Send message to Author

Paper short abstract

Beyond the familiar focus on religion in China, framed by church-state relations or cultural exchange, this paper examines how objects/machines emerge as sites of religious mediation, where materiality and spirituality intersect in unexpected ways and actively shape faith, personhood, and community.

Paper long abstract

The shift from traditional evangelical media (e.g., hardcover Bibles, broadcasting, and DVDs) to digital objects and social media platforms on smartphones challenges the way religion has conventionally been theorised as a collective practice. In this rapid digital transformation, how do we understand the dynamic relationship between faith and object- or machine-mediated religious practices?

This paper explores the lived experiences of urban Chinese Protestants based on 14 months of fieldwork conducted both remotely and in Beijing during and after the COVID pandemic (2022-2024). Moving beyond the familiar frames that emphasise church-state tensions, cultural exchange, or systems of doctrines, it examines how believers feel God through everyday objects often regarded as mundane or mass-produced. Material things — such as smartphones, digital Bibles, monetary transfers, and WeChat stickers — emerge as sites of religious mediation, exploration and expression. By engaging with various objects and digital platforms, a secure sense of self can be cultivated in everyday religious practices. These objects carry gospel messages, sustain community ties, and sometimes align with state discourses of health and care, thereby unsettling simplistic binaries of resistance versus accommodation. The paper shows that encounters with objects among urban Chinese Protestants are not an accidental outcome of technological change but a central dimension of religious life in contemporary China. This perspective helps us understand how faith is materially practised and experienced in a rapidly changing world and investigates how digital technologies have affected the dynamics of Christian practices and communication in urban China.