The subject of this study is the modern history of the Chinese Church from 1979 to 1998, which corresponds to China's Reforming and Opening-up. The year 2008 is the 30th anniversary of China's Reforming and Opening-up. During this time period there were many changes occurring in the Chinese Church compared to the transformations happening in the Chinese society, and China's stature in the world.
Before Reforming and Opening-up, the Chinese Church was assumed to have been completely annihilated during the ten years of disaster, the Cultural Revolution. However, the Chinese Church was hidden underground and survived severe oppression from the Red Guards. In the time frame of the rebuilding of the Unified Front Work Department, and the recovery of the policy of freedom of religion, the Chinese Church have been rebounding by opening Church buildings, printing Bibles and Hymns, forming the China Christian Council, and training many Church leaders.
K. H. Ting is a representative leader of the Chinese Church of 1979-1998 for political, pastoral, and theological outcomes. He is an Anglican bishop, the headmaster of Jinling Union Theological Seminary, the president of the China Christian Council and the Chinese Christian Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches of China, the vice-president of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and a standing committee member of National People's Congress. Ting has undertook many tasks such as securing the survival of the Chinese Church during the Reforming and Opening-up era, restoring Churches and seminaries, achieving internal unity of the Chinese Church, recovering solidarity with the world Church, and producing China's own theology.
Among all of K. H. Ting's works, this study focuses on defining characteristics of the Chinese Church in that time period. Ting's theology was formed through the theological evaluation of Three-Self Patriotic Movement and through theological correspondences of political, pastoral, and missionary events. This paper examines the organization of such theology.
Every theology is bound to be formed by communication and evidence inside historical contexts. This study was focused specifically on China, where the Chinese Church is located. After formation in 1949, The People's Republic of China "is a socialist state under the people's democratic dictatorship led by the working class and based on the alliance of workers and peasants." There is freedom of religion in the Chinese Constitution. This provides a small margin for religious life and political activities. This monograph traces the post-Mao era change of the unified government front and the policy of religion.
The Chinese Church is in correlation with the socialist regime. K. H. Ting's theology also correlates with the socialist regime. Hans Küng said that Churches of each period communicates with the situations of the time period that they are in. He explained the form of the Churches in each period as an idea of a paradigm. Christianity in China's paradigm also involves the correlation of the Church and the socialist regime.
I hope that this study will benefit the Korean Church in gaining better understanding the Chinese Church; and the relationship between Korean and Chinese Churches.