scholarly journals Becoming Christians

1970 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianbo Huang ◽  
Mengyin Hu
Keyword(s):  
Chinese Society ◽  
Cultural Institutions ◽  
Subject Formation ◽  
Urban Church ◽  
Chinese Christians ◽  
The Status ◽  
Open Issue ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
Collective Construction ◽  
Contemporary Chinese

Prayers in Christianity are often considered to be a theological or pastoral topic; while social scientific studies generally tend to reduce them, like prayers in other religious contexts, to the status of psychological responses bringing comfort to the practitioner, or a collective construction connected with social and cultural institutions. However, what prayer actually is, and what it means to Christians who practise it remains an open issue for further, more intensive and thorough study. Based on fieldwork in an urban church in China, this article provides some perspectives on contemporary Chinese Christians and their prayer life, attempting to elaborate its possible significance, especially in terms of subject-formation processes within these Christians. Meanwhile, this article argues that, in working towards a better understanding of Christians, it is more efficacious to take ‘Christians’ as those who are, rather than a given or acquired identity, or a status of being, engaged in a process of becoming through a practice, or set of practices, which in this case is prayer,. Moreover, in the case of this Chinese Christian church, the practise of prayer also indicates some reflections on the cultural and religious diversity of contemporary Chinese society.

The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Final Section ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Religious Movements ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Oxford University ◽  
New Religions ◽  
New Age Movement ◽  
Book Award ◽  
The Status ◽  
Social Scientific

The first edition ofThe Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movementsappeared in early 2004. At the time, it was a much-needed overview of a rapidly-expanding area of study; it received recognition in the form of aChoicebook award. The second edition brings this task up to date. In addition to updating most of the original topics, the new edition takes in more topics by expanding the volume from 22 to 32 chapters, and enlarges the scope of the book by doubling the number of contributors from outside of North America. Following an introductory section devoted to social-scientific approaches to New Religious Movements (NRMs), the second section focuses on what has been uppermost in the minds of the general public, namely the controversies that have surrounded these groups. The third section examines certain themes in the study of NRMs, such as the status of children and women in such movements. The fourth section presents religious studies approaches by looking at NRM mythologies, rituals and the like. The final section covers the subfields that have grown out of NRM studies and become specializations in their own right, from the study of modern Paganism to the study of the New Age Movement. Finally, the present volume has a thematic focus; readers interested in specific NRMs are advised to consult the second edition of James R. Lewis and Jesper Aa. Petersen’s edited volume,Controversial New Religions(Oxford University Press 2014).

Exploration of factors leading to successful mediation

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yafei Zhang ◽  
Li Chen
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Information Dissemination ◽  
Gold Medal ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Effective Factors ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Contemporary Chinese

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore possible factors leading to a successful mediation in Chinese mediation shows. In China, media always play an indispensable role in information dissemination, morality advocacy and policy explanation. Design/methodology/approach This paper employed content analysis of 166 episodes of one representative mediation show, Gold Medal Mediation, and regression technique in data analysis. Findings Results of ordinal regression suggested that “secret talking”, rather than transparency, between disputants had significant influence on successful mediation. Function of mediators is limited in reaching full mediation. The effective factors leading to full mediation include compromise of rights, secret talking, attitude of the observer cohort. It suggests that the role of mediator is limited, rather than being over-exaggerated, in successful mediation. The successful mediation is largely dependent on disputants’ motivations. Additionally, “compromise of rights” by disputants is a key factor in solving disputes. Research limitations/implications Findings of this study revealed the role of Chinese mediation shows in propagating mediation in contemporary Chinese society and supporting upheld morality values. Due to the nature of the chosen mediation show, some disputes take more than one episode to solve. However, this study looks at each episode without considering the integrity of the dispute. That is, if the disputes take two episodes, the coder codes the two episodes as two separate disputes instead of looking at it as one dispute. Originality/value By exploring various aspects of mediations shows, including the role of mediators, disputants and a cohort of observers, this study can both explicitly show predicted factors to successful mediations on the shows, and can implicitly examine the power and perceived justification of mediation in contemporary China via media.

History Lessons

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 126-145
Author(s):  
Chris White
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Local State ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Church Congregations ◽  
State Actors ◽  
China Today ◽  
Contemporary Chinese

This article contends that Chinese Protestant history is increasingly produced and consumed by various interest groups in China today. Protestant families, church congregations, and local state actors are all involved in reassessing and promoting local Protestant history. These processes reveal vibrant, organic forms of acculturation of Christianity into Chinese society. This article further argues that it would be prudent for scholars of contemporary Chinese Protestantism to focus greater analytical attention on Chinese Protestant history.

Strategy to motivate and facilitate compromise in Chinese mediation

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yiheng Deng ◽  
Kaibin Xu
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Chinese People ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Common Goals ◽  
Language Strategies ◽  
Contemporary Chinese ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
External Reasons

Purpose – This paper aims to explore language strategies and techniques in Chinese mediation that are adopted by mediators to motivate and facilitate compromise among disputants. Design/methodology/approach – Ten cases were audio-recorded on the spot, transcribed for analysis in their Chinese form, and then translated into English for English readers. The translation of excerpts used in this paper to demonstrate points was double checked to ensure accuracy. Discourse analysis was adopted to explore the meanings and functions of the utterances in these excerpts. Findings – It is found that power is embedded in the mediator's position and in his/her role in the mediation. Furthermore, neutrality is less of a concern as compared to justice in the mediator's terms. Finally, socio-cultural indications of the language strategies and techniques were drawn about contemporary Chinese society. Practical implications – When dealing with Chinese people in conflict, one may emphasize common goals and bring in external reasons such as seniority, face, and status to motivate and facilitate compromise. Originality/value – Studying transcripts of cases that were recorded in real time and recently is rare in studies of Chinese mediation. Studying what people actually say provides us data in reality, in contrast to the ideals as well as what they say they do in mediation.

Governing Art Districts: State Control and Cultural Production in Contemporary China

2014 ◽  
Vol 219 ◽  
pp. 827-848 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yue Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Production ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Authoritarian State ◽  
Art Community ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Contemporary Chinese ◽  
Political Decisions

AbstractContemporary Chinese artists have long been marginalized in China as their ideas conflict with the mainstream political ideology. In Beijing, artists often live on the fringe of society in “artist villages,” where they almost always face the threat of being displaced owing to political decisions or urban renewal. However, in the past decade, the Chinese government began to foster the growth of contemporary Chinese arts and designated underground artist villages as art districts. This article explores the profound change in the political decisions about the art community. It argues that, despite the pluralization of Chinese society and the inroads of globalization, the government maintains control over the art community through a series of innovative mechanisms. These mechanisms create a globalization firewall, which facilitates the Chinese state in global image-building and simultaneously mitigates the impact of global forces on domestic governance. The article illuminates how the authoritarian state has adopted more sophisticated methods of governance in response to the challenges of a more sophisticated society.

Offensive Political Theory

2010 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 465-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Rehfeld
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Music Theory ◽  
Central Question ◽  
Defensive Responses ◽  
The Status ◽  
Social Scientific

Penn State's decision to eliminate political theory set off existential angst about the status of political theory in the discipline. The organized, defensive responses to that decision failed to answer the central question it posed: Is “political theory” social science, and if not, why does it belong? I argue that social scientific political theory is political science and its many strains—conceptual, normative, and explanatory—belong in the discipline on their own terms. Humanistic research, like dermatology or music theory, is not political science and as such it should find another home. By explaining why (and what kinds of) political theory is political science this article may wind up being offensive in both senses of the word. But it is meant to be in service to a more secure, stable, and productive interdisciplinary future for all kinds of political theory going forward.

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