Worship, Technology and Identity: A Deaf Protestant Congregation in Urban China. (August 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: McLeister, Mark
• Is Part Of: Studies in world Christianity. Volume 25:Part 2(2019)
• Page Start: 220
• Page End: 237
• Publication Date: 2019-08
• Subjects: sign language -- Chinese Sign Language -- Deaf education -- Deaf culture -- Protestantism -- worship -- technology -- identity; Christianity and culture; 270.83
• DOI: 10.3366/swc.2019.0258
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1354-9901

Abstract

Abstract : This paper 1 analyses a Deaf community in urban China and explores the extent to which this particular community has contextualised a Protestant message centred on understandings of sin as a disability. The construction of this message is based on a shared identity as both Deaf and Protestant and is mediated through a shared practice of signing and a common written language (Chinese). Circulation of this message is facilitated by technology and social media. Based on ethnographic data generated in a Deaf congregation in Yantai, Shandong province, I argue that while the message of this particular group is highly contextualised, the community has both national and transnational ties, linking it to a range of Protestant groups both within and outside mainland China. This paper furthers our understanding of how Christian identity is shaped in contemporary China.