서강대학교

초록

After the reform and opening-up, Protestantism has grown rapidly in China, with massive growth in the number of believers and qualitative changes in the structure of believers, dramatically altering the previous religious landscape in China. Faced with the new landscape of religion in China, it not only calls for academic attention and research but also gives rise to a new reflection on the state's religious management policy. The previous management model of restriction and guidance has not been able to control the extraordinary development of religion, but rather the rise of Protestantism emerged. Religious scholars and administrations have reflected on this new situation and put forward a new religious policy - the Sinicization of religion. Since the 21st century, in order to explain the logic behind the growth of Protestantism after the reform and opening-up, many theories of religion have emerged in Chinese academia, triggering intense discussions among scholars, among which the most discussed are the religious market theory and the religious ecology theory. Both theories have some explanatory power for the reasons for the growth of Protestantism in China, so does it also have explanatory power for the new changes in the religious landscape in China? Based on the theories of religious market theory and religious ecology theory, which have become popular in Chinese religious studies in recent years, this study analyzes how they explain the new changes in the religious landscape after China's reform and opening-up due to the rise of Protestantism in the particular context of Chinese religion. They are also discussed from two perspectives, the new characteristics of Protestantism internally and the new policies of religion externally. This study shows that the existing religious market theory and religious ecology theory are limited and inappropriate for explaining the new changes in the religious landscape caused by the rise of Protestantism in China after the reform and opening-up. New theories are expected to emerge for the new changes in China's religious landscape.