World Christianity Explained

World Christianity or global Christianity has been defined both as a term that attempts to convey the global nature of the Christian religion[1] and an academic field of study that encompasses analysis of the histories, practices, and discourses of Christianity as a world religion and its various forms as they are found on the six continents.[2] However, the term often focuses on "non-Western Christianity" which "comprises (usually the exotic) instances of Christian faith in 'the global South', in Asia, Africa, and Latin America."[3] It also includes Indigenous or diasporic forms of Christianity in the Caribbean,[4] South America,[4] Western Europe,[5] and North America.[5]

History of the term

The term world Christianity can first be found in the writings of Francis John McConnell in 1929 and Henry P. Van Dusen in 1947.[6] [7] Van Dusen was also instrumental in establishing the Henry W. Luce Visiting Professorship in World Christianity at Union Theological Seminary in 1945, with Francis C. M. Wei invited as its first incumbent.[8] The term would likewise be used by the American historian and Baptist missionary Kenneth Scott Latourette, Professor of the History of Christianity at Yale Divinity School, to speak of the "World Christian Fellowship" and "World Christian Community".[9] [10] For these individuals, world Christianity was meant to promote the idea of Christian missions and ecumenical unity. However, after the end of World War II, as Christian missions ended in many countries, such as North Korea and China, and parts of Asia and Africa shifted due to decolonization and national independence, these aspects of world Christianity were largely lost.[11]

The current usage of the term puts much less emphasis in missions and ecumenism. A number of historians have noted a twentieth-century "global shift" in Christianity, from a religion largely found in Europe and the Americas to one which is found in the Global South and Third World countries.[12] [13] [14] [15] [16] Hence, world Christianity has more recently been used to describe the diversity and the multiplicity of Christianity across its two-thousand-year history.

Another term that is often used as analogous to world Christianity is the term global Christianity. However, scholars such as Lamin Sanneh have argued that global Christianity refers to a Eurocentric understanding of Christianity that emphasizes the replication of Christian forms and patterns in Europe, whereas world Christianity refers to the multiplicity of Indigenous responses to the Christian gospel.[17] Philip Jenkins and Graham Joseph Hill contend that Sanneh's distinction between world Christianity and global Christianity is artificial and unnecessary.[18] [19]

Notable figures

Some notable figures in the academic study of world Christianity include Andrew Walls,[20] Lamin Sanneh,[21] and Brian Stanley,[22] all three of whom are associated with the "Yale-Edinburgh Group on the History of the Missionary Movement and World Christianity".[23] More recently, Klaus Koschorke and the “Munich School” of World Christianity has been highlighted for its contribution in understanding the polycentric nature of world Christianity.[24]

In contrast to these historians, there is a growing number of theologians who have been engaging the field of world Christianity from the discipline of systematic theology, ecclesiology, and missiology. Some examples of this include the Pentecostal Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Catholic Peter C. Phan, and the Baptist Graham Joseph Hill.[25] [26] [27] [28]

See also

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Book: Barreto . Raimundo C. . 2021 . Decoloniality and Interculturality in World Christianity: A Latin American Perspective . https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1163/j.ctv1sr6jvr.7 . Frederiks . Martha . Nagy . Dorottya . World Christianity: Methodological Considerations . . . Theology and Mission in World Christianity . 19 . 65–91 . 10.1163/9789004444867_005 . free . 978-90-04-44486-7 . 2452-2953 . j.ctv1sr6jvr.7 . 234580589.
  2. Web site: Bonk . Jonathan J. . 20 December 2014 . Why "World" Christianity? . live . . . https://web.archive.org/web/20141220034741/https://www.bu.edu/cgcm/annual-theme/why-world-christianity/ . 20 December 2014 . 18 February 2022.
  3. Book: Kim . Sebastian . Sebastian Kim . Kim . Kirsteen . Kirsteen Kim . 2008 . Christianity as a World Religion . Christianity as a World Religion . . . 1–22 . 10.5040/9781472548894.ch-001 . 978-1-4725-4889-4. 152998021 .
  4. Book: Schneider . Nicolas I. . 2022 . Pentecostals/Charismatics . Ross . Kenneth R. . Bidegain . Ana M. . Johnson . Todd M. . Christianity in Latin America and the Caribbean . . . Edinburgh Companions to Global Christianity . 322–334 . 9781474492164 . 10.3366/j.ctv2mzb0p5.
  5. Book: Hanciles, Jehu J. . 2008 . Beyond Christendom: Globalization, African Migration, and the Transformation of the West . . . 978-1-60833-103-1 . 221663356.
  6. Book: McConnell, Francis John. Human needs and world Christianity. 1929. Friendship Press. New York. 893126. en.
  7. Book: Van Dusen, Henry P.. World Christianity: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow. registration. 1947. Abingdon-Cokesbury Press. New York. 823535. en.
  8. Book: https://books.google.com/books?id=ZztwsP89iZYC&pg=PA148. Understanding World Christianity: The Vision and Work of Andrew F. Walls. Robert. Dana L.. Orbis Books. 978-1-60833-021-8. Burrows. William R.. 148–. Historiographic Foundations. Dana L. Robert. Gornik. Mark R.. McLean. Janice A..
  9. Book: Latourette . Kenneth Scott . Kenneth Scott Latourette . 1938 . Toward a world Christian fellowship . . . 1149344.
  10. Book: Latourette . Kenneth Scott . 1949 . The Emergence of a World Christian Community . . . 396146.
  11. Phan . Peter C. . Peter C. Phan . March 2013 . World Christianity: Its Implications for History, Religious Studies, and Theology . . . . 39 . 2 . 171–188 . 10.1017/S0360966900010665 . 2050-8557 . 77648693 . 858609197 . 170971032.
  12. Book: Jenkins, Philip . Philip Jenkins . 2011 . The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity . The Rise of the New Christianity . https://books.google.com/books?id=rPBoAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA101 . . . 101–133 . 9780199767465 . 2010046058.
  13. Robert . Dana L. . Dana L. Robert . April 2000 . Shifting Southward: Global Christianity Since 1945 . live . Hastings . Thomas J. . . SAGE Publications on behalf of the Overseas Ministries Study Center . 24 . 2 . 50–58 . 10.1177/239693930002400201 . 0272-6122 . 152096915 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220130215756/http://www.internationalbulletin.org/issues/2000-02/2000-02-050-robert.pdf . 30 January 2022 . 16 February 2022.
  14. Book: Freston . Paul . 2008 . The Changing Face of Christian Proselytization: New Actors from the Global South . https://books.google.com/books?id=y5TCBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA109 . Hackett . Rosalind I. J. . Rosalind Hackett . Proselytization Revisited: Rights Talk, Free Markets, and Culture Wars . . . 1st . 109–138 . 9781845532284 . 2007046731.
  15. Robbins . Joel . October 2004 . The Globalization of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity . Brenneis . Don . Don Brenneis . Strier . Karen B. . Karen B. Strier . . . 33 . 117–143 . 10.1146/annurev.anthro.32.061002.093421 . 1545-4290 . 25064848 . 145722188.
  16. Book: Walls, Andrew F.. Missionary Movement in Christian History: Studies in the Transmission of Faith. 1996. Orbis Books. 978-1-60833-106-2. Andrew F. Walls.
  17. Book: Whose Religion Is Christianity?: The Gospel Beyond the West. 9 October 2003. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. 978-0-8028-2164-5. 22–23. Lamin Sanneh.
  18. Book: Hill, Graham Joseph . Global Church: reshaping our conversations, renewing our mission, revitalizing our churches . IVP Academic . 2016 . 978-0-8308-9903-6 . Downers Grove, IL . 419–420 . 922799591.
  19. Book: Jenkins, Philip . The next Christendom: the coming of global Christianity . Oxford University Press . 2007 . 978-0-19-518307-8 . Rev. and expanded . Oxford . xiii . 71004136.
  20. Book: Understanding World Christianity: The Vision and Work of Andrew F. Walls. 2011. Orbis Books. Maryknoll, NY. Gornik. Mark R.. McLean. Janice A.. Burrows. William R..
  21. Book: A New Day: Essays on World Christianity in Honor of Lamin Sanneh. 2010. Peter Lang. New York. Akinade. Akintunde E..
  22. Web site: Professor Brian Stanley. School of Divinity, University of Edinburgh. 29 October 2016.
  23. Web site: Yale-Edinburgh Group. Yale Divinity Library. 27 July 2016.
  24. Hermann. Adrian. Burlacioiu. Ciprian. 2016. Introduction: Klaus Koschorke and the "Munich School" Perspective on the History of World Christianity. 10.5325/jworlchri.6.1.0004. Journal of World Christianity. 6. 1. 4–27. 10.5325/jworlchri.6.1.0004.
  25. Book: Yong, Amos. https://books.google.com/books?id=L8_wCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA121. The Dialogical Spirit: Christian Reason and Theological Method in the Third Millennium. James Clark and Co.. 2015. Cambridge. 121–148. Whither Evangelical Theology? The Work of Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen as a Case Study of Contemporary Trajectories. 9780227904350. Amos Yong.
  26. Phan. Peter C.. 2008. Doing Theology in World Christianity: Different Resources and New Methods. 10.5325/jworlchri.1.1.0027. Journal of World Christianity. 1. 1. 10.5325/jworlchri.1.1.0027. 27–53.
  27. Book: Hill, Graham Joseph. Global Church: Reshaping Our Conversations, Renewing Our Mission, Revitalizing Our Churches. IVP Academic. 2015. 978-0-8308-4085-4. Downers Grove, IL. en-US.
  28. Book: Hill, Graham Joseph. Salt, Light, and a City, Second Edition: Conformation—Ecclesiology for the Global Missional Community: Volume 2, Majority World Voices. Cascade Books. 2020. en-US. 9781532603259.

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