Religious liberty for the Chinese child: missionary debates in the 1930s

ABSTRACT

In 1931, liberal and conservative Christians debated the possibility of replacing Bible Study with a comparative religions course for elementary-school students, in order to comply with regulations of the Republic of China. Made possible by the ecumenical and indigenization movements within Christianity, this debate intersected with multiple issues: Western accommodation to the rise of Chinese nationalism; Christian resistance to growing secularization in the West, including elements of the social gospel; and clerical responses to child-centered pedagogies. Furthermore, liberals also promoted religious studies as a method for increasing cross-cultural understanding and world peace after World War II. While previous scholars have situated government registration of parochial schools within the rise of Chinese nationalism, this article asserts that missionaries in the 1930s viewed children’s religious education within the framework of both Chinese indigenization and global secularization.