Faithful Disobedience: Writings on Church and State from a Chinese House Church Movement

In this eye-opening compendium, Nation and Tseng collect essays, letters, and other writings by Chinese Christian leaders on China’s “house church” movement, which describes the rise of “unregistered” Christian churches that operate outside the oversight of the Chinese government. In the introduction, Nation pushes back against the notion that the “house church” movement is composed of small gatherings and notes that many congregations are large, lively, and intellectually engaged. Most of the contributions come from pastor Wang Yi, who in 2019 was sentenced to nine years in prison for founding the Early Rain Covenant Church. He contemplates how a Christian church can function effectively within a hostile political culture and contends that faith should not submit itself to a “managerial department.” His “Ninety-Five Theses” outlines the philosophy of the movement, quoting from the Gospel of Matthew to suggest that the state has no business interfering with the faith of its citizens. Nation and Tseng succeed in collecting a rich bounty of primary texts that provide an invaluable understanding of the movement, and the focus on Wang Yi’s writings benefits from his erudition and resolve. Revealing and wide-ranging, this is an essential companion to understanding contemporary Chinese Christianity. (Dec.)