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CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title, 2007

Named one of the top religion books of 2002 by USA Today, Philip Jenkins' 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.

Praise for The New Faces of Christianity

"By introducing the world of southern Christianity to a northern audience, Mr. Jenkins has thus done a good deed for people on both sides of the equator."
—Wall Street Journal

"In this compelling sequel, Jenkins probes more deeply the differences between northern and southern Christianity, examining various elements that characterize Christian life, especially belief in the Bible....Jenkins's prescient religious histories offer brilliant insights on the state of modern Christianity."
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Gracefully and cogently synthesizing mountains of research, Jenkins illuminates a crucial aspect of the burgeoning 'Two-Thirds World' Christianity that he called attention to in The Next Christendom."
—Booklist

"An important new book by one of the preeminent scholars of contemporary Christianity. Perhaps more than any other church historian in the affluent north, Philip Jenkins understands how the church of the global South will transform Christian faith in the world. The New Faces of Christianity challenges our usual reading of the Bible with profound insights from Christians who help us re-learn truths that much of Western Christianity has forgotten. Like his ground-breaking The Next Christendom, this is absolutely essential reading for all who are seeking to understand the future of the church in the 21st century."
—Jim Wallis, editor of Sojourners and author of God's Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It

"Philip Jenkins has written another essential book. Finally, we have a place to turn for a clear, balanced, and comprehensive explanation of the ongoing revival in the southern hemisphere. I cannot imagine a better rendering of these issues."
—Ted Haggard, President of the National Association of Evangelicals

"An engaging book that invites—no, compels—rethinking the future of the global Christian movement."

—Richard John Neuhaus, editor-in-chief of First Things

Extended Copyright Information

Copyright 2006 by Philip Jenkins.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.

Previously published by Oxford University Press, Inc.

Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press.

Jacket design by Kathleen M. Lynch.
Jacket photograph: Members of the Christian Spiritual Order participate in the ritual of the eclipse, during commemoration of Labor Day in the temple Vale do Amanhecer (Valley of the Dawn), in Planaltina, 50 kilometers from Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, May 1, 2001. AP Photo/Eraldo Peres.

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About the Author

Philip Jenkins is Distinguished Professor of History and Religious Studies at Pennsylvania State University. He has published widely on contemporary religious phenomena, but is best known for the highly acclaimed The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity. The book served as the basis for a highly influential cover story for Atlantic Monthly, also written by Jenkins, which garnered widespread media attention.

Like this author? Check out the list of books by this author available on DailyLit.

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Opening Lines (Experimental)

1: SHALL THE FUNDAMENTALISTS WIN?
from them. We are two different churches.
Christian denominations worldwide have been deeply divided over issues of gender, sexual morality, and homosexuality. These debates illustrate a sharp global division, with many North American and European churches ...

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Copyright

Copyright 2006 by Philip Jenkins.

All Rights Reserved.

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