Protestant Christianity in China: Perspectives from the History of Chinese Religions and Early Christianity in the Roman World

The first and longer part of this article is a survey of the Chinese religious context when Protestant Christianity arrived in the early nineteenth century. The religious traditions that were active at that time, other than Islam, were local community traditions of ritual and belief, popular religious sects, Daoism and Buddhism. Of these, local community traditions were by far the most numerous and widespread, based on family and temple worship in villages and urban neighbourhoods. They were not sectarian, but involved all who lived in the local area. However there were sectarian religions in China as well, with their own founders, members, scriptures and worship centres, including indigenous popular religious sects, Daoism, Buddhism and Roman Catholic Christianity. Summaries of their histories and activities are provided, together with comments about their relationships with Protestants. The second part of this article is a brief comparison of Protestant Christianity in the Chinese empire with that of the early Christian movement in the Roman world. Though there were many differences, in both situations the majority tradition was of polytheistic cults of gods represented by images and paintings in homes and temples; gods worshipped for practical goals by families and communities. The article ends with a few suggested reasons for the success of Christianity in the Roman Empire, with implied parallels for the Protestant movement in China centuries later.