Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical

China

Select a Category Atonement Biblical Theology Book Reviews China Chinese Church Chinese Culture Chinese Language Collectivism Contextualization Culture (General) Ecclesiology Evangelism Gospel Honor & Shame (Face) Interpretation/Exegesis Justification/Righteousness Missiology Mission Methods One Gospel for All Nations Other Practical Contextualization Reading Romans with Eastern Eyes Resources Romans Salvation (General) Saving God's Face Seeking God's Face The Cross in Context Theological Contextualization Theological Education Theology Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012

February 2017

February 07, 2017

Educated Chinese Christians and Wang Mingdao’s Popular Theology

Why do educated Chinese Christians both believe and leave the church? And does Wang Mingdao's...

January 2017

January 31, 2017

Students “borrow points” to pass test

Here are a few noteworthy articles reflecting on contemporary Chinese culture. 1. “Teachers Loan Students Points to...

January 24, 2017

Why collectivists grow rice and individualists grow wheat

One of my favorite books is Richard Nisbitt’s Geography of Thought, where he surveys many...

January 18, 2017

Advice for Chinese Returning to China

A Chinese student in the States emailed me recently with a question that I know others...

January 17, 2017

Contextualizing Christmas in China

If you are interested in contextualization in China, you might want to check out Ruth...

December 2016

December 28, 2016

Recovering an Asian Perspective of Grace

A recent post at The Gospel Coalition tried to explain why many Asians struggle to...

November 2016

November 07, 2016

ChinaSource Podcast on Contextualization and Chinese Culture

ChinaSource recently posted an interview between Joann Pittman, Sam Chan and I. I am grateful...

November 02, 2016

Must Chinese elders have believing children?

What qualifies a person to be a pastor? Are you aware of a controversial translation...

October 2016

October 16, 2016

China is serious this time

The Chinese government is serious about implementing their recently announced religious guidelines. This past week,...

September 2016

September 13, 2016

Using Chinese to Teach Hebrew

As I've said many times before, the Chinese church needs more teaching in the original...

September 06, 2016

If you give praise, you and they will lose face.

Working in strong honor-shame cultures should make us rethink assumptions about leading others. For example,...

August 2016

August 30, 2016

Recent Insights into Chinese Culture

Two recent articles well illustrate some important dynamics within contemporary Chinese culture. They further show...

August 16, 2016

Review of Ten Elshof’s “Confucius for Christians”

If you want to see an example of good contextualization, read Gregg Ten Elshof’s Confucius...

August 09, 2016

Can we be Confucian Christians?

This post introduces you to Gregg Ten Elshof’s Confucius for Christians by responding to (what...

April 2016

April 13, 2016

5 Problems with the “Plan of Salvation” in China (and other Honor-Shame Cultures)

From an honor-shame perspective, the “Plan of Salvation” (POS) has a number of problems. By...

February 2016

February 17, 2016

Grace, Gift-giving, and Guanxi in Chinese Culture

Recently, a student generously gave me brewed coffee, to which I said thank you. On...

November 2015

November 04, 2015

Scoring the Shame of Chinese Citizens

It appears that the Chinese government will begin a new age of persecution. According to...

October 2015

October 20, 2015

More tips for teaching theology in Chinese

This post gives a number of suggestions for learning and teaching theological concepts in Chinese....

October 15, 2015

3 Tips for Teaching Theology in Chinese (and other languages)

Practically speaking, how can people learn and teach theological ideas in Chinese (or any other...

October 13, 2015

Teaching Theology in Chinese

I once sat in a meeting with a group of new missionaries being sent to...

October 07, 2015

Pastor Centered Chinese Churches

What image comes to mind when you think of a Chinese pastor? Meek and mild?...

January 2015

January 28, 2015

Nik Ripken on the Chinese Christian Context

Nik Ripken offers a rather succinct but helpful summary of the situation many Chinese Christians...

January 26, 2015

China shames tourists

As my friend put it, you know that honor and shame are important to a...

January 13, 2015

Global China Center Reviews "Saving God's Face"

Over at Global China Center, Dr. G. Wright Doyle has written a very thoughtful review...

January 08, 2015

Why Chinese don’t contextualize theology

I often hear people say that missionaries are not the people who should be doing...

December 2014

December 31, 2014

First class Chinese ingenuity

Here is a fun story that illustrates so well the ingenuity of the Chinese mind....

September 2014

September 24, 2014

Why and how to talk about “face” in China

Why and how might the mianzi/lian distinction shape our conversations with Chinese Christians and non-Christians?...

September 16, 2014

Explaining “Face” Using Lian and Mianzi

Both in Saving God’s Face and on this blog, I have highlighted a slight distinction...

September 09, 2014

Honor and Shame across Generations in China

How are honor and shame expressed differently across generations in China? Someone recently emailed me...

August 2014

August 21, 2014

How to Babel on the Gospel in China

I want to briefly illustrate the idea from my previous post. I suggested that it...