Abstract
The first of the Chinese theologies to explore in this study shall be that of Watchman Nee (Ni Tuosheng, 1903–1972). He is often described as working toward the “indigenization” of the gospel because of his desire to establish Chinese churches independent of foreign, denominational control. It is perhaps not common to identify Nee’s thinking as a representative of Chinese “contextual theology”— one that responds to the social, political and economic questions of the particular historical moment. He was not very original in his theology, borrowing and adapting many of his ideas from Western Christians, mainly originating from the United Kingdom. His teachings were primarily expositions on the Bible and did not have any overt Chinese characteristics—rarely making mention of Chinese culture, philosophy or religion and never speaking directly to the mounting social and political troubles of his day. For example, in 1927, Nee published his most important work The Spiritual Man while based in Shanghai, the home of many activities surrounding the anti-Christian movement (1922–1927). Several of his contemporaries like L. C. Wu (Wu Leichuan, 1870–1944), T. C. Chao (Zhao Zichen, 1888–1979), Y. T. Wu (Wu Yaozong) and P. C. Hsu (Xu Baoqian, 1892–1944) would write about the influence of the 1920s on their respective intellectual journeys.1
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Sumiko Yamamoto, History of Protestantism in China: The Indigenization of Christianity (Tokyo: Tōhō Gakkai, 2000), 134–138.
H. Richard Niebuhr, Christ and Culture, exp. ed. (New York: Harper Collins, 2001), 45–82.
Stephen B. Bevans, Models of Contextual Theology, rev. ed. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2002), 117–137.
Keswick sanctification and holiness, also known as the “Victorious Life” movement in the United States, comes from yearly conventions beginning in 1875 held in the resort town of Keswick in the Lake District of northern England. The dispensationalism of the Brethren movement was popularized in the mid-1800s through the writings of individuals such as J. N. Darby, George Müller and, in the early 1900s, through C. I. Scofield’s reference Bible. Steven Barabas, So Great Salvation: The History and Message of the Keswick Convention (London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1952).
Charles W. Price and Ian M. Randall, Transforming Keswick: The Keswick Convention, Past, Present and Future (Carlisle: OM, 2000).
H. A. Ironside, A Historical Sketch of the Brethren Movement (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1942). Church historian George Marsden believes that these two schools played significant roles in the growth of religious revivalism in American.
George M. Marsden, Fundamentalism and American Culture, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), 72–73.
Watchman Nee, The Spiritual Man (New York: Christian Fellowship Publishers, [1928] 1977), 1.67–68.
Norman H. Cliff, “The Life and Theology of Watchman Nee: Including a Study of the Little Flock Movement Which He Founded” (MPhil thesis, Open University, 1987), 266–271.
Joseph Tse-Hei Lee, “Watchman Nee and the Little Flock Movement in Maoist China,” Church History 74.1 (March 2005): 74–76.
David M. Paton, Christian Missions and the Judgment of God, 2nd. ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1996), 67.
Some examples of cross-denominational coalitions included the Church of Christ in China (Zhonghua Jidujiao Hui) and the National Literature Association (Zhonghua Jidujiao Wen She). Daniel Bays, “The Growth of Independent Christianity,” in Christianity in China: From the Eighteenth Century to the Present, ed. Daniel H. Bays (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1996), 308–309. Yamamoto, History of Protestantism in China, 59–96.
Wing-hung Lam, “Nee, Watchman,” in A Dictionary of Asian Christianity, ed. Scott W. Sunquist (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2001), 590.
Leslie Lyall, Three of China’s Mighty Men: Leaders of the Chinese Church Under Persecution, rev. ed. (Kent, UK: OMF International, 2001), 67.
Quoted in Lyall, Three of China’s Mighty Men, 94–95. A slightly different account of this event is recorded in Angus Kinnear, Against the Tide: The Unforgettable Story behind Watchman Nee, rev. ed. (Eastbourne, UK: Kingsway, 2005), 249.
Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1941), 191–201.
Apollinarianism, the theology traced back to Apollinaris of Laodicea (c. 310—c. 390), held that Christ took on a human body and a human soul but not a human spirit. The fourth-century church anathematized this and concluded that what Christ does not take on is not redeemed. J. N. D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines, rev. ed. (New York: HarperCollins, 1978), 289–309.
G. C. Berkouwer, Man: The Image of God (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1962), 208–209.
John Meyendorff, Byzantine Theology: Historical Trends and Doctrinal Themes, rev. 2nd ed. (New York: Fordham University Press, 1974), 141–142.
Henri de Lubac, Theology in History (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 1996), 136–163.
This includes people such as Franz Delizsch, J. B. Heard, C. I. Scofield, Andrew Murray and Jessie Penn-Lewis, many of whom were widely read by Watchman Nee. Berkhof, Systematic Theology, 192. Dana Roberts, Secrets of Watchman Nee: His Life, His Teachings, His Influence (Orlando, FL: Bridge—Logos, 2005), 92–93. It is worth noting that Dana Roberts’s 2005 book entitled Secrets of Watchman Nee is actually a revision of his earlier evaluation entitled Understanding Watchman Nee: The Newest Book on Watchman Nee (Plainfield, NJ: Logos—Haven Books, 1980). His updated edition contains largely the same material as the first. However, after reading and interviewing people about accusations against Nee of adultery and money laundering, Roberts added several asides that highlight a more cynical view of his subject. Some of these are entitled as follows: “A Question of Character,” “Watchman Nee on Depression” and “Mozi or the Holy Spirit?”Incidentally, this Dana Roberts (a man) should not be confused with Dana L. Robert (a woman), a professor of world Christianity at Boston University.
Andrew Murray, The Spirit of Christ (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1888), 184.
It is important to note that this idea of the “normal Christian life” was propagated primarily during the earlier years of the Keswick movement when the theology taught was more monolithic. In latter years, the movement began to have a larger variety of speakers who tended to come from a more Reformed background, including the evangelical John Stott. In this study, all references to Keswick theology is in reference to teachers influential during the earlier movement. David W. Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A Historyfrom the 1730s to the 1980s (London: Routledge, 1989), 257–258.
Andrew D. Naselli, Let Go and Let God?A Survey and Analysis of Keswick Theology (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010).
J. Robert McQuilkin is the son of an early leader of the American Keswick variant known as the Victorious Life. J. Robert McQuilkin, “The Keswick Perspective,” in Five Views on Sanctification, ed. Stanley N. Gundry (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1987), 151.
The accuracy of this anecdote, however, is questionable. See Fred Zaspel, The Theology of B. B. Warfield: A Systematic Summary (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010), 473 fn. 162.
B. B. Warfield, Studiesin Perfectionism (Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1958), 349–399.
J. I. Packer, “‘Keswick’ and the Reformed Doctrine of Sanctification,” The Evangelical Quarterly 27, no. 3 (July 1955): 153–167.
J. I. Packer, Keep in Step with the Spirit: Finding Fullness in Our Walk with God, 2nd. ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2005), 120–133.
Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life (Fort Washington, PA: CLC Publishers, [1957] 2009), 10–11.
Allan Anderson, An Introduction to Pentecostalism: Global Charismatic Christianity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 29.
Watchman Nee, The Latent Power of the Soul (New York: Christian Fellowship Publishers, [1933] 1972), 33.
Julia Ching, Chinese Religions (London: MacMillan Press, 1993), 6.
Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Church Life, 2nd ed. (Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, [1939] 1994), 69–70.
Watchman Nee, Further Talks on the Church Life, 2nd ed. (Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, [1948] 1997), 143–158.
See Leung Ka-lun (Liang Jialin), Ni Tuosheng de rongru shengchu [Watchman Nee: His Glory and Dishonor] (Hong Kong: Jiandao Shenxueyuan [China Alliance Press], 2003), 97–184.
While there are generally identified three major forms of dispensationalism, Nee was most influenced by what is known as “classical dispensationalism.” The other two, “revised dispensationalism” and “progressive dispensationalism” were developed in the 1950s-1990s and the 1990s—present, respectively. Moreover, all three types of dispensationalists hold to premillennialism (the view that Christ will come to reign before the prophesied Millennium), but not all premillennialists are dispensationalists. For more information, see Darrel L. Bock and Craig A. Blaising, Progressive Dispensationalism (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1993), 9–56.
Alan Hunter and Kim-Kwong Chan, Protestantism in Contemporary China (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 191–199.
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© 2013 Alexander Chow
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Chow, A. (2013). Watchman Nee’s Spiritual Man. In: Theosis, Sino-Christian Theology and the Second Chinese Enlightenment. Palgrave Macmillan’s Christianities of the World. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137312624_3
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