Wang Weifan (; 1927–2015) was an

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

Christian leader of the state-sanctioned

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

church of mainland China, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement. He was well-loved as a preacher, theologian, and devotional writer.

Biography

Wang Weifan was born into a non-Christian home in Taizhou,

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

province. He became a Christian in 1947 while studying

Chinese literature The history of Chinese literature extends thousands of years, and begins with the earliest recorded inscriptions, court archives, building to the major works of philosophy and history written during the Axial Age. The Han dynasty, Han (202 ...

at National Central University in

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

and became active in

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA (IVCF) is an evangelicalism, evangelical Christianity, Christian student movement with affiliate groups on university campuses in U.S.. It is a member of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students ...

. Wang would go onto further studies in China Theological Seminary in Hangzhou (), which would later merge with Nanjing Union Theological Seminary () in 1952. He would graduate from Nanjing Union Theological Seminary three years later in 1955. Wang would be criticized during the

Anti-Rightist Movement The Anti-Rightist Campaign () in the People's Republic of China, which lasted from 1957 to roughly 1959, was a political campaign to purge alleged " Rightists" within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the country as a whole. The campaign wa ...

in 1958 and, later, during the Cultural Revolution. After public religious practice was allowed again in China following the end of the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

, Wang taught

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

at Nanjing Union Theological Seminary and was the head of the publications department. Wang Weifan died on September 15, 2015, in Nanjing.

Theology

Wang Weifan's theological thinking brought together Chinese classical thought and traditional western theology. Borrowing from the ''

Yijing The ''I Ching'' or ''Yijing'' ( ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. The ''I Ching'' was originally a divination manual in ...

'', he was known for his idea of the "ever-generating God" (): Like other leaders of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement such as K. H. Ting, Wang also spoke of a cosmic Christology, with a strong emphasis on the

Incarnation Incarnation literally means ''embodied in flesh'' or ''taking on flesh''. It is the Conception (biology), conception and the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthly form or an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic form of a god. It is used t ...

, and held to a Christocentric mysticism. Due to his

theology, Wang Weifan would in the 1990s be pushed into retirement during the "theological reconstruction movement" by his friend and colleague K. H. Ting.

Works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wang, Weifan 1927 births 2015 deaths Chinese evangelicals Chinese Christian theologians Chinese Protestant ministers and clergy Christian writers Chinese spiritual writers Three-Self Patriotic Movement