In 1917, the Beijing silk merchant Wei Enbo's vision of Jesus sparked a religious revival, characterized by healings, exorcisms, tongues-speaking, and, most provocatively, a call for a return to authentic Christianity that challenged the Western missionary establishment in China. This revival gave rise to the True Jesus Church, China's first major native denomination. The church was one of the earliest Chinese expressions of the twentieth century charismatic and Pentecostal tradition which is now the dominant mode of twenty-first century Chinese Christianity. To understand the faith of millions of Chinese Christians today, we must understand how this particular form of Chinese community took root and flourished even throughout the wrenching changes and dislocations of the past century. The church's history links together key themes in modern Chinese social history, such as longstanding cultural exchange between China and the West, imperialism and globalization, game-changing advances in transport and communications technology, and the relationship between religious movements and the state in the late Qing (circa 1850-1911), Republican (1912-1949), and Communist (1950-present-day) eras. Vivid storytelling highlights shifts and tensions within Chinese society on a human scale. How did mounting foreign incursions and domestic crises pave the way for Wei Enbo, a rural farmhand, to become a wealthy merchant in the early 1900s? Why did women in the 1920s and 30s, such as an orphaned girl named Yang Zhendao, devote themselves so wholeheartedly to a patriarchal religious system? What kinds of pressures induced church leaders in a meeting in the 1950s to agree that "Comrade Stalin" had saved many more people than Jesus? This book tells the striking but also familiar tale of the promise and peril attending the collective pursuit of the extraordinary-how individuals within the True Jesus Church in China over the past century have sought to muster divine and human resources to transform their world.

"The book fills an important niche in the field and will be helpful to scholars of indigenous Christianities, charismatic traditions, and new religious movements. It would also be an excellent book for a methods or theory class, as it moves easily between archival and ethnographic work." - Jonathan A. Seitz, Associate Professor, Taiwan Graduate School of Theology, Taipei City, TaiwanMission Co-Worker, Presbyterian Church USA, Taipei City, Taiwan, Mission Studies

"This book is suitable for scholars and readers interestedin charismatic movements, new religious movements,and Chinese Christian studies." - Wei Xiong, Central China Normal University, Religious Studies Review

"Reading this book exposed me to another facet of how the gospel has impacted Chinese society and history. Some of the experiences recorded in this book are instructive for current challenges facing Christian churches, leaders, and believers in China. Any reader interested in Chinese church history of the last 100 years will find this book an interesting and enlightening addition to their understanding of the complexity and varied streams of God's work in China." - Peter Bryant, ChinaSource

"Far from being a dry, institutional history, China and the True Jesus is a tour de force of scholarship. Inouye has resisted the unfortunate trend of quick summaries and instead offers a sprightly written, wide-ranging account. She surveys the academic debates, unearths and translates rare primary source materials, and captures the feel of the miraculous worlds of believers. While she takes dreams and visions seriously, she helps us understand their significance by carefully framing the supernatural within history. China and the True Jesus is recommended not only for those interested in China but for anyone looking for a compelling story of how religions are born and survive." - Colleen McDannell, Church History

"Melissa Inouye has written a beautiful book: rich in historical particularity about Wei Enbo and the True Jesus Church, analytically sophisticated in conceptual framings, and handsomely woven into the tapestry of Chinese Christianity. In a work which has been skillfully transformed from a PhD dissertation into a monograph, Inouye offers junior and senior scholars alike an exemplar in the craft of writing, which is so lacking in the academic guild. This book is an important and groundbreaking read for those who wish to learn more about the twentieth- and twenty-first-century course of Chinese Christianity and, indeed, for students and scholars of new religious movements and world Christianity." - Alexander Chow, Review of Religion and Chinese Society

"A major contribution to the field of Chinese Christianity and will be of interest to anthropologists of religion, scholars of world Christianity and new religious movements, as well as those who specialise in researching religion in Chinese contexts." - Journal of Asia Pacific Anthropology

"China and the True Jesus is one of the most exciting and original recent contributions to the history of Christianity in China. Boldly researched, conceptually ambitious, and elegantly written, Inouye's book makes a strong case that the True Jesus Church, rather than a fringe religious group, intersects with and opens up vistas into central questions in Chinese history. Almost every page sparkles with analytical insight that will surprise both specialists and nonspecialists in the history of Christianity in China. This provocative and stimulating book deserves to be widely read; it will be of interest to historians of modern China, scholars of religion, and those interested in a broad range of theoretical issues, including questions about the intersection of religion and civil society." - Albert M. Wu, American University of Paris, The Journal of Asian Studies

"Far from being a dry, institutional history, China and the True Jesus is a tour de force of scholarship. Inouye has resisted the unfortunate trend of quick summaries and instead offers a sprightly written, wide-ranging account. She surveys the academic debates, unearths and translates rare primary source materials, and captures the feel of the miraculous worlds of believers. While she takes dreams and visions seriously, she helps us understand their significance by carefully framing the supernatural within history. China and the True Jesus is recommended not only for those interested in China but for anyone looking for a compelling story of how religions are born and survive." - Colleen McDannell, Church History

"For those who love learning about religion and history, this book is for you. It's about the history of Christianity in China. . .. One thing I found especially interesting (because it's similar to Joseph Smith's first vision) was that there were others who had visions of God and Jesus. One was a king name Hong Xiuquan who had a vision in 1837 . . . Not only did he see God and Jesus, but Heavenly Mother appeared in his vision as well. . . . I liked this because it reminds us that God speaks to people of all cultures and religions. . . . These are just a few of the various fascinating stories found in this book, and I'm very pleased that many of the stories are about women . . . If you love learning about how people shaped history, you will definitely enjoy this book." - Dani Addante, Exponent II blog

"This book is essential reading for any scholar of Christianity in China and anyone interested in exploring the relationship between charisma and power." - Alex Mayfield, Boston University, Pneuma

"[T]his is an important study and deserves to be read by anyone hoping to enjoy a compelling and contextualized narrative about a unique religious group." - Chris White, Purdue University, Journal of Chinese Religions

"With the archival experience of a historian and the descriptive pen of an ethnographer, Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye masterfully situates the history of the True Jesus Church in the broader context of twentieth-century China in her new book China and the True Jesus" - Journal of Chinese Religions

"China and the True Jesus provides the reader with an insightful platform from which to view the tumult of modern Chinese history from below. This book is essential reading for any scholar of Christianity in China and anyone interested in exploring the relationship between charisma and power." - Alex Mayfield, Pneuma

"This volume is an exemplary work of religious history, in which Inouye combines archival research and fieldwork among current believers, balanced with just the right amount of theory to show how this singular story might relate to other religions in terms of charisma vs. organization, the social and economic roots of spiritual receptivity, the intersection of the mundane and the miraculous, church and state relations, the language of moral discourse, etc. Inouye has mastered the delicate art of writing about other people's religious beliefs and experiences with sensitivity, compassion, and insight. In addition,China and the True Jesusis a terrific introduction to the sweep of modern Chinese history" - Grant Hardy, By Common Consent

"Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye provides a detailed, erudite, and historically sympathetic addition to this growing scholarship. China and the True Jesus is rich in historical and ethnographic detail, and it will be of interest to those scholars in the fields of not only China studies and Chinese Christianity, but also the global Pentecostal/charismatic movement, global history, and transnational history." - Zhixi Wang, Shantou University, China Information

"This book is suitable for scholars and readers interested in charismatic movements, new religious movements, and Chinese Christian studies." - Wei Xiong, Central China Normal University, Religious Studies Review

"China and the True Jesus provides a fascinating window into the world of twentieth century Chinese Christianity, allowing undergraduate and masters level students to journey with real Chinese believers through a century of richly contextualised lived theology." - Andrew T. Kaiser, Journal of Ecclesiastical History