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Matt Ely's Reviews > Inside The Church of Almighty God: The Most Persecuted Religious Movement in China
Inside The Church of Almighty God: The Most Persecuted Religious Movement in China
by
by
This is a public text about a secretive cult. Or a very open and public religion. It depends who you ask.
And I’m not saying that with a wink and nod. If the book does anything it clarifies just how thin, circumstantial, and political the line between cult and religion really is.
It also sets the record straight on many pieces of propaganda and misinformation about the group that dominate its public perception. The settling of these scores is necessary for the author who wants, among other things, to justify the refugee status of group members fleeing persecution. But for a wildly ignorant reader like myself it went perhaps deeper than I needed.
The author also makes the interesting choice of not starting with a description of what the group is but with firsthand accounts of members being tortured and sometimes killed by the Chinese government for their beliefs. It implies perhaps that the reader should focus on this as a human rights emergency instead of gawking at their obtuse theology first and foremost. But it can be hard to get your bearings as a reader when it feels like you’re starting with the end of the story in some sense.
This is definitely a high 4, and it’s good to have scholarly work out there on groups like this. It’s relatively short so if the group or the description strikes your fancy, you’ll likely be glad to have read it, as I was.
And I’m not saying that with a wink and nod. If the book does anything it clarifies just how thin, circumstantial, and political the line between cult and religion really is.
It also sets the record straight on many pieces of propaganda and misinformation about the group that dominate its public perception. The settling of these scores is necessary for the author who wants, among other things, to justify the refugee status of group members fleeing persecution. But for a wildly ignorant reader like myself it went perhaps deeper than I needed.
The author also makes the interesting choice of not starting with a description of what the group is but with firsthand accounts of members being tortured and sometimes killed by the Chinese government for their beliefs. It implies perhaps that the reader should focus on this as a human rights emergency instead of gawking at their obtuse theology first and foremost. But it can be hard to get your bearings as a reader when it feels like you’re starting with the end of the story in some sense.
This is definitely a high 4, and it’s good to have scholarly work out there on groups like this. It’s relatively short so if the group or the description strikes your fancy, you’ll likely be glad to have read it, as I was.
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