Missionary primitivism and Chinese modernity : : the brethren in twentieth-century China / / by David Woodbridge.

• Superior document: Studies in Christian Mission; volume54
• VerfasserIn: Woodbridge, David,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden Boston : : BRILL,, 2019.
• Year of Publication: 2019
• Language: English
• Series: Studies in Christian Mission; volume54.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (173 pages).

In Missionary Primitivism and Chinese Modernity: the Brethren in Twentieth-Century China, David Woodbridge offers an account of a little-known Protestant missionary group. Often depicted as extreme and marginal, the Brethren were in fact an influential force within modern evangelicalism. They sought to recreate the life of the primitive church, and to replicate the simplicity and dynamism of its missionary work. Using newly-released archive material, Woodbridge examines the activities of Brethren missionaries in diverse locations across China, from the cosmopolitan treaty ports to the Mongolian and Tibetan frontiers. The book presents a fascinating encounter between primitivist missionaries and a modernising China, and reveals the important role of the Brethren in the development of Chinese Christianity.

Table of Contents

Front Matter -- Copyright page -- Acknowledgements -- Illustrations -- Abbreviations -- Note on Sources -- Introduction -- Living by Faith: Brethren Missionaries in the Modern World -- ‘So Far from This Land as China’: the Primitivism of Watchman Nee -- ‘To the Uttermost Part’: Reginald Sturt and the Evangelisation of the Mongols -- Primitivism and Politics: the Echoes of Service Mission to Tibet -- Missionary Primitivism versus Chinese Modernity: Fallout from the Withdrawal from China -- Conclusion -- Back Matter -- Bibliography -- Index.