Spirit(s) and Chinese Religiosity

This open access book offers a fresh perspective on the history of Chinese Christianity, retelling it through the lens of Pentecost (Acts 2) to illuminate the rise of Pentecostal and charismatic Christianity in China from the 20th century onward. Parting from traditional academic studies of Chinese Pentecostalism, Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity in China from the 20th century onward. Parting from traditional academic studies of Chinese Pentecostalism, the author departs from beginning with the early 20th-century introduction of the Pentecostal movement to China, and instead examines the deeper historical and theological roots of Chinese Christianity. In identifying this gap, the author argues that China’s rich religious and cultural context—shaped by a pantheon of spirits and ghosts—provided a fertile ground for the acceptance and flourishing of modern Pentecostal thought and practice. Through this innovative analysis, the book connects Pentecostalism’s global emergence with the unique spiritual landscape of China, offering new insights into both Chinese and Pentecostal Christian history. It is an important read for scholars of religious history and theology.

Dr. Jacob Chengwei Feng is a Lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of California, Irvine, and a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Center for Missiological Research (CMR) at Fuller Theological Seminary. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Theological Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. He is the Leader of the Theology Interest Group at the Society for Pentecostal Studies (SPS), a Fellow at Oxford Interfaith Forum, and an Academic Researcher at the Asia Research Center (ARC). He lives in Southern California, with his wife and college-age daughter.

Although we are currently served with numerous histories of the Church in China, Dr. Chengwei (Jacob) Feng's Spirit(s) and Chinese Religiosity provides a whole new angle by Retelling the History of Chinese Christianity from a Pentecost Perspective. This bold move goes against the grain and argues for the centrality of the Holy Spirit in the Chinese narrative. Not only that but it links Christian pneumatology critically with the long line of ancient religious-philosophical spirit-talk, thereby also seeking to defeat the common misconception about the rise of the Charismatic movements as merely foreign products strange to Chinese religiosity and ethos.

     - Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Fuller Theological Seminary and University of Helsinki