The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global SouthOxford University Press, 2006 M09 1 - 272 pages 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 sequel, Jenkins takes a much closer look at Christianity in the global South, revealing what it is like, and what it means for the future. The faith of the South, Jenkins finds, is first and foremost a biblical faith. Indeed, in the global South, many Christians identify powerfully with the world portrayed in the New Testament--an agricultural world very much like their own, marked by famine and plague, poverty and exile, until very recently a society of peasants, farmers, and small craftsmen. In the global South, as in the biblical world, belief in spirits and witchcraft are commonplace, and in many places--such as Nigeria, Indonesia, and Sudan--Christians are persecuted just as early Christians were. Thus the Bible speaks to the global South with a vividness and authenticity simply unavailable to most believers in the industrialized North. More important, Jenkins shows that throughout the global South, believers are reading the Bible with fresh eyes, and coming away with new and sometimes startling interpretations. Some of their conclusions are distinctly fundamentalist, but Jenkins finds an intriguing paradox, for they are also finding ideas in the Bible that are socially liberating, especially with respect to women's rights. Across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, such Christians are social activists in the forefront of a wide range of liberation movements. It's hard to overstate how interesting, how eye-opening, how frequently surprising (and sometimes disturbing) Jenkins' findings are. Anyone interested in the implications of these trends for the major denominations, for Muslim-Christian conflict, and for global politics will find The New Faces of Christianity provocative and incisive--and indispensable. |
From inside the book
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Page vii
... Evangelical Theological Seminary, Nigeria; Cynthia Read, of Oxford University Press; and my colleagues Roger Finke, Gregg Roeber, and Iyunolu and Sylvester Osagie. I also want to acknowledge my debt over the years to the work of two ...
... Evangelical Theological Seminary, Nigeria; Cynthia Read, of Oxford University Press; and my colleagues Roger Finke, Gregg Roeber, and Iyunolu and Sylvester Osagie. I also want to acknowledge my debt over the years to the work of two ...
Page 11
... evangelicals distinguish their beliefs from fundamentalism in the American sense. In the Philippines, an evangelical umbrella organization asserts, “If fundamentalist is understood to mean a person who believes that the Bible is the ...
... evangelicals distinguish their beliefs from fundamentalism in the American sense. In the Philippines, an evangelical umbrella organization asserts, “If fundamentalist is understood to mean a person who believes that the Bible is the ...
Page 12
... evangelicals, deeply committed to social and environmental justice. But in churches of the global South, the division makes even less sense. Many churches take very seriously the supernatural worldview that pervades the Christian ...
... evangelicals, deeply committed to social and environmental justice. But in churches of the global South, the division makes even less sense. Many churches take very seriously the supernatural worldview that pervades the Christian ...
Page 13
... evangelical religion should come as no surprise to anyone who has traced the enormous influence of biblically based religion throughout African-American history. Writers such as James Baldwin suggest how utterly saturated black American ...
... evangelical religion should come as no surprise to anyone who has traced the enormous influence of biblically based religion throughout African-American history. Writers such as James Baldwin suggest how utterly saturated black American ...
Page 18
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Contents
1 | |
2 Power in the Book | 18 |
3 Old and New | 42 |
4 Poor and Rich | 68 |
5 Good and Evil | 98 |
6 Persecution and Vindication | 128 |
7 Women and Men | 158 |
8 North and South | 178 |
Psalm 91 | 194 |
The Epistle of James | 195 |
Abbreviations | 200 |
Notes | 201 |
239 | |
243 | |
Other editions - View all
The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South Philip Jenkins Limited preview - 2006 |
The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South Philip Jenkins Limited preview - 2006 |
The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South Philip Jenkins Limited preview - 2006 |
Common terms and phrases
African and Asian African Bible African Christianity African churches African Independent Church American Anglican apocalyptic Asia Asian Asian Christians authority believers Bible in Africa biblical texts bishop Catholic charismatic Christ Christianity in Africa claims communities contemporary context culture Dalit demonic Desmond Tutu divine Dube Euro-American European evangelical evil exorcism faith feminist Gitari Global Bible Commentary global South God’s Gospel healing Hebrew hymns ideas idem Inculturation independent churches interpretation issues James Jesus John Judaism Kanyoro Kenya Korean liberation liberation theology living Lord Malawi Maryknoll missionary modern African Musa Muslim Nairobi nations Nigeria North America Old Testament Orbis Oxford University Press pagan passages Pentecostal political popular prayer Preaching prophetic Psalm quoted radical readers religion religious Revelation ritual role scholars scripture secular sermon social society South Africa Southern spiritual spiritual warfare story Sugirtharajah theologians Theology traditional Ukpong West Western wisdom witchcraft woman words World Theologies York
References to this book
Global Christianity: Contested Claims Frans Jozef Servaas Wijsen,Robert J. Schreiter Limited preview - 2007 |