Wang Yi (pastor)#Chinese 95 theses

{{Infobox religious biography

| background = #DFB0DF

| name = Wang Yi

| image =

| religion = Reformed Protestantism

| founder = Early Rain Covenant Church

| alma_mater = Sichuan University

| other_names = Wang Shuya

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1973|6|1}}

| birth_place = Santai, Mianyang, Sichuan, China

| occupation = Pastor

| awards = Liu Xiaobo Courage to Write Award{{cite web |url=https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/prize-11162019091803.html |title=繫獄成都作家王怡和廣州詩人徐琳獲「劉曉波寫作勇氣獎」 |trans-title=Imprisoned Chengdu writer Wang Yi and Guangzhou poet Xu Lin won "Liu Xiaobo Courage to Write Award" |author= |date=16 November 2019 |website=rfa.org |language=zh-hant |access-date=3 December 2023}}

}}

Wang Yi ({{lang-zh|c=王怡|p=Wáng Yí}}; born June 1, 1973), pen name Wang Shuya ({{lang-zh|p=Wáng Shūyà|t=王書亞|s=王书亚}}), is the founding pastor of the Early Rain Covenant Church, a Calvinist house church in Chengdu. He is also a productive writer, editor, and social activist, and was a legal scholar at Chengdu University before he resigned to take up the pastorate.{{cite news |url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/flourishing-spirituality-in-china-apart-from-traditional-western-dogma/2017/05/19/9d03ff20-0b2d-11e7-b77c-0047d15a24e0_story.html |title=Flourishing spirituality in China, apart from traditional Western dogma |author1-link=Richard Madsen (sociologist) |last=Madsen |first=Richard |date=19 May 2017 |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=2 December 2017}}

Biography

Wang Yi is a native of Santai County located in the city of Mianyang,{{cite web |url=https://laogairesearch.org/prisoner_stories/wang-yi/ |title=Wang Yi |author= |date= |website=laogairesearch.org |access-date=3 December 2023}} which lies to the northeast of Chengdu. In 1996, he graduated from Sichuan University and began teaching law at Chengdu University. He was a vocal human rights advocate and his cultural and political commentary brought Wang Yi national attention.

In 2004, he was included in the list of "50 Most Influential Public Intellectuals of China" by {{ill|Southern People Weekly|zh|南方人物周刊}}. In 2005, he was converted, baptized, and started to serve in the house church. He was among the few pioneering Christian human-rights attorneys in China.{{cite journal |last=Chow|first= Alexander|author-link=Alexander Chow |date= May 2014|title=Calvinist Public Theology in Urban China Today|journal= International Journal of Public Theology|volume=8|issue=2|pages=158–175|doi= 10.1163/15697320-12341340|issn= 1569-7320 |url=https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/files/19322411/CHOW_Calvinist_Public_Theology_in_Urban_China_Today.pdf|hdl=20.500.11820/9dc682b5-4fe2-4022-932a-89d466dd71c1|s2cid= 143357822|hdl-access=free}}

Wang Yi met with President George W. Bush at the White House in 2006, together with Yu Jie, a democracy activist from Sichuan, and Li Boguang, a human rights attorney from Hunan, to discuss religious freedom in China.{{cite web |url= https://www.cecc.gov/publications/commission-analysis/house-church-lawyers-promote-religious-freedom-through-the-rule-of |title=House Church Lawyers Promote Religious Freedom Through the Rule of Law |date=30 June 2006 | publisher = Congressional-Executive Commission on China |access-date=2 December 2017 }}{{cite web |url= https://www.christianpost.com/news/chinese-christians-defend-religious-freedom-with-non-violence-law-16112/ |title=Chinese Christians Defend Religious Freedom with Non-Violence, Law |last=Vu |first= Michelle A. |date=12 May 2006 |website= Christianpost |access-date=2017-12-02}} He returned to Washington, D.C. in 2008, to attend the Conference for Global Christians in Law and was awarded "Prize for the Contribution to Promoting Religious Freedom."

In 2008, he resigned from Chengdu University and founded Early Rain Reformed Church ({{lang-zh|p=Qiūyǔ Zhīfú Guīzhèng Jiàohuì|s=秋雨之福归正教会|labels=no}}) in Chengdu (later renamed Early Rain Covenant Church).{{cite web |url=https://www.wangyilibrary.org/about/aboutwangyi |title=About Wang Yi|website=Wang Yi Library |access-date=4 October 2022}} In October 2011, he was ordained and became the senior pastor of the church.{{Cite web|url= http://refo500.stemi.id/home/indonesian|title=Reformation 500|website= Stephen Tong Evangelistic Ministries International|language=en|access-date=26 November 2017}} The church had a membership of about 700 before it was closed down in late 2018.{{cite news|url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/young-restless-and-reformed-in-china/|title=Young, Restless, and Reformed in China|last=Zylstra|first=Sarah Eekhoff|date=27 March 2017|work=The Gospel Coalition|access-date=2 December 2017 |language=en-US}}

Wang Yi was one of China's best-known pastors in the West. He and Early Rain have been profiled in The Atlantic and New York Times,{{cite news |last1=Johnson |first1=Ian |author-link=Ian Johnson (writer) |title=In China, Unregistered Churches Are Driving a Religious Revolution |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/04/china-unregistered-churches-driving-religious-revolution/521544/ |access-date=29 December 2019 |work=The Atlantic |date=23 April 2017}}{{cite news |last1=Johnson |first1=Ian |author-link=Ian Johnson (writer) |title=This Chinese Christian Was Charged With Trying to Subvert the State |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/25/world/asia/pastor-wang-yi-detention.html |access-date=29 December 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=25 March 2019}} and the subject of a number of journalist and academic works.{{cite book |last1=Johnson |first1=Ian |author-link=Ian Johnson (writer) |title=The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao |date=2017 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-241-30530-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jR2xDQAAQBAJ |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Li Ma |title=Religious Entrepreneurism in China's Urban House Churches: The Rise and Fall of Early Rain Reformed Presbyterian Church |date=2019 |publisher=Routledge |location=Abingdon |isbn=978-1-00-022792-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FZqfDwAAQBAJ |language=en}} A review by the editorial board of the Washington Post called Wang "a paragon of the noble aspiration that people be allowed to think, speak, worship and assemble freely".{{cite news |title=China persecutes a genuine people's leader on utterly baseless charges |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/china-persecutes-a-genuine-peoples-leader-on-utterly-baseless-charges/2019/12/30/7c6fad6e-2b2c-11ea-9b60-817cc18cf173_story.html |access-date=1 January 2020 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=December 30, 2019}}

On 9 December 2018, he and over 100 other members of the church were arrested by Chinese authorities,{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/10/world/asia/china-protestant-pastor-detained.html|title=Chinese Police Detain Prominent Pastor and Over 100 Protestants|last=Johnson|first=Ian|author-link=Ian Johnson (writer)|date=10 December 2018|work=New York Times|access-date=10 December 2018}} who simultaneously banned any reporting of the crackdown.{{cite news|first=Josh|last= Rudolph|url=https://chinadigitaltimes.net/2018/12/minitrue-no-reports-on-chengdu-house-church-crackdown/|title=No Reports on Chengdu Church Crackdown|date=10 December 2018|access-date=13 December 2018}} This action is being objected to by the US Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom.{{cite tweet|last=Brownback|first=Sam|user=IRF_Ambassador|number=1072314807263641601|date=10 December 2018|title=Distressing reports about another raid on Early Rain Covenant Church|url=https://twitter.com/IRF_Ambassador/status/1072314807263641601}} After he had been detained for 48 hours, the Early Rain Covenant Church released Wang's "My Declaration of Faithful Disobedience" written two months earlier in anticipation of his arrest.{{cite web |url = http://www.chinapartnership.org/blog/2018/12/my-declaration-of-faithful-disobedience |last=Wang |first = Yi |title=My Declaration of Faithful Disobedience|date=4 October 2018|publisher=China Partnership|access-date=12 December 2018}}

On 30 December 2019, Wang was given a prison sentence of nine years by Chengdu Intermediate People's Court for "inciting subversion of state power and illegal business operations." The sentence also included the stripping of his political rights for three years and the confiscation of his personal assets of RMB 50,000 (US$ 7,000).Paul Mozur and Ian Johnson (Dec. 30, 2019), [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/30/world/asia/china-wang-yi-christian-sentence.html China Sentences Wang Yi, Christian Pastor, to 9 Years in Prison]", New York Times. Retrieved 1 March 2020.{{Cite web|url= https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3043887/chinas-pastor-wang-yi-gets-9-years-jail-inciting-subversion |title=Chinese pastor Wang Yi gets nine years in jail for 'inciting subversion'|last1 =Lew|first1 =Linda|last2=Guo Rui|date= 30 December 2019|website= South China Morning Post |access-date=30 December 2019}}

On 31 December 2019, U.S. State Department called China for Wang's immediate and unconditional release in a statement, saying "This is yet another example of Beijing's intensification of repression of Chinese Christians and members of other religious groups".{{cite news |title=U.S. alarmed by China's trial and sentencing of Christian 'house' church pastor |url= https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/01/01/asia-pacific/crime-legal-asia-pacific/u-s-alarmed-chinas-trial-sentencing-christian-house-church-pastor/ |access-date=1 January 2020 |agency=Reuters |date=1 January 2020}}

On 1 January 2020, the embassy of the Netherlands in Beijing posted a message on Chinese social network Sina Weibo, which emphasized the importance of freedom of religion, with a screenshot of the Chinese court document about the sentence of Wang Yi.{{cite web|url= https://qz.com/1778887/chinese-internet-users-angered-by-the-netherlands-new-year-message/ |title=The Netherlands' New Year greeting did not go down well in China|work=Quartz |date=3 January 2020}}

Theology

Wang Yi argues that the idea of the separation of church and state originated from the Calvinist tradition. He criticizes the Three-Self Patriotic Movement in China as emphasizing nationalism, which he claims results in a worship of secular authorities at the cost of valuing the local community.{{cite book|chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=MC8lDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA167|title=Religion and Media in China: Insights and Case Studies from the Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong|last1=Vala|first1=Carsten|last2=Huang Jianbo |publisher=Taylor & Francis|year= 2016|isbn=978-1-317-53452-5|editor-last= Travagnin|editor-first= Stefania |location= Abingdon|pages=167–86|chapter= Three High-Profile Protestant Microbloggers in Contemporary China: Expanding Public Discourse or Burrowing into Religious Niches on Weibo?}} Instead, he argues for the separation of church and state in the United States which he suggests is a constitutional polity legitimized by a transcendent power – namely, a sovereign God.{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=LYtHAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA130 |title=Christian Values in Communist China |last=Wielander |first=Gerda|publisher=Routledge |year= 2013 |isbn=978-1-317-97604-2 |location= New York |pages=130–50}} Furthermore, he claims that the nation cannot interfere with church affairs, on one hand, and should be obliged to protect the religious freedom out of the divine duty, on the other.{{cite book |title= Ling hun shen chu nao zi you |trans-title=Revolution in the depth of soul |last=Wang |first = Yi |year=2012|publisher=Ji wen she Chuban |isbn= 978-986863795-5 |location=Taipei |pages= 250–69 |oclc=852503041}}

Wang wants to promote the transparency and publicity of the Chinese house church. Wang argues that churches ought to not only listen for God's voice, but also engage in public affairs. For him, the Reformed church in China should have a pastoral mission for the Chinese church and a prophetic mission for Chinese society.{{cite book |title= Ling hun shen chu nao zi you |trans-title= Revolution in the depth of soul |last=Wang Yi |year=2012 |publisher= Ji wen she Chuban |isbn=978-986863795-5 |location=Taipei |page=293 |oclc= 852503041}} According to Fredrik Fällman, Wang Yi sees this as the mechanism by which "New Genevas" are established throughout China, akin to John Calvin's reforms in Geneva.{{cite journal |last= Fällman|first=Fredrik|date=October 2016 |title=Public Faith? Five Voices of Chinese Christian Thought |journal=Contemporary Chinese Thought |volume=47|issue=4|page =229|doi=10.1080/10971467.2015.1262610 |issn=1097-1467 |doi-access=free}}

Works

Wang Yi is a prolific writer, preacher and blogger. Many of his works have been compiled at [https://www.wangyilibrary.org/ wangyilibrary.org].

The following works have been translated into English:

[https://www.ivpress.com/faithful-disobedience Faithful Disobedience: Writings on Church and State from a Chinese House Church Movement] (Intervarsity Academic, December 6 2022). This collection of writings, compiled in 2010, discusses the house church and their relationship to the Chinese government, including prominent voices such as Jin Tianming, Jin Mingri, and Sun Yi. In this English edition, the editors have provided introductions, notes, and a glossary, and included some documents from the time of Wang Yi’s arrest in December 2018.
[https://www.chinapartnership.org/blog/2018/12/my-declaration-of-faithful-disobedience "My Declaration of Faithful Disobedience"]. This statement was written in 2018 in anticipation of his arrest. Shortly after his arrest it was posted online in English and shared many times around the world.
[https://www.chinapartnership.org/blog/2015/08/95-theses-the-reaffirmation-of-our-stance-on-the-house-church "Ninety-Five Theses: The Reaffirmation of Our Stance on the House Church"]. This document, published in August 2015, was an attempt to reaffirm the Chinese house church's position in the relationship between government and society. Echoing Martin Luther's 95 theses, these Chinese 95 theses demonstrate his opinion of the church–state relationship from the perspective of the house church.{{Cite journal|last=Starr|first=Chloë|date=2016-12-06|title=Wang Yi and the 95 Theses of the Chinese Reformed Church|journal=Religions|language=en|volume=7|issue=12|pages=142|doi=10.3390/rel7120142|doi-access=free}}
This document is divided into six sections:{{Cite news|url=http://www.chinapartnership.org/blog/2015/08/95-theses-the-reaffirmation-of-our-stance-on-the-house-church|title=95 Theses: The Reaffirmation of Our Stance on the House Church|work=China Partnership|access-date=27 November 2017|language=en-US}}
* Theses 1–17: God's Sovereignty and Biblical Authority.
* Theses 18–31: God's Law and Christ's Redemption.
* Theses 32–39: Against the "Sinicization of Christianity".
* Theses 40–44: Church as the Body of Christ and His Kingdom.
* Theses 45–72: The Relationship between Two Kingdoms and the Separation of Church and State.
* Theses 73–95: Against the "Three-Self Movement" and Affirmation of the Great Commission.