Exporting Progressivism to Communist China

How New York's Union Seminary Liberalized Christianity in Twentieth-Century China

Christopher D. Sneller

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2023
• ISBN:
  9781666759297
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: History of Christianity

Using new archival research, this book shows how Union Theological Seminary exported progressive Christianity to Communist China. Founded in 1836, the New York seminary disseminated its version of Christianity to China through its alumni. From 1911 to 1949, 196 Union alumni went to China. Thirty-nine of these former students were Chinese nationals. Many of these Chinese students--such as Y. T. Wu (Wu Yaozong), K. H. Ting (Ding Guangxun), John Sung (Song Shangjie), and Timothy Tingfang Lew (Liu Tingfang)--became key leaders in the Sino-Foreign Protestant Establishment and the Three-Self Patriotic Movement. The school became a dense hub of influential Chinese and American Christians. Union's role in liberalizing and indigenizing Christianity in twentieth-century China has been largely unnoticed, until now.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• List of Abbreviations
• Part I: The Historical Backdrop
• Part II: Union Seminary Exports a Dense Social Network
• Part III: Union Seminary Exports a Progressive Theology
• Appendix A: Prominent Chinese Names in Publication
• Appendix B: Union Alumni (1900–1950) in Chinese Higher Education
• Appendix C: Top Last Schools Attended in China for Students in American Colleges and Universities, 1854–1953
• Appendix D: American Colleges and Universities Granting Degrees to Chinese Students, 1854–1953
• Appendix E: Luce Dinner for Churchill
• Appendix F: China Alumni Association of Union Theological Seminary
• Bibliography