“Half of the Sky”, a phrase used to describe the rise of women in the New China of the 1960s, can equally apply to the tremendous legacy of Chinese women in Christian ministry in the contemporary indigenous movement. This paper amplifies the voices of Chinese women in ministry and studies the feminine motif in the song collection known as Canaan Hymns. Drawing from the methodologies of lived theology through textual analysis, interviews, and literature reviews, firstly it examines some biblical portraits of women resonating with the experiences of female Chinese itinerants; secondly the embodied spirit-filled experiences coupled with feminine tenderness and flaming passion; lastly the organic ecclesiology that empowers female leadership. It is argued that the hymns offer a unique poetic window into the lived experiences of Christian women, providing nuances and complexity of gender, identity, body, spirituality and relationality in the recent history of Chinese Christianity.
AikmanD (2006) Jesus in Beijing: How Christianity is Transforming China and Changing the Global Balance of Power. Oxford: Monarch.
2.
AuC (2013) Pentecostalism as suffering: House churches in China. In: HunterHDOrmerodN (eds) The Many Faces of Global Pentecostalism. Cleveland, OH: CPT Press, pp.73–99.
3.
BaysDH (2012) A New History of Christianity in China. Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons.
4.
BoschDJ (2011) Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission. Maryknoll: Orbis Books.
5.
ChanS (2014) Grassroots Asian Theology: Thinking the Faith from the Ground Up. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic.
6.
DanielsJD (2020) Does the Wind Bend or Break the Grass? A Comparative Study of Pentecostal Spirituality and Chinese Religious Thought. Georgetown University, Washington, DC.
7.
DerE (1998) A bibliographical review of resources on the life of Florence Tim Oi Li (1907-1992). Anglican and Episcopal History67(2): 227–237.
8.
FällmanF (2013) Calvin, culture and Christ? Developments of faith among Chinese intellectuals. In: Khek Gee LimF (ed.) Christianity in Contemporary China. London: Routledge, pp.153–168.
9.
HattawayP (2009) Henan—The Galilee of China. Carlisle: Piquant Publishing.
10.
KangJ (2019) The rise of Calvinist Christianity in urbanising China. Religions10(8): 481.
11.
KaoC-y (2013) The house-church identity and preservation of Pentecostal-style Protestantism in China. In: Khek Gee LimF (ed.) Christianity in Contemporary China. London: Routledge, pp.221–233.
12.
LambertT (2006) China’s Christian Millions. Oxford: Monarch.
MayfieldAIrelandD (2023) Christianity as a Women’s Movement?: Hard Data from China. Report, paper presented for the China Historical Christian Database series. 4 April 2023.
17.
MoltmannJ (2003) The Experiment Hope. Eugene: Wipf & Stock.
18.
MoltmannJKohlM (2001) The Spirit of Life: A Universal Affirmation. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.
19.
NewbiginL (1995) The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission. Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans.
20.
RobertDL (2006) World Christianity as a women’s movement. International Bulletin of Mission Research30(4): 180–88.
21.
St Teresa of Avila (2002) Complete Works Teresa Avila. London: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.
TillichP (1964) Systematic Theology. Digswell Place: James Nisbet.
24.
TongJKCYangF (2017) The femininity of Chinese Christianity: A study of a Chinese charismatic church and its female leadership. In: YangFTongJKCAndersonAH (eds) Global Chinese Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity. Leiden: Brill, pp.329–344.
25.
Yang (2022a) Hymns and the singing community: The formation of the Canaan hymns in contemporary Chinese churches. Review of Religion and Chinese Society9(2): 151–169.
26.
Yang (2022b) Canaan hymns: Songs from the fields—A grassroots missiology of the Chinese Church Movement. Missiology: An International Review50(3): 229–39.
27.
Yang (2024) Canaan hymns: Towards a decolonizing missiology of the Chinese Church Movement. Transformation: An International Journal of Holistic Mission Studies41(2).
28.
YeungTYT (2002) Indigenous Church as an Offspring of Pneumatic Christianity: A Re-examination of the Development of Christianity in Modern China. The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
29.
YingF-T邢福增 (2001) 中國基要主義者的實踐與困境: 陳崇桂的神學思想與時代 [The Canaan hymns — The Cross: Jesus in China, 十字架: 耶稣在中国]. Hong Kong: Alliance Bible Seminary.
30.
YuKK (2022) Revisiting Lamin Sanneh’s “Western guilt complex” from a grassroots perspective. International Bulletin of Mission Research46(3): 397–404.
31.
YuanZ远志明 (Director) (2003) The Canaan hymns — The Cross: Jesus in China, 十字架: 耶稣在中国. Petaluma: China Soul for Christ Foundation.
32.
ZurloGAJohnsonTMCrossingPF (2023) World Christianity 2023: A gendered approach. International Bulletin of Mission Research47(1): 11–22.
