In Hong Kong’s Last English Bishop, Philip L. Wickeri explores the life and times of John Gilbert Hindley Baker, who served as Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Hong Kong and Macao from 1966 to 1981. Baker lived through exciting times, as a missionary in wartime and revolutionary China, as a priest in America during the early years of the Cold War, and as a mission leader in the Church of England when churches in many parts of the world were becoming independent, before returning to Hong Kong where he was elected bishop. He was a faithful correspondent and a prolific writer throughout his life, offering a personal commentary on the churches and the societies in which he lived. Wickeri has made extensive use of Baker’s writings and other archival materials to provide a vivid picture of his life and work. Bishop Baker was instrumental in working for reconciliation after the 1967 riots, expanding the work of the diocese, and engaging Hong Kong with the wider world. In 1971, he opened a new era in the Anglican Communion by legally ordaining the first women priests. This book is indispensable for understanding the development of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui (Anglican Church) at a time when the growth of Hong Kong as a vibrant modern city was at its peak. “In this wide-ranging and well-informed book, Philip Wickeri succeeds in telling the story of Gilbert Baker against the backdrop of the huge changes affecting China and Hong Kong through some of the most turbulent years of the twentieth century. At once insightful and sensitive it will be required reading for those seeking to understand the complex move from colonial to post-colonial forms of Anglican mission.” —Mark D. Chapman, University of Oxford “Wickeri masterfully reconstructs the life and times of a central participant in not only Chinese Anglicanism but also Hong Kong’s transformation into a modern metropolis. On China and social change, Bishop Gilbert Baker held nuanced views, many of which remain eminently relevant for our contemporary moment.” —Brian Tsui, Hong Kong Polytechnic University

The Anglican Church in Singapore has a unique place both in the study of World Christianity and in the history of Southeast Asia. From its beginnings as a Church for colonial settlers, to its role as an unlikely agent of change in Singapore’s postcolonial transition, and its reinvention as part of a highly prosperous, hyperglobalized, supercapitalist, aspiration-driven modern state, the extraordinary trajectory of the Anglican Church in Singapore merits considerable attention. This study draws on archival material, incisive scholarship, and candid memoirs to chart the two-hundred-year history of Singapore’s Anglican Church, through world wars and communist insurgency towards hard-won national independence and the unparalleled social transformation of today, but this book goes far beyond mere chronological narrative. The author’s approach is inquisitive, rigorous, and ardently multidisciplinary, providing insights from theological, anthropological, political, and sociolinguistic perspectives. Homing-in on critically important and currently relevant themes, this book subjects the colonial-era Anglican Church’s social, ethnic, and interreligious engagement to scrutiny. The Church’s more recent and controversial commitment to the Anglican Realignment movement and its unexpected reorientation towards Pentecostalism are thoroughly investigated. The remarkable case of Singapore’s Anglican Church is indispensable for a complete understanding of World Christianity and Christianity in Asia today.

Founded in 1849, St John’s Cathedral is the oldest neogothic cathedral in East Asia and China’s oldest surviving Anglican church still in operation. In its early decades it was a centre of colonial life in Hong Kong. More recently, it has opened itself widely to other communities in Hong Kong, becoming a truly international church with services held in several languages. Drawing on extensive archives, and written in a lively style, this first comprehensive history of St John’s traces the cathedral’s roles as a colonial parish church and as a bishop’s seat for a diocese that once covered the whole of China and beyond. It also discusses St John’s significance as a cente of worship for a modern cosmopolitan community. Imperial to International is the first volume in the new series Sheng Kung Hui: Historical Studies of Anglican Christianity in China, co-published by the Hong Kong University Press and the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui.

This is the most comprehensive treatment ever written of the history of the Protestant Church in China over the last forty years. Philip Wickeri takes an unprecedented look at one of the most turbulent periods in Chinese history--the years from 1949 to the present. Wickeri explicates what Chinese Protestants have been saying about themselves in historical and theological perspective. His interpretation is based on one particular dynamic: how Chinese Protestants have sought to situate themselves in a socialist society within the unifying framework of the united front. After an overview of church, Marxism, and Christianity in China, Wickeri discusses the united front. He focuses on ideology, organization, and religious policy. Wickeri then explores the Three-Self Movement as both a Chinese and a Christian movement. His conclusion: the Three-Self Movement, despite problems, has made Christianity more accessible to the average Chinese and the church more acceptable to Chinese society.