There are various Ways. There is the Way of salvation by the law of Buddha; the Way of Confucius governing the Way of learning; the Way of healing as a doctor; as a poet teaching the Way of Waka; tea; archery; and many arts and skills. Each man practises as he feels inclined. It is said the warrior's is the twofold Way of pen and sword; and he should have a taste for both Ways. Even if a man has no natural ability he can be a warrior by sticking assiduously to both divisions of the Way. Generally speaking; the Way of the warrior is resolute acceptance of death. A Thrifty Book is a well designed; easy to read book at an unbeatable price.
#537642 in Books Ingramcontent 2016-10-24Original language:English 8.50 x .60 x 5.50l; .0 #File Name: 1599475170160 pagesA Star in the East The Rise of Christianity in China
Review
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Brief and insightfulBy Leib Gershon MitchellThis book was good.1. I counted something like 140 references. That works out to just about one primary reference per page.2. Baylor University is known to be a Baptist university; yet the authors were very even handed in their treatment (even though one could imagine that they would have had reasons to be enthused about the Christianization of China or reasons to be smug about the failure of the Catholic church to expand in China).3. The book was wonderfully brief (the whole thing can be read in about 3 hours). The actual text is something like 140 pages (I have to estimate because Kindle does not give page numbers).4. The book is several things in one. There are 6 chapters.a. New Religious Awakening (current circumstances in China and the dramatic increase in recent years);b. Christian Missions to China (detailing how Christianity came to be what it is in China (exclusive of Taiwan; Hong Kong; and Macau) and some of its various persecutions (i.e. the Boxer Rebellion));c. Repression and Christianity (the stories of some Chinese Christians who would not be broken of their beliefs in spite of years of imprisonment/ physical torture/ persecutions);d. Converting the Educated;e. Converting Rural China;f. Future Prospects and Consequences (295 million by 2030 and 580 million by 2040).What do we learn from this neat little book? Quite a bit; as it happens:1. A lot of people (academics) try to smear the church as an institution of poor and stupid people. This is not quite right. It appears that a most of the missionary work is done to upper class Chinese people. (University graduates; etc.) At best; number of people who were converted among poor and rich was about equal.2. Some people like to imagine that the missionary work is done by foreigners trying to find a way to convert Chinese people. But according to these authors (convincingly); most of the work is done by local Chinese converting their own kinds.3. It is commonly imagined that the Chinese state is repressive toward the church. But that appears to not be the case. In the same way that China is nominally Communist-- but not really (in practice; they are open to market reforms and state capitalism); here they appear to be nominally atheist (but in practice willing to leave the people to worship as they will).4. We learn a bit about "the strength of weak ties." This is a famous idea in the academic world-- but brought to life in an interesting and unforeseen way here. In a nutshell; people who are poorer tend to have stronger ties with fewer people; but those who are wealthy have weaker ties with a larger number of people. Apparently; the latter types of ties are more useful in leveraging for building careers. Could it be that the church will create such a network of people in China? Only time will tell.;5. The authors take to task the MANY authors who have made predictions both about China (the 2006 prediction that the country would be democratic by 2015) as well as popular misconceptions that just won't die (Protestant work ethic).6. Finding a religious belief is not usually something that is done by poor people. And this is because finding food and shelter is "to be wholly without a sense of futility" (Eric Hoffer). But it people who are well-fed who have time to ponder existential questions; such as "values" and the "meaning of life." Why should we not be surprised that as China gets richer there are more people who have time to find such needs?7. There is discussion of why the Protestants have succeeded in conversion whereas the Catholics have not. (Doesn't it seem like the Catholic Church has a lag time of at least 500 years?) The answers that they give are: a. The Catholic Church insists on uniformity of doctrine (and therefore charismatic preachers/ preachers who have not been trained for years and years can't get a start) and the right to appoint its own bishops (this is a sovereignty issue that the government will not "just drop").Verdict: This book is worth the time that it takes to read because it gives just a little bit more insight into a specialized aspect of the fascinating land of China.It is better and more thoroughly researched than David Aikman's book Jesus in Beijing: How Christianity Is Transforming China And Changing the Global Balance of Power (even though that book is cited in this) and should be read in preference to that book.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Great overview of Christianity in ChinaBy E. JohnsonIf you like stats and you are interested in the rise of Christianity in China; you will find this book to be worth your time. I had the chance to spend three weeks in this country; so I read this book before I went to help me better understand what Christianity is all about. According to the stats; China had 60 million Christians in China in 2007 and the growth rate is about 7%. This means most people you meet will be converts and not just born into the church; which is exactly what I found to be true. All in all; it's to-the-point and easy-to-read format made this a valuable reference book and will provide a helpful background for many interested in this topic.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. A Star in the EastBy Linda AttiaThis book was very informative with matters about the Chinese church . It looks at surveys of Christian populations ; it looks at attitudes and even health of Christians compared to non Christian s. I found it well written and even objective. It seemed to be a good sociological study.
