Take Dominion of China: Christian Reconstructionism in Chinese Christianity

The new generations of Chinese urban elite Christians have been searching for an intellectually robust political theology to guide their cultural ambition and their reformist drive. Some of their recent discourse, for example their endorsement of American Christian nationalism, their hostility toward the ordination of women, and their rejection of separation of church and state, calls into question what kind of political theology that had influenced them the most. In the case of Wang Zhiyong and Yu Jie, two influential and outspoken Chinese Christian leaders of the 21st century, the answer is clear by their own admission. They adopted Christian Reconstructionism, sometimes also called theonomy, of American fundamentalists such as Rousas Rushdoony and Gary North. This school of thought was an offshoot of conservative Calvinism in the style of Westminster Theological Seminary. It calls for the direct application of Old Testament civil laws to contemporary society, and was often considered an intellectual backbone of the modern Christian Right.

The question this paper asks, then, is how such an obscure American political theology made its way across the globe to China, and came to be favored by many Chinese Christians. As a study of intellectual and cultural history, this paper traces the encounter and the mutual influence between two movements in Chinese Christian history. One is the emerging urban elite Christians in China. These Christians may have first converted in more traditional “house churches,” but were now searching for a more robust public theology to offset what they perceived to be the overly escapist and pietistic attitude of their old churches. Some among them who had been political dissidents were further searching for a theological critique of communism and state repression of religion.

The other movement was Christian Reconstructionism, or theonomy, as transmitted in the works of conservative Calvinist missionaries of Jonathan Chao, Stephen Tong, and Samuel Ling. With intellectual roots in the conservative Reformed Presbyterianism and Westminster Theological Seminary, these missionaries propagated a particular kind of theonomy built upon the “presuppositionism” of Cornelius Van Til. Their own history of involvement in the American anticommunist movement had turned what was a fundamentally anti-liberal and antidemocratic political theology into one that ostensibly endorses American liberty, but with the caveat that said liberty came exclusively from strict Reformed theology, and therefore requires Calvinism to be maintained.

These two movements seem to have little overlap at first glance, but historical contingencies have paved the way for them to merge. The Calvinist missionaries had located several points of resonance, and they packaged their message to speak on those topics. The first was anticommunism. By setting up the Reformed doctrine of total depravity as a contrast against communism’s “faith in men” to build an earthly paradise, these missionaries glossed over long periods of history when their own theological tradition remained hostile towards American liberty and democracy, and showcased their branch of Calvinism as an essential force for social liberalization. Their converts, many of whom had paid dearly and personally for their political dissidence, found their demonstration convincing.

The second point of resonance was church organization. The urban elite Christians, while respecting the old patrons of “house churches” who endured religious persecution, had also found the traditional “house churches” too much centered on charismatic leaders, too unorganized, and too easily influenced by heresies inspired by Chinese folk religion. In their search for a coherent and historical theological system to thwart heresy and to establish church bylaws, they found themselves drawn to Christian Reconstruction thoughts. With its emphasis on Biblical law and a Biblicist principle of church organization – with strict patriarchy that demands obedience – Christian Reconstruction thoughts proved appealing to many who were searching for just such a strict legal system.

By drawing on both the American “return missionaries” and Chinese Christians, this paper bridges a gap in our knowledge of modern and contemporary Chinese Christianity. The turn of some Chinese Christian leaders to a kind of Christianity modelled after conservative American Christianity cannot be explained merely by the story of Chinese Christianity alone. The paper is thus a study in transpacific world Christianity, where the contingencies in one theological tradition opened way in another.