H499 Christianity in China (1600-1949): Historical Impact and Interpretations (II)
- Course Code:
- 154800269
- Status:
- Course Not Running 2012/2013
- Unit value:
- 1
- Year of study:
- Year 3 of 3 or Year 4 of 4
- Taught in:
- Full Year
Objectives and learning outcomes of the course
Aims of Course:
At the end of the course, a student should be able to develop an understanding of the key issues relating to the development of Christianity in China, with particular reference to historical methodology. Students should gain an awareness of the various approaches (religious and social history, study of ethnic identity) and issues developed within this course. They should develop a range of study and basic research skills relevant to an understanding of Chinese history, as well as their own professional and personal interests through participation in the course; this is particularly the case for students who have already studied aspects of Chinese civilisation and/or Christianity. Students are finally invited to appreciate the variety of cultural values, in particular with respect to Christianity, to tolerance between religious (and secular) communities.
Expected Outcomes:
This 500-level long essay course is intended as a companion to the special subject course Christianity in China (1600-1949): Historical Impact and Interpretations (I). It is available in years when the latter course is being offered to students, i.e. whenever the alternative course in the rotating pattern of special subject courses is not running. Students must have attended Christianity in China (I) and should thus have a sufficiently deep insight into both the subject matter as well as into the nature and availability of source materials.
By the end of this “long essay” course, students can expect to have gained concrete insight into the text-critical analysis of primary sources. This will also allow students to interpret the secondary texts read for Christianity in China (I) in a new light. The methodological skills thus gained are fully transferable to other historical subjects and can be regarded as a good preparation for later work at postgraduate level.
Workload
The course will be taught over twenty-two weeks. There will be a maximum of ten contact hours per week.Scope and syllabus
The same study aims as for the special subject course Christianity in China apply. In summary, these are:
- To deepen students’ insight into Chinese history.
- To analyse the historical development of Christianity in China.
- To introduce socio-religious phenomena such as inculturation, indigenisation and persecution.
- To train students in the use of historical source materials, with particular emphasis on missionary sources contained in the SOAS Library (Special Collections) and in other missionary archives in London
The long essay is mainly based on sources from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth century.
Method of assessment
One ten thousand word essay to be produced in term three.Suggested reading
- David Cheung (Chen Yiqiang), Christianity in Modern China. The Making of the First Native Protestant Church, Leiden: Brill, 2004.
- Dan Cui, The cultural contribution of British Protestant missionaries and British-American cooperation to China's national development during the 1920s, Lanham: UPA, 1998.
- Ryan Dunch, Fuzhou Protestants and the making of a modern China, 1857-1927, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.
- Irene Eber, The Jewish Bishop and the Chinese Bible: S.I.J. Schereschewsky (1831-1906), Leiden: Brill, 1999.
- Marián Gálik, Influence, translation, and parallels: Selected studies on the Bible in China, Sankt Augustin: Monumenta Serica Institute, 2004.
- Jacques Gernet, China and the Christian Impact: A Conflict of Cultures, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
- Lars P. Laamann, Christian Heretics in Late Imperial China: Christian Inculturation and State Control, 1720-1850, Abingdon: Routledge, 2006.
- Joseph Lee, The Bible and the gun: Christianity in South China, 1860-1900, NY: Routledge, 2003.
- Kathleen L. Lodwick, Crusaders against opium: Protestant missionaries in China, 1874-1917, Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1995.
- Jessie Gregory Lutz, China and the Christian colleges, 1850-1950, Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1971.
- George Minamiki, The Chinese rites controversy: From its beginning to modern times, Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1985.
- Nicholas Standaert and Adrianus Dudink (eds), Forgive Us Our Sins: Confession in Late Ming and Early Qing China, (Monumenta Serica Monograph Series LV), Sankt Augustin / Nettetal: Steyler Verlag, 2006.
- Jean-Paul Wiest & Edmond Tang (eds), The Catholic Church in modern China: perspectives, Maryknoll (New York): Orbis Books, 1993.
- Yip Ka-che, The Anti-Christian Movements of 1920-27: With Special Reference to the Experience of Protestant Missions, New York: Columbia University Press, 1970.
- Jost Oliver Zetzsche, The Bible in China: The history of the Union Version or The culmination of Protestant missionary Bible translation in China, Sankt Augustin: Monumenta Serica Institute, 1999.
- Angela Zito, Of Body and Brush: Grand Sacrifice as Text / Performance in Eighteenth Century China, Chicago: University of California Press, 1997.
- Erik Zürcher, Nicolas Standaert and Adrianus Dudink, Bibliography of the Jesuit Mission in China (ca. 1580 - ca. 1680), Leiden: Centre of Non-Western Studies (Leiden University), 1991.
