“Making” Testimonies: Charismatic Phenomena and Speech Practice in the True Jesus Church of a Southern Fujian County

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This article explains how testimonies of miraculous events shared among members of the True Jesus Church (TJC) in Fujian province (southern China) are indeed not as spontaneous and personal as they may appear, but carefully selected, reworked, and in some sense canonized by the leaders of their Church. Thus, the author explores the role of the institution and its leadership in channelling one of the most charismatic elements of this Christian denomination. It brings three convincing examples from the ground to illustrate its argument.

This argument is innovative and important to deepen our understanding of a prominent Chinese Christian movement – especially in the south. The paper is extremely well written, with a good balance between theory and ethnographic material.

My concern, however, relates to its engagement with existing literature and their supposed notions of cultures, an issue which must be addressed. Basically, the argument is built against something that is almost like a straw man – see L 46–56. While the author refers to the usual but aging canon of the anthropology of Christianity, as well as on Christianity in China, the paper barely engages with truly recent literature on Christianity in Fujian and/or on the True Jesus Church. The entire book on the TJC by M. Inouye is only listed but not addressed at all. This is not acceptable. Likewise, the work of C. White on Christians in Southern Fujian is not listed, nor the work of M. Chambon in Northern Fujian. The problem then is that the core argument, which is well illustrated, loses some of its value. Thus, I would strongly recommend better engagement with recent scholarship to highlight the contribution of this paper.

For instance, the paper highlights the role of the clergy, and of the church as a whole, in regulating, framing, and recording an official version of testimonies and miracles. This is very important, and more innovative than the supposed cultural premise shared by Bays and Madsen. For instance, the author talks about agents at the end of the paper (L. 725). Thus, the paper could engage with the book Making Christ Present in China (Chambon) to highlight its argument on the role of the TJC clergy. This book argues that Christian networks generate a specific type of social actors (the pastoral clergy and the semi-transcendent church). Yet, it doesn’t really explore how this production of social actors works precisely within a specific denomination like the TJC. By contrast to a book which takes a cross-denominational and material approach, the present paper could provide a rich denominational and discursive approach that illustrates how the TJC negotiates its own definition of having a pastoral clergy – or what the author describes as pastoral prompting.

This is only one suggestion. The author could also return to the work of Inouye to build upon her legacy. But it needs to go beyond a supposed cultural premise of the scholarship.

Below is a list of smaller comments, line by line:

• 33: Global-South: please avoid this type of vague category when actors involved in these conversations are indeed all established in the Global North….
• 78: “recent” here refers to something that is almost 20-year-old…. As if nothing happened in between. Please change.
• 110: “excess” to whom? Please specify how this excess is the perception of some.
• 130-200: the way the TJC is present is quite broad – especially for readers not familiar with this non-trinitarian denomination. How many members on a regular Saturday service? What about its venues? Schedule of regular activities? More context would be helpful.
• 473-470: the TJC is not simply concerned with marking boundaries. In other parts of the province, there are all sorts of cross denominational exchanges and influences that shape its functioning. One is that their ministers must attend registered schools of theology. Thus, there is complex belonging-to-Christianity and being-different at work; something negotiated by ways in which the clergy prompt testimonies about miracles.
• 628: explain what a chapel network is.
• 637-657: I believe that the author could afford a more critical angle and highlight how, indeed, individual voices disappear. While stories are presented as something personal, they are transformed through pastoral prompting and individuals lose control over them, not daring to add or say anything (and to not contradict the official account).
• 704: ‘scholars’ – strawman… L.707-717: this is an old debate, and it doesn’t help to appreciate the novelty of this paper and its material.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I like the overall idea and there is a foundation of good empirical data underlying the authors claims. All those are good things and I think this paper has merit. 

There are, however, a few major structural issues that need to be resolved to turn this into a publishable paper. 

First, the indigenization argument seems tacked on. That is not to say there is no argument to be made, but the current format does not adequately link the core theoretical claims in the results section (points 2.1 through 2.4) to the concept of indigenization and its broader literature. 

Second, the first problem is largely a product of the underdeveloped theoretical portion of the paper. Existing/competing theoretical arguments are briefly mentioned and could be more full developed, especially the link between the authors understanding of culture in practice and how that fits with how indigenization works. 

Third, part of that theoretical development needs to more fully elaborate how speech acts about experiences relate to the experiences themselves. This paper primarily looks at testimony, but does not as fully consider those things that the testimonies are about and their influence as cultural practice. Even if it is not part of this study, some better explanation as to why would be helpful. 

Fourth, at 16 pages, this is a little too short given the potential quantify of empirical data behind it. I want to "see" more of what the author has gathered across the paper. Some areas to a great job of incorporating that data (notably section 2.2) but others are very thin on the empirical evidence. 

One other small curiosity is how the author's understanding of testimony is similar or not to Bearman's (2000) discussion of narrative and identity. 

There are other smaller issues that could be corrected, but the above larger issues will likely dramatically alter the paper, so those can wait for a more advance draft. 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

To go beyond is a cultural perspective is good for study of indigenization. 

But in discussing TJC, there has been new findings that it is not about "indigenization", but of seeking an "authentic Christianity." And in the Chinese context, a "Holy Spirit-centered" church is not necessary to be Pentecostal-charismatic, while "spiritual" may be a common characteristic of most Chinese churches. Especially when compared to the Global South, such a new view would be more persuasive. 

Bureaucratization also happens in popular religions, not just in Christianity. So it is not proper just to highlight "organization" in TJC, when compared to popular religions. Even personal spirit mediums are managing spirit possession. 

Personally, I do not think it is proper to put "result" as the main part of the research. It should be better structured and the titles be better phrased. 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Expression such as "Christian indigenization" are not so correct. 

 

Also,

line 91, "central case"

line 108, "keyed to"

line 139, "Wei Paul" (Paul Wei also has a Chinese name)

line 165, "folk spirit possession"

line 179, "Pastoral Ministry"

line 186, "sanctuary"

line 237, "church officers"

line 631, "during"

line 712, "Chinese cultural"

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx