Global Christianity

After reading The Next Christendom by Philip Jenkins I found that this book reminded me of a memorable passage from the movie Apollo Thirteen: a military man in the tense Houston control shares with a political figure his forewarning that the tragedy before will be the catastrophic moment for the space program Mission control flight chief Gene Kranz overhears their conversation and addresses it: 'With all due respect, gentleman, I believe this will be our finest hour.' This summarizes the book quiet well as the apparent demise of the western church (when the day comes) is forecasting on its fate over against the perceived adversaries of secularism and post-modernism. Jenkins reminds us that when view through a wide-screen lens so to speak, the inherent threat often yields to a broad outlook of opportunity, painting a clear picture of the future of Christianity in colors unaccustomed to American thinking, outlining the characteristics of the fast growing Christian churches that are outside of Western Europe and US. Jenkins also shows the possibility of conflicts between Christianity and other major religions (such as Islam or Hinduism). Speculating what affects this will have on established churches of having a Christian majority outside the west. The basic premise of this book I think is simply: the heart of Christendom has moved from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere, what is surprising about this premise is that the northern hemisphere did not see the move, and still deny that it is moving.

There are some great key points and issues raised in this book; the first is when Jenkins talks about the idea of professional analysts missing out on a big trend. That trend is that religious revolutions are ...

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...atin America, giving hope to those who are or were afraid to let go of the controlling grip of western dominance and showing that the opinions of the south will be more traditionalist and supernatural. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the changing face of Global Christianity. It is clear that a watershed event has occurred, and we are just now becoming aware of this change. Though at times this book was a bit dry and difficult to read but in the end it wasn’t a bad read. The first few chapters I felt overloaded you with information but as I kept reading it slowly dwindle down to analysis, narrative, and application of the information. For Christian readers, I think the value of this book prepares you for the “new world order” so to speak in Christianity as Africa and Latin American decide which direction the church will take.