German Missionaries, Chinese Christians, and the Globalization of Christianity, 1860-1950 By Albert Monshan Wu A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy in History in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Margaret Lavinia Anderson, Chair Professor Wen-hsin Yeh Professor John Connelly Professor Andrew Jones Fall 2013 German Missionaries, Chinese Christians, and the Globalization of Christianity, 1860-1950 Copyright 2013 by Albert Monshan Wu Abstract 1 German Missionaries, Chinese Christians, and the Globalization of Christianity, 1860-1950 by Albert Monshan Wu Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Berkeley Professor Margaret Lavinia Anderson, Chair. This dissertation makes two broad claims about the enduing imprint of the European missionary enterprise on the modern world. The first is self-evident: European missionaries made Christianity a global religion. By pushing and spreading Christianity beyond the boundaries of Europe into every single corner of the globe, missionaries laid the foundation for the transformation of Christianity from a predominantly European religion in the nineteenth century to one that is largely non-European in the twenty-first century. Drawing on previously unopened and unused archives in Germany, Italy, Taiwan, and China, I argue that globalization and indigenization were two sides of the same coin: from the stand-point of German missionaries, their religion became more global, while for Chinese Christians, this already global religion became particularly “Chinese.” The second argument flows from the first: European missionaries helped to usher in a new secular age; they laid the seeds for the Christianity’s own secularization. Through their encounters with the world, I argue, the European missionary enterprise self-secularized. The missionary experience in China pushed German missionaries and theologians to re- think, and in some cases, renounce, the religious convictions that they once held. As a result of this re-thinking, they devolved and gave up the religious control and authority that they once wielded. Finally, my dissertation revises the view of the German missionary enterprise in China as a “debacle,” which has long dominated the historical narrative of Christianity in China. I uncover the history of their work, and locate some its successes, showing how the German model laid the foundation for much of the current religious revival in China. The German Protestant and Catholic models of missionary work, considered “conservative” in their stress on individual conversion and evasion of politics, proved remarkably sturdy in the face of a hostile regime, providing the model that drives Christian conversion in China today. - 1 - Dedicated to my beloved parents, 吳茂昆 (Maw-Kuen Wu) and 唐慧晴 ( Huichin Tang Wu), whose unconditional love propelled every word. -i- Table of Contents Abstract.......................................................................................................1 Table of Contents........................................................................................ii List of Abbreviations ..................................................................................iv List of Figures .............................................................................................v List of Maps ...............................................................................................vi Acknowledgments .....................................................................................vii Introduction................................................................................................1 Why China? And Why Germans in China? Or, the Perception of Failure .............6 Global Christian Missions and the Question of Transnationalism.........................14 The “Invisible Man" of German History ...................................................................17 Sources and Structure of the Dissertation .................................................................19 Finally, On Globalization and Modernity ..................................................................22 Part I. Nineteenth-century Context and Ideas ............................................26 Chapter 1. Ernst Faber and the Consequences of Failure ........................27 Introduction..................................................................................................................27 Provincial Beginnings....................................................................................................31 Becoming a China Missionary .....................................................................................35 Faber the Literary Missionary .....................................................................................41 Break with Pietism and Faber’s Liberal Turn............................................................45 Conclusion .....................................................................................................................55 Chapter 2. From Anti-Confucian to Anti-Communist: German Catholic and Protestant Missionaries Embrace Confucianism ..................................60 Introduction.................................................................................................................60 Short Histories of the BMS and the SVD.................................................................64 BMS and SVD views of Confucianism.......................................................................67 The Impact of World War I on the BMS .................................................................73 The Impact of World War I on the SVD .................................................................79 The New Culture Movement Criticizes Confucianism and Christianity...............82 From Anti-Confucian to Anti Communist ...............................................................84 The SVD's Changing Conceptions of Space .............................................................89 Conclusion.....................................................................................................................93 Chapter 3. The Volkskirche, the Bense, and the Indigenous Church .......99 Introduction ................................................................................................................99 Indigenization and the Volkskirche .........................................................................101 Warneck, the Rise of Missiology, and Liberal Critics.............................................113 Children of Warneck: The German Missionary Establishment of the 1920s and Anti-Americanism ......................................................................................................120 German Protestant and Catholic Missionswissenschaft ........................................126 Siegfried Knak's Idea of Indigenization ...................................................................127 Chinese Bense Anti-Imperialism ..............................................................................130 Knak Responds to the Wenshe .................................................................................135 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................136 -ii- Part II. German Actors ...........................................................................139 Chapter 4. Implementing Indigenization: The Berlin Missionary Society Tries to Indigenize..............................................................................140 Introduction: Markers of Faith ................................................................................140 History and Structure of the Berlin Missionary Society.........................................147 The Berlin Missionary Society and China.................................................................153 Early Attempts at Indigenization..............................................................................159 Resistance to Indigenization .....................................................................................161 Indigenization and its Discontents ..........................................................................164 The Final Blow: The Nazi Divenstelle......................................................................172 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................175 Chapter 5. The SVD and Indigenization ...............................................178 Introduction ................................................................................................................178 Missionaries, Catechists, Virgins, and Priests..........................................................181 The Vatican Emerges.................................................................................................194 The SVD in the New Landscape ..............................................................................199 The 1924 Synod and its Critics .................................................................................204 Persistent Unrest........................................................................................................210 A Chinese Bishop........................................................................................................215 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................217