God, China, & Capitalism: Is Christianity in China the Key Ingredient for Economic Success?

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This talk will examine the rise of Christianity in China and how a growing number of China's leaders view Christianity as the key to China's future economic prosperity. A British survey estimates that China now has over 100 million Christians and that this figure is growing by 6-7 million per year. At this rate China will likely replace the United States as the nation with the most Christians. Why do so many among the Chinese elite view Christianity as the key ingredient to that nation's success? Why is it that for many years social scientists, led by Max Weber, have asserted that the rise of Christianity is often followed by economic prosperity? Is this perspective justified? If so, what does this mean for the future of American public policy and the 2012 election?

William Jeynes is a professor of Education at California State University in Long Beach and a Non-Resident Scholar at Baylor University. He previously was a faculty member in the Marriage and Family Therapy program at the University of Southern California. He is a graduate of Harvard University, where he graduated first in his class, and the University of Chicago (where he received the Rosenberger award for his cohort's most outstanding student). He has written approximately 70 academic articles and 9 books. His articles have appeared in journals by Columbia University, Harvard University (two Harvard journals), the University of Chicago, Cambridge University, Notre Dame University, and other prestigious university journals. He writes and conducts research on Christian and family values. He is a well-known public speaker having spoken in nearly every state in the country and in every inhabited continent. He has spoken for the White House, the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of Education, the US Department of Health & Human Services, the National Press Club, UN delegates, members of Congress, the Acting President of South Korea, Harvard University, Cambridge University, Duke University, Notre Dame University, the Harvard Family Research Project, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and many other well-known universities. He has served as a consultant both for the US and South Korea governments. His 4-point plan presented to the Acting President of South Korea became the core of that nation's 1998 economic stimulus legislation, which helped it emerge from the greatest Asian economic crisis since World War II. Dr. Jeynes has been interviewed or quoted by the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the London Times, and many other major newspapers. His worked has been cited and quoted numerous times by the U.S. Congress, the British Parliament, the European Economic Community, and many State Supreme Courts across the United States. Dr. Jeynes has been heavily involved in trying to get the Bible as Literature in the public schools and has had heavenly favor in this endeavor. He has also been involved in pro-family and pro-marriage efforts across the country, including helping to write amicus briefs in defense of marriage and the family. He has been interviewed by Focus on the Family Radio, Relevant Radio and the nation's most listened to local Christian broadcast, Talk from the Heart, with Rich Buhler. A number of Dr. Jeynes' articles for Urban Education, Education & Urban Society, and Marriage & Family Review, according to these journal's websites, are in the top 5-10 of the most cited and read articles published in these journals' history. He has also gained admission into Who's Who in the World.