Contested Visions of “Future China”: American Evangelical Eschatology and the Geopolitical Imagination (1970s–2000s)

This paper examines how divergent American evangelical eschatological frameworks generate distinct visions of and political responses to a “future China.” Existing scholarship on American evangelicals and China often focuses on strategic engagement during the Reform and Opening period, neglecting how internal theological diversity and competing genealogies shaped divergent evangelical responses to Sino-American affairs. This paper compares how Billy Graham and Jerry Falwell developed distinct missionary and political strategies toward China. Although both operated within a premillennial framework, they articulated different geopolitical visions of China’s future, either as a potential Christian power or as an apocalyptic threat. Drawing on underutilized archival materials from the Billy Graham Center and the Jerry Falwell Library, the paper highlights how competing evangelical visions of “future China” informed divergent forms of transnational activism and contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the complex role American evangelicals play in mediating contemporary Sino-American relations.