Video: Hackett Lecture: "The Light from the Other Shore”: The Rise of Public Christianity in Contemporary China, with Xi Lian

In this year’s Hackett Lecture, Xi Lian (Duke Divinity School) explored the rise of public Christianity in post-Mao China. Tracing developments since the 1980s, the lecture examined how a homegrown Christian movement emerged amid a broader crisis of belief, shaping new moral frameworks and influencing intellectual, artistic, and political life.

Xi Lian is the David C. Steinmetz Distinguished Professor of World Christianity at Duke Divinity School. A leading scholar of Christianity in modern China, he is the author of Redeemed by Fire and Blood Letters, among other works, and co-editor of the forthcoming Highland Christianity (2026).