Sublime Sociality

Overview & Synopsis

Sublime Sociality: An (Auto)Ethnographic Theory of Chinese Christianity is the first book-length ethnographic depiction of life within the world’s largest ‘house church’. This deeply influential, nameless, group, a transnational, Sino-Taiwanese community of followers of Witness Li, is one of the first indigenous Chinese Christian movements of the 20th century, and the only one to become a globalised phenomenon in the 21st. In this book, anthropologist Gareth Breen asks what is ‘Chinese’ about ‘Chinese Christianity’? and suggests an answer that goes beyond both ethnicity and geography. He argues its distinctiveness is found in its pursuit of what followers of Li call ‘organic oneness’, described by Breen as a form of ‘sublime sociality’, which combines spontaneous social interaction with contrary tendencies to conformity and routine. This social form, Breen argues, has a deep history in China but is also rooted in a universal human capacity for ‘flow’. However, given the global reach of Chinese Christianity, successful social harmony is not always guaranteed. This book therefore also explores in vivid ethnographic details all the transnational tensions and everyday conundrums involved in creating a cohesive community in the face of societal rupture and lines of difference – of gender, status, generation, culture, language, politics, and history. By examining how unity is maintained in the daily rhythms of church life, through meetings, daily prayers, communal meals, and social groups, Breen offers a penetrating portrait and compelling analysis of Chinese Christianity, and introduces a vital new perspective to the anthropology of religion.