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Aikman reflects accurately that most of the growth stems not from the "open" or registered Three-Self churches, of whose complex history he gives a particularly useful account. Bathtub baptisms predominate among the unregistered study group assemblies, as do conversions by dream vision and miraculous healings, and it is there—especially in the context of the official ban upon them—that the growth has continued to be most dramatic. (Tertullian was right.)

Doctrinal variations are relatively few, though in one respect significant. The "registered" churches are forbidden to preach on the Second Coming. The expectation of the imminent return of the Lord, however, is clearly a powerful source of hope and endurance—and an incentive for evangelism—in the underground church.

In 1949, there were officially 3.3 million Catholics in China and 900,000 Protestants—a little over four million Christians altogether. An estimate given to me by a ranking Chinese official (not a Christian) is that there are currently 70 to 100 million. For Aikman, "it is worth considering that not just the numerical, but the intellectual center of gravity for Christianity may move decisively out of Europe and North America as the Christianization of China continues and as China becomes a global superpower." I am inclined to agree, though I am less certain than Aikman that a consequence is necessarily that China would then become "America's Great Ally." The Christianity now emerging in China has a radically orthodox character that may unsettle Western Christians steeped in cultural compromise. And no one, I suspect, can predict what may happen if and when China gets its own Constantine.

For readers whose Christian imagination permits of a future in which America is not God's vicar, Aikman's book is provocative reading. His appendices, which include the formal creed of the House Church movement, are worth the price of the book.

—David Lyle Jeffrey is Distinguished Professor of Literature and Humanities, as well as provost, at Baylor University. He is also, since 1996, Guest Professor at Peking (Bei-da) University. His People of the Book: Christian Identity and Literary Culture (1996) has just been published in Chinese translation by Renmin University Press (2004).

Copyright © 2004 by the author or Christianity Today International/Books & Culture magazine.Click here for reprint information on Books & Culture.

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