The Globalization of Christianity

Implications for Christian Ministry and Theology

Heath, Studebaker

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2015
• eBook ISBN: 9781498226998
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

While Christianity appears to be in decline in the West it is growing robustly in the global South. What does this mean for the Christianity that was once considered to be the religion of the West? The new contexts and trajectories require innovative responses and relevant theological reflection in the church. This volume addresses these changes through identifying and analyzing global shifts, highlighting practical innovations in the church that attempt to deal with new trajectories, and proposing theological positions intended to help face the issues and challenges of the twenty-first century. Contributors to this volume include Philip Jenkins (The Next Christendom, The New Faces of Christianity, God's Continent), Steven M. Studebaker, Gordon L. Heath, Bradley K. Broadhead, Christof Sauer, Lee Beach, Michael P. Knowles, Peter Althouse, Michael Wilkinson, John H. Issak, David K. Taurus, and Seongho Kang.

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Introduction

Globalization, Christendom, Theology, Ministry, and Mission

Steven M. Studebaker and Bradley K. Broadhead

From a Western perspective, Christianity is in a state of decline. In nations that once strongly identified with the Christian faith, it has lost its cultural dominance. Fewer and fewer people attend church, and increasingly, people adhere to no religion whatsoever. The signs are indeed disturbing for some and a cause for celebration for others (ironically among non-Christians and Christians alike), but they paint an incomplete picture. Philip Jenkins has done much to disabuse us of the common perception that Christianity is a Western religion, vigorously defending the fact that, on the contrary, “Christianity has never been synonymous with either Europe or the West.”1 And when the world as a whole is taken into consideration, one inevitably comes to the conclusion “that since 1700 Christianity has undergone its greatest period of expansion ever, and is currently more vigorous, healthy and widely embraced than at any previous time.”2 This growth is occurring in the Global South, in areas often characterized by poverty and conflict. The nature of globalization complicates matters by bringing the world closer together through immigration and advances in information technology. Christianity in its southern form is moving north as nations facing population stagnation find that they must welcome others in order to sustain themselves economically and socially. It also finds itself bumping up against Islam, a formidable competitor. All of these factors have an impact on the way Western Christians do theology and ministry, which is what this book is about.

A Brief Outline of the Rise and Fall of Christendom

Any discussion of contemporary Christianity and globalization is incomplete without reference to the story of Christendom. The history of globalization can be divided into (1) the fifteenth-century Iberian discoveries of much of the rest of the world, (2) the mercantilism of the eighteenth century, (3) the European imperialism of the nineteenth century, and (4) the postcolonial aftermath of the Second World War.3 The first three of these stages are closely tied to Christendom. The colonial actions of European powers accelerated the process of globalization and shaped the political, social, and religious circumstances of the rest of the world. These actions were intimately linked to the values and ambitions of Christendom. Understanding the origins of Christendom will aid in understanding both its legacy and its decline. This historical perspective on Christendom in turn will underline the significance of the Christianities emerging in the Global South and the importance of heeding their voices in the West.

Though Christendom emerged in the Roman Empire (Western and Byzantine) and later among the Franks, it reigned as the dominant model of Christianity in the West from the eleventh to the early part of the twentieth century. Leaving behind its status as a minority religion, Christianity became synonymous with Western society: “the church was the entire society and the entire society was the church.”4 The origins of this state of affairs trace back to the conversion of the Germanic peoples.5 Germanic identity was strongly rooted in the idea of a common custom held by all. Since religion was an element essential to custom, it was out of the question for members of the society to ascribe to different belief systems. Instead of being something to be privately accepted or rejected by the individual, Christianity was to be publicly accepted or rejected by all. While the model of individual conversion still held true in some cases, more often a ruler or chieftain would convert and then his subjects or tribe would follow en masse.6 Missionaries and rulers found working together mutually beneficial; the former found an efficient way of converting whole tribes and kingdoms (and enjoyed royal protection, generous endowments, and a lift in status) while the latter “acquired new grandeur and renown, were introduced to new techniques of rule in literacy and legislation, [and] benefited from notions or rituals which enhanced the authority and mystique of royalty.”7 Though at times these conversions were (allegedly) voluntary,8 at other times Christian rulers seeking to add more territory to their domain forced conquered peoples to convert.9 Though it was a long struggle, Christendom gained such ascendency over Europe “that European culture was seen as Christian culture.”10

Given the strong connection between Christendom and custom, law, society, and politics, it is not surprising that it was rather intolerant of any sort of religious dissent. While Jewish and Muslim minorities were generally (but not always) tolerated, they were deliberately marginalized and given few rights. Groups deemed heretical such as the Cathars were given the options of recanting or being exterminated. The Protestant Reformation movements assumed Christendom. The Anabaptists rejected it and were subject to persecution by Protestants and Catholics. The terrible Thirty Years War (1618–48), and its so-called Wars of Religion, did more, at least in the short run, to buttress than undermine Christendom.11 The very terms of the Peace of Westphalia, under which the ruler determined the religion of their region, made it clear that the model of Christendom would be maintained by Catholics and Protestants alike.

One result of making Christianity a state religion was that mission was synonymous with territorial expansion.12 One simply did not take on a mission without the support and sanction of political authorities. According to Jehu Hanciles, “With no exception, European nations . . . believed that their territorial acquisitions were divinely ordained for the expansion of the gospel of salvation.”13 Territorial acquisition was seen as a sign of divine favor, which in turn spurred on greater missionary activity. A sense of calling by certain people groups appears to be linked to a strong understanding of the “gospel of Christ [as] a truly universal ethic that must be proclaimed to all nations.”14 Yet these national interests also hampered the effectiveness of missionaries by working against attempts at international collaboration, especially between Protestants. Missionary activity went hand in hand with conquest, economic exploitation, nationalist competition, and ethnocentrism. Highlighting this connection ought not to deface the accomplishments of principled, self-sacrificing missionaries who carried out their ministries in the far-flung lands of colonial empires with sincere devotion to Christ. It does, however, acknowledge the uneasy confluence of national and religious aims that was Christendom.

Other aspects of Christendom often also stifled mission. Portuguese Catholics, for instance, refused to ordain native clergy in Africa, crippling the church in the African Kingdom of Kongo. By insisting on the rule of European bishops, they left the church without the resources to propagate or even maintain itself. At times the very fabric of Christendom began to unravel; the connection between the aims of Christianity and the aims of commerce and ...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Abbreviations
• About the Contributors
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Changes and Trends in Global Christianity
• Chapter 3: New Models of Ministry in Canada as a Response to the Decline of Western Christianity
• Chapter 4: Servants of Christ, Servants of Caesar
• Chapter 5: Cross-Cultural Preaching
• Chapter 6: Soaking Prayer and the Advancement of the Kingdom of Love
• Chapter 7: “Thor and Allah . . . in a hideous, unholy confederacy”
• Chapter 8: A Theology of Persecution and Martyrdom
• Chapter 9: Global Christianity