Does Economic Development Encourage Or Discourage The Growth Of Christianity In China?
May 27th, 2007
Check out this three minute video (called “Christianity in China”). This video is by the NY Times’ Nicholas Kristoff of China Wakes fame. And here is the subsequent NY Times Op-Ed piece, From Torture to Plaintiff: Pilgrim’s Progress in China, who wrote that relates to this video.
So what do you think — does economic development promote or work against religious faith? In Europe? In the US? In China? In South America? In Africa?
All or none of the above?
This is an interesting question I had never thought of before I came across this video.
Relatedly, here is a cool Business Week article about an MBA program for monks at Jiao Tong University in Shanghai. Jiao Tong is a well respected school in China.
Entry Filed under: China
2 Comments Add your own
1. Brian McCarthy | May 28th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
To answer the question, two links need to be considered:
1. The link between economic development and religious faith, and
2. The link between economic development and Christianity
Throughout the world, economic development and religious faith are unrelated items. Religion as a whole is not more sought after by the prosperous than by those in economic hardship. Religion is a practiced support structure, regardless of economic development.
However, there is a correlation between economic development and Christianity. This is where you begin to see a shift from one type of religion to another type of religion that is more supportive of economic prosperity.
By definition, “Christianity is a monotheistic system of beliefs and practices based the teachings of Jesus” (taken from wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn). From what I remember, Jesus did not teach much about wealth accumulation, but about sharing and helping others among the many other messages. Remember the scripture about the fish and the loaves of bread? However, today Christianity has become a religion associated with greater economic development.
Max Weber wrote a book in the early 1900s called The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. The Protestant religion is one type of Christianity. The primary thesis of the book is that the Protestant religion was the driving force behind Capitalism. He proposed the tenants of the religion pushed people to focus more on personal economic gain.
As the video suggests, a rise in economic development usually is accompanied by a rise in Christianity. As China continues to have flourishing special economic zones, I expect Christianity to continue to expand in the country.
2. Chris Carr | May 29th, 2007 at 10:03 am
Good, thoughtful comment. Well done.
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed