Billy Graham Center

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2013 Billy Graham Center Archival Research Lecture
Wednesday, September 25, 7pm

Billy Graham (center) in Beijing, April 1988. His wife Ruth is on his right and Premier Li-Peng is on his left


Panda Huggers and Dragon Slayers:
Billy Graham, American Evangelicals, and Sino-American Relations

Dr. Tu Yichao, Fudan University

 

This year's Archival Research Lecture, to be delivered by Dr. Tu Yichao of the Center for American Studies, Fudan University, China.


The lecture will be on Wednesday, September 25, at 7pm in the Temporary Exhibit Gallery of the BGC Museum on the 1st floor of the Billy Graham Center, 500 E. College Avenue at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, USA.

How do you do historical research in an archives? What is it like to work with actual fragments from the past, to reconstruct a picture of past from documents such as newspaper clippings, letters, diaries, photos, and film? These are some of the general themes of the Archival Research Lectures. Every year a scholar who has worked in the BGC Archives talks about his/her own experiences doing research (at the BGC Archives and other places) and describe some of the fruits of that research.

Since 1949, American evangelicals have held vigilant and sometimes hostile attitudes toward Red China. Rev. Billy Graham, the most influential American evangelical leader of the 20th century, played a unique role in Sino-American relations during the second half of that century. Although an outspoken critic of communism in the 1950s, two decades later Graham was promoting the opening of Sino-American relations. His evolving attitude toward China and its impact on Sino-American relations provide a significant commentary on the changing perceptions and interactions between two world powers. Tu Yichao explores the role American evangelicals have played in the recent history of Sino-American relations, using Graham as a case study.

Tu Yichao is an Assistant Professor at the Center for American Studies, Fudan University. She received her PhD (2007), MA (2004), and BA (1998) in international relations, history, and journalism, respectively. She did research work at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2006, and was sponsored by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and East Gates International to do research at Wheaton College in 2007. In 2008, she was an invited fellow in the Asian Christian
Higher Education program, which is sponsored by the United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia.

Dr. Tu is author of American Evangelicals and International Relations (Shanghai People's Publishing House, Shanghai, forthcoming), as well as several articles and papers on religion and international relations, religion and politics in the U.S., and the history of Christianity in China.

The lecture will be followed by a reception, sponsored by the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals (ISAE). The Archives will also have an exhibit accompanying the lecture. This exhibit will include photos and other materials from the Archives' holdings on Billy and Ruth Graham's relationship with China.

Anyone interested in this lecture may also want to attend the ISAE's conference, The World's of Billy Graham, which begins the next day, September 26th. For more information, go to: wheaton.edu/ISAE/Projects/The-Worlds-of-Billy-Graham

Click here for information on past BGC Archival Lectures.


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Last Revised: 07/13/2013
Expiration: indefinite

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