Philip Jenkins on the future of Christianity

Here’s a nice sequel to the series on the rise and fall of Atheism in the modern world. Philip Jenkins on the future of Christianity.

I read authors who change the way I see the world. So I’ve ordered it.

A review from Publishers Weekly:

In his highly acclaimed The Next Christendom (2002), Jenkins boldly proclaimed that the center of Christianity was moving slowly out of Europe and North America to Latin America, Africa and Asia. By 2025, he points out, Africa and Latin America will compete over which area is most Christian.

In this compelling sequel, Jenkins probes more deeply the differences between northern and southern Christianity, examining various elements that characterize Christian life, especially belief in the Bible. He argues that the mostly agrarian Christian communities in Latin America, Africa and Asia resemble early Christian communities, enabling southern-hemisphere Christians to read the Bible with fresh eyes.

Such communities read the Bible communally rather than individually, and they read it less critically and more literally than their North American and European counterparts. Explosive debates over the ordination of women and homosexuals and the authority of the Bible in various global denominations—such as the Anglican Communion—illustrate not only the stark theological differences between North and South but also the sheer size of the southern communions influencing the debate.

As part of a proposed trilogy (his book on Europe’s coming religious struggle is scheduled for late 2007) Jenkins’s prescient religious histories offer brilliant insights on the state of modern Christianity.

The future is not Western or white, it’s global and it’s African, Asian (including India), and South American. Christianity is on the rise where us white guys are in the minority and guess where the world’s population is growing the fastest? We tend to miss it unless you’ve travelled or read authors like Philip Jenkins.

“The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South” (Philip Jenkins)

By: Steve | 09/08/06 | Church planting movements - Resources | Trackback | Comments [RSS 2.0]

3 Responses to “Philip Jenkins on the future of Christianity” »»

Keith

Comment by Keith | 09/08/06 at 1:34 pm

Shock and horror, some Christians actually believe the Bible!

I love the fact that the people who Europe and American send missionaries to convert and civilize are now sending missionaries back. The story goes that in the 19th century missionaries went to Bali and told the women to cover up, now it’s the Balinese who are embarrassed by Western women’s immodesty.

The Christian movement has much to learn from the two-third world. The West might be ahead in terms of GDP ($) and technology, but money and technology don’t make better Christians.
Arthur Stewart

Comment by Arthur Stewart | 09/08/06 at 3:45 pm

I am encouraged by this argument, though I have found it only partially true in Africa where we live. Yes, people are more communal and hold different worldviews which change the way they look at scripture. At the same time, a vast majority continue to aspire toward western models of Christianiaty and the Church.

May God convince the south that they are legitimate followers of Christ who must help the north see a different way.
Brian Plescher

Comment by Brian Plescher | 09/09/06 at 2:06 am

I am hesitant to critique something I have not yet read, but I am always a little leery of those authors who talk about the growth of the global south being the new face of Christianity. Argentina, where we are planting churches, is hardly a hotbed of revival. There are a few Pentecostals who whoop it up with prosperity and G12 control structures, but not much else. The Catholic church, although once dominant, is losing its grip on the daily life of the people, and Argentina resembles a secular Europe rather than exhibiting the new model of Christianity. I see very little around the world is that truly organic; that is, not started or under the direct influence of the North American church. In fact, the evangelical churches here tend to exhibit the worse characteristics of the north/west rather than doing something new and original.

I also wonder about his theory that the agrarian communities will provide this new impetus for change. The continual trend in the South to urbanization has left very few in rural communities. Over half of the Argentine population is in Buenos Aires (15 million now). The school, universities, and seminaries are all in the urban centers. The growth of a global Christianity in the South may be a future reality, but it may be more of a 22century reality than 21st.

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Philip Jenkins on the future of Christianity

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