Inside the church of almighty God : the most persecuted religious movement in China / Massimo Introvigne.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Introvigne, Massimo, author.

Series:

Oxford scholarship online.

Oxford scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Persecution--China.

Persecution.

Millennialism.

Dong fang shan dian (Organization).

China.

Genre:

Case studies.

Physical Description:

1 online resource.

Place of Publication:

New York, New York : Oxford University Press, 2020.

Summary:

Branded as "the new Falun Gong" by local authorities, The Church of Almighty God is the most persecuted religious movement in China today. Thousands of police officers are deployed full time to identify and arrest its members. Hundreds of thousands of its devotees are in jail. Authorities claim, perhaps hyperbolically, that it has some four million members and accuse the group of serious crimes. Yet, the movement continues to grow.In this ground-breaking study, Massimo Introvigne offers an inside look at this once-elusive movement, sharing interviews with hundreds of members and the Chinese police officers who hunt them down. The story of The Church of Almighty God is one of rapid growth, dramatic persecution, and the struggle of believers to seek asylum in countries around the world. In his telling of the story, Introvigne reconstructs the Church's idiosyncratic theology, centered in the belief that Jesus Christ has returned in our time in the shape of a Chinese woman, worshipped as Almighty God, to eradicate the sinful nature of humans, and that we have entered the third and final time period in the history of humanity: the Age of Kingdom. A major book from one of the world's leading scholars of new religious movements, Inside The Church of Almighty God is a critical addition to the scholarship of Chinese religion.

Contents:

Introduction 1. The Suicide of Ms. Liu and Other Chinese Persecution Stories 2. China's Struggle Against the Xie Jiao 3. The Church of Almighty God: Origins and Beliefs 4. Joining The Church of Almighty God 5. Living in The Church of Almighty God 6. Fake News: The McDonald's Murder of 2014 7. The Red Dragon and the Pastors: Accusations of Kidnapping 8. Escaping China: The Refugees 9. Some Conclusions: The Church of Almighty God in Xi Jinping's China References Index of Personal Names Index.

Notes:

Also issued in print: 2020.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-19-008911-3

0-19-008912-1

0-19-008910-5