Raising the Dead = Girl Power? Charismatic Practice and Women’s Authority in a Chinese Christian Church

From one point of view, Chinese Christianity should be terrible for women because it provides a double dose of patriarchy. However, the history of women in the True Jesus Church challenges this narrative on multiple fronts. For example, during the Republican era the True Jesus Church provided women with opportunities to participate in print culture and parliamentary governance. During the high tide of the Maoist era, when many churches and other religious organizations were being driven from the public sphere, women came to the forefront of leadership in church clandestine practice. In the contemporary era, women maintain the church’s charismatic culture in the fragile space between the demands of hypercompetitive Chinese society and a watchful state. Throughout it all, charismatic theology and practices have been resources on which women have drawn to exercise authority, convene community, and accomplish cherished goals.