The Identity Anxiety and Ideological Struggle of Chinese Christians during the Sino-Japanese War: An Analysis of the Interaction of the Social Gospel and Pacifism in Wu Yaozong's Thought

Wu Yaozong, a well-known liberal Chinese Christian writer of the 1920s, believed that the Social Gospel movement and pacifism could work side by side. Together with other Chinese Christians who embraced a liberal theology, he promoted such ideas before the Sino-Japanese War. However, after the War, Wu Yaozong's understandings of the Social Gospel and pacifism changed, following the challenge and influence of nationalism and communism a change which finally brought a separation in Wu's thinking between pacifism and the revolutionary social gospel. This paper seeks to offer an analysis of the interaction of the Social Gospel and pacifism and their influences upon Wu Yaozong. The author hopes to demonstrate the identity anxiety of Chinese Christians in the first half of the 20th century through a case study of Wu Yaozong's ideas.