- ISBN13: 9780195183078
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
The Next Christendom was the first book to take the full measure of the changing balance of the Christian faith worldwide. Philip Jenkins showed that the churches that have grown most rapidly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America were often more morally conservative and apocalyptic than their northern counterparts. The effects of these churches on global politics would be enormous, as religious idenfication began to take precedence over allegiance to secular nation-s… More >>
The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity
Tags: africa asia, Christendom, christian faith, Christianity, Coming, full measure, Global, global christianity, global politics, Next, northern counterparts, philip jenkins, remainder mark, secular nation
#1 by Noel Collamer on April 15, 2010 - 1:00 am
I was enjoying Jenkins book up until the part where he described the countries that were experiencing the most rapid growth of Christianity and Islam and I realized that these are the very same countries that have the highest human rights abuses, the most horrid repression of their female population. Jenkins did not address this correlation and I read no further. May God help us all if this book predicts the future.
Rating: 2 / 5
#2 by John H. Jennings on April 15, 2010 - 3:21 am
Buy it. Read it. Believe it. Otherwise, just go back to sleep.
Rating: 5 / 5
#3 by E. Martin on April 15, 2010 - 5:52 am
I’m reminded of a line from the movie “High Fidelity”: “How can a man with no interest in music own a record store?” Similarly, I ask, how can a man who knows so little about Christianity and the developing world write about Christianity *in* the developing world.
Sure, jenkins gets most of the broad outlines right. The growth of christianity in the developing world, it’s “orthodoxy” and conservatism (versus churches in Europe and North America), the explosive growth of pentecostalism. BUT THERE IS SO, SO MUCH HE MISSES! What about the role of “house churches.” Where is the discussion of Watchman Nee, Roland Allen, Lesslie Newbigin, Bahkt Singh… How can one hope to deal with churches in the Muslim world without reference to Phil Parshall or Kenneth Cragg.
About his chapter on the muslim world, the less said, the better!
While early on, he makes an important point against Samuel Huntington’s currently fashionable “Clash of Civilizations” theory, in the relevant chapter, he swallows it hook, line, and sinker. Indeed, he introduces as “evidence,” stuff not even Huntington and Daniel Pipes would cite: namely, the turkish genocide against armenians, and turkish actions against greek orthodox. What wrong with this picture? The Turkey was led by the very militant (and very secular) Kemalists at the time! But no bother every ethnic conflict is reduced to a religous conflict, whether it’s the balkans (how devout is Milosevich, really?) or East Timor.
Yes, there is persecution of Christian minorities in Muslim nations and missionary activity is resisted, sometimes agressively. And yes, this will continue for the forseeable future. But it’s just plain stupid to equate the Taleban with Suharto or Alia Itzabegovich!
Then to add insult to injury, he mentions how many christians in the muslim world are critical of the State of Israel, raising, without *any* support whatsoever, the specter of retrograde christian anti-Semitism reinforced by Islamic anti-Semitism. What’s breathtaking, is how lightly he writes such a libel and then moves on, but then that’s the book in a nutshell. Literate, but profoundly superficial.
Rating: 1 / 5
#4 by Josh Perme on April 15, 2010 - 7:29 am
This text was one of my texts at Seminary (I’m studying to be a pastor) and I was at first in love with this book. It is a scathing indictment of the Western (especially United States-ian) Church. It is an encouragement to see how the Christian faith is not politically bound to a nation-state, but rather much more universal in its applicability. In that sense this book in invaluable. However, the dangerous part of the book comes in the very definition that Jenkins uses for Christianity. What he defines as “Christianity” is not Christianity at all, but rather a philosophy which incorporates some Christian values. In an era in which Universalism is rampant, this definition is dangerous to the orthodox Christian faith. Be that as it may, it is a useful book if thought about critically.
Rating: 2 / 5
#5 by Noreenmurphy on April 15, 2010 - 10:20 am
The book has pages that were burnt by a match or lighter or possibley a cigerette and several pages are of no use to me because there are holes in some of the pages that has writing on both sides, This book was listed almost new which was A lie. I rate this book as a 1 star if that. I’m very disapointed that someone would sale this book that I now have to repurchase because of the damage. I would have appreciated the truth…
Rating: 1 / 5