Weltgeschichte, Heilsgeschichte.: Umwälzungen in China als Folie missionarischer Geschichtskonstruktionen, 1900–1912

In contrast to other agents of imperialism, Protestant missionaries were not (or at least not primarily) committed to a modern, secular concept of history in the Enlightenment tradition. Rooted, for the most part, in pietism or evangelicalism, they saw world history as part of a much wider history of salvation that was ultimately a divine project. Salvation history implied a teleology that would inevitably culminate in the establishment of the Kingdom of God. World history, on the other hand, was not meaningless: For those who were able to “read” it, historical events provided clues to God’s eschatological programme; at the same time, they testified to the intervention of God in human history. In the missionary discourse, confrontations with the colonial ‘Other’ had the same function of providing examples to corroborate the construction of a history beyond human history. This becomes evident in my analysis of a case study from China, a country that was not formally colonized, but which was subjected to “Western” dominance. The coverage of two events (the Boxer War of 1900 / 01 and the Republican revolution of 1911/12) in the periodical Chinese Recorder, notwithstanding differences, shows how contemporary events were regarded as proving divine immanence in history. In so doing, it not only points to ways of coping with imperialistic anxieties, but also calls for a more nuanced understanding of colonial modernity as a formation that includes the seemingly premodern

The other German colonialism? Power, conflict and resistance in a German-speaking mission in China, ca. 1850-1920

The other German colonialism? Power, conflict and resistance in a German-speaking mission in China, ca. 1850-192

Political religion in twentieth-century China and its global dimension

Political religion in twentieth-century China and its global dimensio

The missionary as devil: anti-missionary demonology in China, 1860–1930

The missionary as devil: anti-missionary demonology in China, 1860–193

How modern was Chinese modernity? Exploring tensions of a contested master narrative

“Modernity” continues to be a useful historiographical tool, however, it is tension-laden both theoretically and empirically. Conceptually, “modernity” can denote either a quality (“modern-ness”) or a condition referring to a specific period in history. With regard to empirical research, the essay takes a look at the recent history of China, arguing that although there exists a line between what is modern and what is not (between modernity and its Other[s]), this often appears fuzzy when we look at concrete historical manifestations. Two case studies bear this out: The first looks at the possibility of locating a rural modernity, challenging conventional scholarship that has situated the modern almost exclusively in China’s cities. The second case study elucidates the relationship between “Chinese” and “global” modernity, striking a balance between universalistic and pluralistic understandings of modernity. In sum, the essay shows that it is essential to incorporate the paradoxes inherent in the modern condition into the analytical framework

Yellow peril

As an antithesis to the narrative of European superiority, the fear of Japan and China has had a place in the history of Europe since the 1890s, when the term was adapted from North America. Customarily, the term ‘Yellow Peril’ has been analysed as a political and social catchword. In this essay, I argue instead that three media events played a crucial role in its emergence and gradual intensification: the Sino-Japanese War of 1894/95, the Boxer War of 1900/01 and the Russo-Japanese War of 1904/05. They left a legacy that has cast a long shadow over the twentieth century

Media events and missionary periodicals: the case of the Boxer War, 1900–1901

Missionary periodicals, like their secular counterparts (newspapers and magazines), had the potential to create and sustain media events—those rare and precious times when news coverage breaks out of the confines of its daily routines, allowing contemporaneous themes to surface and occupy center stage. However, mission publications had their specific ways of presenting these issues, which are cast most sharply into relief when the underlying occurrences affected both missions and society at large. It is at those junctures that mission publications became more receptive towards broader political, social, and cultural trends; conversely, society took greater notice of missionary activities than usual during these times

How to be a contact zone: the missionary Karl Gützlaff between nationalism, transnationalism and transculturalism, 1827–1851

How to be a contact zone: the missionary Karl Gützlaff between nationalism, transnationalism and transculturalism, 1827–185

Conversion to protestant Christianity in China and the 'supply-side model': explaining changes in the Chinese religious field

In this article, I put the 'supply-side model' advocated by religious economists to an empirical test. The 'supply-side' model in some measure already constitutes a move 'beyond the market', as it seeks to expand and enlarge the economic interpretation of religion by linking it to a concept of networks and social tensions and integrating the concept of religious and cultural capital. In applying the model to the (dynamics of the) historical growth of Protestantism in 19th and early 20th-century China, I examine three distinct aspects of the conversion process: the supply-side (missionaries), the demand niches (Chinese converts), and the question of 'strict' churches. Arguing that the religious background of Protestant converts - their rootedness in Chinese popular religion - determined this process throughout, I seek to develop an understanding of religious competition, supply and demand that takes cultural interpretive frameworks into account

Media Events and Missionary Periodicals: The Case of the Boxer War, 1900–1901

This article was published in the journal Church History [© American Society of Church History] and the definitive version is also available from Cambridge Journals Online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0009640713000085Missionary periodicals, like their secular counterparts (newspapers and magazines), had the potential to create and sustain media events—those rare and precious times when news coverage breaks out of the confines of its daily routines, allowing contemporaneous themes to surface and occupy center stage. However, mission publications had their specific ways of presenting these issues, which are cast most sharply into relief when the underlying occurrences affected both missions and society at large. It is at those junctures that mission publications became more receptive towards broader political, social, and cultural trends; conversely, society took greater notice of missionary activities than usual during these times