan of Redemption; and T. Austin-Sparks, What Is Man? (1939). Cf. “We Were Wrong,” 31 note 11. 46 “We Were Wrong,” 10. 198

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Christian to walk in God’s will.”47 In trying to ascertain the source of Nee’s theological thought, Wetmore concurs with Miller, pointing to Nee’s college years and an “eclectic brand of Christianity which combined the mystical writings of Madame Guyon with Keswick-type writings on sanctification and doctrinal discussions of Plymouth Brethren authors.”48 Wetmore highlights the fact that Nee referred to Austin-Sparks as his “spiritual father” and drew on his anthropology and Christology, and on J. N. Darby’s belief in dying and rising with Christ, “experientially actualized through the Holy Spirit, the down payment of the new age.”49 Wetmore’s research corroborates Miller’s analysis on the genealogy of the origin and transmission of the idea of deification in the Local Church.

Core Teachings and Practice of the Idea of Deification in the Local Church God’s Economy, God’s Dispensation, Stewardship, and Deification Like the Orthodox Church, Lee’s deification teaching is based on an interpretation of God’s eternal purpose. From the 1980s onward, Lee gradually used “God’s economy” (οἰκονομία θεου) as the main term around which to construct his theological program.50 The Greek originally meant “the household law of God,” and Paul uses the term in passages such as Ephesians 1:10, 3:2, 9, and 1 Timothy 1:4. Lee translated οἰκονομία as “economy”51 (in Chinese, jinglun 經綸, with the meaning of strategy, planning, and operation planning). Lee pointed 47 Robert Kingston Wetmore, “An Analysis of Watchman Nee’s Doctrine of Dying and Ris-

ing with Christ as it Relates to Sanctification,” (MDiv Thesis, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1982), 37. 48 Wetmore, “An Analysis of Watchman Nee’s Doctrine of Dying and Rising with Christ.” Wetmore lists four authors of especial importance: Guyon, Penn-Lewis, Austin-Sparks, and J. N. Darby. 49 Wetmore, “An Analysis of Watchman Nee’s Doctrine of Dying and Rising with Christ.” 50 Zhao Shaojie, “The Loss and Restoration of God’s Complete Salvation,” Affirmation & Critique (in Chinese) (Vol. 6, Issue 1): 36. 51 “Economy” as a theological term usually relates to the economic Trinity, and the interrelation of the three persons of God; Lee also uses it in this way. But God’s economy is a central term that appears with great frequency in Lee’s theological expressions and those of the Local Church, referring specifically to God’s plan, including God’s will and all the arrangements and administration to fulfill that will. 199

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out that οἰκονομία, “means household law, implying distribution (the base of this word is of the same origin as that for pasture in John 10:9, implying a distribution of the pasture to the flock). It denotes a household management, a household administration, a household government, and, derivatively, a dispensation, a plan, or an economy for administration (distribution); hence, it is also a household economy.”52 Lee believes that God’s economy was planned in eternity past, and that its content is “to dispense Himself in Christ into His chosen people that He may have a house to express Himself, which house is the church (1 Tim 3:15), the Body of Christ.”53 God’s dispensation (a theological term commonly used by Lee in the 1980s) is the outflow of God. The incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the outflow of God to reach and enter into his redeemed people. In the view of the Local Church, the reason for preaching the Holy Trinity as the essential Trinity and economic Trinity is not for the sake of theological argument but for God’s ability to dispense himself to humanity so that humanity may experience deification by partaking of the life of God and the nature of God. In order to better carry out God’s dispensation, the ministry of stewardship is needed, which is also connoted by God’s economy. The οἰκονομία of Ephesians 3:2 is translated as “stewardship” in various versions of the Bible. Lee notes that “in relation to God, this word (οἰκονομία) denotes God’s economy, God’s administration; in relation to the apostles, it denotes the stewardship (stewardship is used also in 1 Cor 9:17). The stewardship of the grace is for the dispensing of the grace of God to His chosen people for the producing and building up of the church. Out of this stewardship comes the ministry of the apostle, who is a steward in God’s house, ministering Christ as God’s grace to God’s household.”54 Lee follows Paul’s example, using God’s economy as a controlling and governing vision for all of his teaching and ministry. In his view, the apostle’s ministry was “centered on this economy of God (Col 1:25; 1 Cor 9:17),”55 and not only did Paul himself not contradict this vision from heaven, he also instructed Timothy not to tolerate teaching that was different from or unrelated to God’s economy. In the footnote to 1 Timothy 1:4, Lee states, “the different teachings of the dissenting ones were used by God’s enemy to distract His people from this economy. In the administration and shepherding of a local church, 52 Recovery Version Bible (RCV) 1 Timothy 1:4, Note 3. 53 Recovery Version Bible (RCV) 1 Timothy 1:4, Note 3. 54 Recovery Version Bible (RCV), Ephesians 3:2, Note 2. 55 Recovery Version Bible (RCV), 1 Timothy 1:4, Note 3. 200

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this divine economy must be made fully clear to the saints.”56 Lee thus places deification in the context of God’s economy, interprets deification in relation to God’s purpose, and uses it as a nucleus to connect the core truths of the Bible, constructing a systematic theology of the Local Church based on the economy of God and deification. This is an elevation and enhancement of that traditional Western theology that focuses on salvation or the covenant of God.

God’s Salvation, Sonship, and Deification In the 1990s, Lee’s late ministry in particular addressed God’s salvation from a deification perspective. Drawing on his reading of Romans, Lee points to complete salvation comprising two aspects, the judicial and the organic, with the judicial based in God’s righteousness to satisfy the requirements of God’s own law, enabling sinners to be forgiven, washed (Heb 1:3), justified (Rom 3:24–25) and reconciled so that God’s salvation fully conforms to the requirements of God’s righteous law (Rom 9:31).57 As Lee describes, “The judicial aspect is according to the righteousness of God to accomplish God’s redemption, the organic aspect is through the life of God to carry out God’s salvation, including regeneration, sanctification, renewing, transformation, conformation, and glorification. This is the purpose of God’s salvation to accomplish all that God wants to achieve in the believers in His economy through His divine life.”58 In Lee’s view, the believer’s experience of God’s organic salvation is the experience of the whole being (spirit, soul, and body) being sanctified (1 Thess 5:23).59 In line with Nee, Lee holds a trichotomous view of humanity, emphasizing the distinction between the human spirit and the soul. This is not for the sake of theological reasoning but to point out the process of the believer’s experience of God’s organic salvation within God’s plan, and to reveal the path and steps to the believer’s experience of deification.

The Initial Stage of God’s Salvation: Regeneration Lee concludes that the full salvation of the Triune God is divided into three stages, an initial stage, a progressing stage, and a completing stage.

56 Recovery Version Bible (RCV), 1 Timothy 1:4, Note 3. 57 Witness Lee, “The Organic Aspect of God’s Salvation,” CWWL, 1994–1997, vol. 3, 381. 58 Witness Lee, “The Organic Aspect of God’s Salvation,” 381. 59 Recovery Version Bible (RCV) 1 Thessalonians 5:23, Note 4, 6. 201

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The initial stage, the stage of regeneration, which is composed of redemption, sanctification (positional—1 Pet 1:2; 1 Cor 6:11), justification, reconciliation, and regeneration. In this stage God justified us through the redemption of Christ (Rom 3:24–26) and regenerated us in our spirit with His life by His Spirit ( John 3:3–6). Thus we received God’s eternal salvation (Heb 5:9) and His eternal life ( John 3:15) and became His children ( John 1:12–13), who shall not perish forever ( John 10:28–29). This initial salvation has saved us from God’s condemnation and from eternal perdition ( John 3:18, 16).60 The key item in the first phase of salvation is regeneration, which occurs in the spirit of the believer. Lee explains that: “Regeneration is accomplished in the human spirit by the Holy Spirit of God with God’s life, the uncreated eternal life. Thus, to be regenerated is to have the divine, eternal life (in addition to the human, natural life) as the new source and new element of a new person.”61 Regeneration, which entails partaking in the life of God, becoming a child of God, and receiving the name of the Son of God, is the beginning of deification. Why do those who are justified by God still need regeneration, and what does it mean for the believer, for God and God’s economy, and even for the enemy of God, Satan? What does regeneration have to do with deification? The Local Church comprehension and articulation of this takes a novel form. Ron Kangas, in his article “Creation, Satanification, Regeneration, Deification” places regeneration in the grand context of God’s divine purpose, beginning with Creation in Genesis and proceeding in the face of satanic attack on human nature: “Before God’s purpose in creation can be realized through regeneration and deification, there must be a nullification of satanification. This took place through the death of Christ on the cross as the One who, fulfilling the type of the bronze serpent ( John 3:14), came in the likeness of the flesh of sin and was made sin on our behalf (Rom 8:3; 2 Cor 5:21) so that sin might be condemned and the devil might be destroyed (Heb 2:14).” Now that this has been achieved, “God can dispense Himself into His chosen and redeemed people as their Life for their regeneration and deification, leading to a glorious consummation—the New Jerusalem, the fulfillment of God’s will.”62 60 Recovery Version Bible (RCV) 1 Peter 1:5, Note 5. 61 Recovery Version Bible (RCV) John 3:6, Note 2. 62 Ron Kangas, “Creation, Satanification, Regeneration, Deification—Part 3: Regeneration for

Deification, Regeneration as Deification,” Affirmation & Critique 7, no. 2 (October 2002). 202

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Regeneration is thus the beginning of deification, and deification is the true fulfillment of God’s purpose in creation in Local Church theology. Andrew Louth decribes the consequences for evangelical Protestant theology of the lack of a vision of deification: “The loss of the notion of deification leads to lack of awareness of the greater arch from creation to deification, and thereby to concentration on the lower arch, from Fall to redemption; it is, I think, not unfair to suggest that such a concentration on the lesser arch at the expense of the greater arch has been characteristic of much Western theology. The consequences are evident: a loss of the sense of the cosmic dimension of theology, a tendency to see the created order as little more than a background for the great drama of redemption, with the result that the Incarnation is seen simply as a means of redemption, the putting right of the Fall of Adam.”63 Regeneration is not only related to the new person, but also to the Sonship (υἱοθεσία) of God;64 it is not only a response to creation but also to the predestination of God. In explaining that God predestined us to be sons (Eph 1:5), Lee claims that “God’s marking us out beforehand was to destine us unto sonship. We were predestinated to be sons of God even before we were created. Hence, as God’s creatures we need to be regenerated by Him that we may participate in His Life to be His sons . . . that our whole being, including our body (Rom 8:23), may be “sonized” by God.”65 “Sonized” is another distinctive theological term of the Local Church; being “sonized” is a part of deification, whereby the believer receives (partakes of ) the life of God through regeneration, grows day by day in the divine life, is transformed, and is finally conformed to the glorious image of Jesus Christ, partakes of the divine life and sonship in full, and is perfected like the Father, becoming God in the divine life. The Local Church biblical scholar Wang Shengtai points out that the Greek word υἱοθεσία means legally made a son, which most Bible scholars translate as “adoption as sons” (the Local Church’s Recovery Bible translates it as “sonship”). Many Christians, because of this translation, think that we are only

63 Andrew Louth, “The Place of Theosis in Orthodox Theology,” in Christensen and Wittung,

Partakers of the Divine Nature 35.

64 Ed. note: the gendered language here is that of the Recovery Version Bible. 65 Recovery Version Bible (RCV) Ephesians 1:5, Note 2. 203

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“legally adopted sons of God” and do not have the life of God.66 Vine’s Expository Dictionary points out in its explanation of the word υἱοθεσία that adoption is a wrong translation and gives a wrong understanding. God does not “adopt” believers as children; they are begotten by the Spirit of God through faith.67

The Progressing Stage of God’s Salvation: Sanctification, Renewing, Transformation Being born again gives us the life of God in an instant, but this new life needs to grow up, which happens throughout the daily life of a Christian. This growth in life is the believer’s deeper experience of God’s salvation in a new phase. Lee formulates this stage of “progressing” as one of being freed from the dominion of sin, being sanctified by discipline, transformed by the indwelling Holy Spirit, built together into a spiritual home and maturing into God’s life.68 The most important burden Lee received from the Lord was to help believers and churches effectively progress through the growth stages of salvation and experience change in life. Much of his teaching, writing, and ministry has been related to the growth of believers’ lives. Lee encouraged believers to take God’s word and the Holy Spirit as resources for nourishment and laboring in wisdom. He labeled the series of works interpreting the Bible Life-Study of the Bible (63 volumes) and encouraged the saints to approach the Bible with the right mindset: not to gain knowledge and reasoning, but to gain life and life more abundantly (c.f. John 5:39, 40; 10:10). The footnotes to the Recovery Bible, edited by Lee, stress “the revelation of the truth, the spiritual light, and the supply of life more than history, geography, and persons,”69 a reflection of Lee’s entire ministry and the pursuit of the daily life of believers in the Local Church. Through the century of seeking, searching, and practicing, the Local Church has accumulated much experience in the matter of growing up in life and its exercises and practices cover the life cycle of a Christian, from early childhood to old age. 66 Wang Shengtai, “Man Becoming God—Heresy or Orthodoxy?,” Affirmation & Critique

(2020, Vol. 6, No.1, in Chinese): 107.

67 Vine’s Expository Dictionary (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1997), s.v. “Adoption.” Cited from

Shengtai Wang, “Man Becoming God”—Heresy or Orthodoxy?,” Affirmation & Critique (2020, Vol. 6, No. 1, in Chinese), 107. Vine uses the word begotten, which refers to a birth with a vital relationship, and it is this birth that comes first before sonship, see p. 108. 68 Cf. Recovery Version Bible (RCV) 1 Peter 1:5, Note 5. 69 Recovery Version Bible (RCV), Introduction. 204

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The Completing Stage of God’s Salvation: Conformation, Glorification Based on the revelation in Romans 8, Lee elaborates on the “Completing” stage as one of glorification. Here the body is redeemed and transformed, the believer is conformed to Christ, inherits the kingdom and participates in Christ’s kingship. This stage is “the topmost portion of His blessing ( Jas 2:5; Gal 5:21)” where believers reign as co-kings with Christ and share in divine government, a stage of the full salvation of the soul and the endpoint of grace—and the end result of deification.70 The three stages of God’s salvation correspond to the three stages of the development of the sonship of God. Lee explains these three stages of the development with three words from Romans 8 that correlate with the three stages of the operation of God’s salvation in humanity: “children” (v. 16) in the first stage of sonship, the stage of regeneration; “sons” in the stage of transformation of the soul (v. 16), when regenerated believers are growing in divinity and walking by the spirit; and “heirs” (v.17, 23) who are bodily transfigured and mature, in the stage of glorification, when they are “qualified as the legal heirs to claim the divine inheritance (vv. 17, 23).”71 These three stages of life development and the progression of God’s salvation correspond to the three parts of the human, spirit, soul, and body, as revealed in 1 Thessalonians 5:23. The Local Church holds a tripartite view of humanity not for the sake of theological argument, but for the sake of the saints’ full experience of God’s complete salvation and their growth in divine life, with ultimate fulfillment in being sonized and sonship. So far, Lee has combined the six elements of God’s organic salvation with the three parts of humanity, stating the progress of salvation in three stages: salvation of the spirit—regeneration, which has already occurred; salvation of the soul— sanctification (in nature), renewing (in mind and logic), and transformation (in behavior); and salvation of the body—conformation and glorification. Looking at soteriology and anthropology in terms of the dynamic process of deification breaks through the shortcomings of a traditional Western theological, objective, rational soteriology and transcends the limitations of a static structural analysis of anthropology. This allows the believer to mature through daily practice, to experience the fullness of God’s salvation and to experience deification from the 70 Recovery Version Bible (RCV) 1 Peter 1:5, Note 5. 71 Recovery Version Bible (RCV) Romans 8:14, Note 3. 205

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inside out; and to avoid falling into the argument between the Calvinist extreme objectivism and the Arminian extreme subjectivism of salvation.

Chosen to Be Partakers of God’s Holy Nature and to Be Sanctified: That Is, to Become God in Nature In Lee’s view, Ephesians 1 is an important text holding not only a macrorevelation of deification from God’s economy, but also a specific interpretation of the approach of deification. Lee interprets Ephesians 1:4 and 5 to mean that deification includes both sanctification (partaking of God’s nature) and being sonized (partaking of God’s life). In explaining that God chose us to be holy and without blemish in love (Eph1:4), Lee expands on holiness as the very nature of God, “He makes us holy by imparting Himself, the Holy One, into our being, that our whole being may be permeated and saturated with His holy nature.”72 Being permeated with God makes our being holy in God’s nature and character, just like God Godself (likeness to God), a process commonly described in theology as sanctification. The sanctification of the believer is “in love”; love is the motivation, condition, and atmosphere in which the believer experiences sanctification. Lee explains that “[l]ove here refers to the love with which God loves His chosen ones and His chosen ones love Him”—it is the reception of divine love that inspires us to love in return, and saturation in love that saturates with God.73 Lee encourages believers to experience the love of the Lord through prayer in all things in daily life and by surrendering their sovereignty. Lee’s commitment to integrating the truths revealed in the Bible with the daily life of believers so that biblical truths are widely applied in their lives is core to his teaching. In comparison to Nee, Lee paid more attention to the widespread practice of sanctification in the faith community. He saw in Scripture the practice of “calling on the name of the Lord,” as practiced by saints throughout the ages and a common practice in the early church.74 Since the threshold for this was low and even illiterate believers could establish a deep personal relationship with the Lord, Lee encouraged the saints to practice calling on the name of the Lord in their daily lives at all times, in and all places, as a practical outworking of the biblical demand to pray unceasingly and give thanks always. Lee taught believers that “[t]o breathe Him in as our breath and drink Him as our living water, we need 72 Recovery Version Bible (RCV) Ephesians 1:4, Note 3. 73 Recovery Version Bible (RCV) Ephesians 1:4, Note 7. 74 Recovery Version Bible (RCV) Acts 2:21, Note 1. 206

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to call on Him,” and that this breathing in, drinking in, and calling on God was “real worship.”75 By such exercises believers in the local churches are encouraged to experience sanctification and partake of the divine nature. Like Nee, Lee regarded the Word of God as an important resource for believers to experience sanctification. Nee saw meditating on the Word of God as the main method for believers to experience sanctification through spirituality, as evidenced by the titles of some of his writings, such as Meditations on Genesis and Meditations on Revelation. Meditating on God’s word is a good spiritual practice, but a challenge for less knowledgeable saints (who comprise a large percentage of the churches in underdeveloped Asian countries) and difficult to practice. In order for saints with lower education levels to enjoy the word of God, experience the washing of the water of God and experience sanctification, Lee encouraged believers to receive God’s word through various prayers and to use the word of the Bible as our prayer to God, based on Ephesians 6:17.76 He called this practice pray-reading. Pray-reading is chewing on God’s word in the spirit and absorbing more of the riches of God’s word. The essence of its practice is to start with a verse, reread it over and over again, word by word, and to turn it into a prayer and apply it to oneself, which gives the reader a living and organic link with God’s word, and to travel back in time and space, as if to the scene of the Bible and listen to what God was saying at that time. Like “calling on the name of the Lord,” the practice of pray-reading is highly accessible. Even new believers, those who cannot read or write much, and the elderly, can participate in spiritual exercises through pray-reading, which can be done individually or in small groups, and has become a widespread practice beyond the Local Church.The reason why the Local Church spares no effort to encourage all the saints to practice sanctification exercises such as “calling on the name of the Lord” and “pray-reading” is related to their understanding of the fulfilment of God’s purpose. In Lee’s view, there are not many individual spiritual giants, but a church is built by all the saints in love, holiness, and without blemish, to accomplish God’s purpose.77 Sanctification, for Lee, is a dynamic process that takes place throughout a Christian’s life, experienced through this daily practice of responding to God’s love. 75 Recovery Version Bible (RCV) Acts 2:21, Note 3. 76 Witness Lee, Life-Study of Ephesians, 817. 77 “Without blemish” connotes “without any mixture, without any element other than God’s

holy nature,” and the church “after being thoroughly washed by the water in the word, will be sanctified in such a way (Eph 5:26–27).”Recovery Version Bible (RCV) Ephesians 1:4, Note 4. 207

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Thus the deification of the Local Church does not stop at doctrinal teaching but also pushes the believers to practice it. The Orthodox hesychasm is practiced by only a small percentage of seekers, while for the generality of believers, the Orthodox Church emphasizes the experience of deification through feasts, sacraments, and relics,78 while the Local Church emphasizes experiencing the “washing of the water of the word” through the Word of God, through “calling on the name of the Lord,” “pray-reading,” and “speaking the word of the Lord,” which can be universally practiced by all people, so experiencing sanctification universally and corporately.

Summary: The Potential Contribution of the Local Church’s Deification Teaching and Practice to the Christian World This paper has presented an account of the rise and development of the Local Church over a century, from the Far East to the United States and from there to the world, using the Orthodox Church as a comparative reference. The origins, core doctrines, and universal practices of the Local Church’s deification ideology have influenced the Christian world today in at least three ways: 1. As a systematic theological construct centered on God’s economy and deification. Lee situates anthropology, soteriology, and eschatology in the broad context of God’s economy; he uses deification as an end-oriented and intrinsically relevant creed to link different areas of Christian theology; and he constructs a systematic theology of the Local Church with deification and God’s economy as its mainstay. The effort of the Local Church to make the idea of deification its core theological doctrine, and the interpretation of humanity’s creation, fall and God’s salvation based on the main arch of deification, is by no means heretical as some have claimed; on the contrary, it has a long history and is once again beginning to be revitalized and energized today. It can form an important “reordering,” 78 Baichun Zhang, “東正教靈修傳統系列講座第一講: 東正教靈修傳統的歷史與文獻

[Lecture 1 of the Orthodox Hesychasm Series: The History and Literature of the Orthodox Hesychasm Tradition]”, uploaded by BEA貴重的器皿 [Video]. YouTube. https://tinyurl. com/27txuj7s. (10 Oct 2022). 208

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a good complement and adjustment of the doctrines of anthropology and soteriology familiar to Western Christian evangelicals.79 2. As an encouragement and guide to believers to practice Christian life and church life with the goal of deification, and to bring about the personal spiritual revival of believers and revival of the church. The Local Church encourages all believers to experience the washing of the water of the word and sanctification through musing upon the Word, pray-reading of the Lord’s Word, and the practice of prophesying (speaking the word of God) by all. This common practice renews the values and the way of life of believers from the inside out, effectively countering the encroachment of secularization and becoming a good testimony to the secular world. As Hank Hanegraaff observes, the Local Church “has much to offer Western Christianity. In this respect three things immediately come to mind. First is their practice of prophesying—not in the sense of foretelling the future but in the 1 Corinthians 14 sense of exhorting, edifying, encouraging, educating, equipping, and explicating Scripture. As such, constituents are corporately involved in worship through the Word. Second is their practice of pray-reading as a meaningful link between the intake of Scripture and efficacious communion with God in prayer. And third is their fervent commitment to the Great Commission (Matt 28:19).”80 3. The study of deification brings about the reconciliation of churches of different denominational backgrounds and the building up of the body of Christ in love and in oneness. The study, teaching, and practice of the idea of deification brings us to the depths of the heart of God, naturally diluting our denominational backgrounds and motivating us to take up the cross of Christ, to destroy the divisions and hatred between different denominations of the Christian community (Eph 2:14–16) and to be built up together in Christ, in love (Eph 4:16). In the mid-1970s, the study of Martin Luther and his “deification” by the Finnish School (the Helsinki Circle) inspired a new direction in Western theological studies. A group of scholars, led by Tuomo Mannermaa, dealt more actively with the Lutheran understanding of “mystical union” and theosis. The group held that theosis is not a foreign Eastern Orthodox concept but one of 79 James R. Payton Jr., “Keeping the End in View,” Christianity Today 52, no. 10 (2008): 66–68. 80 Christian Research Journal, Special Edition 32, no. 6 (2009): 51. Hank Hanegraaff is president

and board chair of the Christian Research Institute. 209

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Luther’s expressions of salvation.81 The studies of the Finnish School have led to a focus on theosis, the core doctrine of Eastern Orthodoxy, in the Western theological world, and to a fervent dialogue with Orthodox theology, with the result that theosis has seen a revival in the Western theological world and has contributed to the reconciliation with Eastern Orthodoxy.82 This suggests that a fruitful dialogue with Local Church theology is not just possible but a timely proposition.



81 Shengtai Wang, “Man Becoming God”—Heresy or Orthodoxy?,” 99. 82 Shengtai Wang, “Man Becoming God”—Heresy or Orthodoxy?,” 99. 210

Part III

Inspiring the Church: Moral Fortitude and Spiritual Revival

Chapter 10

A DISCIPLE OF CHRIST AND A PUPIL OF CONFUCIUS The Influence of Wang Mingdao’s Moral Thought on his Theology Zhao Pan, Wuhan University Introduction A well-known Chinese church leader and representative of Chinese fundamentalists, Wang Mingdao played an important role in the history of Chinese Protestantism. His greatest moment of fame came from his resistance in the 1950s to the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM),1 a religious movement supported by the Chinese government. Wang is usually regarded as a representative of those who suffered political persecution, yet rather than a religious leader with political ambitions, Wang was a fundamentalist warrior fighting against liberal theologians. What is less well known, is that his moral thought played a significant role in his conflict with others. Morality was one of the primary concerns in Wang’s life and theology.2 As he noted when looking back on his life, “I wrote millions of words. The main theme of my articles and all the sermons I preached ‘placed an emphasis on morality.’ ”3 Previous studies have paid attention 1 The “three-self ” (i.e., self-governance, self-support, and self-propagation) was first suggested

by Henry Venn and Rufus Anderson for establishing Chinese indigenous churches. 2 Here moral thought, morality, or ethics translates daode 道德. “Dao” refers to the path or way,

truth or doctrine, and “de” refers to virtue or excellence. The “moral thought” I discuss in this chapter refers to a person’s zeal for righteousness, holiness, and excellence, as the outcome of regeneration and sanctification of the Holy Spirit. 3 Wang Mingdao and Ying Fuk-tsang 邢福增, Wang Mingdao de zui hou zibai 王明道的最後 自白 [Last Confession of Wang Mingdao] (Hongkong: Logos Publishers, 2013), 263.

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to Wang’s moral thought; however, the significance of this theme, especially its influence on Wang’s theology and his resistance in the 1950s, has yet to be examined.4 In this chapter, I argue that Wang’s moral thought played an essential role in his life experience, his biblicism, and his attitude toward liberals, and explore the relationship between his moral thought and Confucianism. 4 Thomas Alan Harvey traces Wang’s life experience and focused on the political conflict be-

tween Wang’s “pietistic” religious position and political ideology in his Acquainted with Grief: Wang Mingdao’s Stand for the Persecuted Church in China (Ada: Brazos Press, 2002). Harvey pays attention to the role of morality or ethics in Wang’s thought, and points out that Wang desired to establish “a peculiar people whose faith and discipline had practical social consequences” in order to “embody and witness the Daode of Christ” (37), but did not regard Wang’s moral thought as a critical factor in his conflict against modernists in the 1950s. Lam Wing-hung (林榮洪)’s Wang Mingdao yu zhongguo jiaohui王明道與中國教會 [Wong Ming-tao and The Chinese Church] (Hong Kong: China Graduate School of Theology, 1982) presents a comprehensive study of Wang’s theology, concluding that its main theme was “regeneration.” Lian Xi’s Redeemed by Fire: The Rise of Popular Christianity in Modern China (New Haven, CN: Yale University Press, 2010) focuses on Wang’s life experience but also indicates the important role of morality in Wang’s thinking; Lian points out that Wang’s message “dealt with sin, repentance, Hell, and Heaven, and, in a reflection of his obsession with the perceived moral disorder that surrounded him, was filled with detailed mundane advice . . .” (117). In “Reading the Sermon on the Mount in China: A Hermeneutical Enquiry into its History of Reception” (in Reading Christian Scriptures in China, ed. Chloë Starr, London: T&T Clark, 2008), John Y. H. Yieh examined how Wu Leichuan, Wang Mingdao, and Ding Guangxun interpreted the Sermon on the Mount, including Wang’s view of the Bible and his hermeneutical approach; Yieh suggests that Wang’s sermons aimed at cultivating spiritual virtues. In “Fundamentalism and Modern Culture in Republican China: The Popular Language of Wang Mingdao” (PhD diss., University of Iowa, 2003), Richard. R. Cook examined the impact of popular language in the May Fourth and nationalist movements on Wang’s preaching and ministry, and noted that Wang “found in fundamentalism a form of Christianity that echoed traditional Chinese emphasis on orthodoxy and personal piety. . . . Wang confidently advocated the importance of sound doctrine to produce correct moral action [and] pointed in a direction that could re-establish ethical society” (4–5). Cook also surveyed Wang’s conflict with modernists and TSPM from the perspective of the church-state relationship, but omits Wang’s obsession with moral integrity, a critical factor in his non-cooperation. Alexander Chow borrows a typology from Justo L. González as a framework to investigate Chinese Christian theology, and regards Wang Mingdao as representative of type A, a law-oriented theology emphasizing the centrality of sin. I agree with Chow’s typology and statement that Wang’s emphasis on divine law and human sin “borrows heavily from pietism and dispensational traditions,” (see Alexander Chow, Theosis, Sino-Christian Theology and the Second Chinese Enlightenment (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, 36)); however, we can see the rich theological diversity within type A. Watchman Nee’s spiritual theology, for instance, differs notably from Wang’s teachings focusing on regeneration and virtue. Wang’s theology was not just shaped by Western pietism and dispensational traditions, but his Confucian sense of virtue. 214

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Wang’s Early Experience Wang was born into a Christian family in 1900. His father, who worked for the Methodist Hospital, committed suicide during the Boxer Rebellion shortly before Wang was born. Wang grew up in a chaotic environment, where, to alleviate poverty, his mother rented part of their house to “disreputable” people. Growing up in such circumstances, Wang learned from an early age to hate lies, immorality, and hypocrisy. As Lian Xi suggests, “Wang’s later obsessive admonition in his sermons against moral disorders ranging from spitting, flirting, and chewing on raw garlic to brawling and fornication may have had roots in such childhood memories.”5 Wang was educated at Cui Wen Primary School and High School in Beijing, operated by the London Missionary Society, and converted to Christianity when he was fourteen. In his autobiography, Wang wrote that he was taught traditional Confucian classics as well as given a Christian education. He had read thoroughly the “Four Books” selected by Zhu Xi as representing the core tenets of Confucianism, and identified with Confucian ethics, which is focused on personal moral development, and for which the goal was cultivation of the self as a “junzi,” the ideal Confucian person. After Wang’s conversion, he was determined to be honest, and pursue a life of virtue. “I began to hate all kinds of sins and evil and admire a righteous life,” he wrote.6 Because of his integrity and rebuke of other students’ errors, he was mockingly referred to as “Dr. Morality” and “Pharisee” by his classmates.7 After graduation, Wang began teaching in a middle school supported by the London Missionary Society, and would have been sponsored to study abroad on the basis of his excellent academic performance. However, Wang sacrificed the opportunity, and his life was changed over the question of baptism. Wang had been baptized by the sprinkling of holy water at the London Missionary Church when he was fourteen, but now, after reading the Bible by himself, he realized that this form of baptism was not biblical. He also recalled having lied at his first baptism: when he was baptized, the pastor read the Apostles’ Creed and asked him whether he believed it, yet, as he confesses “we did not know the meaning of the words that he read at all, since he never taught us that.”8 Wang could 5 Lian Xi, Redeemed by Fire, 113. 6 Wang Mingdao, Wushi nian lai 五十年來 [These Fifty Years] (Hongkong: Bellman House

Publishers, 2005), 15.

7 Harvey, Acquainted with Grief, 16. 8 Wang, Wushi nian lai, 50. 215

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not bear the guilt of dishonesty and of violating biblical teaching, and the moral flaw made the first baptism even more unbearable. After an intense struggle, he decided to be baptized again, even though the principal of the school threatened to dismiss him if he went through with it. Wang was baptized by immersion by a Pentecostal pastor in a river in Baoding, a city not far from Beiping (Beijing) in December 1920, having been expelled by the school. The event was a critical turning point in Wang’s life. It reflected his view of the Bible, the teachings of which he insisted should be followed literally. He regarded Church tradition without biblical roots as human heritage—at best useless, and at worst, lies. Wang’s Christian moral standard is evident in his not being able to tolerate his “lies” at his first baptism and the sense that to be an honest person, he had to correct this, even if it meant losing a promising career. During a long period of unemployment, Wang spent much time reading the Bible. Eventually in 1925 he was introduced to many church leaders and believers by a respectable elderly lady, Mrs. Pan (Zheng Suying),9 and this launched his ministry as an independent minister.

[128.104.46.206] Project MUSE (2024-04-07 01:48 GMT) UW-Madison Libraries

Wang’s Biblicism and Moralism The North American dispute between fundamentalism and liberalism spread to China in the early decades of the twentieth century, and caused a schism within the Church.10 Fundamentalists insisted on traditional evangelical doctrines, influenced by the Evangelical movement of the nineteenth century, characterized by “conversionism, activism, Biblicism, and crucicentrism.”11 Liberals in China were as likely to suggest that the essence of Christianity lay in Jesus’s character (ren ge 人格). Wang was an adamant fundamentalist, which he defined as someone who “accepted the fundamental dogmas and the content of the Bible, which was inspired by God,” and who “believed that Jesus was born of the Virgin, performed many miracles and signs when he was in the world, was crucified on Mount Calvary to accomplish the redemption of humankind, and raised from 9 See Wang, Wushi nian lai, 85. 10 In The Fundamentalist Movement among Protestant Missionaries in China 1920–1937 (Uni-

versity Press of America, 2003), Kevin Xiyi Yao details the activities of fundamentalist missionaries in China, focusing on the conflict and schism between fundamentalists and the liberal missionaries. 11 David Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to the 1980s (London: Routledge, 2005), 5–17. 216

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the dead on the third day.”12 He accused liberals of being “unbelievers” (bu xin pai 不信派) since they took a less uncompromising approach to traditional doctrines. For him, a person’s view on the Bible was the touchstone to distinguish true believers from “unbelievers.” Wang’s biblical view could be characterized as “Biblicism,” and was similar to the views of other fundamentalists in the Republican era who insisted on the supreme authority, inerrancy, and coherence of the Bible. Wang’s defence of the authority of the Bible was centered on his moral judgment, which distinguished him from other fundamentalist apologists in China. In his book, Why I Believe the Bible was Given through the Inspiration of God,13 he presented eight reasons to prove the credibility of the Bible, four of which were related to moral concerns. First, Wang pointed out that only a divine author could create the great moral laws recorded in the Old Testament. As he wrote, “There are many good laws in China and other countries, ancient and modern, but I have never heard any law full of love that can compare with Moses’ law.”14 Wang praised the author of the biblical law: “We can see how noble the law’s author is and how much he hates all hypocrisy, injustice, adultery and rebellion.”15 The moral values of the laws indicate for Wang that God is the true author of the Bible. Second, only a divine author could expose the evil and sins in Israelite history as recorded in the Bible. As Wang wrote, people usually hid the moral faults of their forefathers. However, Scripture records the many scandals and wrongdoings of the Israelite people: “It is no surprise that the Israelite ancestors are flawed; what is amazing is that the Israelite authors who wrote the Bible recorded all the evildoings of their ancestors without any concealment.”16 As he commented: “People frequently tend to publicize the strengths of their country and conceal its defects and its people’s evil; this is human nature, though dishonest. The biblical authors wrote about the corruption of their country and exposed the evils of their compatriots, sternly and ruthlessly blaming these evil 12 Wang, Mingdao, Women shi wei le xinyang 我們是為了信仰 [We, Because of Faith] (Hong

Kong: Morning Dew Inc., 1994), 288.

13 Wang Mingdao, Wo weishenme xin shengjing shi shen suo moshi de 我為什麼信聖經是神所

默示的 [Why I Believe the Bible was Given by Inspiration of God] Lingshi jikan 靈食季刊 [The Spiritual Food Quarterly], 1933, 20. 14 Wang, Wo weishenme xin shengjing, 20. 15 Wang, Wo weishenme xin shengjing, 28. 16 Wang, Wo weishenme xin shengjing, 80. 217

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people. What a wonder it is!”17 Wang admired the honest and forthright authors who recorded history faithfully, and was convinced that there must have been a divine author behind them. “Since the Bible is inspired by God, the authors . . . must write down the facts. The purpose of God’s inspiration of the Bible is to instruct people with all the important teachings rather than honor any human beings.”18 Historians who served emperors yet had the courage to record the truth of history honestly and bluntly were respected in Chinese culture. As a moralist who admired the virtue of honesty, Wang was impressed by the authors of Israelite history and convinced that they could not write in this way without the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Third, for Wang, the personal character and virtue of the biblical authors guaranteed the credibility of the Bible. He argued that people usually lie for benefits and honors, whereas the biblical authors were prosecuted, attacked, and slandered for writing. “Is there anyone who is willing to abandon money, honor, career, property, and even life just to deceive others? Is there anyone who always loves others, does good deeds, and sacrifices themself to help others, and also fabricates lies to deceive others?”19 Wang perceived the authors of the Scripture to be pious believers who would not lie—and so should be trusted. The superior ethical teachings of Scripture for Wang confirmed the moral excellence of its authors. Although Wang’s argument was circular, it reflected his emphasis on personal morals. Fourth, the Bible’s moral impact verified its authority. Wang suggested that the Bible was the truth because it had tremendous spiritual force to change people’s moral behavior. The Bible’s spiritual impact was indicated by the testimonies of many repentant sinners who became upstanding and honest after their conversion and reading of the Bible. In one article, Wang argued for the credibility of the creation account in Genesis by quoting Jesus’s words in the Gospels to refute evolutionism. Jesus’s statement “at the beginning the Creator made them male and female” (Matt 19:4) was for Wang evidence of God’s creation. He continued his argument from a moral perspective, asserting that “Lord Jesus, as the most noble man, would never lie, and his own words have testified that the early chapters of the Bible are valid. Why do some people claim to be worshipers of Jesus and yet deny the 17 Wang, Wo weishenme xin shengjing, 86. 18 Wang, Wo weishenme xin shengjing, 89. 19 Wang, Wo weishenme xin shengjing, 108. 218

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things Jesus has verified? . . . If the narratives in the Book of Genesis were fake, Jesus would be a person who gave false testimony.” He then mocked liberals who “worshipped a man who gave false testimony yet also claimed his character and behavior were noble,”20 and further argued that the quotations from Genesis in the apostles’ letters were also proof of the authenticity of divine creation. From the above, we can see that Wang’s biblicism was centered on moral concerns. For Wang, the credibility of the Bible is based on its ethical teachings and the personal character of its authors. This standpoint of Wang’s differed from the views of other fundamentalist leaders, such as Jia Yuming or Watchman Nee.

Moral Teachings Throughout his life Wang Mingdao insisted that, as the Word of God, biblical teachings can and should be applied to all aspects of believers’ lives. Since God had inspired God’s word, the Christian life was simple and clear for Wang: believers should always follow biblical teachings and behave honestly and uprightly. For him, biblical teachings are binary: there is either righteousness or evil, obedience or rebellion, honesty or deceit; there are no issues that cannot be resolved by the Bible in such terms. Truth is the principle of our faith, and it is the only principle. Anything conforming to the word of God is right and something that we can believe, speak, and follow; anything against the Word of God is wrong and something that we should not believe, speak, and follow. With this clarified, simple, steady, and reliable standard, it is very easy and safe to be a good person. No matter how hard an issue we encounter is to resolve, or how difficult a situation is to cope with, we can consult and compare it with the word of God, then we will know what is reasonable and what is unreasonable. We do not need to struggle and wrestle too much.21 For Wang, however, the Church had distorted biblical teachings, making mistakes and generating chaos throughout church history. He argued: “For thousands of years, secular churches discarded and distorted the truth in the Bible, introducing traditions and idolatrous teachings. What believers accepted was 20 Wang, Mingdao, “Chuangshiji qian ji zhang de jizai kexin ma?” 創世紀前幾章的記載可信

嗎？ [Is the Record of Genesis credible?], Spiritual Food Quarterly 9 (1929): 66.

21 Wang, Women shi weile xinyang, 13.

219

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no longer the pure truth of the Bible but hybrid teachings added and edited by human hands.”22 Since all traditions without biblical roots were lies and to be discarded, “we should make our faith and our lives conform completely to the Bible, without adding or deleting any information.”23 This uncompromising attitude was reflected in his rebaptism and his practical work in the church. Wang opposed, for instance, Christmas, which he regarded as the heritage of Roman pagans. He also objected to pastors wearing special clothes when they were preaching and believers wearing crucifix pendants, which he regarded as symbols of the Roman Catholic Church. We cannot examine Wang’s moral thought without considering his thinking on regeneration, and it is worth clarifying that the moral behavior Wang valued was the outcome of spiritual regeneration given by God—rather than any moral self-cultivation, a key difference in emphasis with liberals. Being reborn of God was the foremost experience for Christians, but must be manifested through moral behavior and Christian virtue. Without morality, how can a person prove their true faith? Wang’s moral concerns did not mean that he was only a religious moralist, neglecting faith and spiritual life. He wrote “I warned believers over and over again that they should demonstrate God, honor God, and witness to Christ by their holy lives and integrity. Some people criticized me for emphasizing behavior rather than faith and grace, but they are wrong; I stress faith and grace so I emphasize behavior.”24 As Wing-hung Lam concluded, “Wang emphasized the work of God when he discussed regeneration while he stressed human responsibility when he talked about sanctification.”25 Wang’s moral thought was influenced by premillennialism, which regarded the secular world as a sinking ship full of sin and evil that could never be saved by human hands. As a man with high moral standards, Wang was particularly sensitive to social injustice and evil. He asserted that true believers should separate themselves from the secular world, since “This adulterous and wicked world is under the control of Satan; Christians belong to Christ, who never compromises regarding Satan, so they should never capitulate to the ways of world.”26 22 Wang, Mingdao, “Jiaohui de yiyi” 教會的意義 [The Meaning of the Church], Spiritual Food

Quarterly 58 (1941): 40.

23 Wang, Wushi nian lai, 135. 24 Wang, Wushi nian lai, 136. 25 Lam Wing-hung, Wang Mingdao yu zhongguo jiaohui, 186. 26 Wang, Mingdao, “Shuqi nimen de jigu lai [豎起你們的脊骨來 Have some backbone!],”

Spiritual Food Quarterly 12 (1929): 67. 220

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The many articles Wang wrote on moral teaching show how ethics undergirded all aspects of his faith. He wrote that when he first started his ministry, he was devoted to learning biblical knowledge in the belief that understanding and interpreting the entire Bible would be the basis of his ministry—but “when I started my ministry, I saw the actual needs of folks and the situation of the church.”27 Biblical knowledge was insufficient, as he came to understand: “I realize what folks need most is not biblical knowledge; they need to generate a belief from God’s Word by which to lead a holy, pious, and Christ-like life.”28 Biblical knowledge was valuable in so much as it was applicable and produced moral behavior. The “piety” he suggested was moral behavior in interpersonal relationships rather than individual religious enthusiasm. Without morality and virtue, a believer’s devotion to “praying wholeheartedly, reading the Bible diligently and bustling around evangelizing” was meaningless.29 In his personal life, Wang held himself to a high standard and frequently recorded his sins in his diary. He wrote: “When I was in school, I often fell into sin because of improper speech and a dirty mind; these two weaknesses still cause my failure every day,”30 and recalled “I got up at 6 o’clock and read Funny Stories for forty minutes in the restroom, how corrupt I am.”31 Wang’s moral teaching was a core theme of his articles in Spiritual Food Quarterly, the journal he edited for over thirty years. The titles of articles in the magazine on biblical figures illustrate their pedagogical aims: “Drawing a lesson from Demas,” “Drawing a lesson from Judas Iscariot,” “Drawing a lesson from Jeroboam,” “Drawing a lesson from Elisha.” Biblical genres without a clear relation to moral teachings or doctrines, such as prophecy and revelation, were seldom interpreted in Wang’s articles, which followed a set pattern. First, he retold the story in simple terms and raised questions; then he commented on the moral failure or virtues of these biblical figures; and finally, he applied the story to the readers’ situation, summarizing the moral teachings from which believers could learn. The Christian Tabernacle, an independent church founded by Wang, prioritized believers’ personal character. Wang did not accept new members into the 27 Wang, Wushi nian lai, 91. 28 Wang, Wushi nian lai, 141. 29 Wang, Wushi nian lai, 91. 30 Wang, Mingdao, Wang mingdao riji xuan ji 王明道日記選輯 [Selections from Wang’s Dia-

ries] (Hong Kong: Spiritual Rock Publishers, 1997), 268.

31 Wang, Mingdao, Wang mingdao riji xuan ji, 238. 221

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church lightly, stating: “until we know a person has a true experience of repentance, confession, and salvation, we do not baptize him. We do not emphasize asking questions during baptism; we only focus on the experience of repentance, confession, and regeneration, experiences manifest in their lives.”32 Anyone who wanted to join Wang’s church had to undergo an investigation that could take as long as two or three years. His church usually did not accept believers from other churches and he asserted that “recruiting three ‘true saints with faith’ was better than accepting three hundred thousand ‘members without spiritual lives.’ ”33 His church had no choir: as Wang wrote, “we do not allow impious people to sing in front of God and praise him. These people cannot praise God and they are unworthy of praising God, and God is not pleased with their singing.” Furthermore, he explained that if they recruited musically talented people into the choir, they would have to “relax restrictions and could not stress a candidate’s belief and behavior.”34 Many of Wang’s articles concerned believers’ interpersonal relationships. He objected to believers befriending unbelievers and exhorted church members “never befriend someone who claims to be Christian but has a bad personal character or who is contaminated with filth.”35 In “Christian Common Sense,” Wang made many suggestions on social etiquette, some, but not all, of which related to the Christian life. “Do not ask a woman’s age,”36 he advised, and “do not throw stones or scare the animals in the zoo.”37 Wang was convinced that appropriate manners were important to Christians. This series of articles was written in the 1930s when Chiang Kai-shek ( Jiang Jieshi) inaugurated the New Life Movement. As Baiyu Andrew Song has noted: “Wang might not have had Chiang’s New Life Movement in mind; nevertheless, Wang’s guidelines were similar to ones offered by the New Life Movement, for both Wang and the NLM sought to teach fellow Chinese men and women to live virtuous lives.”38 It is noteworthy that Wang gave this particular book to John Sung (Song Shangjie, the famous 32 Wang, Wushi nian lai, 135. 33 Wang, Wushi nian lai, 136. 34 Wang, Wushi nian lai, 139. 35 Wang Mingdao, “Guanyu jiao pengyou de ji ju hua 關於交朋友的幾句話 [Some Words on

Making Friends],” Spiritual Food 25 (1933): 30–31.

36 Wang Mingdao, “Jidutu de chushi changshi” 基督徒的處世常識 [Common Sense of

Christians], Spiritual Food Quarterly 21(1932): 68.

37 Wang Mingdao, “Jidutu de chushi changshi, 58.” 38 Baiyu Andrew Song, “Christ Against Culture? A Re-evaluation of Wang Mingdao’s Popular

Theology,” Journal of Global Christianity 3.1 (2017): 63. 222

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evangelist who apparently lacked appropriate social skills) and exhorted him, “you must promise me you will read it seriously.”39 The ethical situation in churches more generally troubled Wang, especially given the range of standpoints on the authority of the Bible and on morality. Not everyone was able to meet Wang’s moral requirements, and not every church approved of his moral judgments. Social disorder and believers’ moral decay disappointed him. What was worse, in his view, was when liberals who denied the authority of the Bible became pastors and held high positions in the Church, advocating a liberal theology that Wang regarded as heretical. Moreover, instead of addressing these liberals, many conservative Church leaders had kept silent and even cooperated with them. Given this, Wang viewed himself as an Old Testament–style prophet, performing a mission from God to rebuke the fallacies and sins of the liberals.

Fighting Liberal Theology As a fundamentalist, Wang fought strongly against liberal theology, and his reputation to a great extent was based on his conflict with liberals in positions of authority in the Church. His position also embroiled him in a major political storm in the 1950s, which has been the subject of several studies. Thomas Harvey has suggested three interpretive approaches to explaining the denunciation, arrest, and imprisonment of Wang and his relationship with the TSPM. The first is that of China Inland Mission missioner Leslie Lyall, who described Wang as a symbol of courageous resistance to the communist government. As Harvey rightly points out, viewing Wang as an anti-communist was “Lyall’s own creation.” The second view is that of David Paton, an Anglican missionary in China with Church Missionary Society, who was convinced that Wang hindered the progress of political revolution in China. Seeking a balance between Lyall’s view and the pro-Communist position of Paton, Francis P. Jones, a missionary in Fujian and later theological educator at Nanjing seminary, saw the conflict as an echo of the age-old conflict between official state churches and sects, and suggested a third way “above the prepositional politics dividing ecumenical Protestantism.” Jones held that both sides acted in good faith, and that “church” and “Sect” could 39 Wang Mingdao, “Song Shangjie xiansheng qushi le” 宋尚節先生去世了[Mr John Sung has

Passed Away],” Spiritual Food 71 (1944): 22. 223

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be defined only in terms of modern political arrangements. As Harvey points out, Jones’s view also meant that “like a chameleon endlessly changing hue to avoid predators, the task of the church was simply to survive in whatever institutional framework suited it at the time.”40 Harvey’s comments on these three approaches offer a helpful framework but do not address Wang’s moral thought, its close relation to his dispute with the liberals, and its role in his choices in the 1950s. Wang frequently asserted that “modernists”41 who denied the supreme authority of the Bible were not true Christians. For Wang, believing in the Bible was all-or-nothing; in other words, people were either true believers who accepted the biblical record literally or unbelievers who regarded it with suspicion. Wang argued that the statement of Y. T. Wu (Wu Yaozong), based in higher biblical criticism, that the Bible, as a guideline of faith and life not an inerrant science and history textbook could not be without mistakes and could not be interpreted literally, was ridiculous;42 he also regarded T. C. Chao (Zhao Zichen)’s Life of Jesus as a typical work of modernism.43 Regardless of the theological differences among liberals,44 they were all called “unbelievers” (bu xin pai) by Wang. He was convinced that the liberals “distorted all the biblical truths which should have been understood by faith, and fabricated arguments replacing the true meaning of the Bible instead of admitting their disbelief,”45 and opposed calling liberal theology “a new theology” since “the truth of God is the oldest. . . . The world is changing, and people are changing gradually but the truth of God will never change.” For Wang, liberal theology was false teaching rather than “new teaching.”46 From a moral perspective, Wang stated that liberals, who did not hold biblical beliefs but “pretended” to be Christians and became church leaders, were 40 Harvey, Acquainted with Grief, 114–15. 41 In his works, Wang used the term “modernists” rather than “liberals.” 42 Wang, Women shi wei le xin yang, 292–94. 43 Wang, Women shi wei le xin yang, 302. 44 Chinese liberal theology comprised a spectrum of views in the Republican era. For example,

Wu Leichuan, a radical liberal theologian, denied Jesus’s divinity and viewed him as a secular revolutionist. Y. T. Wu underwent a transformation from pacifist into Christian communist. T. C. Chao’s views changed considerably after the Sino-Japanese War under the impact of Neo-Orthodoxy. 45 Wang, Women shi wei le xin yang, 193. 46 Wang, Mingdao, “Nimen xinchieryi yao dao jishi ne 你們心持兩億要到幾時呢 [How Long will You still be Double-Minded],” Spiritual Food 10 (1929): 8. 224

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dishonest. He asserted that he respected people of other religious faiths because they did not deceive others, but liberals “do not believe and yet pretend to be Christians . . . they are deceiving people, damaging believers, and betraying Christ.”47 “All of their life and behavior violates the truth of Christ, but shamelessly they declare that they worship Christ.”48 Furthermore, Wang was convinced that the “Social Gospel” originated from liberals’ disbelief and arrogance. The Social Gospel movement emerged at the end of the nineteenth century, calling for Christians to seek social justice and be involved in social reform rather than merely focusing on individual religious life. Since it met the needs of a Chinese society in turmoil after the fall of the empire, the Social Gospel was welcomed by many Chinese Christian intellectuals, most of whom embraced a more liberal theology and, as church leaders, sought a pathway to a modern country. They proposed “saving the country through Jesus’ character” (renge jiuguo), rather than by his divinity and miracles, and criticized conservatives who believed in superstition and a self-centered personal gospel. As Wu Yaozong proclaimed, “We are convinced that in modern China Christianity has its own mission, which is, in the spirit of Christ’s pacifism, to unite comrades, to reform society in order to liberate people and realize the Kingdom of Heaven.”49 Based on his premillennial ideas and literal biblical interpretation, Wang denounced the social gospel as a ridiculous theory. In his article “Can Human Beings Build the Kingdom of Heaven?” Wang, who was pessimistic toward secular morality, argued that the Bible never taught people to “build” the Kingdom of Heaven; only God could create the Kingdom of Heaven. “The Kingdom of Heaven is a holy, righteous and everlasting kingdom while human beings are dirty, wicked and perishable, and can never create the Kingdom of Heaven.”50 Wang insisted that the Bible taught believers to separate themselves from secular society rather than attempt to reform it. Wang further criticized liberals by characterizing them as the false prophets, prophesied against in the Bible, who would mislead believers. “The false 47 Wang, Women shi weile xinyang, 146. 48 Wang, Mingdao, “Chongbai jidu de ren jiushi zheyang ma? 崇拜基督的人就是這樣嗎

[Are these the people worshiping Christ],” Spiritual Food Quarterly 12 (1929): 70.

49 Wu, Yaozong, “Zhongguo jidujiao wang nali qu 中國基督教往哪裡去 [The Future of Chi-

nese Christianity],” Xing hua 50 (1932): 8.

50 Wang, Mingdao, “Ren neng jianshe tianguo ma” 人能建設天國嗎 [Can Human Beings

Build a Kingdom of Heaven],” Spiritual Food 17 (1931): 44. 225

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prophets, mixing in the church and pretending to be the servants of God, are wolves. . . . These false prophets’ teachings and deeds do not conform to the truth; they have taken advantage of many people, and the truth was concealed because of them. The apostle has indicated to us how to treat these imposters: ‘do not take them into your house or welcome them. Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work.’ ”51 Referring to 2 Corinthians 6:14, Wang promoted a separatism for true believers, who should not only deny liberals’ teachings but also be strictly separated from them. Wang wrote that “God forbids His people to serve Him as well as to worship Baal, and God also forbids His children to follow His truth as well as to accept the unbelievers’ teachings. There is no middle ground between right and wrong, righteousness and evil, truth and lies, belief and disbelief.”52 He challenged his audience to choose between God and Baal, and explained that the biblical teaching that believers should love one another was only to be applied to true believers rather than false prophets. Wang reproved other conservative Church leaders for their tolerance of liberal theology and evil within the Church. Since God has commanded his people to beware of “false prophets” and not to be yoked with them, Wang was disappointed and indignant that many conservative pastors did not denounce the liberals but even cooperated with them. He criticized their cowardice: “on the one hand, they are not willing to offend false prophets, on the other hand . . . they are afraid of losing [their profit].”53 Elsewhere he fiercely rebuked his fellow conservatives: Most pastors are contemptible, have no morality and credibility, and do many bad things. Even if no one attacks them or accuses them, they are always frightened. If someone rises up and attacks them, it will be easy to destroy them. . . . They have become filled with lies and deception, strife and animosity, jealousy and dissension, malpractice and embezzlement, corruption and stealing, infidelity and adultery, daredevilry and capriciousness. Some ministers who are better and unlikely to fall into major sin still commit undisclosed sins. Even if there is one sin hidden in their lives that can make them tremble with fear, they will not dare say 51 Wang, Women shi weile xinyang, 144. 52 Wang Mingdao, “Nimen xin chieryi yao dao jishi ne,” 7. 53 Wang, Women shi weile xinyang, 51. 226

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anything. They know that if they raise some objections, their sins will be exposed and they will be humiliated.54 From the above quotation, we can see that Wang was seriously dissatisfied with many in the church, regardless of their theological background, and convinced that conservative pastors kept silent on liberal theology because of their own undisclosed moral shortcomings. By reducing complicated situations and personal religious positions to moral issues, Wang maintained a forceful position in fighting against liberals. During the Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese army, which had occupied northern China, demanded that all churches in Beijing should join the Japanese-led “North China Christian Federation.” Wang and his church successfully rebuffed the demand, which gave him tremendous courage to defend his standpoint. When the TSPM became the sole national Protestant church body, he confronted a tough political choice. Since his church had never accepted any foreign financial assistance, and was therefore a true “three-self ” church, Wang was convinced that he had no reason to attend the conference in 1951 dealing with the relationship between Chinese churches and imperialism. He was subsequently labeled a “tool of imperialism” and a “counterrevolutionary,” a dangerous political designation. Wang was indignant at this, since he regarded the conflict between himself and liberals as a religious and moral issue rather than a political one, and believed that their denunciation of him testified to liberal dishonesty. During this crisis, Wang wrote “An Important Message,” in which he tried to encourage and warn his followers to maintain their religious positions without compromise. Since it is clear that this is a white sheet of paper, why do you want to say it is black? . . . Today, because you are afraid to offend another person over such a seemingly small matter, and agree to a lie, someday many people may say that a certain innocent person is evil—and will you have the courage to say that he is innocent when you know that he truly is? . . . If you treat a person dishonestly because of your fear of offending people, you will undoubtedly end up denying the Lord. . . . When I see that a paper is white, I will definitely never say that it is black. Actually, I do not need to say anything about it and can keep my mouth shut [if the issue is 54 Wang, Wushi nian lai, 85. 227

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not brought up.] But if it has become an issue and you want me to follow the majority and say that it is black, I will absolutely never, never do it! . . . I must fight for the truth—black is black and white is white! Even if I lost my life for it, I would count it as a most glorious, valuable act.55 The analogy of “white paper” helps us to understand Wang’s “black-and-white” thinking. Wang’s resistance to the TSPM was due to his theological and biblical position rather than political concerns as an anti-communist, as Leslie Lyall held. The conflict between Wang and liberals had started at the beginning of his ministry and was consistent with his moral denunciation of liberals.56 Wang did not view the dispute between fundamentalism and liberal theology as a theological debate; instead, it was to him a war between goodness and evil, honesty and deception. He viewed liberals as lying and hypocritical enemies with whom there could be no compromise, rather than brothers and sisters. Wang was trying to defend not just biblical authority but also moral standards: one must always be honest and never cooperate with dishonest people and “unbelievers.”

Wang’s Moral Thought and Chinese Culture Wang’s moral concern, a central component of his theology and the underlying reason for his political choices, originated in Christian evangelical movements, as he was influenced by pietist and holiness thought, which regarded moral behavior as the outer evidence of conversion and sanctification. Yet Wang’s moral thought also had a close connection with Chinese culture, particularly Confucianism.57 In his old age, Wang talked about the impact of Confucian values on his personality and theology, which had been less explicit in his earlier writings. He 55 Wang, Women shi weile xinyang, 229. Translation from Wang Mingdao, A Call to the Church

from Wang Ming-dao, trans. Theodore Choy, ed. Leona Choy (Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1983), 20. 56 Cf. Harvey,“Wang’s ethos was drawn from Scriptures and doctrine. His resistance to the TSPM was consistent with his resistance to foreign missionaries, denominations, and the Japanese.” Harvey, Acquainted with Grief, 109. 57 As Ying Fuk-tsang points out, Wang’s negative impression of Watchman Nee was “not only due to their divergence in the direction of the church, but also because of Wang’s Confucian junzi (君子, “superior person”) complex remaining in his heart.” Ying argues that Wang had criticized Nee’s teachings and his moral problems, especially dishonesty. Ying Fuk-tsang, “Ju ren ai hen: Wang Mingdao suo renshi de Ni Tuosheng” 巨人愛恨—王明道所認識的倪柝聲 [Watchman Nee in the Eyes of Wang Mingdao], Ching Feng 景風15 (2016): 154, 158. 228

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professed repeatedly, “I am a disciple of Christ as well as a pupil of Confucius,” puncturing the stereotype of Wang’s detached attitude toward Chinese culture. He described the Confucian influence on his thought at length. At ten, Wang had read the Four Books under the tutorship of his teacher, Xu Zhichen. When converting to Christianity, he affirmed “I felt that the teachings of the Four Books are in conformity with the teachings of the Bible,” and he began to understand the thought in the Daxue. “I learned the teachings of cheng yi (誠意 thoughts being sincere), zheng xin (正心 hearts being rectified), xiu shen (修身 persons being cultivated) . . . the Bible and the Four Books built the moral foundation of my whole life.”58 After conversion, Wang determined upon the pursuit of a moral character: My teacher Confucius said, “I have never seen one who loves virtue as much as he loves beauty.”59 I started to love virtue when I was fourteen. No matter what book I read, I focused on passages about morality. I memorized all the sayings concerning virtue, and I cannot forget them.60 Identifying personal character with the moral teachings of Confucius, Wang combined Christian moral thought with Confucian ethics and developed a practical theology centered on morality, which was close to the emphasis on “renge” of the liberals. In Wang’s old age, he repeatedly emphasized how Confucianism had influenced his thought and personality. “That I could have a noble, honest life and character was due to two books, the Bible and Four Books. I cannot imagine how bad I would have been without the teaching of these two books,” he wrote.61 Wang was convinced that his own moral thought was identical to Confucianism. He pointed out that moral character, particularly in financial and relationship issues, is the prime qualification for church leaders: “Morality is the primary requirement in Confucian teachings, speech is the second one.”62 58 Wang and Ying, Wang Mingdao de zuihou zibai, 52. 59 “吾未見好德如好色者也,” Confucius, The Analects 15:13. 60 Wang and Ying, Wang Mingdao de zuihou zibai, 204. In defending his moral position, Wang

quoted extensively from Confucius and Mencius, in sayings such as: “吾未見能見其過而內 自訟者也” [I have yet to meet the man who, on seeing his own errors, is able to take himself to task inwardly] (The Analects 5:27, trans. D.C. Lau), or “富貴不能淫，貧賤不能移，威 武不能屈，此之謂大丈夫” [He cannot be led astray by riches and honor, moved by poverty and privation, or deflected by power or force. This is what I call a great man] (Mencius 3B2, translated by Irene Bloom, New York: Columbia University Press, 62). See Wang and Ying, Wang Mingdao de zuihou zibai, 170–210. 61 Wang and Ying, Wang Mingdao de zuihou zibai, 270. 62 Wang and Ying, Wang Mingdao de zuihou zibai, 220. 229

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Wang also compared Confucius’s “Heaven” to the Christian “God,” asserting that the attitude of Confucius toward Heaven was similar to that which Christians held toward God. “When Confucius was in danger, he believed in Heaven and did not fear the people of Kuang who surrounded him and Huan Tui who held power.”63 He viewed Confucius as a disseminator of the logos (dao 道) of Christianity, and was convinced that God had already revealed his truth in different forms to different cultures before Christ was born, and that Confucius’s teaching originated in God’s general revelation, akin to biblical revelation. “In the East, God revealed the logos through Confucius; in Western Asia, he revealed the logos through Moses and all the prophets of the Old Testament. In the first thirty years of the first century, Jesus Christ illustrated the logos completely. What I preached over thirty years is precisely the logos.”64 Wang also argued that Confucius’s “awe of heaven”65 was equivalent to “loving God,” and that the teaching to love one another was exactly the same in Christianity and Confucianism.66 Wang asserted repeatedly that he was a loyal student of Confucius.67 During the movement to “Pi kong” (Criticize Lin Biao, Criticize Confucius) in 1974, Wang wrote articles defending Confucius, despite being in prison at that time. Wang’s remarks on Confucianism, especially his respect for Confucius, reflected the dual source of his morality. As Richard Cook noted, “In fundamentalism, Wang found a Christian system that reflected the emphasis on proper doctrine and morality in Confucianism.”68 Wang emphasized that he only followed biblical teachings and did not discuss other cultures much in his early years, but we can still recognize how Chinese traditional culture functioned as the root of his thought. 63 Wang and Ying, Wang Mingdao de zuihou zibai, 258. The phrase “people of Kuang” comes

from “天之未喪斯文也，匡人其如予何.” [If Heaven does not intend this culture to be destroyed, then what can the men of K’uang do to me?” from Confucius’s Analects (9:5). The people of Kuang mistook Confucius for Yang Huo, a cruel man who resembled Confucius in appearance and plundered and murdered, and they imprisoned Confucius. Huan Tui, the minister of War in Sung, attempted to kill Confucius, who responded: “天生德於予，桓 魋其如予何” [Heaven is the author of the virtue in me. What can Huan Tui do to me?] The Analects (7:23). 64 Wang and Ying, Wang Mingdao de zuihou zibai, 266. 65 See Confucius, The Analects 16:8: “君子有三畏：畏天命，畏大人，畏聖人之言.” [The gentleman stands in awe of three things. He is in awe of the Decree of Heaven. He is in awe of great men. He is in awe of the words of the sages.] 66 Wang and Ying, Wang Mingdao de zuihou zibai, 270. 67 “He taught a thousand students in two thousand years, and I am one of them;” “I cannot disbelieve Christ and I cannot disrespect Confucius.” Wang Mingdao de zuihou zibai, 266. 68 Cook, Fundamentalism and Modern Culture in Republican China, 168. 230

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Although for Wang it was his enemies, liberals and false prophets, who devoted themselves to combining Christianity with Confucianism, he frequently talked about Confucianism in his sermons. When Bian Yunbo, one of Wang’s younger co-workers was once asked if he thought any of Wang’s behavior or speech was inappropriate, he replied, “I do not think it necessary to talk about Confucius and Mencius in your sermons.”69 From this we can infer that Wang’s frequent quotation of Confucius’s words seemed excessive or unusual to other fundamentalists. Wang’s admiration for Confucius deepened in his old age; after more than twenty years in prison, he had a greater understanding of, and empathy for, Confucius. His admiration for Confucianism, however, was limited to individual moral virtue, especially the character of Confucius, and thinking on the “awe of heaven.” In the indigenous (“bense” 本色) movement,70 theologians suggested that ethics should serve as the bridge connecting Christianity and Chinese culture. Fan Bihai asserted that the ethics of mere Confucianism and the spirit of mere Christianity—meaning primitive Christian thought without any Western cultural elements and religious doctrines and ritual—were identical: both centered on love for others.71 Most of these bense theologians, however, downplayed traditional doctrines such as creation or the virgin birth as obsolete Western myths and a stumbling block for a Chinese understanding of Christianity. Wang’s moral thought under the influence of Confucianism shows that the indigenization of Christianity did not need to reject traditional doctrines that seemed to conflict with Chinese culture. And although Wang and the liberals’ position obviously differ from each other, morality was highly valued in both sets of thought. As John Y. H. Yieh noted, “Earlier in the century, even as the new republic attempted to modernize itself by importing Western science and social systems, some intellectual elites continued to argue for the usefulness of traditional culture at least for cultivating moral character.”72 In this sense, Wang’s thought bore a strong 69 Bian Yunbo, “Zhui si Wang Mingdao xian sheng he furen 追思王明道先生和夫人 [Re-

membrance of Mr Wang Mingdao and His Wife],” Shengming Jikan [CCLife] 54 (2010) https://tinyurl.com/2p8awe5k. 70 Bense literally means “true color” or “root color” and is usually translated as “indigenous.” The Bense church movement aimed to build independent Chinese churches without Western control and create an indigenous Christian culture. The theologians within the movement were called bense theologians and most of them were theologically liberal. 71 Fan Bihai, “Zhongguo lunli de wenhua yu jidujiao 中國倫理的文化與基督教 [Chinese Ethical Culture and Christianity],” Qing nian jin bu 青年進步 [Association Progress] 84 (1925):1–10. 72 Yieh, “Reading the Sermon on the Mount in China,”158. 231

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resemblance to that of the liberals’ in reflecting the influence of traditional Chinese culture on Christianity in Republican China.

Conclusion Wang’s moral theology played a significant role in his ministry and life experience. He defended the authority of the Bible on the basis of the moral character of its authors. In line with his biblicist views and moral thought, Wang taught his audiences to be honest and challenged them to demonstrate their Christian identity through their moral character. Yet he also criticized and vigorously opposed more liberal church voices, viewing them as dishonest people and false prophets. Without comprehending Wang’s moral concerns, we cannot properly understand his decisions under political pressure regarding the TSPM. Wang had little interest in political issues; just as he declared in “We, Because of Faith,” his aims were to defend his theological positions of biblicism and fundamentalism and to protect the independence of his church. As Ying Fuk-tsang suggested, “Wang’s choice of standing on the opposite side of the Three-Self Patriot Movement was based on religious rather than political considerations. Wang Mingdao’s rejection of the Three-Self Movement led by Wu Yaozong on the grounds of his belief is consistent with that position. His warrior personality was directed against secular political power and modernist theology rather than the Chinese Communist Party or the Three-Self church.”73 Given Wang’s insistence that true believers should not cooperate with “wicked and hypocritical unbelievers,” his refusal to cooperate with the TSPM was also natural: whether to join the TSPM was not only a religious choice, as Ying suggests, but also a moral choice. There are some shortcomings to Wang’s moral theory. Using moral character to defend the authority of the Bible is obviously naive and untenable. An author’s moral status cannot guarantee a work’s authenticity and validity because good and evil in a moral sense are irrelevant to the text’s authenticity or accuracy. The dispute between liberals and fundamentalists is not only a moral judgment but also a theological issue. Wang could not understand how an honest person could sincerely doubt the credibility of the Bible, yet the liberals identifying themselves as Christians did not deliberately intend to deceive others, since their criteria for belief were different from Wang’s. Wang’s judgment that other conservative pastors did not take up the fight against liberals on account of their sins was 73 Wang and Ying, Wang Mingdao de zuihou zibai, 326. 232

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obviously unfair. Many of the moral requirements Wang insisted on for believers were too stern and unrealistic. Individual morality inevitably fails to solve the injustices of society in the way Wang perceived. As Reinhold Niebuhr insightfully stated regarding the weakness of defeatists, who regarded the world as doomed: Religion, in short, may be indifferent toward or despair of the politicomoral . . . when it adopts a rigorous perfectionism in stating its moral ideal. . . . When . . . the church was forced to assume responsibility for political and economic life, there was little disposition to challenge the basic social customs and relationships in the name of the Christian ideal. Slavery, injustice, inequality of wealth, war, these all were accepted as ordained by the “natural law” which God had devised for man’s sinful state. Occasionally there was considerable confusion, whether such social arrangements, as slavery for instance, should be regarded as the fruit of man’s sinful condition or as the instrument which God uses to hold sin in check.74 In summary, without a comprehensive understanding of Wang’s theology, especially his morality, Wang will be stereotyped as a symbol of resistance against religious persecution. He will also be represented as a perfect spiritual giant and even an iconic figure by Christians, contrary to his moral credo of honesty. Although Wang was a typical fundamentalist, articles written by him in old age suggest that his moral concern could not be separated from Chinese culture. He was not divorced from the Chinese cultural context; on the contrary, his admiration for Confucian moral philosophy indicated that dialogue and integration between conservative Christian theology and Chinese culture were achievable. Bense theologians’ appeals to Confucianism to bridge the gap between Christianity and Confucianism recall the Chinese proverb “highbrow songs find few singers (qu gao he gua 曲高和寡).”75 Their biggest (and more popular) opponent, Wang Mingdao, devoted himself to teaching and practicing a morality-centered Christianity and strove to be a pious disciple of Jesus and a loyal pupil of Confucius. 74 Reinhold Niebuhr, Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics (Eugene,

OR: Wipf and Stock, 2010), 76.

75 Lam Wing-hung concluded his study of T. C. Chao’s theology with this idiom. Lam

Wing-hung, Qu gao he gua: Zhao Zichen de shengping he shenxue曲高和寡: 趙紫宸的 生平及神學 [Too High to be Popular: T. C. Chao’s life and Theology] (Hong Kong: Chinese Alliance Press, 1994). 233



Chapter 11

SAMUEL LAMB AND THE FUNDAMENTALISM OF THE CHINESE HOUSE CHURCH Liu Shibo, Zhongnan Theological Seminary Introduction Samuel Lamb (Lin Xian’gao林獻羔, October 24, 1924–August 3, 2013) was one of the most influential preachers and leaders of the house churches in mainland China from the 1980s to the early twenty-first century. He was born and raised in a Christian family of several generations, and his father Paul Lam (林 保羅) and maternal grandfather were well-known pastors of the local Baptist church, originally established by the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) of America. After graduating from elementary school in Guangzhou, Lamb moved to Hong Kong with his family. In 1939, at the age of fifteen, he was baptized by the Cheung Chau seaside. He named himself “Samuel Lamb” in English, indicating the sacrifice of himself as a lamb to God. In 1942 Lamb traveled to Wuzhou to study at the Alliance Bible Institute set up by the Christian and Missionary Alliance (宣道會) in America. There he was taught under Dr. William C. Newbern (1900–1972) and other missionaries and Chinese pastors, until his studies at the institute were interrupted by the invasion and occupation of Wuzhou by the Japanese army in 1944. After the end of World War II in 1945, Lamb served as preacher at several churches in Guangzhou, including the Church of Christ in China (中華基督教會), the Methodist Episcopal Church (美以美會), the Chinese Baptist Church (興華浸信會) and the Assemblies of God (神召會). In 1950, he started to organize a house church in his own home that later closed when he was arrested and imprisoned as a “counterrevolutionary” in 1958. After

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Lamb’s release in 1978, he returned home and once again began to convene a house church at his home in Guangzhou, leading the church for thirty-four years until his death in 2013. Studies of Samuel Lamb by Protestant Christians in China and abroad have for the most part regarded him as an iconic representative of the mainland house churches and focused on his legendary experience of establishing a house church and holding firm to his Christian faith until death; there is almost no research into his theological thought. Based on many years of personal acquaintance with Samuel Lamb, and on the basis of Lamb’s sermons and the series of gospel pamphlets he wrote, this article summarizes and introduces Lamb’s main theological ideas and addresses the influence of his fundamentalist tradition on Chinese churches.1

Terms and Terminology It may be helpful first to clarify some concepts and terms in use in Lamb’s work and house church theology more broadly. These concepts are habitually used as classification labels, but the use of such labels inevitably leads to differences in understanding and even tension among users, and between the subjects of discussion and outsiders. These differences and tensions can lead to both meaningful and pointless arguments, as in the following example. In Chinese Protestant Christianity in the twentieth century, some local churches and their leaders did not accept or use the concept of “theology” and the set of paradigms and systems it represented. For example, Wang Mingdao (王明道, 1900–1991) clearly stated: “I accept everything in the Bible; I abandon everything that cannot be found in the Bible. I believe in all the truths in the Bible, and will never believe in any teaching that is not in the Bible. I have never read a Bible commentary, and I least appreciate that kind of book. Today I preach and govern the church based on the Bible as the only criterion. I don’t want to accept any part of church heritage and rules set by people . . . ”2 The “church heritage” includes the concept of “theology.” In the context of the Chinese language and in the understanding of most grassroots Christians, the “Bible” most often refers to the Chinese Union Version (CUV) commonly used 1 See Yao Xiyi 姚西伊, “Fansi Zhongguo jiaohuishi lingyu xianzhuang: Cong Zhongguo

jiyaop­ai yanjiu tanqi” 反思中國教會史領域現狀—從中國基要派研究談起, Fuyin yu dangdai zhongguo [Gospel and Modern China], Hong Kong, 2022.9. Vol. 17: 1–6. 2 Wang Mingdao王明道, Wushi nian lai五十年來, (Hong Kong: Lingshi, 2009), 76. 236

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by the majority of Protestant churches after 1919. Any vocabulary that does not appear in the CUV Bible, including the word “theology,” and all theological terms such as “Trinity,” were to be avoided in public use. This standing is regarded as “non-mainstream” by those who adhere to the traditional theological position of the ecumenical church, while some go so far as to denounce the position as “heresy.” According to Herbert Ho, “The difficulties in translation and communication of Christian ideas into Chinese words multiplied the problem, with the most important concepts of Christianity such as sin or the Trinity the most dif­ ficult to translate. Consensus was never reached on how to translate the most sacred idea of God into Chinese. Three versions, one Catholic and two Protestant, remain current today.”3 Samuel Lamb in general inherited Wang Mingdao’s opinions and position. He did not use the Chinese term “san wei yi ti 三位 一體,” the usual Chinese translation of the “Trinity,” but like Wang, nor did he ever deny the formula “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,” which was clearly declared by Jesus in the Bible. In his preaching and writing, Samuel Lamb adopted the concept of “sanyi shen 三一神” (Triune God), which avoided the Chinese quan­ tifier “wei 位”, a term that was difficult to explain clearly in Chinese and could easily be misunderstood as “san wei shen 三位神” (three Gods), and by doing so also avoided the introduction of the concept of “personhood” (位格) which was not found in the Bible, as well as the interpretations and controversies that derived from it. In his booklet “Knowing the Triune God,” Lamb pointed out: The Church has always had different views on the term “Trinity.” Although the Bible does not contain the word “Trinity,” the “Triune True God” is indeed the truth of the Bible. This is still a mystery (Deuteronomy 29: 29), which we cannot fully understand now, but we must believe that God is “One in three, three in One . . .” Not using the term “三位一體” (Trinity) is not to deny that God is three in one and one in three. We do not use the term  “三位一體” so that people do not misunderstand us to believe in three gods (三位神), and to avoid people misunderstanding “體” as “body,” since God the Father and the Holy Spirit have no body. 3 Herbert H. Ho 何凱立, Yu su bu da 欲速不達：傳教士與寬教條款（1842–1903）

[More haste less speed: Christian Missions and Treaty Rights in Late Qing China, 1842– 1903], trans. Liu Shibo 劉詩伯 (Hong Kong: Zhonghua Sanyi, 2021), 119–20. 237

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We do not use the term “三合一的神” (Three-combined-into one God) either, because God is not “composite,” as it says in John 10: 30: “I and my Father are one.” Where the bible says “合而為一”4 ( John 17: 22–23), the original scripture does not have the Chinese character “合” (come together, combine, join) but only has “為一 (being one, are one),” and the English version translates this as “are one.” We had better call God “Triune God” (三一神)—which is what most people mean by “Trinity” (三位一體), because God is three in one and one in three. (1) “位”: The original text reads prosopon, and the English person comes from the Latin persona. This word cannot be translated as “人” (human, people), but many people do not understand if it is translated as “位格”(person [substance, homousios]). God has no bones or flesh, because “God is spirit” ( John 4:24). “位格” (personhood): having personality, reason, feelings, consciously determined instincts, and actions, not nothingness and abstraction—and so we say that God has personhood. The Latin persona originally refers to an actor wearing a mask on the stage to perform three types of role, but the Bible does not speak of the three roles of God. All three persons are God, but there is only one God; all three persons are Lord, but there is only one Lord; all three persons have the same essence, the same glory and power. If we talk about one of them individually, we would say “There is only one Spirit,” “one Lord,” “one God” (Ephesians 4:4–6). “For there is only one God and one mediator between God and humankind . . . ” (1 Timothy 2:5). “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:4–6) “I will pray to the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter . . . ” ( John 14:16). The original text of “another” is allos, which means “another” of the same kind, not an “other” (heteros) of a different kind. If we speak of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit separately, the Father is “一位 (one),” the Son “一位 (one),” and the Holy Spirit “一位 (one).” Yet together God is not three, but rather “一位神 (one God).” The Bible never speaks of  “三位神 (three Gods).” 4 “合而為一” ( John 17: 22, CUV) means “combined into one.” 238

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(2) “體”: The Chinese character ti 體 of  “三位一體” (Trinity) does not in fact refer to a body. “For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” (Colossians 2:9) When we do not use the word “ti 體”, it does not mean that we agree with the heretical Sabellians who refused to recognize the “benzhi 本質”(essence) of God. The word essence in the original text is ousia, which means the spirit and attributes of God. Essence is not material, but refers to the only true God Himself. God has no “body” (身體) because “God is spirit” ( John 4: 24). As for God’s arms (Deuteronomy 33: 27), eyes (Deuteronomy 33: 20), ears (2 Kings 19: 16), and mouth (Isaiah 58: 14), these are all instances of “personification,” using anthropomorphic language to make it easier for us to understand.5 This passage explains clearly why some Chinese house church leaders, including Samuel Lamb, do not use the term for Trinity which is commonly used in Chinese Christianity.

The Taxonomic Significance of Fundamentalism The historical background to the introduction of the term “fundamentalism” into the Protestant church in China originated in the “fundamentalist—modernist controversy” in American Christianity in the early twentieth century. Disputes and disagreements between fundamentalists and modernists that could be seen among Western missionaries in China at that time influenced both missionary thinking and strategies. Scholars in China and abroad have engaged in considerable research on the theological characteristics of Christian fundamentalism and its origins, development, and evolution, which this article does not repeat. Here the term is used taxonomically, whether subjectively (self-proclaimed) or objectively (as referred to by others), to classify Protestant Christians in mainland China as “fundamentalist,” “non-fundamentalist,” or “anti-fundamentalist.” Samuel Lamb evidently understood the situation today in America where the term “fundamentalism” seems to connote “conservative,” “backward,” “closed,” and “extreme,” while more Protestant Christians are willing to call themselves 5 Lin Xian’gao 林獻羔 (Samuel Lamb), “Renshi Sanyi Shen 認識三一神,” Lingyin congshu靈

音叢書 Vol. 3, 2009 (pamphlet).

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“evangelical.” He wrote in 2009: “Fundamentalists and evangelicals are both pure in faith, but in order to avoid becoming radicals, many people with pure faith claim to be evangelicals.”6 In the early half of the twentieth century in China, however, the term “evangelical” was not widely known, and the term “fundamentalism” was not yet stigmatized. Many Protestant church members referred to themselves directly as “fundamentalists” and called the other party “modernists” or “liberals.” Generally speaking, the main criterion for distinguishing between fundamentalism and modernism is in attitude toward the Bible, as can be seen in reporting of the time, where “The General Assembly of the Northern Presbyterian Church in 1910 affirmed five essential doctrines regarded as under attack in the church: the inerrancy of Scripture, the virgin birth of Christ, the substitutionary atonement of Christ, Christ’s bodily resurrection, and the historicity of the miracles.”7 Fundamentalists believe that all parts of the Bible are “God’s word” with absolute authority, authenticity, and eternity, while they argue that modernists do not recognize that the Bible is absolutely inerrant and do not necessarily accept the various miracles recorded in the Bible, including the creation of the heavens and the earth by God and the resurrection of Jesus, which may be regarded as myths or fables, rather than facts with scientific evidence. In theological terms, this means that there are irreconcilable differences and opposition between fundamentalists and modernists over some of the most fundamental doctrines of Christian faith, including the doctrine of God, Christology, Creation, salvation, and eschatology. Fundamentalists firmly believe and declare that denying or rejecting any part of the Bible is tantamount to denying belief in God. Similarly, they hold that anyone who admits that Jesus is just a great role model and life mentor but denies the divinity of Jesus cannot be a real Christian. Wang Mingdao more bluntly referred to modernists as “unbelievers.” Modernists certainly do not accept such a designation. Apart from a few exceptions, most of those who are referred to as modernists by fundamentalists in China do not accept the labels “modernists” or “liberal.” Their attitudes toward the Bible are not uniform: some of them regarded Jesus as merely a 6 Lin Xian’gao 林獻羔 (Samuel Lamb), “Zongpai yu heyi” 宗派與合一 Lingyin congshu Ch.

79, 1954, repr. 2009 (pamphlet).

7 C. T. McIntire, “Fundamentalism,” in ed. Walter A. Elwell, Evangelical Dictionary of Theology

(Michigan: Baker Book House, 1984), 433.

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model of perfect personality, a carer of the poor, or a nationalist and patriot,8 while the others partially accept the “five essential doctrines” and might recite the “Apostles’ Creed” during Sunday worship, and insist that they are true Christians, but were not willing to stand side by side with “conservative, backward, and ignorant” fundamentalists. It might be more appropriate to classify them, according to their views and claims, as “non-fundamentalist” or “anti-fundamentalist.”9 Before the 1950s, fundamentalism was the mainstream of Protestant church thinking among the different denominations in China. Except for a few intellectuals, the vast majority of Protestant members held fundamentalist positions, though they did not have much theoretical knowledge of theology. One of the reasons for this was that, compared with Western missionaries in China at the time, Chinese church leaders and influential preachers were almost all fundamentalists. Many seminaries and Bible colleges in China, such as Bethel Bible College in Shanghai,10 North China Theological Seminary in Shandong,11 Chungking (Chongqing) Theological Seminary in Sichuan,12 and the Alliance Bible Institute in which Samuel Lamb studied during 1942–1944,13 all retained fundamentalist stances. (By contrast, most of the famous non-fundamentalist teachers, such as Wu Leichuan, Liu Tingfang, Zhao Zichen, Xie Fuya, Zhao Fusan, Lao She, and Xie Bingxin, worked at the Christian universities like Yenching University, Cheeloo University, and Lingnan University from which thousands of Chinese Christian intellectuals graduated prior to 1950.) 8 See Li Wei 李韋, “抗戰時期的自由派基督徒知識分子對於耶穌形象的民族主義詮

釋” [A Nationalist Interpretation of the Image of Jesus by Liberal Christians during the Sino-Japanese War], Zhongguo zongjiao xueshuwang 中國宗教學術網, Beijing, Feb.18, 2019, https://tinyurl.com/2v32adxp. 9 See Wu Baoluo 吳保羅,“從歷史上認識基要派和自由派” [Understanding Fundamen­ talists and Liberals through History], Fuyin Shibao 福音時報, Hong Kong, Dec. 2, 2016, https://tinyurl.com/n864brnh. 10 Founded in 1925 in Shanghai by Dr. Mary Stone (Shi Meiyu 石美玉, 1873–1954) and Miss Jennie Hughes (胡遵理). 11 Founded in Weixian in September 1919 by Watson McMillan Hayes (赫士), an American missionary of the Northern Presbyterian Church. 12 Cofounded in Chongqing in 1943 by Marcus Cheng (Chen Chonggui 陳崇桂, 1884–1964) with the China Inland Mission. 13 Founded in Wuzhou in 1889 by Dr. Robert Glover (高樂弼), an American missionary of the Christian and Missionary Alliance.

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[128.104.46.206] Project MUSE (2024-04-07 01:48 GMT) UW-Madison Libraries

Naming and Defining the House Church Just as “the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch” (Acts 11:26), since the political launch of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement in Chinese Protestant Christianity in the early 1950s, the term “House Church” has become a conventional taxonomic label used to refer to that part of the Chinese Protestant Christians that does not belong to the “Three-Self church.”14 Like the terms modernist and liberal, the leaders of the “Three-Self church” never use the title “ThreeSelf church” in formal occasions and in their official documents. They claim to represent the entire Protestant church in China, refusing to admit that there is another “house church” in mainland China, admitting only that there are some Christians who do not participate in the “Three-Self Patriotic Organization” and who engage in “religious activities” in places that the authorities call “sishe juhuidian 私設聚會點” (unregistered meeting points), like the gatherings led by Lamb at his home. This, in reality, means that the government does not deny the Christian identity of “house church” members in a religious sense, which shows that the criteria for judging who are Christians or not are the same both within and outside the church.15 Meanwhile, those Christians such as Lamb who refuse to join the “ThreeSelf organization” are willing to accept the appellation “house church” and openly call themselves by that name but do not accept those terms such as “underground church” or “small church” (where the “Three-Self church” is known as “big church”). They insist, rather, that the “Three-self church” is only a political organization and not a Christian church. It can be seen that in Chinese Protestantism, the criterion of the standpoint of the Bible distinguishes fundamentalism from non-fundamentalism, while the question of whether to join the “Three-Self organization” is another criterion that distinguishes the house church from the “Three-Self church.” Most grassroots believers both in the house church and Three-Self church would have qualified as fundamentalists during the second half of the twentieth century, in terms of the “five essential doctrines” affirmed by the Northern Presbyterian Church of America in 1910. Except for a few upper-level leaders 14 “Three-self ” refers to being self-governing, self-supporting, and self-propagating. 15 Liu Jianguo 劉國建 and Tong Jia 佟佳, “《中國家庭教會信仰告白》要義分析—以構

建和諧社會為向度,” [An Analysis of the “Confession of the House Churches” from the Perspective of Building a Harmonious Society] Tiedao Jingguan Gaodeng Kexuexiao Bao, 2009 Issue 3: 17–21. 242

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of the “Three-Self organization,” many of the non-fundamentalist members of Chinese Protestant churches—who were mainly intellectuals such as teachers, doctors and technicians,16 and had graduated from church universities before 195217—gave up their Christian identity under the continuous impact of political movements during the 1950s and 1960s,18 although many of them returned to the reopened churches after 1979 at the end of the Cultural Revolution. Around the late 1990s, a new, third, type of Protestant church began to appear in cities in mainland China. These are called “urban churches” because their leaders refuse to join the “Three-Self organization,” but not all accept the old appellation of “house church” and some deliberately distance themselves from the elder generation of Samuel Lamb and other predecessors by calling the latter “traditional house churches.” The leaders of these emerging “urban churches” specifically deny belonging to fundamentalist groups and call themselves “evangelicals” like their American counterparts. Some members of the “urban churches” call themselves Calvinists and claim a belonging to the “Reformed church.” Unlike what they call “traditional fundamentalism,” the Reformed churches emphasize the importance of historical creeds, doctrines, theology, and institutional belonging. However, since the binary labels of “house church” and “Three-Self church” have been widely used for a long time, they still have to use the name “house church” when distinguishing themselves from the “Three-Self church.” Thus others have subsequently invented the appellation “traditional house church,” as a sub-category, which corresponds to “fundamentalists” such as Wang Mingdao and Lamb, while “new urban churches,” “Reformed churches,” and “urban house churches”19 correspond to their self-proclaimed term “evangelical.” 16 See Li Wei 李韋, “Buqieryude shehuifuyin he weiaizhuyi: yi Wu Yaozong weili de fenxi” 不

期而遇的社會福音和唯愛主義—以吳耀宗為例的分析, Jiduzongjiaoyanjiu 基督宗教 研究, Beijing, 2014, No.2: 285. 17 In 1952, the Chinese government implemented a policy of “readjustment of colleges and departments (院系調整)”, abolishing all private universities, including all Christian universities. 18 See, for example, Huang Jiade黃嘉德,“You zongjiao weixinlun dao kexue wushenlun xuexi bianzheng weiwulun yu weiwu bianzhengfa de tihui” 由宗教唯心論到科學無神論 — 學 習辯證唯物論與唯物辯證法的體會[From Religious Idealism to Scientific Atheism: The Experience of Studing Dialectical Materialism and Materialist Dialectics], Wenshizhe文史 哲, 1955, No.1: 59–62. 19 Liu Tongsu 劉同蘇 and Wang Yi 王怡, Guankan Zhongguo chengshi jiating jiaohui 觀看中 國城市家庭教會 (Taipei: Jiwen, 2012). 243

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Characteristics of Lamb’s Church While the house church led by Samuel Lamb shared certain common principles with other fundamentalists in China, such as the “absolute inerrancy of Scripture,” it also displayed a number of characteristic features, as set out below:

Non-Denominational and Self-Governing Samuel Lamb described himself as coming from a Baptist background family and was baptized in the Baptist church, but he studied at the Bible College of CMA and later served as a preacher in the Church of Christ in China—which was mainly composed of Presbyterian churches—and in the Assemblies of God. He declared that the house church he established at home was “non-denominational” and organizationally did not belong to any denomination. All men and women who were baptized in other churches were welcome to participate in the “breaking of bread” he presided over on every Sunday. Lamb was well-known for being the highest decision-maker in his church, but there was also a small core of “coworkers” of both genders who served fulltime in the church, and only these coworkers were qualified to preach from the rostrum, not wearing sacred robes. The church does not use the term “priesthood,” and there is no classification of pastor, elder, or deacon. Church members call each other brother or sister, while for the elderly they use “uncle” or “aunt,” and young believers called Lamb “Uncle Lin.” This system seems to be a combination of Lutheran, Presbyterian, Baptist, and Brotherhood practice, similar to the house church led by Wang Mingdao in Beijing and the Local Church led by Watchman Nee (Ni Tuosheng) in mainland China prior to 1950.

Terminology and Practice As noted, Lamb did not use the term “三位一體” for the Trinity, and the house churches he led also eschewed various other common Chinese Christian terms such as “libai 禮拜” for worship and “xili 洗禮” or “jinli 浸禮” for baptism. Lamb preferred “juhui 聚會” (gathering) and “shoujin 受浸” (baptism) to avoid the Chinese word “li 禮”(ritual) because he insisted that baptism was not a “ritual,” and the term “sacrament” was regarded as inherited from Catholicism, whereas Lamb did not approve of infant baptism.20 Lamb did not use the word “shengcan聖 餐” (Eucharist, Communion; literally Holy Supper) but adopted the scriptural 20 Lin Xian’gao 林獻羔, “Shoujin 受浸,” in Linyin congshu 1955. 3, repr. October 2010 (pam-

phlet).

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term “bobing 擘餅” (breaking bread)21 because there is no term “Eucharist” in the Bible, but only “breaking bread to remember the Lord.”22 In the early twentieth century, when the team of Western missionaries and Chinese scholars translated and published the CUV Bible, there was recurrent debate over whether the word “God” should be translated as “Shangdi上帝” or “Shen神,” and two editions were ultimately published, the “Shangdi Edition” and the “Shen Edition” respectively.23 Lamb accepted the term Shen adopted by the Baptist Church and a small number of other churches. Yet Lamb refused to approve female believers covering their heads when attending gatherings and did not require male and female congregations to sit separately during Sunday services. His church did not celebrate any Christian festivals such as Christmas and Easter because these are not found in the Bible or in the apostolic church but “come from Catholicism.” Lamb encouraged believers to fast and pray but did not advocate speaking in tongues since he believed that the “gift of tongues” was scarce today, albeit not completely absent. His house church had no special choir. The hymns sung by the congregation during the gathering were mainly from the “Lingyin shige 靈音詩歌” (Spiritual Voice Hymns) that Lamb edited, most of which are written and composed by Lamb himself, with the remainder classic Christian hymns. Like traditional Baptist churches or Brotherhoods, Lamb did not display any “Christian signs” at his home, where there was no cross or sacred paintings of Jesus’s image, and only a few calligraphic scrolls of Scriptures hung on the wall. As for why he adopted such an approach in his church, Lamb wrote a series of pamphlets that were compiled into the Spiritual Voice Series (Lingyin congshu), to explain his views and their biblical basis.

Theological Claims and Ideas In his weekly sermons, Lamb did not usually discuss particular theological themes such as human dualism or predetermination or free will, and he rarely used theological terminology not found in the Bible, like “Millennialism” or “dispensationalism.” In the house church Sunday school, whether for adults or 21 Lin Xian’gao, “Bobing 擘餅,” in Linyin congshu 2010. 2 (pamphlet). 22 Acts 2:46, 20:7; 1 Corinthians 10:17, 11:23–24 (KJV). 23 These terms were strenuously debated at the end of the 1870s, see, for example, “The In­

terminable Term Question,” in eds. Irene Eber, Sze-kar Wan, Knut Walf, Bible in Modern China: The Literary and Intellectual Impact (Nettetal: Steyler Verlag, 1999; Monumenta Serica Monograph Series LXIII). 245

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children, there were no specific lessons on the creeds (Nicene Creed, Athanasian Creed, Chalcedon Creed, Canons of Dort, Belgic Confession, Westminster Confession and Heidelberg Catechism), which are especially emphasized in some denominations today, including the “urban churches” in mainland China, and by some overseas Chinese theologians. In addition to publicly reminding and admonishing the congregation against “heretics” like “Eastern Lightning,”24 in his sermons Lamb did not specifically talk about the various controversies on doctrine, theology, or missionary practice within the churches but merely discussed those issues when he talked privately or responded to the questions from believers. He expressed his thoughts in writing by compiling over 230 pamphlets in the Spiritual Voice Series, such as “On the Charismatic Movement”; “Correct Understanding of Miracles and Miraculous Medicine”; “God’s Choice”; “Saved Forever Since Saved Once”; “Being Caught up Together;25 “Do Not Rely on Keeping the Law”; “Spirit, Soul, Body”; “The Question about Head Covering”; “The Question about Speaking in Tongues”; “The Eschatological Church,” in which he explained his views and positions on these respective theological questions. On the cover of each copy of “Spiritual Voice Series” there was a special note, “Not for sale, No copyright,” so that everyone could copy and distribute these pamphlets freely. In his Spiritual Voice Series, Lamb clearly expresses disapproval of spiritualist interpretations of miracles and speaking in tongues by Christian Charismatics; disapproval of Calvinist “double predestination” and Arminian “possibility of fall from grace”; he indicates disagreement with the claim that Christians in the New Testament era should abide by the laws of the Old Testament; disagreement with the “monism” or “dualism” view put forward by some theologians; but affirms the three parts of  “靈 (soul), 魂 (spirit) and 體 (body)” as constituting the whole of the human. As for the doomsday prophecies in the book of Revelation, Lamb agreed with the interpretations of Millennarianism and pretribulation rapture, and saw the seven churches in Asia mentioned by the Apostle John in chapters two and three as foreshadowing the later seven historical periods of Christianity in the world. Lamb severely criticized the secularization of the contemporary 24 Eastern Lightning (Dongfang shandian東方閃電) or the Church of Almighty God (Quan-

neng Shen 全能神), a secret religious cult teaching that holds Jesus has returned to the earth as a “Female Christ” in Henan Province in central China in the 1990s. See further Emily Dunn, Lightning from the East: Heterodoxy and Christianity in Contemporary China (Leiden: Brill, 2015). 25 1 Thessalonians 4:17. 246

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church and made it clear that he opposed the worldwide ecumenical movement that he thought of as a “religious hodgepodge,” saying “this was the most major and terrible event of the twentieth century” in the church today.26 The style of Lamb’s sermons was vivid, humorous, popular, and easy to understand. He seldom quoted other people directly in preaching and interpreting the Scriptures; nor did he use allegorical interpretations like Jia Yuming (賈玉銘, 1880–1964), another famous Chinese theologian and professor often labeled fundamentalist.27 Apart from sermons that explained the Bible book by book based on the principle of “interpreting scriptures with scripture,” Lamb frequently interpreted the practical significance of the Bible directly by citing examples from ordinary life, familiar to the congregation, so that the congregation could understand the meaning of the Scriptures and be provoked to think about how to follow or apply the principles and values revealed by the Scriptures in their daily life. One section of the Spiritual Voice Series was written to answer the questions that believers often encountered, or felt confused about in their daily life, including both faith questions and problems of faith practice. The first series included sections on “Knowing the Triune God”; “How to Believe”; “Salvation”; “Sins of Thought”; “Sin of Offending the Holy Spirit”; “Bible and Science.” The set on lived faith included “Faith and Deeds”; “Living and Life”; “Fear of Godliness and Worship”; “Proverbs on the Lives of the Saints”; “Men and Women”; “The Service (li bai禮拜)”; “Christian Marriage”; “Ancestor Worship and Filial Piety”; “Pride and Humility”; “Anger and Temper”; “Tobacco and Alcohol” and “The Beguiling Nature of Money.” Other volumes in the Spiritual Voice Series analyze current events or international issues related to biblical revelation, such as “The Three Kingdoms in the Bible,” “The European Union,” and “The Middle Eastern Situation.”

Particularity and Diversity in Chinese Christian Fundamentalism Since the formation of Protestantism in the sixteenth century, the doctrine of sola scriptura has been one of the main signs distinguishing Protestantism and 26 Lin Xian’gao, “Moshi jiaohui 末世教會,” in Lingyin congshu, 2005.9 (pamphlet). 27 Wai Luan Kwok 郭偉聯, “反對合一？賈玉銘、基要主義與合一運動的糾結” [Advo-

cating separatism? Chia Yu Ming, Fundamentalists and their difficulties in Chinese church union movement] (Hong Kong: Tiandaoshulou, 2002). 247

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Catholicism, while different interpretations of parts of the Bible have created numerous sects and branches within Protestantism. When the dispute arose between fundamentalism and modernism, the reason for the split was to safeguard the biblical revelation that the fundamentalists believed was central to faith. For Chinese Christians these were “jiben yaodao 基本要道” (basic essentials) from which the Chinese term “jiyaopai 基要派”(fundamentalist) is derived. Similarly, in addition to the common confirmation of “basic essentials” in the Bible, differing interpretations of other parts of the Bible have formed different systems among fundamentalists. The differences are shown in their organizational patterns, rituals, special terminology, and other characteristics based on variant theological viewpoints. Like the major denominations originally founded by Western missionaries in China in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, there are many “non-fundamental” differences now in the fundamentalist house churches. In comparison, the house church founded by Samuel Lamb in Guangzhou is the closest in many respects to the church established by Wang Mingdao in Beijing from 1935 to 1955. And just as his church members call Lamb “Uncle Lin,” he respectfully called Wang Mingdao “Uncle Wang.”28 From Lamb’s Spiritual Voice Series, it can be seen that among the traditional fundamentalists who are often regarded by critics as ignoring or even rejecting “theology,” Lamb himself at least had a fairly complete “theological system.” He offers his own viewpoints or explanations on almost all issues touched on in systematic theology. More importly, none of these viewpoints or explanations originated with Lamb himself, but all were put forward and practiced by predecessors, with Lamb merely the successor and follower. In other words, what the fundamentalist “traditional house church” inherits is actually the historical tradition of Christianity, and even those parts that are different from other denominations belong within Protestant tradition. At the level of “basic essentials,” all fundamentalists in China belong to the mainstream, and on secondary issues other than the “basic essentials,” in the absence of accurate statistical data on the Christian community in mainland China today, it is difficult to determine quantitatively who might be part of “mainstream” belief, given the diversity of Protestantism itself. Such diversity has long been criticized as “disunity,” but those who 28 Lin Xiangao, “Wo suo renshi de Wang Mingdao xiansheng” 我所認識的王明道先生 [The

Wang Mingdao I knew] Xinghua 杏花, Vol.16. 2011 (Summer issue), 62–64. 248

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react positively understand it as a manifestation of the “richness in Christ” of the Protestant church (1 Cor 12:14). Lamb’s ecclesiology is detailed in his pamphlet “The Church of God,” and his interpretations are completely consistent with orthodox Protestant Christianity. When discussing the Chinese translation of the term “Church,” for example, Lamb writes: The original text means “calling people to gather together” (Acts 15:14). Wherever people are called together under his name (that is, in the age of the Holy Spirit), there is a church. The Chinese translation “jiaohui 教會” for “church” is not appropriate, since the church is not an ordinary kind of religion (zongjiao 宗教). The word “jiaohui” in most people’s mind is more like “teaching association,” a group of intellectuals who accept the teaching of a religious expert, as if [the faith] could be gotten by “teaching.” This does not express correctly the original meaning of the Scripture. “The church of God” should be translated as “the assembly (zhaohui 召會) of God.” But if we use the term zhaohui (assembly of God), it will be misunderstood as the Assembly of God (a charismatic denomination) or the Local Church,29 and so in China we continue to use the term “jiaohui.” Let us also use that word for the time being, but we should understand that zhaohui (assembly) is the original meaning.30 It is clear that Lamb places the sanctity of “calling and election by God” as the basic nature of church above its function of teaching and ministering. Moreover, although he is not a linguist or translator, as with the example of the term “Trinity” above, Lamb bases his thinking on his close knowledge of the Bible, of local believers, and his careful study of important Christian nouns, to create as simple as possible explanations for the ordinary public to understand the meaning of scripture accurately and easily. On the issue of denominations and the unity of churches, Lamb pointed out: Each denomination has its own reasons [for coming into being]. They are not completely right, but they cannot be said to be completely wrong. The 29 The Chinese Church founded by Watchman Nee (Ni Tuosheng) in 1922. 30 Lin Xiangao, “Shende jiaohui 神的教會” in Lingyin congshu Ch. 76 (1954, repr. 2000); see

https://tinyurl.com/4k5za3ft.

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key question depends on their “intention.” If the intention is to divide for the sake of becoming a faction, this should be censured; but if the intention is to maintain the truth, there is nothing wrong with this. God looks on the heart, not the outward appearance. . . . Separation on account of the truth is not only good, but necessary. A new emerging denomination will eliminate many old and unbiblical things. But over time, this faction may gradually become corrupt, so some people again rise up to reform, but others oppose them—and so those who are willing to reform have to break away from the original sect and establish another faction. This is separation on account of different understandings of the truth; but there are also denominations founded on misunderstandings or one-sided readings of scripture.31 He advocated: No matter how many denominations there are, we should be “evangelical,” or as it is also known, “fundamentalist.” We must never join the “unbelievers.” Evangelicals adhere to the truth, follow the Bible in all things, and believe in all basic essentials (doctrines). Many denominations are classified as evangelical, but some deviate somewhat from the truth. We can have fellowship with them, but should not follow their mistakes, and still less let believers follow their ways.32 In Lamb’s series of pamphlets, there are no such topics as liberation theology, political theology, Neo-orthodox theology, process theology, existential theology, feminist theology, ecological theology, or postmodern theology. This has been seen as a proof that “traditional house churches” lack theological thinking and cultural mission, or “lag behind the times.” But from another perspective, it can also be thought of as proof of the local particularity of the Chinese traditional fundamentalists, who do not dance to the tune of Western theology, and as evidence that Christianity is indeed very different in China and in the Western world, in both history and reality. Even where concerned about the same universal issues, their discussion, form of expression, and way of coping may be quite different, and may produce different “local knowledge,” in 31 Lin Xian’gao, “Zongpai yu heyi 宗派與合一,” in Lingyin congshu, Ch. 79 (1954, repr. 2009);

see https://tinyurl.com/yck3dc4h.

32 Lin Xian’gao, “Zongpai yu heyi.” 250

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Clifford Geertz’s term.33 Those who have always emphasized their opposition to “Western-centrism” may be more aware of the West-centric paradigm of interpretation and evaluation. Modern Western theology has been influenced, or even dominated, by the development of and trends in modern Western philosophy. Although Western philosophical thought has continuously been introduced into China and has triggered certain ideological trends, it has not really taken root so far in the soil of Chinese society and culture. In her analysis of Chinese Christian fundamentalists in the early twentieth century, Zhao Pan writes: The attitude of Protestant fundamentalists to the Bible in the Republic of China can be called “Biblicism,” and its main characteristic is adherence to the exclusivity and absolute inerrancy of the Bible. It transcends all denominations. The method of fundamentalist biblical interpretation adopts a direct interpretation method called holy spirit illumination, which simplifies its theme and interprets it spiritually, applying it directly in pastoral and evangelistic practice. Fundamentalist biblicism is not only the result of the development of the Western evangelism movement, but also the product of the theological opposition between fundamentalism and liberalism, and more prominently, an important way for the Chinese church to oppose foreign missionary organizations and Western traditions, and to seek self-reliance.34 While Samuel Lamb has personally been praised and given a level of attention consonant with his firm Christian faith, the fundamentalism of the house churches he represented lies beyond the vision of most research into Chinese Christianity. This may be due to the number of members in the house church led by Lamb being lower than that of the rural house churches in Henan, Zhejiang, and other regions in China, and the economic and educational level of his church members lagging behind that of the emerging “urban churches.” It may also be related to a strain of anonymous criticism within overseas Chinese Christianity (especially among Chinese theologians outside mainland China) 33 Clifford Geertz, Local Knowledge: Further Essays in Interpretive Anthropology (Basic Books,

1983).

34 Zhao Pan 趙盼, “Minguo shiqi Zhongguo jiyaopao de shengjing zhuyi yanjiu” 民國時期中

國基要派的聖經主義研究 [Research into the biblicism of Republican-Era Fundamentalist Christians], Jidujiao Xueshu基督教學術, 2016, Issue 2: 52–64. 251

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that is popular among young, well-educated, first-generation Christians. They see the simple and superficial pamphlets by Lamb as on par with preschool or elementary-school writings, failing to satisfy their higher intellectual pursuit of Christian religious knowledge. Some critics conclude that the “traditional house churches” do not pay attention to classical theology and doctrines, and are estranged from the historical tradition of the “Ecumenical Church.” They believe that such house churches will become (or should become) something in the past with the passing away of the old generation of fundamentalist leaders. On the day of Samuel Lamb’s death, one Christian media outlet in Hong Kong reported that the event marked “the end of an era.”35

Conclusion Wang Meixiu, a scholar of religious studies in China, writes: “Fundamentalists generally have a sense of mission, because they think that the struggle they are fighting is the will of the god they believe in, so their struggle is reasonable and must be victorious. This self-assigned sacred, righteous, legitimate status is the spiritual force that inspires and motivates fundamentalists to persevere over a long time.”36 In Wang’s essay and other scholars’ writings, the “fundamentalism” of Christianity and other religions are regarded as of the same type, so that the commonalities in the statement above may be drawn. However, the methodology of anthropology emphasizes that in addition to etic analysis by a researcher, a deep description of emic perspectives is indispensable. Where does the “sense of mission” of the fundamentalists come from? Do they admit that the legitimacy of their mission is “selfassigned”? Is their persistent “struggle” one of spiritual satisfaction, economic interest, political power, or religious monopoly? Or is it for the pursuit of transcendence beyond these? Among fundamentalist groups in mainland China, are their internal differences and conflicts, as well as their “struggle” against anti-fundamentalism, also part of the pursuit of these goals? These are all questions that merit further discussion. 35 Wang Xinyi 王新毅, “Zhongguo jiating jiaohui laoqianbei Lin Xiangao ronggui tianjia: yi

ge shidai de jieshu” 中國家庭教會老前輩林獻羔榮歸天家：一個時代的結束 [Elder statesman of the Chinese House Church returns to heavenly home in glory: the end of an era], Jidu Shibao 基督時報 August 3, 2013. 36 Wang Meixiu王美秀, “Xiandai jiyao zhuyi 現代基要主義” Shijie zongjiao wenhua 世界宗 教文化 (The World Religious Cultures), Beijing 1996 (1): 11–14. 252

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The empirical analysis of cultural anthropology reveals the fact that tradition often has unexpected and lasting vitality, while certain fashionable phenomena may not be sustainable. In Chinese Christianity, for example, the “Cultural Christians” fever that once attracted much attention and fostered great expectation in the 1990s, has long since disappeared. No theological theories have everlasting vitality and are able to shake the solid historical tradition of Christianity unless they are based on the approval of a broad base of believers and respond to their spiritual needs. Lam Wing-Hong used an idiom “qu gao he gua 曲高和 寡” (“highbrow songs find little audience”) to describe the constantly changing theological thought of China’s famous non-fundamentalist representative, Zhao Zichen.37 That idiom vividly summarizes the ideological distance and quantitative disparity between a few theological elite and the large number of grassroots believers and their pastors. In comparison, as the leader of a small grassroots church, Wang Mingdao had a wide influence outside his own church. As Leung Sau-wah wrote, “Wang Mingdao’s enterprising thought comes from his conservative belief in the Bible. Although his theology is not strictly contextual theology, but a thoroughly biblical theology, his evangelical faith not only has contextual meaning, but also real social effectiveness. . . . In reality, Christians have never been divorced from society, so it seems that their supramundane faith has essentially become the driving force of Christians’ real life. Although the fundamentalist or evangelical Chinese churches agree with or have even inherited Wang Mingdao’s evangelical beliefs to a great extent, they seem to have lost his paradoxical practical social power. Some people have interpreted Wang Mingdao through the pattern of belief of the contemporary Chinese church, so they come to the erroneous conclusion that Wang Mingdao’s beliefs are narrow, out of touch with reality and out of step with the times.”38 Such interpretations of Wang Mingdao over the past seventy years have been similarly extended to Samuel Lamb and his fundamentalist “traditional house church”—but this just shows that fundamentalism remains a living tradition and an abiding theology in the churches today in mainland China. 37 Lam Wing Hung 林榮洪, Qu gao he gua: Zhao Zichen de shengping ji shenxue 曲高和寡:

趙紫宸的生平及神學 (Hong Kong: China Graduate School of Theology, 1994). Zhao Zichen (T. C. Chao, 趙紫宸, 1888—1979) was Dean of Yenching Theological Seminary. 38 Leung Sau-Wah 梁壽華, “Chaoran xinyang de shehui shixiaoxing 超然信仰的社會實效 性,” in ed. Wang Xiaochao 王曉朝 and Daniel Yeung 楊熙楠, Xinyang yu shehui 信仰與社 會 (Guilin: Guangxi shifandaxue, 2006), 88–119. 253

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The history of more than two thousand years of Christianity, of five hundred years of Protestantism, and of more than two hundred years of Protestantism in China have proved that there have always been core traits that transcend time and space to sustain Christianity under severe pressure and challenge, so that it survives and is passed on from generation to generation. These key traits have been deeply embedded in the historical tradition of the church, and will not change despite their evolution in external manifestations. Theologically, this may be attributed to “unconditional election” and the “perseverance of saints” as summarized by John Calvin, but anthropologically, to observe, reveal, and analyze the Christian key traits contained in the diverse ideas and practices among Christian communities, and to accurately and objectively describe the different and, even seemingly contradictory, external manifestations of the key traits, should be a task for scholars who study Chinese Christianity.





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Chapter 12

CEASELESSLY SEEKING A PATH FOR THE CHINESE CHURCH Rev. Yang Shaotang He Aixia 賀愛霞, Shandong Theological Seminary and Divinity School of Chung Chi College, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

The question of what path the Chinese church should take is a concern that has occupied the minds of many Chinese pastors. One of the serious thinkers on this question in the last century was David Yang Shaotang 楊紹唐 (1898– 1969),1 labeled one of the “three giants” of the Chinese Church by the China Inland Mission missionary, Leslie T. Lyall.2 According to Lyall, Yang was widely respected in both mainstream and non-mainstream, missionary-run and independent, churches. Among his contemporaries, the preaching of Song Shangjie ( John Sung, 宋尚節) was likened to a strong wind and fire that provoked deep thought and pierced people’s hearts; the preaching of Wang Mingdao 王明道 to a scalpel to cut away the pride and self-righteousness of human nature, while the preaching of Yang was likened to spring rain that moistened all living things. 1 Leslie Lyall (1905–1996) gives Yang Shaotang’s dates as 1898–1966: see Three of China’s

Mighty Men (London: OMF, 1973); also in trans. Chang Lin-Man-Mei, Chen Kai-Yu, Wen Ru-Bin, and Yang Shu-Lian (Taipei: Olive Christian Foundation, May 1984). Yang Anxi 楊 安溪 (1930–2009), the son of Yang Shaotang gives Yang’s dates as 1900–1969 in “Before Jesus Died, Before Jesus Lived—Memories of My Father Rev. Yang Shaotang; see “Abundant Grace” website: http://www.wellsofgrace.com/resources/biography/yang.htm, accessed July 19, 2021. See also Li Yading 李亞丁, “Yang Shaotang” in Huaren jidujiao shi renwu cidian [Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity], https://tinyurl.com/5bz85sf7, accessed October 5, 2022. 2 Lyall, “Yang Shaotang: Man of Humility.”

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A student who exceled at North China Theological Seminary (NCTS) in the 1920s, Yang expended much energy exploring the ways to establish a self-governing, self-supporting, and self-propagating Chinese church, and to maintain a positive interaction with the North American Presbyterian Mission, the China Inland Mission and other missions and overseas missionaries. In Yang’s view, the hard work and dedication of missionaries over the past hundred years was self-evident and could scarcely be denied. He believed, however, that the traditional organization, rules, ways, and approaches of Christianity should no longer repeat the same old patterns and that there was “a great need for a new alignment with the truth of the Bible.”3 The aim of this article is to present the life of Yang and explore the insights in his writings on the future development of the Chinese church, with the hope of providing a reference point for the Sinicization of Christianity in China.

Biographical Sketch Yang Shaotang was born in 1898 to a Christian family in Quwo County in Shanxi Province, and attended Christian elementary primary and secondary schools. In the years following his birth, China faced exceptionally turbulent times, with the Boxer Rebellion, the decline of the Qing dynasty, the rise and fall of anti-Christian teachings, warlordism, and the chaos of the Republic of China. Yang did not, however, choose an easy path in response, and in 1923 entered North China Theological Seminary in Tengchou (Dengzhou), Shandong, to prepare to be a pastor. At the time, Jia Yuming 賈玉銘 and Ding Limei 丁立美 were teaching at the seminary, which was famous as a cradle for the training of native Chinese pastors.4 The North China seminary has long been considered by scholars a stronghold of the fundamentalist faith. In the summer of 1924, a spiritual training retreat at Guling in Jiangxi for students and faculty of NCTS left a deep impression on Yang, whose core faith—in the fundamentals of belief in the saving atonement of Jesus Christ and forgiveness of sins through Christ’s precious blood—led to a spiritual renewal in his life, that brought him to a stronger faith.5 During the retreat at Guling, he noted, 3 Yang Shaotang (David Yang 楊紹唐), Jiaohui luxian 教會路線 [The Path of the Church]

(Hong Kong: Zhengdao,1962), 28–29.

4 See Kevin Xiyi Yao, The Fundamentalist Movement Among Protestant Missionaries in

China,1920–1937 (New York: University Press of America, 2003).

5 Li Yading, “Yang Shaotang.”

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I did not pay much attention because I was confident that I was a saved man. From a child I had received an excellent religious education and I sincerely believed. Moreover, I was training at a theological college in preparation for serving the Lord in the future. How could it be that I was not saved? Nevertheless I asked the Lord not to let me return to college empty-handed. So, besides listening to the addresses, I was busy writing up my notes. But, praise the Lord, when I did not even know what grace was, in my weakness and ignorance the Lord saved me. There came to me a burden of sin which so weighed upon me and bound me that I said to myself, ‘If the Lord’s power to save is so limited and so insufficient to give me peace and deliverance then I really doubt if Jesus is alive at all.’ But thanks to my gracious Lord Jesus, early on the morning of the 7th of July He found this lost sheep. The blood of the Cross flowed into my heart and the burden of sin fell away. For the very first time I enjoyed a true relationship with Jesus Christ and from that day until now the Lord has continued to do His marvellous work in my life.6 Wang Zhongxiao has claimed that Jia Yuming regarded Yang Shaotang as his only spiritual son, showing the strength of his Christian lineage.7 In 1925, after his graduation, Yang returned to Shanxi to serve as a pastor. At that time, there were thirteen churches in the area of Quwo, and he took his hometown of Yangjiazhuang (楊家庄) as a central base from which to preach the gospel and travel around the area. In the face of the onslaught of the anti-Christian movement, Western missionaries withdrew from the region, with many fleeing to other coastal areas for refuge, and Yang advocated and promoted the path of self-governance, self-support, and self-propagation for the Chinese Church. He established a Spiritual Action Team (靈工團) to share and exchange problems that had arisen in pastoral work and to study the Bible together in an attempt to find appropriate solutions. After the Japanese invaded Quwo in 1938 during the War of Resistance against Japan, Yang became a thorn in the side of the Japanese as his church took care of many wounded Chinese soldiers. Yang was forced to leave his 6 Quoted in Leslie Lyall, “Yang Shaotang: Man of Humility” 20–21. 7 Wang Zhongxiao王忠孝, Zhailushang de beijing: xushu Jia Yuming mushi shengping toushi

Zhongguo jiaohui bainian shi 窄路上的背影—敘述賈玉銘牧師生平透視中國教會百年 史 (n.p., 2009), 77. 257

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hometown and flee to take refuge in Suiyuan Sarazi (present-day Tumo Zuqi in Inner Mongolia) for a year. During his period of exile, he organized Bible study groups in the area and helped refugees, together with missionaries from CIM. Yang subsequently had to move his family to Taiyuan (1939), then on to Tianjin (1939–1940), and finally Beiping (Beijing) until 1945. After victory and the cessation of war in 1945, Yang planned to return to his home church in Shanxi to continue his pastoral work. However, due to the outbreak of the civil war between the Communists and the Guomindang, he had to remain in Beiping. In 1946, Yang took up the post of a lecturer at Taidong Theological Seminary in Nanjing, which had been founded by Zhang Xuegong 張學恭, and established the Huangnigang 黄泥崗 Church. In 1948, he moved to Shanghai and taught at Zhong Hua Theological Seminary. After 1951 he took charge of the ministry of the Dihua North Road congregation (now the Church on Urumuqi Road, Shanghai). Following Liberation in 1949, and in keeping with the historical circumstances of the time, Yang responded to the Three-Self Reform Movement, which coincided with the goals he himself had been pursuing to establish a self-governing, self-supporting, and self-propagating indigenous Chinese church. Yang attended the National Conference of Chinese Christians in 1954 and was elected as one of the deputy Secretaries of the new organization, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement. For this reason Yang was criticized by Wang Mingdao as “a weak, compromised person.”8 During the Anti-Rightist Campaign in 1957, Yang was severely censured for his interaction with mainland missionaries and publicly criticized as a “cunning and vicious two-faced sectarian” and a “running dog of imperialism.”9 At the same time, because of his China Inland Mission 8 In September 1951, when Wang Mingdao was discussing with friends the accusations

against Yang, he wrote of Yang in his diary: “if one step is weak, every step is weak; dragging out an ignoble existence—how sad!” quoted in Ying Fuk-tsang 邢福增, “Geming zhi huo xia xili—Zhonggong jianguo chuqi de jiaohui “juren” Yang Shaotang 1949–1951”革命的 火下的洗禮—中國建國初期的教會「巨人」楊紹唐（1949–1951）[Baptized in the fires of revolution: the “giant” of the church Yang Shaotang in the early years of the PRC, 1949–51] in eds. Lin Zhiping 林治平 and Wu Xuxing 吳昶興, Kuayue sange shiji de chuanjiao yundong 1865–2015 跨越三個世紀的傳教運動（1865–2015—內地會來華一 百五十周年宣教論文集 [Christian missions spanning three centuries: essays on the 150th anniversary of CIM-OMF work in China] (Taipei: Yuzhou Guang, 2016), 263. 9 Zhai Meide 翟美德, “Padao renmin xinzangli de ren—jielu Yang Shaotang de liang mianpai mianmao” 爬到人民心臟裡的人—揭露楊紹唐的兩面派面貌, [The person who climbed into the hearts of the people—exposing Yang Shaotang’s two-faced nature] Tianfeng 天風, No. 563 (22 October 1958); Zhai Meide 翟美德, “Huangnigang jiaohui quzhu diguo 258

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background, he was also accused from within the church, and so faced attacks from both within and outside. In 1966, after the start of Cultural Revolution, Yang was designated a counter-revolutionary and required to undertake manual labor under the supervision of Red Guards. While faced with internal and external pressures in life, Yang’s son, Yang Anxi, once asked his father in tears in 1967, “Is there a future for the Church in China?” Yang replied, “As long as there are the prayers of the saints (both domestic and foreign), there is a future for the Church in China.”10 In his last months, Yang Shaotang liked to sing a hymn that was sung by the believers after the Boxer Rebellion: “In dying before Jesus, living before Jesus, a day is better than years; what is there to fear from others with the cross in front of us? If you can die early, you can go home early. If you want to know that you love the Lord, then see how you bear suffering: be clear about this and not muddled.”11 On February 29, 1969, Yang died of a myocardial infarction after being ordered to go out and pound ice on the floor of an alley in freezing weather while he was under supervised labor in Shanghai as a counter-revolutionary. Despite all of his sufferings and the injustices he suffered, he never lost faith in the future of the Church in China.

Church Publications Yang Shaotang authored more than ten books, and his writings are in plain language, easy to understand and much loved by his followers. His works include zhuyi zougou Yang Shaotang ji chengli gexin zuzhi de jingguo” 黃泥崗教會驅逐帝國主 義走狗楊紹唐冀成立革新組織的經過 [The Huangnigang church expels the imperialist running-dog Yang Shaotang and establishes a reformed organization] (Nanjing City Christian Three-Self Reform Committee Publication).Yang Anxi 楊安溪, “Sizai Yesu qian, huozai Yesu qian—huiyi we de fuqin Yang Shaotang mushi [Dying before Jesus, living before Jesus—remembering my father, Rev. Yang Shaotang” 死在耶穌前，活在耶穌前—回憶 我的父親楊紹唐牧師, http://wellsofgrace.com/resources/biography/yang.htm (December 2018). 10 Leslie Lyall, “Yang Shaotang: Man of Humility” in Lyall, Three of China’s Mighty Men, 33. 11 “死在耶穌前，活在耶穌前，這樣一天勝幾年，眼前十字架怕它作什麼，若能早 死早回家，要知你愛主, 先看你受苦, 清清楚楚不糊塗.” Yang Anxi, “Sizai Yesu qian, huozai Yesu qian.” 259

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bible studies and commentaries, sermon collections and devotional works, studies of Paul and a hymnal, published by both mainland and Hong Kong presses.12 From May 1950, he edited a Christian publication entitled Spiritual Ministry Newsletter (靈工通訊). After 1959, he was involved for many years until the Cultural Revolution began in 1966 in preparing and editing materials ready for writing a history of Christianity in China. Yang’s writings are mostly centered on two main themes: the problems of the church and the problems of workers. One of Yang’s best-known writings is God’s Workers, compiled by his student Wang Zhen from his sermons on the book of Corinthians preached in the summer of 1941 at the Beiping (Beijing) retreat meeting. Although Wang Zhen felt that his writing skills could not match up to Yang’s preaching, the book was printed and quickly distributed and reprinted. A second book, The Path of the Church was written between 1950 and 1951. Faced with the new political situation and unprecedented challenges and storms in the newly liberated China, Yang used his two-month sick leave in Moganshan to compile his long-term thinking on the Chinese church. As Lyall noted, this book, which was reprinted in 1962, drew on various aspects of his church and academic experience, including his pastoral experience in the 1920s and 30s, his experimental Spiritual Action Team, and lecturing at the Bible college.13 12 Yang Shaotang 楊紹唐, 教會與工人 [The Church and Workers] (Tianjin: Jidutu Fuyin

Shushi, 1941); 華東傳教人員退修會講道紀錄 [Sermon Records of the East China Missionary Retreat] (Shanghai: Huawen Yinshuaju, 1941); The Course of the Church (Hong Kong: Christian Witness Press, 1962); 神的工人—哥林多後書研經 [God’s Worker: A Bible Study on II Corinthians] (Hong Kong: Zhengdao, 1961); 得勝與得賞 [Victory and Reward] (Shanghai: Zhongguo Jidujiao Xiehui, 2000); and the following volumes with the Found Treasure Press 拾珍出版社in Hong Kong in 2005: 保羅的腳蹤—保羅如何得能力 [The Footsteps of Paul: How Paul became powerful]; 教會路線 [The Path of the Church, repr.); 聖 經綱要 [Summary of The Way of Life]; 講道集/ 靈修講題 [Sermon Collection/ Devotional Sermon Topics]. He also published 雅歌書注釋/ 雅歌書查經記錄 [Commentary on the Book of Song of Songs/ Bible Study on the Book of Song of Songs]; 依靠耶和華的人 [The One Who Depends On God]; 教會中同工的問題 [Problems of Co-Workers in the Church]; 約翰 壹書的信息 [The Message of I John]; 基督徒靈修集 [A Collection of Christian Devotions]; 靈工生命信息 [The Message of Spiritual Life]; 聖靈的引導 [The Guidance of the Holy Spirit]; 聖經概論[Introduction to the Bible]; 神的用人 [Servant of God]; 教會的四個基石 [The Four Cornerstones of the Church]; 教會詩歌 [Church Hymns]; 哥林多前書講壇 [Sermons on 1 Corinthians]; 毘努伊勒 [Peniel]. 13 Yang had earlier published a commentary on the Letters to the Seven Churches, entitled Victory and Reward.

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The new political situation led to the publication of several articles across four issues of the Spiritual Ministry Newsletter in 1950, contributions that have fortunately been preserved, and which were later summarized and edited into three articles: “The Basic Principles of the Church,” “The Unity of the Church,” and “The Established Church” and republished openly in Hong Kong. Another book, The Church and the Worker, offers a collection of sermons addressed to local churches. This volume shows that Yang did not advocate the reinstitution of denominations in the church but argued that the church of God should abandon human organizations and take the revealed truth of God’s Scriptures as its sole supreme rule. Yang confronted the denominationalism of his day head on yet did not look to divide the church into categories for denominational reasons. He preferred to promote unity in the church within the framework of seeking common ground while preserving difference. Victory and Reward is Yang’s exhortation to believers, a commentary on the seven churches in Revelation 2 to 3, urging them not to be complacent in the pursuit of truth but to stand the test and be active victors. The Spiritual Ministry Newsletter was founded by Yang in May 1950 in Shanghai to facilitate contact and information exchange among coworkers from different places. In June of the same year, Yang published an article in the Spiritual Ministry Newsletter expressing his views on the political environment. He emphasized that there was no conflict between Christianity and socialism, that Christians were not reactionary, and that even if true Christians “owned property,” “their property was dedicated for the Lord’s use and for the use of people.” In this shrewd elision of Christian and Marxist ideals, Yang suggested that Christians were, in other words, the “proletariat,” and that they had to “remove their selfishness to serve the Lord and to serve other people.” 14 It is clear that the Spiritual Ministry Newsletter reflected the challenges and responses of the Chinese church to the social changes of the time. Another collection of sermons taken from the monthly newsletter was published as an edited volume entitled The Way of Life, providing an introduction to the faith for readers. The four parts of the volume comprise writings on Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Church, and salvation. 14 Yang Shaotang 楊紹唐, “Jiaohui de luxian (xu qian)” 教會的路線 (續前) [The Path of the

Church], Linggong tongxun靈工通訊 No. 2 (1950), 7.

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Exploring the Path of the Church in China An analysis of the writings of Yang Shaotang highlights how he was constantly pursuing the truth of church government in the Bible based on his own practical thinking about the church. That is, as he writes, “To build up the house of God, according to the pattern shown on the mountain, with God Himself as the purpose.”15 Yang found ample evidence that believers were unclear about the church in particular and explained that “the true church is the church of all who are saints in Christ, purchased with a great price by the Lord Jesus, and washed in the blood. Even more clearly, every saint is a member of the church, so wherever there are saints, there is church. The saints are God in Christ, seeing that we have been washed in the blood of His Son and have entered by faith into the present grace. In the mind of God, whoever is faithful and courageous, is named a saint, and the saints are the church.”16 Yang Shaotang in his writing clearly set forth the true nature of the Church and the grounds of its unity. The contents were more positive and less controversial than in Watchman Nee’s sensational book Concerning Our Missions, later retitled The Normal Christian Life.17

The Four Cornerstones In Yang’s eyes, the path of the church is the way God has set for his church and the law that God has established. Yang fully recognized the historical efforts and contributions of the missionaries, and yet he also saw the important role of, and the inescapable responsibility of, the Chinese in the development of the Christian Church. He believed that “there is a great need to check the old habits, ways, organizations and rules with the truth of the Bible” and not to “go on to repeating the same pattern.” He set out the four basic principles or four cornerstones of the church: “the church is of God,” “the head of the church is Christ,” “the overseer of the church is the Holy Spirit,” and “the constitution of the church is the Bible.” What concerned Yang most was that the Chinese church first needed to clarify its affiliation and follow the path of unity, since the church had in reality become divided. He pointed out that half of the problem was the problem of preachers, and that was why the phenomenon of “drawing a circle and building a 15 Yang Shaotang, Jidutu lingxiu ji 基督徒靈修集 (Yunnan: Minzu Yinshuachang, 1992), 177. 16 Yang Shaotang, Jidutu lingxiu ji, 207. 17 Leslie Lyall, “Yang Shaotang: Man of Humility” in Lyall, Three of China’s Mighty Men (Lon-

don: OMF, 1973), 36.

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wall”—the division of the church into different parts—had occurred.18 He called on preachers to reflect on themselves, since if preachers were not united, there would never be unity in the church. At the same time, Yang observed that the visible church will ultimately be divided, and that he himself was often pessimistic, but he ultimately hoped for the unity of the spiritual church, which “has been realized in the hearts and minds of many saints today. . . . In the midst of this fragmentation, they serve one another with love, pray for one another in the Spirit, tear down walls, accept one another. Let us be united in one heart and one mind to ensure the flourishing of the gospel.”19 Yang’s observation of the actual situation in the church over the years also drew attention, secondly, to difficulties in the external forms of unity. As he pointed out, the unity of the church is not just a regulatory, organizational, or formal unity but a deeper one, and Yang believed that people should give up everything they had to join together the church of which they were a part. If they did not, this was not unity but a merger. Administrative unity was impossible, but spiritual unity was the essence of unity. Moreover, church renewal could not be achieved without “a spiritual vision” that was “inspired and discerning, that understood God’s plans and purposes as well as his laws and ways.”20 Yang consistently asserted that his emphasis on the way of the church concerned the establishment of a spiritual church. On this issue, he was somewhat distant from real-life considerations, and he stated bluntly: “The unity of the church that I am talking about here means that in the mind of some devout Christians, although they belong to different memberships and organizations from other brothers and sisters, they can break through these and transcend them, and they are one with all their heavenly brothers in Christ Jesus in prayer, compassion, and service toward the Lord.”21 Yang’s view of unity may be somewhat abstract, but his caution in dealing with different denominations and memberships is evident. Although he himself did not hide his “anti-denominational” stance,22 he believed that “Although there are Presbyterian churches, Baptist churches and so forth, these meet in the name of the Lord, and pray to God from their hearts and are willing to do the will of the Lord. Such churches are already his churches in God’s sight. . . . Although they still use the same old terms and methods, there 18 Yang Shaotang, Jiaohui luxian, 教會路線 (Hong Kong: Zhengdao, 1962), 28–29. 19 Yang Shaotang, Jiaohui luxian, 23–24. 20 Yang Shaotang, Jiaohui luxian, 41–42. 21 Yang Shaotang, Jiaohui luxian, 23–24. 22 Yang Shaotang, Jiaohui luxian, 39. 263

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is nothing wrong with their hearts being directed toward God, and all they lack is the knowledge of the truth. For such churches, it is not our job to turn people away, but to teach them to grow and exhort them to correct their errors.”23 Concerning the work of the Holy Spirit, the fourth of his cornerstones, Yang discerned that: there is little work of the Holy Spirit at present because there are too many problems with people, and in some places there was only a performativity, but no power, only a jumping around. . . . Sometimes one person is filled with the Holy Spirit, but despises those who are not filled with the Spirit; one person acts in accordance with the truth, but despises those who do not follow the truth; one person is holy, but hates that which was not of the holy ones. . . . This is a proof of the immaturity of our life, a balm in a jade bottle that has not been broken.24 Yang’s exploration concluded in positing that the path of the church in China rests entirely on the spiritual life of Christians and preachers. As he wrote on suffering, Persecution outside the church is not terrible, at most it may destroy the taller churches, ritual gatherings, and some less useful organizations, but it cannot damage in the slightest the lives of Christians, their faith and love for the Lord Jesus, nor can it prevent the actual growth of the church, but it will rather make the church more holy, and eliminate false believers and preachers, who do not benefit the Lord’s church in any way, but only add to the burden and corruption. For two thousand years, whenever there was persecution in the church, the church took root downwards and bore fruit upwards, and the church has grown in its suffering.25

Four Conditions for Nurturing Church Workers Nurturing the younger generation of the church was a concern close to Yang’s heart. He emphasized several aspects that needed attention: issues of life, of 23 Yang Shaotang, Jiaohui luxian, 40. 24 Yang Shaotang, Jidutu lingxiu ji, 60–61. 25 Yang Shaotang 楊紹唐, “Ni zhan zai na yi bian?” 你站在那一遍？[Where do you stand?]

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faith, of gifting, and of character. These four were the sine qua non for a young preacher, and each had to be present. Yang placed an especially high priority on the cultivation of the preacher. He believed that he should not only teach a young person to grow in knowledge but also teach them to develop character: without such training, the rest would be useless.26 Yang held that “if a preacher does not reach a certain level of personal cultivation, he cannot do his work, and if he does work, he will cause the church to suffer”27—that is, a preacher who lacks moral cultivation has no appeal in the church and can easily cause disunity or harm to the church. Yang also quoted from the scriptures, basing his ideas on all that Timothy had learned from Paul, not only in terms of teaching, but also in terms of character and ambition, faith and love, which were, in his estimation, far more important qualities. He reflected on whether there were such teachers and students in the seminaries today, entreating “How much the church today needs such preachers!”28 Yang often treated young church workers as true children born of the gospel and advised that they should be “connected in heart and soul, and receive from the heart, and behave in the same way in word and deed.”29 He often preached on the place of suffering in the Christian life, not as something to be avoided if at all possible, but as something to be welcomed, insofar as it was a fellowship in the sufferings of Christ. The theological education model that Yang favored was that of the mentorapprentice type, and he leaned toward the need for young preachers to be led by older servants, based on the biblical accounts of Timothy and Paul’s churchworker relationship. Rev. Wang Weifan 汪維藩, one of the most respected pastors in the Chinese church, credited his life of service with the selfless help and guidance of Yang Shaotang. Wang wrote prominently on the inside cover of his book Streams by the Path of the Cross, “To Pastor Yang, who has gone to rest from his labors and who was my first guide on the path to follow the Lord, written by Wang Weifan, January 2005.”30 For Yang, the perfection of the church was based on the life of unity, and the cross emphasized that the members who are different from each other are also united with each other and become one body, and that the reality of the church 26 Yang Shaotang, Jidutu lingxiu ji, 76–80. 27 Yang Shaotang, Jidutu lingxiu ji, 65. 28 Yang Shaotang, Jidutu lingxiu ji, 80. 29 Yang Shaotang, Jidutu lingxiu ji, 77. 30 Wang Weifan 汪維藩, Shijia lu pang de xishui 十架路旁的溪水 (Hong Kong: Guiji fuyin

zhengzhu xiehui, 2005), inner cover.

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is unity.31 The reasons for unity were, he noted, self-evident and include the fact that there is one body, one Holy Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God. Yang pointed to a common spiritual problem in the church at the time, which was the exaltation of revivalist preachers and other servants of God, and resulted in exalting people more than the Lord, and to people wanting an honorable name besides the honorable name of the Lord.32 And yet, despite his calls for unity and valorizing of others, Yang asked in his book The Path of the Church, “Consider the preachers of today, those who suffer and work hard, those who run for the Lord, those who devote themselves to the wilderness, and those who gain the most: are they of the pure faith (people call these the “old ones” or “fundamentalists”)? Or are they those of the new faith (social gospel proponents)?”33 More than once in his works, Yang emphasized that he held to the views of fundamentalism and even regarded the supporters of the Social Gospel as unbelievers, claiming “The churches of the new faith, they are simply unbelievers!”34 This can be considered a limitation of his generation, which ultimately failed to break out of the confines of the controversy between fundamentalism and liberalism in the Western Christian world in the 1920s and 1930s.

Local Missionary Guerrilla Group—the Spiritual Action Team In the 1930s, Yang Shaotang and Elizabeth Fischbacher, a CIM missionary, visited Shandong to observe the revival of the church there and to bring the flame of revival back to Quwo in Shanxi. In 1934, Yang founded the Spiritual Work Team in Houma, with a first batch of twenty students, who were personally led and taught by Yang as they studied the Bible and learned to live in fellowship with the Lord. Known as a “missionary guerrilla,”35 Yang later became the advisor to the Northwest Spiritual Work Ministry, communicating the vision of the program and helping to train Christians who wanted to travel to the Northwest. According to the explanation of one of the participants, Dawson Lee, the vision received by the group was to bring the gospel back to Jerusalem: “Christianity 31 Yang Shaotang, Jidutu lingxiu ji, 242–44. 32 Yang Shaotang (David Yang), Desheng yu deshang 得勝與得賞[Victory and Reward]

(Hong Kong: Christian Witness Press, 1961), 35. 33 Yang Shaotang, Jiaohui luxian, 78. 34 Yang Shaotang, Jidutu lingxiu ji, 109. 35 Ke Lu 客旅, “楊紹唐牧師簡歷” https://www.meipian.cn/25zyg2m, accessed November 1,

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is our faith, the northwest is our missionary direction, the spiritual work is the work of the Holy Spirit, and the mission is a team of workers of one heart and one mind.”36According to extant records, this evangelistic group of 115 Chinese Christians left their hometowns in eight batches and arrived in Hami, Xinjiang. The core of these workers were teachers, graduates, or students of the North China Theological Seminary such as Sun Qifeng 孫歧峰, Zhang Guquan 張谷 泉, and Li Shiying 李石英. Those who joined the Spiritual Action Team had to be willing to suffer and to leave behind all of their fields, houses, and possessions, and had to learn a way to make a living, giving up all of their income and holding all things in common. This local evangelistic group, birthed in the late 1940s, gradually entered Xinjiang from the east and headed westward to preach the gospel, with no foreign support or affiliation. Although the Northwest Spiritual Mission did not actually reach the expected goal of Jerusalem, and was only able to establish some Christian churches in Xinjiang centered around Hami, its missionary zeal and initiative have left a strong mark in Chinese church history. Pastor Zhang Guquan was personally moved to compose the song “Spiritual Ministry of the Northwest” to express the mission’s purpose, path, and direction.37 Pastor Jia Yuming wrote the calligraphy “This is a great journey” for the initiative, and Yang named the team the “Northwest Christian Spiritual Action Team.”38 Some 36 Zhao Jie 趙傑, “Chuanyue fengbao, zhisi zhongxin—daonian xibei linggongtuan shenpu

Li Daosheng” 穿越風暴, 至死忠心—悼念西北零工團神僕李道生 [Passing through storms, loyal to death: remembering Li Daosheng of the North-west Spiritual Ministry Team, a servant of God]. Jingjie 境界 accessed 07/29/2017; see also unofficial publication Zouzai Zi’an dadao shang—Li Daosheng huiyi lü 走在錫安大道上—李道生回憶錄, 24. 37 “The spiritual ministry of the north-west, the great revitalization of the last days. May brothers and sisters work hard at the Lord’s work. Do the Lord’s work, the Lord’s work, take the gospel back to Jerusalem. Crossing mountains and again traversing peaks; travelling on foot and by boat, opening up paths through wilderness and deserts. Divesting self of all to do the Lord’s will, shedding tears and sweat to follow the Lord’s footsteps. Speaking of the incarnation is no more than relying on the great power of the Lord. Men and women, young and old, all pledge to sacrifice, willing to shed blood to repay the Lord’s grace. He did not go to extremes or stand out from the crowd, but was a savior God who acted out of love, who cast away his own life. In the last days, the wild winds abound, demons exert their power, so many souls have fallen into the pit of sin. Arise, children of God! Save lost souls! Do not shirk from hardship or poverty. Tread the road to Zion, face Palestine. The banner of love is unfurled everywhere; the heart at rest. Welcome the Lord back to the Mount of Olives. Do the Lord’s work, the Lord’s work; may the Father’s will soon be complete. This is the Great commission, all brothers and sisters to whom it is entrusted should obey.” Zouzai Zi’an dadao shang, 50. 38 Zouzai Zi’an dadao shang, 5, 50. 267

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church members even regarded Pastor Yang as the spiritual leader of the ministry team, and the initiative can be seen as a concrete manifestation of Yang’s years of theological reflection.39

[128.104.46.206] Project MUSE (2024-04-07 01:48 GMT) UW-Madison Libraries

Conclusion Yang Shaotang was widely loved and respected by Chinese Christians across the church spectrum, and a humble man praised as a “giant” by foreign missionaries. Throughout his life, he remained committed to the path of self-governance, self-support, and self-propagation of the Chinese church. Even when attacked by other fundamentalists for joining the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, accused in the anti-Rightist Campaign, or despised for straddling two different church camps, he never gave up his faith or desire for a pure church. Yang offers an example of someone whose theological views were close to those of better known fundamentalists like Wang Mingdao or Ni Tuosheng, yet whose ecclesial vision was considerably wider and who held (for the most part) firmly to the notion of a united Chinese church, a vision that cost him friends and colleagues. Yang’s emphasis on the “spiritual” church is important: holding that it was perfectly possible to be separated in worship and in administrative structures, but united in Christ spiritually. In thinking about the path of the church in China, Yang realized the importance of unity over merging and felt strongly the urgency of training church workers. In following fundamentalist teachings, he gave priority to dealing seriously with the problem of sin in human nature while allowing the demands for social improvement or the needs of the social community to take a back seat. He emphasized other-worldly teaching. He was a conservative and narrow-minded in his theology but never stopped pursuing the path of the Chinese church with an openness to accepting difference. As a result, Yang’s path for the Chinese churches continues to resonate and have an impact on the thinking of the church today: he was a true ecumenical of his time.

39 Oral history account given to the author on May 25, 2021 at Shandong Seminary by Zhang

Guanying 章冠英; Zhang accompanied Wang Mingdao for a decade and is an important witness to Wang Mingdao’s later life. 268

INDEX Abbot, Paul R. 18 Anderson, Allan 46 atonement 36–37, 39–40, 240, 256 Augustine 131–32 Azusa Street Revival 30–31, 34–35, 37–38, 40, 43–45

Ding Limei (also as Ting Lee Mei) 18, 22 Dutch Neo-Calvinism 69–88

Bavink, Herman, 71, 73–78, 81, 83, 85, 87 Bays, Daniel 27–28 Boxer Movement 6

Family, Christian family order 56–62 female church leadership 53–56 fundamentalism 214, 216, 228, 230, 232, 235, 239–43, 247–48, 251–53, 266

Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion 113–14, 117–18, 129 Calvinist Reformed thinking 51, 54, 65 Calvinism 24, 69–70 Neo-Calvinism 69–88 Cao Nanlai 50, 86 Cessationism 40 Chao, Jonathan (Zhao Tianen), 70, 72–73, 78 charismatic gifts 40 practices, experiences 25, 29, 45–47, 54–55, 246 charismatic female leadership 50, 53, 66 Chow, Alexander 65, 133, 198 Complementarianism 57–58 Confucianism 66, 214–15, 228–33 deification 187–93, 196–203, 205–06, 208–09

economy, God’s economy 199–202, 206, 208 ecumenism 154, 237, 247, 252, 268

Garr, Lillian 30, 34 Garr, Alfred G. 30, 34–35, 37–38, 41–45 gender relations 56–62 Gospel of John 91–92, 98–104, 109 grace 36–38, 43, 56, 69–70, 72–79, 81–88, 103, 113, 115–16, 126, 183, 191, 197–98, 200, 246, 257, 262 Universal grace 162, 164, 171, 182 Hayes, Watson 14, 21–23, 72, 135 healing 8, 11, 13, 31, 39–42, 53 Hesychasm 191–92, 208 Holiness Movement 37–38, 40 Holiness Pentecostalism 37–38, 46 Hong Kong Pentecostal Mission 27, 30–33, 36, 38–39, 43–46 Hu Zhenqing 159 human, theology of the human 91–92 Iap Sian-chin 47 Ignatious of Antioch 164

INdex

indigenous (bense) movements 5, 21, 24, 26, 187, 193, 231, 258 indigenous interpretations 31, 38, 46 indigenous Pentecostal churches 6, 27–28, 30–31, 50, 157 Inouye, Melissa Wei-Tsing 47

Methodism 79 Millenarianism 246 millennial reign 32 Mok Lai Chi 30, 33, 35, 40, 42 Monsen, Marie 4–5 mystical tradition 131–34, 151, 155 Mystical union 209

Jesus Family 27 Jia Yuming, 18, 132–44, 151–53, 219, 247, 256–57, 267 Rationalizing spirituality 140–41 Spiritualized rationality 142 Christ-human 143 Wanquan jiufa 143 Jin Mingri 82

Nee, Watchman (Ni Tuosheng) 91–211 Doctrine of humanity 91–98 The Spiritual Man 73, 92, 95, 105, 136–38, 157, 195 The Normal Christian Life 113–17, 129, 262 Spiritual Life and Faithful Life 105–12 Babylonian captivity 162 renewal of the mind 148 theology of Submission and Joy 173–80 Neo-Calvinism 69–70 Ni Tuosheng, see Nee, Watchman North China Theological Seminary 14, 22, 72, 241, 256, 267 Northern Presbyterian Shandong Mission (NPSM) 3–4, 15, 18, 21, 24–26

Kangas, Ron 197, 202 Keswick tradition, Keswick convention 113, 129, 144, 154, 199 King, Martin Luther 159, 163 Koruzhiy, Sergey 191–92 Kuyper, Abraham 70–78 Lamb, Samuel 235–54 Baptist Spiritual Voice Hymns 245 Spiritual Voice Series 245–48 Latter Rain 33–34, 43 Lee, Witness (Li Changshou) 193–97 Li Daohui (Li Dao Hwai) 17 Lian, Xi 28 Lin Xian’gao, see Samuel Lamb Little Flock (also as Christian Assembly, Local Church; and see Watchman Nee) 157, 195 London Missionary Society 215 Louth, Andrew 190–91, 203 Luther, Martin 36, 138, 152, 209 Lyall, Leslie 223, 228, 255, 260

ordo salutis 140 Orthodox Church 187–93, 197–99, 208–10 Pentecostal Truths 30–46 Pentecostalism 3, 24, 25–26, 28–47 Pietism 113, 129, 131, 134, 151–55, 214 pray-reading, practice of 207 premillennialism 33, 220 Presbyterian mission, see Northern Presbyterian Shandong Mission 270

INdex

Prison theology 157, 160–65, 181, 184–85

TULIP 80, 82 urban churches 50–51, 53

Red Cross church 52 reform through labor (laogai) 165 Reformed theology 50–51, 53–54, 70, 72–73, 80–81 regeneration 38, 77, 81, 83, 115, 123, 197–98, 201–03, 213–14, 220, 222 Robbins, Joel 29 sanctification 31, 36–40, 43–44, 113–17, 121–29, 133, 140, 143, 147–48, 175, 180, 184, 189, 193, 198–99, 201–09, 213, 220, 228 Shandong Revival 4, 12, 24–25 single women 62–64 Sino-Foreign Protestant Establishment 27 Sino-Japanese War 4, 12, 22–24 Small, Elizabeth 16 Song Shangjie ( John Sung) 4, 222, 255 Song, Baiyu 133, 222 sonship 201, 203, 205 Speer, Robert E. 14, 22 Spirit baptism 43–44 Spiritual Gifts Movement 3–25 Spiritual life 57, 91–92, 95, 104, 109–11, 135, 146, 148, 174, 184, 264 Starr, Chloë 52 theology of Culture 85–86 theosis, see deification Three-Self Patriotic Movement 213, 242, 268 Tong, Stephen 73, 78 total depravity 139 Trinity 82, 132, 171, 174, 181, 184, 200, 237–39, 244, 249 True Jesus Church 27, 47

Van Til, Cornelius 70, 72, 74–78 Wang Mingdao 4, 83, 159, 213–33, 236, 240, 243–44, 248, 253, 255, 258, 268 Biblicism 214, 216–18 Moral teachings 219–23 Fundamentalism 216, 216, 230, 232 Confucianism 215, 228–33 Wang Weifan 265 Wang Yi 82 Weixian Presbytery 23 Wenzhou Consensus 84 Wenzhou Reformed House Church 70, 82–86 Wesley, John 36 Westminster Confession of Faith 51, 54, 56, 81, 246 Westminster catechism 51, 54, 56 Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia) 71–72 wife, role of 58–60 women Career women 51 Female church leadership 53–56 Wu Leichuan 133 Wu Yaozong 224–25, 232 Yang Shaotang 255–68 Spiritual Action Team 257, 260, 266–67 The Path of the Church 260, 266 Spiritual Ministry Newsletter 260–61 Northwest Spiritual Mission 267 Zhao Zichen 133, 198, 224, 241, 253 271