Shi Tiesheng and the Nature of the Human

This article approaches the contours of contemporary intellectual faith through the work of Shi Tiesheng (d. 2012). Shi is best known in China as a “disabled writer,” while the theological depths of his writings on fate, life, and faith have rarely been the focus of attention. The article focuses on Shi’s representation of the human across his fiction and nonfiction writings, arguing that the more explicitly religious nonfiction toward the end of his career offers a philosophical commentary on his earlier stories, and that his non-orthodox interpretations of Christian ideas provide important insight into the spiritual quests of Chinese intellectuals.