The hidden seeds of the Christian renewal in China today include the outstanding Chinese Christians in Salt and Light 2, a dozen new life stories with lively anecdotes and photographs. These reformers made lasting contributions that shaped modern China. Working out of the limelight in their professions, they had quiet but powerful influence on early twentieth-century civil society. Motivated by their faith, they modeled essential virtues. This series helps recover a lost Christian heritage linked closely to a legacy of East-West cooperation in an earlier global era.
"The second volume of Salt and Light is a wonderful accomplishment. It takes as its scene the world's largest country during a century of turmoil and agony, and shows how a few heroic Chinese Christians tried to rescue and redeem their great country. The stories are without exception inspiring. At the same time, they shed much unsuspected light on the history both of China and of Christianity."
--Philip Jenkins,
author of The Lost History of Christianity
"The editors have assembled a strong team of authors, both Chinese and American, to write these compelling portraits. The subjects are lay Chinese Christians who were active between 1850 and 1950, all of whom had some contact with the United States and all of whom were leaders in building up Chinese society. For our day, which marvels at the rapid spread of Christianity in contemporary China, this book is especially important for showing how long-standing and how effective--but also how Chinese--have been the serious Christian contributions to Chinese society. This is a very important book."
--Mark Noll
author of The New Shape of World Christianity
"Living up to the high standards of Volume 1, this book offers new, finely written portraits of Chinese Christian patriots of the twentieth century. Their stories are both fascinating and inspiring, and they open new windows for viewing the history of modern China. They help us see the moral challenges and cultural transformations that underlay the political and economic struggles of the Chinese revolution.
--Richard Madsen
author of Democracy's Dharma and China's Catholics
"Carol Hamrin and Stacey Bieler have brought together another set of illuminating portraits of historical Chinese Christian leaders. We see here the men and women who sowed the seeds of spiritual, psychological, and physical transformation that helped make the Chinese church--and indeed China itself--what it is today. A truly fascinating book."
--Rob Gifford
author of China Road
Carol Lee Hamrin is research professor at George Mason University and a senior associate with Global China Center and author of God and Caesar in China and Decision Making in Deng's China.
Stacey Bieler is author of "Patriots" or "Traitors"? A History of American-Educated Chinese Students.
