"The Light from the Other Shore”: The Rise of Public Christianity in Contemporary China

CSWR 20206 Hackett Lecture with Xi Lian In post-Mao China, amid a widespread crisis of belief beginning in the 1980s, an assertive, homegrown Christianity emerged in the public sphere, proclaiming a transcendent truth and offering a new moral compass. Christian ideas went on to shape innovative intellectual and artistic movements, influencing the cultural mainstream, while also inspiring morally driven—sometimes idealistic and even tragic—forms of political and social activism in support of democracy and human rights. Xi Lian is the David C. Steinmetz Distinguished Professor of World Christianity at Duke Divinity School and the author of The Conversion of Missionaries, Redeemed by Fire, and Blood Letters. For more CSWR Annual Lectures: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/research... For more on the Center for the Study of World Religions: https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/