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The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity (Future of Christianity Trilogy) 3rd Edition

by Philip Jenkins (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars 85 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0199767465
ISBN-10: 0199767467
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Product Details

  • Series: Future of Christianity Trilogy
  • Paperback: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press; 3 edition (September 13, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0199767467
  • ISBN-13: 978-0199767465
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 1.1 x 6.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (85 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,621 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsa world far different from the one we thought we knew
By David A. Baer VINE VOICE on September 15, 2005
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
In a memorable passage from the movie APOLLO THIRTEEN, a military man in the tense Houston control room shares with a political figure his premonition that the tragedy unfolding before them 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.' The scene could stand in for the hand-wringing that often accompanies the apparent demise of the Western church when it comes to prognosticating on its fate over against the perceived adversaries of secularism and post-modernism. Philip Jenkins reminds us that, when viewed through a wide-screen lens, the immediacy of threat often yields to a broad panorama of opportunity.

Over against the fear of resurgent religion that shows its face among our cultural elites, Philip Jenkins sketches the rise of 'global Christianity' in predominantly positive terms. The Penn State University scholar of religion has noticed long before most of us that the face of Christendom is already brown, southern, and confident. He helps us to work through the implications of this even as he persuades us that the hegemony of Euro-American Christianity is a thing of the past and that-unless we pay attention-we who are part of it are likely to be, as the old song says, the last to know.

In the first of ten compact chapters ('The Christian Revolution', pp. 1-14), Jenkins starts out with a bang. Professional analysts of global trends have missed out on perhaps the biggest one, a fact that the title of Jenkins' opening chapter provocatively suggests. Religious revolutions are not, as Western intellectuals too often suppose, mere matters of the heart.Read more ›
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4.0 out of 5 starsA (perhaps unintended) endictment of "northern" Christianity
By Kerry Walters VINE VOICE on June 20, 2002
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Jenkins's *The New Christendom* is an incredibly thought-provoking estimate of the new faces Christianity will wear in the next half century. Given that population and religious enthusiasm is waning in the northern hemisphere, and just the opposite is going on in the southern one, Jenkins predicts that Christianity's center of gravity will migrate to Africa and Central and South America in the immediate decades ahead. This will result in the emergence of new symbols, new styles of worship, new metaphors, and new ethical sensibilities, all of which mean that Christianity will no longer be dominated by an Eurocentric history and ethos.
Because southern Christianity will become increasingly pentecostal, evengelical, and politically and morally conservative, northern sensibilities, which already tend to take the Christian message with an urbane grain of salt, are likely to dismiss Christianity even more. It will be dismissed as "jungle religion," (p. 169) contrary to both enlightened and postmodern ways of viewing the world. Thus the north will find pseudo-legitimation for its steady move toward secularism in religious revival of the south.
In defending this thesis, Jenkins indirectly raises serious concerns about the spiritual health of North American and European Christianity. If his predictions are in any way true--and they certainly have the ring of plausibility--then it follows that mainstream institutional Christianity, Catholic and Protestant alike, needs to reflect seriously on both its style and convictions. If it's become so indifferent to its own message that it finds enthusiastic support of that message distasteful, things have reached a sorry state.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsDeath of Christianity? Think again.
By A Customer on March 17, 2002
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
If you are interested in the future of religion in general and Christianity in particular, the one must read book this year has been written by Phil Jenkins.
A respected professor at Penn State University who has been known for "going against the flow," Jenkins argues that the rapid growth of primitive/Pentecostal Christianity around the world (both within and alongside existing traditions) will literally reshape the world, with possible religious conflict affecting everything from historic European denominations (already happening in Anglicanism) to geopolitics.
In a post-modern world, religion returns to center stage, and Jenkins has already turned on the spotlight. This is a must-read for all futurists--including the armchair variety such as myself. After reading Jenkins' seemingly airtight (even understated) analysis, it is difficult to give credence to any author suggesting the passing of Christianity. For every empty cathedral in Europe, there is a burgeoning congregation in Africa or Latin America. In fact, the western, modern version of Christianity may be be all but swept away in the next 50-100 years, but the primitive variety is reemerging at an incredible pace.
Not many works from Oxford University Press read like thrillers. This is an exception.
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4.0 out of 5 starsAn Important Popular Book. It can't do everything.
By B. Marold HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWER on May 11, 2012
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
This is a response to the reviewers who gave the book between 1 and three stars. My primary observation is that there is no way that a book aimed at a popular audience can touch all bases, personalities, issues, and prognostications. Let us be thankful that Jenkins has made known to us something about "Christianity South" and "Christianity East."

I was quite surprised, for example, at the relative growth of Christianity versus Islam in sub-Saharan Africa (by the way, that is everything in Africa south of the Sahara, down to the Cape of Good Hope.) But like some of the complaints from the one and two star reviewers, there is not much said about the explanation for this fact, except to suggest that African Christianity has found its own source of inspiration, and grows on that. It is no longer driven by European and American missionaries. But there is no citation for "Liberation Theology" in the index, which I found odd. This is a sign that the author's primary interest is demographic and social, not theological.

If you order a used copy, you want to be sure you are getting the third edition. I compared the table of contents for the first and third editions, and there is much added, especially on "The Rise of the New Christianity". On a contemporary topic, you will be missing something if you don't have the latest edition.

If you are interested in world Christianity, you can hardly find anything as illuminating as this 3rd Edition popular book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsChristianity on the move

The world is ever changing and the movement of the Christian faith my well be shifting but that may change as the persecution of Christian in America increases! Read more

Published 1 month ago by Avery Harvill
3.0 out of 5 starsAn interesting reflection on the expansion of Christianity but it ...

An interesting reflection on the expansion of Christianity but it must be read with a grain of salt. Jenkins often portrays the global north in a very negative light.

Published 2 months ago by Stephanie
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Great reading and fast shipping!

Published 2 months ago by Mike Mallick
2.0 out of 5 starsNot good, not necessarily bad

Brings up some good things to think about but I do not agree with much of what he seems to believe... Read more

Published 4 months ago by Curtis Dale Hook III
4.0 out of 5 starsSolid work

A book that makes you think about a lot of the global issues surrounding Christianity. The writing gets pretty dense in a lot of spots. Read more

Published 6 months ago by Ye Shall Be As Gods
5.0 out of 5 starsA must read for every Christian

A MUST READ for every evangelical Christian, especially Americans. American Christians really need to see and open minds to see what's going on in the Christian world outside of... Read more

Published 9 months ago by Yi-Ting Tsai
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

compelling narrattive of what we can expect

Published 9 months ago by Roger Ward
4.0 out of 5 stars... of important trends that span the globe and give great insight...

Jenkins has been following world Christianity trends for over a decade and has put together a compendium of important trends that span the globe and give great insight into... Read more

Published 11 months ago by mwilson
5.0 out of 5 starsWe pray that Christians everywhere will learn to love each other

This book describes well the phenomenon of RAPID CHURCH GROWTH I observed during 15 years as a Lutheran missionary in Liberia, 10 years as a missionary in Peru and visits and stays... Read more

Published 11 months ago by joecwold
4.0 out of 5 starsPretty good

I had to buy this book for a class. It has good info in it. I'm planning on keeping it after my class is over.

Published 11 months ago by Allison Wallace

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