What’s behind Boom of Christianity in China?
The Brink reports on this fascinating research, initiated with incubation funding from Hariri Institute.
Theology scholars and a global network of researchers are using big data to map religion’s history in China and explain its rapid growth. Over the past four decades, Christianity has grown faster in China than anywhere else in the world. Daryl Ireland, a Boston University School of Theology research assistant professor of mission, estimates that the Christian community there has grown from 1 million to 100 million. What led to that explosion, centuries after the first Christian missionaries arrived in China? The BU scholars behind the China Historical Christian Database aim to find out.
(From right) Daryl Ireland, an STH research assistant professor of mission, Eugenio Menegon, a CAS associate professor of history, and Alex Mayfield (STH’21) (not pictured) are the principal investigators for the China Historical Christian Database, an effort to chart 400 years of religious history.
The project, which allows researchers to visualize the history of Christianity in modern China, links web-based visualization tools with a database packed with the names and locations of missionaries, churches, schools, hospitals, and publications. Hosted by BU’s Center for Global Christianity & Mission, the project launched in 2018 and version 2.0 of the database is scheduled for release in 2023. The new version will double the amount of data previously available, providing approximately four million data points—names, occupations, locations, dates, and more—spanning four centuries (1550–1950).
Learn more about this project in the BU Brink story by Marc Chalufour.