China's Church Divided

Bishop Louis Jin and the Post-Mao Catholic Revival

Paul P. Mariani

$86.95

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Harvard University Press
18 October 2025

General & world history; Asian history; Religion & politics; History of religion; Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholic Church

An illuminating portrait of how Shanghai's Catholic community surged back to life after the Cultural Revolution-and of a Church divided between allegiance to the Vatican and loyalty to the Communist party-state.

During the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese state sought to eradicate religious life throughout the country. But by 1978, two years after the death of Mao Zedong, the Communist Party under Deng Xiaoping cautiously embraced the revival of religion. At the same time, in Rome, the newly elected Pope John Paul II made a point of renewing outreach to China. Paul P. Mariani tracks the fate of Chinese Catholicism in the wake of these transformative leadership changes, focusing on the influential Catholic community in Shanghai.

Even as Chinese Catholicism came back to life in the 1980s, the way forward was hardly an easy one. Earlier policies of the 1950s had fractured the Catholic community into a state-approved ""patriotic"" church that answered to the government and an underground church loyal to Rome. Even after the Cultural Revolution, Mariani shows, this divide remained firmly intact. The resulting tensions were on vivid display in Shanghai, owing to the leadership of the Jesuit priest Louis Jin Luxian. Formerly a member of the underground church, Jin realigned with the state church during the revival and was consecrated bishop of Shanghai without papal approval in 1985. Bishop Jin used his position to revitalize the local Catholic community, but his cooperation with the party put him ever at odds with underground church leaders.

Sensitive to the ideals, compromises, and disappointments of Catholics on both sides of the rift, China's Church Divided reveals how the community navigated the irreconcilable differences between a worldwide Church centered in Rome and a regime wary of foreign spiritual authority.

By: Paul P. Mariani
Imprint: Harvard University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 711g
ISBN: 9780674297654
ISBN 10: 0674297652
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 18 October 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , Undergraduate , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Paul P. Mariani is a Jesuit priest and Edmund Campion, S. J., Professor of History at Santa Clara University. He is the author of Church Militant: Bishop Kung and Catholic Resistance in Communist Shanghai and coeditor of People, Communities, and the Catholic Church in China.

Reviews for China's Church Divided: Bishop Louis Jin and the Post-Mao Catholic Revival

At a time when geopolitical tensions have again strained Sino-Western religious exchanges, China’s Church Divided offers a thoughtful and compelling history of Catholic leadership in 1980s Shanghai. Mariani's account attests to the resilience and adaptability of faith in China after Mao, illuminating how Bishop Jin Luxian navigated a political landscape fractured by split allegiances to the state and the Vatican. -- Joseph Tse-Hei Lee, author of <i>The Bible and the Gun: Christianity in South China, 1860–1900</i>