Next Christendom:
The Coming of Global Christianity
March 14, 15, 16, 2004
Kick-off lecture March 11
| In his book, The Next Christendom: the Coming of Global Christianity, Philip Jenkins, Distinguished Professor of History and Religious Studies at Penn State University, focuses his readers' attention on a modern phenomenon that has received remarkably little attention in the West, the explosive growth of Christianity in the Third World. While Christian Churches in America and Europe wrestle with issues such as the ordination of women and homosexuals, the center of gravity for Christianity is rapidly moving south of the equator. By 2050 only one Christian in five will be a non-Latino white person. The face of traditional Christianity is quite literally changing with demographics. But, as Jenkins points out, more than the | |||
| location and occupants of pews will be at issue. The Christianity that is flourishing in South America, Africa and Asia is more doctrinally conservative, evangelical and apocalyptic than the North American and European Churches. The Christian Churches of the South are much more open to faith-healing, mystical experience, exorcisms and prophecy than the sort of progressive politics embraced by many in the North. This could lead to growing tensions between the Northern and Southern wings of Christian Churches, and possibly, in the end, schism. The hostility of African Anglicans to the American Episcopal Church's naming of a practicing homosexual as a bishop may be a harbinger of other theological struggles to come. |
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Jenkins also notes that the surging Christian Churches in the south also in places find themselves competing directly with Islam. Given the relative weakness of the state in the Third World, people may come to identify themselves primarily through their religion, something fraught with danger in many combustible regions. The Next Christendom may be the driving historical force of the Twenty-First Century. |
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Participants:
H. George Anderson, former bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate from Yale University, his most recent book is A Good Time to Be the Church.
Keith A. Francis, Professor of History at Baylor University. Dr. Francis has published several articles on the history of the Church of England and is currently working on a manuscript about the Church's activities as a pressure group in the early 20th century. He has also published articles about the Seventh-Day Adventists, most recently "Ecumenism or Distinctiveness? Seventh-Day Adventist Attitudes to the World Missionary Conference of 1910" in volume 32 of Studies in Church History (1996).
Philip Jenkins, Distinguished Professor of History and Religious Studies at Penn State University. Since earning his Ph.D. from Cambridge University in 1978, Dr. Jenkins has published over 15 books, approximately a hundred book chapters and refereed articles, and a hundred book reviews. He is the author of The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity which is the focus of this symposium. Other recent books include: Hidden Gospels: The Modern Mythology of Christian Origins, Beyond Tolerance: Child Pornography on the Internet, and Mystics and Messiahs: Cults and New Religions in American History. He has won numerous honors and awards including: Outstanding Book Award of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, Distinguished Scholar Award of the Crime and Delinquency section of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, Class of 1933 Award for Distinguished Humanities Scholarship, Scholar in Residence of the Pennsylvania Historical Commission, and the Solon J. Buck Prize for articles on Western History.
Michael Novak, George Frederick Jewett Scholar in Religion, Philosophy, and Public Policy at the American Enterprise Institute. Novak researches religion, business, culture, politics, ethnicity, and sports. A former U.S. ambassador to the UN Human Rights Commission, he was also ambassador to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. He directs AEI's social and political studies and is the author of twenty-five influential books on the philosophy and theology of culture.
Peter C. Phan, a Vietnam-born theologian, is currently the Ignacio Ellacuria, S.J. Professor of Catholic Social Thought at Georgetown University. He earned three doctorates (S.T.D. from the Universitas Pontificia Salesiana, Rome and Ph.D. and D.D. from the University of London). He has authored ten books, edited some twenty books, and published over 250 essays. His latest books are: Christianity with an Asian Face and In Our Tongues: Perspectives from Asia on Mission and Inculturation, both published by Orbis Books in 2003.
Kick-off Lecture
Thursday, March 11
7:30 p.m. - Horner 102
David Yeager, Co-Chaplain at Hanover College
Faith of our Fathers?
Schedule of Events:
Sunday March 14
4:00 p.m. Keith Francis - CFA Recital Hall
Old World Meets New World Again: The Growth of Seventh-Day Adventism
in Grenada
8:00 p.m. Michael Novak
- CFA Recital Hall
Religion and
Liberty: The Thread of Human History
9:30 p.m. Refreshments
Monday March 15
10:00-11:00 a.m.Roundtable
Discussion - Campus Center
1:00
p.m. H. George Anderson -
CFA Recital Hall
As the Tide Turns: Third World Influence on an American Denomination
4:00 p.m. Peter C. Phan -
CFA Recital Hall
A New Christianity, but What Kind?
8:00 p.m. Philip
Jenkins - CFA
Recital Hall
The Next Christendom
9:30 p.m. Refreshments
Tuesday March 16
10:00 a.m. Roundtable
Discussion - Campus Center
