The New Shape of World Christianity: How American Experience Reflects Global Faith [Hardcover]

Mark A. Noll (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0830828478 | ISBN-13: 978-0830828470 | Publication Date: May 1, 2009

2010 Christianity Today Book Award winner! With characteristic rigor and insight, in this book Mark Noll revisits the history of the American church in the context of world events. He makes the compelling case that how Americans have come to practice the Christian faith is just as globally important as what the American church has done in the world. He backs up this substantial claim with the scholarly attentiveness we've come to expect from him, lucidly explaining the relationship between the development of Christianity in North America and the development of Christianity in the rest of the world, with attention to recent transfigurations in world Christianity. Here is a book that will challenge your assumptions about the nature of the relationship between the American church and the global church in the past and predict what world Christianity may look like.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"With insightful research and poignant historical observation, Noll effectively demonstrates that American individualism, voluntarism, and anti-institutionalism have had a much greater impact on the global church than have money, resources, or power. Noll adds an innovative thesis to our understanding of the contribution of U.S. churches to the amazing growth of the non-Western church." (The 2010 Christianity Today Book Awards, Missions/Global Affairs Category Winner, February 2010 )

"The best teachers are also learners, and this book is eloquent testimony to Mark Noll's stature as both wise teacher and continuing student. His thesis is simple: that similarity of historical conditions, rather than direct influence, is what links (white) American evangelicalism with much of non-Western Christianity today. One need not agree with all his arguments to recognize that Noll's nuanced approach is a very important counter to ideologues of both the left and the right." (Vinoth Ramachandra, author of Subverting Global Myths )

"Scholars have become increasingly attentive to the changing tides of world Christianity and the implications for historiography, doing theology and understanding contemporary patterns of mission. Mark Noll looks back into the nineteenth century when America appropriated and transformed inherited European Christian traditions. The startling conclusions are that the contemporary currents in the Global South resemble the American Christianity at the turn of the century, that it is this emergent form that America shared with the world, and that neither money nor military power and influence could explain the American contribution to world Christianity. This refreshing and robust profile of American Christian influence has many implications: it explains why, among the industrialized nations, Christianity has remained resilient in the American public space; it counters the discourses in which Americanization appears as a negative epithet, a sign of hegemony and negative, extravenous influence. This lucid account has introduced a new dimension that will certainly stimulate the debate on the encounter between the local and global processes in the interpretation of contemporary Christianity." (Ogbu U. Kalu, Henry Winters Luce Professor of World Christianity and Mission, McCormick Theological Seminary, and director, Chicago Center for Global Ministries )

"The United States has emerged as a crucial frontier of the worldwide Christian awakening, in part because of America's role as a global power but in large part because of similar experiences rooted in history and civil society. From his own evangelical background, Mark Noll has explored these connections with lucid sensitivity and lively attentiveness, and in so doing has offered a welcome and valuable contribution to the literature on world Christianity and its critical interface with American religious history." (Lamin Sanneh, professor of world Christianity, professor of history and professor of international and area studies, Yale University, and director, World Christianity Initiative at Yale Divinity School )

"Mark Noll's novel thesis is that the real influence of American Christianity lies in its principle of voluntarism, which global Christianity has also found to be the most effective means to spread the gospel with or without American aid. This modest account of American influence should give pause for thought to both advocates and opponents of American hegemony in contemporary global Christian mission." (Simon Chan, Earnest Lau Professor of Systematic Theology, Trinity Theological College, Singapore )

"This fine book is one more in a long list of insightful and thought-provoking works by Mark Noll, although it gets him into new territory, that of world Christianity. Here once again is Noll's gift for deftly summarizing other scholars' findings and adding his own creative analysis to make for a stimulating product. This book is a fine antidote to the tendency toward either extreme triumphalism or self-flagellation on the issue of America's place on the world Christian scene." (Daniel H. Bays, professor of history and Asian studies, Calvin College )

"This book provides deep insight into the relationship between American evangelicalism and the growth of Christianity around the world. Master historian Mark Noll argues that American experience provides the template for much of world Christianity today. Readers will enjoy these thoughtful reflections written with Noll's typical clarity and creativity." (Dana L. Robert, Truman Collins Professor of World Mission, Boston University )

"Why does much of Christian worship and witness today in Africa, Asia and Latin America resemble American Christianity? Mark Noll argues that the rising churches of the Global South and East develop 'American' forms because the social forces they encounter resemble those that shaped American Christianity. Even though thousands of American missionaries have served in these lands, local trends and needs influence the churches far more than Americans do. In making his case, Noll offers a deft overview, filled with fascinating examples, of world Christianity today. For Americans who want to learn something about Christianity as a world religion, this book is a fine place to start." (Joel Carpenter, Nagel Institute for the Study of World Christianity, Calvin College )

"Christians around the world rely on intellectual leaders such as Mark Noll to synthesize, challenge and propose. This book synthesizes the rising literature on global Christianity, challenges received conceptions about the American role and proposes new ways of seeing which take the issues of global reflexivity seriously. Wrapped in Noll's measured, insightful prose, this is a book which should be read by thoughtful Christians seeking to understand the most significant questions of our day." (Mark Hutchinson, associate professor and dean of academic advancement, Southern Cross College, Sydney, Australia )

"Here is a book that both critics and supporters of missions must read. Noll helps us move beyond the simple praise and blame associated with Western missions to see the complexity and glory of the growth of Christianity, and, in the process, opens up new frontiers of understanding and new lines of research." (William Dyrness, professor of theology and culture, Fuller Theological Seminary )

Review

"Scholars have become increasingly attentive to the changing tides of world Christianity and the implications for historiography, doing theology and understanding contemporary patterns of mission. Mark Noll looks back into the nineteenth century when America appropriated and transformed inherited European Christian traditions. The startling conclusions are that the contemporary currents in the Global South resemble the American Christianity at the turn of the century, that it is this emergent form that America shared with the world, and that neither money nor military power and influence could explain the American contribution to world Christianity. This refreshing and robust profile of American Christian influence has many implications: it explains why, among the industrialized nations, Christianity has remained resilient in the American public space; it counters the discourses in which Americanization appears as a negative epithet, a sign of hegemony and negative, extravenous influence. This lucid account has introduced a new dimension that will certainly stimulate the debate on the encounter between the local and global processes in the interpretation of contemporary Christianity."

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 212 pages
• Publisher: IVP Academic (May 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0830828478
• ISBN-13: 978-0830828470
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #197,410 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The New Shape of World Christianity, July 9, 2009

By 

George P. Wood (Springfield, MO) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The New Shape of World Christianity: How American Experience Reflects Global Faith (Hardcover)

The Christian church is not American, demographically speaking. More broadly, it is not western. It may have been predominantly western at the beginning of the twentieth century, but at the beginning of the twenty-first, it no longer is. As Dana Robert wrote in April 2000: "The typical late twentieth-century Christian was no longer a European man but a Latin American or African woman."

This southward demographic shift requires a new historiography of Christianity, one less focused on events and personalities in North America and Europe and one more focused on events and personalities in South America, Asia, and Africa. Writers--both western (Philip Jenkins, Andrew Walls) and southern (Ogbu Kalu, Lamin Sanneh--have already begun to do so.

But there is a connection between the Christian church in the west and the south: missionaries from the former (especially Britain and America) performed their work among indigenous people in the latter. How should these missionaries' influence be characterized? More specifically, as American historian Mark Noll asks in The New Shape of World Christianity, "What...has been the American role in creating the new shape of world Christianity and what is now the relation of American Christianity to world Christianity?"

Noll suggests three possible answers: "First is to assume that Americans control events." On this reading, Christian mission is a form of cultural imperialism. "A second view is to affirm that a strong relationship does exist between Christianity in the United States and Christianity around the world, but also that this relationship is defined much more loosely than simply active American cause and passive global effect." On this view, it is better to speak of American "influence" than American "manipulation." Noll goes on to identify a third option: "newer expressions of Christianity around the world, despite many differences with each other, often do share many characteristics of Christianity in the United States" because of "shared historical experience." Noll's answer to the question of America's role in the new shape of world Christianity is a combination of the second and third answers.

Building on the insights of Andrew Walls, Noll argues that American Christianity in the nineteenth century was characterized by two major developments: "the successful adaptation of traditional European Christianity to the liberal social environment of the United States" and "the emergence of the voluntary society as the key vehicle for Protestant missionary activity." European Christianity was implicated in Christendom, the explicit, legal, and formal alliance of throne and altar. The American churches, in all their riotous variety, were disestablished, even if culturally pervasive and influential. As voluntary institutions, they were quite entrepreneurial about winning converts to their way of thinking and living.

Broadly speaking, social conditions in the global south were more similar to frontier America than European Christendom, and the seeds of a voluntary, entrepreneurial religion grew better in that soil, just as it had on the American frontier. Of course, there are tremendous social differences as well. The settlers of the American frontier were of European stock and therefore familiar with the Christian message, whereas the indigenous people of the global south were converts from other religions. But one should not let these differences obscure the power of Noll's insight into the similarities.

One of the benefits of Noll's thesis is that it allows for the integrity of American missionaries while at the same time upholding the agency of indigenous peoples. In other words, American missionaries are not necessarily cultural imperialists, and indigenous peoples are not necessarily passive victims of American hegemony. Rather, American--and, more broadly, western--missionaries brought the gospel to indigenous peoples who, in turn, shaped Christian faith and practice into a culturally pertinent form.

In chapter 6, Noll tests his theory against sociological and anthropological criticisms of American Christian missions. Chapters 8 and 9 further test the thesis against two specific test cases: the rise of Protestantism in Korean and the East African Revival of the mid-twentieth century. I think his thesis withstands scrutiny well. Sociological and anthropological criticisms are shown to be biased and historically ill-founded in many cases, while the Korean and East African revivals are shown to be indigenously directed affairs.

This does not mean that Noll is above criticizing American missionaries or the American shape of Christianity. Instead of either simple affirmation or critique, Noll presents an ambivalent portrait of American Christianity and American missionaries. The American practice of Christianity--characterized by individualism, revivalism, cultural dominance, and cultural adaptivity--has both strengths and weaknesses. American individualism, for example, focuses the believer on God's personal love for him. At the same time, however, it hinders the same believer from seeing the social form and implications of the faith.

In the end, perhaps the greatest similarity between American Christianity and the new shape of world Christianity comes down to this: Like Jesus Christ, the gospel comes to us in the flesh of a particular culture. The message of God's redeeming power is transcultural but it must be expressed in the form of a specific culture, beginning with its language. Nineteenth century Americans did this with their inherited European faith--indigenizing it, Americanizing it. Christians in the global south are doing the same today. To the extent that Christianity in the global south has been shaped by American Christianity, it is not so much through the direct influence of American missionaries as through the similar social context of freedom from the constraints of Christendom, which aligned altar and throne and obstructed the development of indigenous Christianities.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Careful and Thoughtful Case of Research, February 2, 2010

By 

Jeremy Griffin (Indiana) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The New Shape of World Christianity: How American Experience Reflects Global Faith (Hardcover)

The author's main point of the book is "American Christianity is important for the world primarily because the world is coming more and more to look like America. Therefore, the way that Christianity developed in the American environment helps to explain the way Christianity is developing in many parts of the world. But correlation is not causation: the fact that globalization and other factors have created societies that resemble in many ways what Americans experienced in the frontier period of their history does not mean that Americans are dictating to the world. It means, instead, that understanding American patterns provides insight for what has been happening elsewhere in the world" (pg. 189).

Noll goes on to prove his main idea by: looking at the identity of Evangelicals in the Nineteenth-Century , looking at what western missionaries have accomplished all over the world, and by looking at three case studies, that being, American Evangelical trends from 1900-2000, Korean believers and East African revival. Also, he draws some of his ideas from Andrew Walls, Lamin Sanneh, Dana Robert, David Martin and Philip Jenkins.

The strengths of his work are that he is very careful and cautious in his research, he comes to his careful conclusions after he has labored diligently, he has very board knowledge of the works of Protestants and Catholics, he walks a good line in describing how American Missionaries have influenced other countries but not dictated to them, he has a forward, yet gentle and accurate critique of American Christianity, and does a very good job at summarizing some complex ideas.

If you are someone interested in having a greater understanding of how American Christianity has influenced the Christian world and how the Christian world at large can draw insights from the patterns of American Christianity, this book is for you.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Global Perspective, October 28, 2009

By 

Daryl McCarthy (Lenexa, Kansas USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The New Shape of World Christianity: How American Experience Reflects Global Faith (Hardcover)

Noll argues that global Christianity looks a lot like American Christianity because it has expanded in conditions similar to those in which American evangelicalism expanded earlier in US history. While Noll grants that American Christianity does wield influence, he points out that non-American national Christian movements are largely free of pressure from America and have chosen the shape Christianity has taken in their region. Noll includes many facts and perspectives on the global expansion of the faith and demonstrates that in the future major developments in Christianity will take place largely beyond the shores of North America. He makes a strong case for why American Christians need to listen to and partner with their brothers and sisters in other lands. It is refreshing to hear a scholar like Noll speak without disparagement or disdain about revival movements and the work of the Holy Spirit. As always, Noll writes with humility and balance and a broad perspective rooted in Scripture. Anyone who is interested in global Christianity (which should include all believers) should read this book.