Highland Christianity

Lian Xi is David C. Steinmetz Distinguished Professor of World Christianity at Duke University. He is the author of many books, including, most recently, Blood Letters: The Untold Story of Lin Zhao, a Martyr in Mao’s China, and Redeemed by Fire: The Rise of Popular Christianity in Modern China.David Bradley is Emeritus Professor of Linguistics at La Trobe University. He is the author of A Grammar of Lisu and coauthor of Language Endangerment.Ralph A. Litzinger is Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology and is affiliated with the Asian/Pacific Studies Institute and Global Health Institute at Duke University. He is the author of Other Chinas: The Yao and the Politics of National Belonging and coeditor of Ghost Protocol: Development and Displacement in Global China.

“Highland Christianity offers an extraordinarily rich and quite fascinating range of case studies of Christianity in multiple societies that stand on the margins of the better-known societies of Southeast Asia. There is so much of value here for scholars of Christian conversion in the modern world, and of Christian adaptation to diverse cultural settings, not to mention for borderland studies in general. The essays are of uniformly high quality.”—Philip Jenkins, author of Kingdoms of This World: How Empires Have Made and Remade Religions

• List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction Lian XiPart 1: The Beginnings of Highland Christianity chapter 1 Christianity, Modernity, and theKaren in Burma Pum Za Mangchapter 2 Baptist Christianity in the Making ofModern Kachin Identity in Burma Lagai Zau Nanchapter 3 Beyond Belief: Conversion to ChristianityAmong the Highlanders in KonTum, Vietnam, 1850–1945 Anh-Minh Nguyen-Dangchapter 4 The Family of William Young Amongthe Lahu: Baptist Mission on the BorderBetween China and Burma Jianxiong Machapter 5 The Making of a Modern Ahmao Intellectual: HanJie and A Brief History of the Flowery Miao Zh u JiliPart 2: Ethnic Christianity on theMargins of Nation-States chapter 6 Eschatological Beliefs in the Christianity of theMiao in Southwestern China, 1950–1960 Chijui Huchapter 7 The Baptist Church’s Civilizing Project and theLahu’s Appropriation of Christianity: A CaseStudy of the Christian and the TraditionalistLahu of Northern Thailand Yoichi Nishimotochapter 8 Performing Expressive Culture,Performing Governance, and PerformingTogetherness: The Church as a Stage forthe Display of Lisu Identity Aminta ArringtonPart 3: Borderland Christianity inComparative Perspective 201chapter 9 Christianity and Writing on the China–Southeast Asia Border David Bradleychapter 10 Productions of Knowledge About HighlandChristianity on China’s Southeast AsiaFrontier: A Historical Review Lian XiSelected Bibliography List of Contributors Index