Daryl Ireland is the Associate Director of the Center for Global Christianity and Mission, and the project manager of Chinese Christian Propaganda Posters. He focuses on the history of Christianity and mission in Asia. His study of 宋尚節 (John Sung), a Chinese revivalist whose itinerant ministry renewed the spiritual life of tens of thousands in the 1930s, has prompted him to write more broadly about revitalization movements, the role of women in revivalism, and religious conversion in China and Southeast Asia.
At a time when the study of Christianity in China is becoming more difficult, the CHCD opens a new portal to explore China’s Christian past. The tool might be different than rummaging through a traditional archive, but by repackaging archival materials into an online tool it invites anyone to ask, “What could be discovered if…?”
The author brings to our attention Christian propaganda posters, intentionally used in China between 1927 and 1951, aimed at toppling China’s ideological systems. They provide a view of what Chinese Christians believed about their faith, and how they believed Christ could transform China.