Baptized in the Fire of Revolution: The American Social Gospel and the YMCA in China, 1919-1937

Jun Xing

thg 1 1996 · Lehigh University Press

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"The efforts made by YMCA secretaries, as the administrative officers were called, to apply social gospel ideas to China's political, social, and cultural environment provides a unique perspective on the history of cross-cultural interaction, or rather collisions, between the two countries born of different civilizations. While the influence in this case ran mainly in one direction - from the United States to China - the implications flowed in two ways, especially for the YMCA secretaries as field workers. The process of implanting the American social gospel into the Chinese setting involved negotiations, confrontations, and amalgamation along a whole range of different cultural norms and values on the scene, including the indigenous Confucianism, Chinese nationalism, and international communism. The YMCA leaders' cross-cultural experiences transformed their own understanding and interpretation of the Christian mission and their own cultural identity as a result of their interactions with the cultural forces in China." "The export of benevolence and the spread of American dreams is a recurrent theme in American history. The social gospel experience not only forms an important chapter in the history of Sino-American cultural relations, but also bears important contemporary implications. It may show that many Americans have yet to learn that American society is pluralistic, and that differences in color, religion, and political beliefs must be tolerated. Also, in view of the recent escalation of international reformism and the call for exporting the American dream, it is important to know that Americans cannot Christianize the world after their own images, for every culture has its own share to contribute to an interdependent world community in the twenty-first century."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved