The rise of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christian communities across the globe has been well documented by sociologists and anthropologists of religion. Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye contributes to this growing body of literature by offering a historical analysis of one of the oldest of these communities, the True Jesus Church. Inouye argues that previous scholarship has explored the impact of native cultures and religious traditions on indigenous Christianity but has been less observant of how charismatic religious experiences and community organization enable church growth. Unlike other theorists who maintain that spirit-filled Christians lose their enthusiastic expressions as their communities age, Inouye demonstrates the contrary. Throughout its more than one-hundred-year history, followers of the True Jesus Church have utilized charisma as a resource to hold together their diverse membership and reinforce a countercultural set of ritual and behavioral practices.
China and the True Jesus begins not with European missionaries but with the first powerful expression of indigenous Christianity in China: the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Brought up to heaven by angels, Hong Xiuquan (1814–1864) would draw from this vision in his (unsuccessful) attempt to overthrow the Qing dynasty. The violence that followed cost twenty million lives, making it the most devasting civil conflict in human history (29). Consequently, while mid-nineteenth-century British missionaries introduced conventional Protestant organizational and ritual systems, lingering in Christian Chinese culture were also the explosive possibilities of dreams, visions, and overpowering languages. In 1904, a Chinese cloth seller, Wei Enbo (1879–1919), was baptized and joined the London Missionary Society community in Beijing. By 1917, he had been introduced to the power of the Holy Spirit by a Norwegian-American preacher, become a prosperous silk merchant, and gathered followers into what he called “the True Jesus Church.” Facilitated by the rise of a global print culture and more efficient transpacific transportation, the church became “an important node within the transnational Pentecostal network” (85).
Wei Enbo's visions structured the outlook of the community and its ritual practices. There was, for instance, an epic battle raging between good and evil, and church members had to vigilantly struggle to live above moral reproach. This war, however, would not endure because the world itself would soon end. Baptism had to be performed by immersion (preferably in a natural body of water) and face down. God cured illness, and the “true Sabbath” was on Saturday. Jesus washed the feet of the disciples, and so leaders should be so humbled. Yes, the Bible was an authority, but leaders and members also received direct revelations from God. Glossolalia, weeping, energetic praise, and dancing engaged worshippers, and reports of such activities filled church newspapers. As with other Pentecostal churches around the globe, supernatural activity benefited from modern communication and distribution systems. In addition, members of the True Jesus Church embraced the growing capitalist world of early twentieth-century China. By 1922, the True Jesus Church claimed 10,000 members with congregations across seven provinces (114).
China and the True Jesus embeds the development of the church within the monumental changes taking place in twentieth-century China. Especially for non-specialists, this background enables readers to fully appreciate the larger cultural story of adaptation and survival. In a Chinese society battered by wars, famine, civil upheavals, and cultural realignments, Inouye shows how congregational life provided a model of functional organization, consistent moral codes, and legitimate authority by relying on a fixed religious text and an ever-enlivened religious experience. Perhaps the most interesting chapters (6 and 7) detail the cooperation between the church and the Communist government. While foreign missionaries were forced to leave China and outsiders were villainized as “imperialists,” the native leadership of the True Jesus Church adapted their public discourse to accord with Maoism. Through a careful examination of surviving documents, Inouye illustrates how embracing Mao's thought was not simply performative. In 1953, church members—who once claimed the exclusive privilege of salvation—stated that “Stalin can be saved because of the righteousness that he did” and that “the devil is imperialist America” (206). Such acclamations, however, did not save the church as a formal ecclesiastical institution, and in 1958 it was officially closed.
Attention to female church membership is a hallmark of China and the True Jesus. When male leaders were imprisoned and silenced during the Maoist era, women assumed charismatic authority, enabling a clandestine church culture to survive. Women extended their roles as deaconesses and preachers, thus providing through healings and visions vivid evidence of the truth of their church. To capture these voices, Inouye mines Chinese archives with great success, and in the later chapters, she includes her own interviews with current members.
The final chapters bring the history to the present. Since the True Jesus Church refused to blend into an ecumenical, government-controlled Protestantism, it is technically illegal. However, currently there is a blurring of official and unofficial religions in China, and the True Jesus Church's relationship with the government is complex. Both church and state claim to possess exclusive truth and each is threatened by the power of the other. At the same time, Inouye explains, church stability and security promotes civil society in China (146). Tensions are minimized by “workarounds” that reveal church members’ subtle understanding of local governments. The True Jesus Church has congregations outside of China and maintains church buildings within the nation, and so it is neither an illicit “house church” nor a government controlled “Three-Self Patriotic Movement” religion.
Far from being a dry, institutional history, China and the True Jesus is a tour de force of scholarship. Inouye has resisted the unfortunate trend of quick summaries and instead offers a sprightly written, wide-ranging account. She surveys the academic debates, unearths and translates rare primary source materials, and captures the feel of the miraculous worlds of believers. While she takes dreams and visions seriously, she helps us understand their significance by carefully framing the supernatural within history. China and the True Jesus is recommended not only for those interested in China but for anyone looking for a compelling story of how religions are born and survive.
