Rev. Bingcheng Feng, Author of 'Song of a Wanderer,' Dies at 84
The Rev. Bingcheng Feng, a prominent Chinese Christian pastor and author of the apologetics classic "Song of a Wanderer – Beckoned by Eternity," died in the United States on July 23 at the age of 84. Writing under the pen name Li Cheng, he had been diagnosed with lymphoma in 2025.
Feng was born on December 23, 1941. He graduated from the biology department of Peking University, earned a master's degree from the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1981, came to the United States in 1982, and received his doctorate from Michigan State University in 1987. He went on to work at Ohio University and Case Western Reserve University, and from 1993 conducted basic medical research at the Medical College of Wisconsin, publishing a series of papers in international journals.
A longtime atheist, Feng was baptized at Easter in 1992. In 1997 he answered a call to leave research and enter full-time ministry, studying at the Overseas Theological Seminary from 1999 to 2001. He then served as a staff writer with the Chinese Christian Writers Foundation, devoting himself to preaching, teaching and writing.
His best-known book, "Song of a Wanderer – Beckoned by Eternity," was published in 1996 by Overseas Campus Magazines and the Ambassadors for Christ. Drawing on his training as a scientist, Feng addressed questions about evolution, creation and faith from the standpoint of science and reason, writing for the overseas Chinese students and scholars who, like his younger self, stood outside the church looking in. The simplified-Chinese edition has sold more than 780,000 copies, and an English edition followed in 2002. Many readers regard it as an apologetics classic that shaped a generation of overseas Chinese scholars' encounter with Christianity. His other works include "The Authority of the Bible" and "Faith, Science and Life."
In church ministry, Feng served as a deacon at the Cleveland Chinese Gospel Church in Ohio. After moving his family to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1993, he served the Chinese Christian Church of Milwaukee as deacon, elder and missions pastor. Over the years he was invited to preach at Chinese churches, summer conferences and gospel camps in more than a dozen states, and contributed to print ministries such as Overseas Campus and Life Quarterly.
In the preface to the first edition of his book, Feng described himself as a wanderer twice over: more than a decade in America, still dreaming of his homeland; nearly fifty years old before returning to the embrace of his heavenly Father. The book he dedicated to God, to overseas Chinese scholars and to his compatriots remains in readers' hands today.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图片来源：《游子吟——永恒在召唤》书影（里程著，海外校园／基督使者协会出版）。Book cover of Song of a Wanderer — Beckoned by Eternity by Li Cheng (Overseas Campus / Ambassadors for Christ).
