Between Public And Private: The Publicity Of Rural Christians And Its Limits

Since the reform and opening up,the macro structural reform has brought about the change of rural society,and the rural ethics and morals are gradually missing,and the "private without public morality" is gradually rising.Rural areas have entered a "harmonious" state of isolation,which reflects the lack of subjectivity and sense of belonging of rural farmers today.The "private" domain has retreated from clan and family to nuclear family,and the distinction between "public" and "private" has become increasingly clear.At the same time,Christianity gained rapid development in rural areas due to the opportunity of social structure changes and tight organizational structure of small fellowship.Based on empirical research,this paper selects Guo Village in northern Henan as a field site to investigate the public behavior and spiritual transformation of individual rural believers after conversion to Christ and its causes,and then discusses the limits of such public behavior.Finally,from the perspective of "public" and "private" boundaries,this paper analyzes the deep action logic of individual believers behind the limits.This paper argues that the governance technology inside and outside the church of Guo Village formed a set of sacred order combined with secular life,and gradually affected the believers’ own action logic.In this process,believers of Guo Village gradually keep up with the standards set by God,and some public behaviors come into being,such as helping each other without asking for anything in return and helping each other in the Lord;Self-control and self-discipline at the level of "self-discipline";The supervision and persuasion of unfilial piety and gossip of other believers at the level of "disciplinarity";Public participation level donations and so on.But there are certain limits to this kind of public behavior and the spirit behind it."Making images for God","glorifying God" and spreading the Gospel are important purposes for Christians in their daily activities.Besides,"Gentiles" are never as close to the believer as "God’s family";The "public affairs" of the countryside were also subordinated to the first priority of the "godly family affairs";The principle of "less than more" has always guided the behavior of believers in dealing with the "ungood" actions of gentiles.As a result of this limitation,the public behavior and spirit generated by believers of Guo Village after conversion to Christ only function within the church,and it is difficult to spread to the whole village outside the church.The author finds that although the scope of "public and private" has changed after conversion to Jesus,the existing concept of "public and private" is not affected by faith and remains the deep foundation of believers’ action logic.Believers in Guo Village incorporate the "god relatives" generated based on faith into their "private" relationship network,and believers become "brothers and sisters" second only to blood relatives and in-laws,thus extending the boundary of "private".The "gentile" is placed in the "public" outside the "private",becoming "outsiders".Between "public" and "private",believers still follow the action logic of "private self" described by Fei Xiaotong,and "the differential mode of association" is still the deep foundation behind the public behavior and spirit of believers.