The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South

by Philip Jenkins

Book Overview

Named one of the top religion books of 2002 by USA Today, Philip Jenkins's phenomenally successful The Next Christendom permanently changed the way people think about the future of Christianity. In that volume, Jenkins called the world's attention to the little noticed fact that Christianity's
center of gravity was moving inexorably southward, to the point that Africa may soon be home to the world's largest Christian populations. Now, in this brilliant...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195300653
• ISBN13: 9780195300659
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Fascinating study of Christianity in Africa and the global South

This book is a companion volume to Jenkins' highly successful "The next Christendom" which looked at the position of Christianity in the global south. As numbers of Christians remain static or fall in the Western nations but grow significantly in Africa, Asia and South America, the Christianity that these nations exhibit can be very different to that with which we are familiar. Jenkins explores, mostly using Africa as an example, how Christianity is experienced in the global south, including the significant focus on healings, demons, witchcraft and persecution, all within a framework of a world like that of the Bible, marked by plague, poverty and exile. Jenkins shows how Christians in the global south are reading the Bible with fresh eyes, taking new messages or highlighting areas that for post-enlightenment westerners have lost their power. Some of the behaviour and theology of these churches made for uncomfortable reading for me as a western believer but it was a fascinating reminder that Christianity is a global religion and that we are often very different from our neighbours on the planet, and yet the Bible can speak to us all in our own languages. It's a worthwhile and thought-provoking book and an excellent companion to "The Next Christendom".

New Knowledge on a Critical Topic

Jenkins' treatment of the emerging shape of Christianity in Africa and Asia (not much on Latin America) is a major contribution in several respects: - Following on his previous book, The Next Christendom, it's an eye-opener on the astonishing growth of Christianity in the global South. Many think that Christianity is nearly unique to the Americas and Europe: there is much more happening, and it is encouraging. - Theologically, the book provides insights on the Bible as it is read in Africa and Asia that provide rich new perspectives for our own Bible study in the West. New insight into the universality of the biblical message. - One must ask what are the implications for Christian missions launched from the West. Do Africa and Asia still need us to teach them the Word? They are well on their way, and indeed are evangelizing in Europe and America themselves. Tremendously thought-provoking and worthwhile. A major contribution to the field.

A Glimpse of the Christian Future

Philip Jenkins is for my money one of the real superstars of contemporary Christian studies. He writes about what is, not what he wishes were the case, that is he is not an ideologist. His "Hidden Gospels" was tremendous for cutting through the Jesus Seminar claptrap & its many offshoots, long before many other good things came out in response to the DaVinci Code. Jenkins is especially valuable for seeing American Christianity as it is, and this book helps us by pointing the way to understanding the American church, NOT in the fashionable way of looking for signs of its demise, but rather seeing it in the whole sweep of the church's tremendous explosion of growth & vitality around the globe. His book is an answer to that question of why American churches MUST be engaged in ministries, trips & mission endeavors that connect us to the gospel's life beyond our own borders: the answer is so that WE can be in touch with Christ's living work & power & ministry. If it ever was the case that we needed to go out to others for their good, now we must do it for exactly the opposite reason -- for re-connecting ourselves to this Spirit that lives in mission & in gospel planting. Jesus calls us. . .

Is Christianity about to whither and die?

Europeans are sure Christianity is about to disappear. At least it has in Europe. Witness the Anglican church, its churches empty, its coffers empty, chasing vainly after every new leftist fad. Jenkins wants us to turn our eyes now to the other Anglicans: the ones in Africa, staunch in their faith, their denominations growing, raging against the liberal skeleton of a church left in England. This, Jenkins insists, is the new face of Christianity. When "Sweden's liberal Lutheran church tried to enforce its views on traditionalist diehards, conservatives placed themselves under the authority of Kenyan bishop Walter Obare Omwanza, who denounced the official church...ordination of women as a 'Gnostic novelty'" )p 4). Jenkins points to these facts: "Between 1900 and 2000, the number of Christians in Africa grew from 10 million to over 360 million, from 10 percent of the population to 46 percent. If that is not, quantitatively, the largest religious change in human history in such a short period, I am at a loss to think of a rival" (p 9). This explosive growth has also happened in Asia. Things are changing. Jenkins posits many intriguing questions about why Christianity is so appealing. Here's one: "Because of their modern historical experiencem, many Southern Christians easily identify with the profoundly antistate and separatist texts in the New Testament" (p 128). Another important chapter is spent on persecutions. Various Asian and Muslim countries are currently persecuting Christians. "Between 2000 and 2005, violence between Muslims and Christians in just one Nigerian province killed or expelled over fifty thousand people, mainly Christian (p 129). Not something our newspapers cover in depth. You will find this an eyeopening book.

The Bible Is Alive & Kicking

That's the beautiful reality you behold from another excellent book by Penn State Prof. Philip Jenkins. The Bible is very much alive and changing lives in the Third World (really the Two-Thirds World). In this book, Jenkins concentrates mostly on Africa and, to a lesser extent, on Asia. In my view, the most striking anecdotes emerge from Africa. If you want to rediscover the Bible for yourself or if you are a biblical student or scholar, you will want to take cues from what the Holy Spirit is doing with the Bible in Africa. To give you a flavor of the book, my favorite anecdote is the one about the Kenyan congregation who heard the reading of Paul's wishes to the Corinthians, "My love be with all of you in Christ Jesus," and answered in unison: "Thank you, Paul." Yes, Paul is still evangelizing. May we in the First World learn again to live the Bible.