Public Scholars at
Hanover College
Inquiries
Volume Five, Number One - Fall 2004
Christendom Revisited
In this issue of Inquiries, Peter C. Phan, the Ignacio Ellacuria, S.J. Professor of Catholic Social Thought at Georgetown University, offers an interpretation of a demographic shift that is shaping the future of Christianity. This shift is from North to South; the rapid growth of Christianity in the South is moving the "center of gravity" of the religion from Europe and North America to Africa, Asia, and South America. That this shift is taking place is clear. But what it means for the future of Christianity is a matter of some controversy among scholars.
At the center of this controversy is Philip Jenkins's book, The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity (Oxford, 2002), and a follow-up essay in The Atlantic Monthly (October 2002) entitled "The Next Christianity." Jenkins, Distinguished Professor of History and Religious Studies at Penn State University, sees in the growth of Southern Christianity the prospect (or, perhaps, the specter) of a new Christendom, a religious order that transcends national and cultural boundaries and claims (or, at least, exercises) authority over cultures and political systems. Furthermore, Jenkins argues that Southern Christianity is much more conservative-theologically and politically-than Northern Christianity.
Professor Phan's essay provides an excellent introduction to this controversy. Following a very accessible and sympathetic account of Jenkins's argument, Phan undertakes a critique that leads to a much different view of this demographic shift. Professor Phan's essay is interesting not only because it makes an important contribution to the debate about the future of Christianity, but also because it offers a revealing look at the current state of Asian Christianity. Both Phan and Jenkins bemoan the tendency of Northern Christians to see what they want to see when they look south. Professor Phan's essay should help the readers of Inquiries to avoid this myopia.
John Ahrens
John Ahrens is Professor of Philosophy at Hanover College and an Associate Director of the Center for Free Inquiry.