A New History of Christianity in China

In this new book, one of the world's the leading writers in the field, looks at Christianity's long history in China, its extraordinarily rapid rise in the last half of the twentieth century, and charts its future direction.

Bays expertly tracks the expansion of Christianity in China from the seventh century to the present day, charting how a religion first brought into China by a foreign mission has been adapted by the local population into part of their religious landscape. Beginning with the Nestorian mission in the seventh century, Bays presents a bold reinterpretation which reveals a process that was closely bound up with national and local politics. The account moves through the expansion of Christianity in the Dynastic era, its survival under fire in the mid-1900s, and the growth of the Chinese Church from the end of the Cultural Revolution to the early twenty-first century.

The book concludes with an examination of the way in which China is both similar to and different from other non-Western societies-for example Africa, Korea, Indonesia, and the Pacific Islands-where Christianity is surging. Throughout, A New History of Christianity in China offers a broad scope and incorporates the major scholarship of the last 30 years, weaving a balanced narrative of Christianity's long history in China, tracing its transformation from an imported, Western religion to a thoroughly Chinese religion today.