I believe it is fair to say that many cultural Christians understand the Christian faith essentially as an idea. The institutional church is therefore, if not a stumbling block, at best only of secondary importance. The degree of freedom of thought and expression in their academic institutions far exceeds that which is experienced in the churches. Church pastors are installed only with the blessing of religious affairs cadres. They are, in effect, state appointed.
Seminary students have to first be vetted for political soundness before being admitted.
Mainstreamed, organized Christianity in China remains moralistic in preaching, pietistic in spiritual outlook and fundamentalistic in theological understanding. Coupled with fear of political surveillance, room for intellectual questioning is practically nil in church life. Therefore we have in China today a group of people who speak to each other about the Christian faith with no reference to the church. Indeed they are speaking to the public through their publications. Given their institutional base, they have the license and the means, even if it is limited, to publish books about the Christian faith.