Progressivism and the Mission Field: Church of the Brethren Women Missionaries in Shanxi, China, 1908-1951 Carol Longenecker Clemson University, [email protected]

Clemson University TigerPrints All Theses Theses 5-2007 Progressivism and the Mission Field: Church of the Brethren Women Missionaries in Shanxi, China, 1908-1951 Carol Longenecker Clemson University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses Part of the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Longenecker, Carol, "Progressivism and the Mission Field: Church of the Brethren Women Missionaries in Shanxi, China, 1908-1951" (2007). All Theses. 121. https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/121 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses at TigerPrints. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Theses by an authorized administrator of TigerPrints. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PROGRE SSIVISM AND THE MISSION FIELD: CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN WOMEN MISSIONARIES IN SHANXI, CHINA, 1908 -1951 A Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of Clemson University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of A rts History by Carol L. Longenecker May 2007 Accepted by: Megan Taylor Shockley , Committee Chair Nancy A. Hardesty Edwin E. Moïse ABSTRACT This thesis examine s the attitudes and activities of Church of the Brethren women missionaries in Shanxi, China , between 1908 and 1951 , focusing on evangelism, “wom an’s work” programs, education, and relief work . This thesis presents the mission field as an expression of changing gender roles in the Church of the Brethren. In sum, Brethren wo men m issionaries in Shanxi embodied both conservative and progressive ideologies and ultimately moved in a progressive direction, seeking growth, flexibility, and accommodat ion in their mission endeavor. The expansion of the Church of the Brethren mission fiel d and the denomination’s geographic and cultural boundaries has implications for the evolution and continued existence of distinctive faith communities in the United States. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Several people have guided and assisted me in completing t his thesis. First, I would like to thank my advisors, Megan Taylor Shockley, Nancy A. Hardesty, and Edwin E. Moïse, for patiently reading and re -reading many drafts of the chapters that follow . The faculty and administrators of the Clemson University his tory department deserve thanks for making the M.A. program challenging, yet also enjoyable . In addition, my appreciation goes to Kennth Shaffer and Dean Feasenhiser, who helped me navigate the numerous sources and documents at the Brethren Historical Arch ives and Library in Elgin, Illinois. Finally, I would like to thank my family, including my parents and brother —Ada, Steve, and Lew —for instilling in me a love of history and an interest in people, and my fiancé —Jason —for his encouragement and patience du ring this past semester. v vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TITLE PAGE ………………………………………………………………… i ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………………… . iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………………………………………………… . v LIST OF TABLES ………………………………………………………… … 9 LIST OF FIGURES …………………… …………………………………… .. 11 INTRODUCTION: THE CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN AND THE AMERICAN WOMEN’S MISSIONARY MOVEMENT …………… …………………………………………… … 1 ADAPTING THE FAITH: THE EARLY CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN MISSION IN SH ANXI……………………………. 36 “EVERY HO ME . A CHRISTIAN HOME:” BRETHREN WOMEN’S WORK ON THE MISSION FIELD……………………………… ……………... …… 78 “HUMAN BROTHERHOOD KNOW[S] NO BOUNDARY LINES:” WAR, RELIEF, AND A TRANSFORMED MISSIOLOGY ……… …………………… . 109 CONCLUSION S………… ………………………………………………… . 136 BIBLIOGRAGHY………………………………………………………… .. 147 vii viii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1.1 Church of the Brethren Missionaries Entering the Shanxi, China , Mission …… ..………………………………… .. 126 x LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1.1 Plain Dress of Early Nineteenth Century Brethren ………………… . 9 1.2 Baptism with Portable Baptistery Made of Wood and Canvas ………………………………………………………… ... 70 1.3 “Overweight does not come with one mouthful” …………… …… ... 92 1.4 Ping Ting Middle School …………………………………………… 102 1.5 Group Operating S cene at Church of the Brethren Hospital in Shanxi ……………………………………………... 119 1.6 Nursing School Graduates ……………………………………… ….. 125 1.7 “ Single Ladies of the Missi on Field” ………………………………… 141 xi xii CHAPTER 1 INTRO DUCTION: THE CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN AND THE AMERICAN WOMEN’S MISSIONARY MOVEMENT On September 25, 1908 , five Church of the Brethren missionaries sailed to China, inaugurating their mission work. By 1912 they had established two main mission stations a t Ping Ting and Liao, Shanxi province. Expanding to other towns in Shanxi Province, the Brethren maintained their mission in China until 1951, despite Japanese invasion in 1937 and a civil war between Communists and Nationalists. War, famine, and politic al upheaval marked the years of the Church of the Brethren mission in China. Yet f or the approximately 100 Brethren missionaries who served during this period, the prominent events of these years were the creation of mission schools, hospitals, and church es, and the conversion of Chinese people to Christianity. Missionaries constantly weighed the political turmoil in China against the backdrop of their mission work and the expansion of the Church of the Brethren in the country. 1 Until the later part of the nineteenth century, though, these Brethren had been peculiar habitants in the world. They wore distinctive plain clothes and refused to swear oaths, fight in wars, or hold public office. They clustered together in separatist, tight -knit faith communities in rural areas. Leading the expansion of the Brethren into new parts of the world and pushing mission work in a progressive direction were Brethren women. During the 43 years of the Church of the Brethren mission in Shanxi, 65 percent of all missionaries entering the field were women. 1 How did the Brethren transform from a separatist, inward -looking, patriarchical faith community to one that sent wo men as its representatives to foreign countries with the intention of expanding the faith? Central Questions and Perspectives Generally, historians who study the Church of the Brethren and other Anabaptist and nonconformist religious groups claim th at the expansion and growth of these faiths during the mid and late nineteenth century compromised the unity of the faith community and its distinctiveness from other Protestant denominations. The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were periods of transformation for the Brethren. The Brethren were internally divided between three groups: Old Orders, Conservatives, and Progressives. Many Brethren pursued evangelistic, expansive pursuits while others sought to preserve the old order or the prim itive church. Yet, as historian Carl Bowman notes in his study Brethren Society , many Brethren held “mixed habits of the heart” and fell somewhere in between these divisions. 2 The late nineteenth century also experienced a swell in Protestant mission act ivities in which women played an enormous role. Often women participated in and shaped mission endeavors through working as nurses, educators, or evangelists overseas or by forming 1 Anetta C. Mow, Meet Your Missionaries (Elgin, IL: Church of the Brethren, 1955), 121 -122. Historians have documented the overwhelming presence of women in the missionary movement (see historiography section beginning on page 17). By 1890, married and single women missionaries together comprised 60 percent of all American missionaries overseas. Jane Hunter, The Gospel of Gentility: American Women Missionaries in Turn -of -the -Century China (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984) , xiii. 2 Carl Bowman, Brethren Society: The Cultural Transformation of a “Peculiar People” (Baltimore: The Johns H opkins University Press, 1995), 184. 2 mission boards at home. Out of this dynamic arise several questions: How did Brethren women, as carriers of culture and religion overseas, shape the Brethren mission field in Shanxi? Did any peculiar Brethren beliefs surface in the China mission? How did Brethren women’s faith shape their assumptions regarding Chinese women and gender? The Brethren missionary movement implied a redefinition of traditional Brethren values of unity and nonconformity, and to a lesser extent, pacifism and piety. Missionaries pushed against the boundaries that separated the Brethren and “the wo rld,” working for church expansion, interdenominational cooperation, and generally for Brethren to become less “peculiar” in the world to attract new people to the faith. Mission work demanded that Brethren missionaries make their faith portable and adapt able to the various cultural, political, and geographic requirements of the mission field. In addition, the increasing missionary movement also implied changes to the gender traditions of the German Baptist Brethren. It threatened to alter the gender str ucture of the Old Order, which was largely patriarchal. The Brethren women who went to China challenged the assumptions of Brethren Old Orders and Conservatives by identifying Chinese women as crucial to church growth in China, assuming leadership roles, and playing a large role in packaging Brethren beliefs and practices in a manner they deemed appropriate for Chinese society. Through their mission work in China and their enlargement of gender roles, these women represented a progressive impulse in the d enomination. In addition, the cross -cultural and gendered nature 3 of the mission field presented Brethren missionaries with a space for progressive action. Yet at the same time, these missionaries of the early twentieth

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