The Bible and the Gun: Christianity in South China, 1860-1900

This is a groundbreaking study of the relationship between Christianity and collective violence in late nineteenth century China. Using American Baptist and English Presbyterian examples in the Guangdong province, the book examines the scale of Chinese conversions, the creation of Christian villages and the power relations between Christians, non-Christians and between different Christian denominations. The spread of Christianity needs to be understood in the context of intense violence within and between villages and lineages, and patterns of conversion often following the lines of existing communal divisions. Christianity was far more indigenous at the village level than has commonly been thought and many Chinese communities used conversion as a political strategy to advance their position in political power struggles. This book is based on a very comprehensive foundation of data and the Protestant missionary and Chinese archival materials are supplemented with fieldwork data that were collected in several Christian villages. This study not only highlights the inner dynamics of Chinese Christianity but also explores a variety of crisis management strategies employed by missionaries, Christian converts, foreign diplomats and Chinese officials in local politics.