Christianity is heading south, warned Philip Jenkins, Professor of History and Religious Studies at Penn State University. Students blocked doorways and filled floors in the Russell House on Wednesday for Jenkins’ lecture, “The Coming of Global Christianity.”
Jenkins began his lecture by joking that the ultimate goal of his work is to “ruin Christianity,” but then affirmed that his real mission is to inform people about the history and current trend of Christianity.
“Christianity is on a general decline, its going south,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins is the author of 18 books on the subject of world Christianity; including “The Next Christendom: The Rise of Global Christianity,” his most acclaimed work.
Today, the United States is becoming more Christian while Europe is becoming less so, and Christianity, Jenkins repeatedly asserted, is not a Western religion; its origins and base continue to be in Africa and Asia.
“I was surprised to hear the extent to which [Christianity ] developed in the third world, more so than Islam,” said Mark Bray ’05.
Professor of History Richard Elphick, who introduced Jenkins to the audience, spoke of Jenkins’ expertise and appeal.
“[Jenkins’] ambitions are geared toward academics and the masses,” Elphick said.
Jenkins also discussed the enduring hostility between Islam and Christianity, which he believes is rooted in fear. Over time, he said, as the number of Christians has grown, so too has the discrimination they have faced. This persecution in Africa and Asia, Jenkins maintained, has been motivated by Islam’s fear of Christianity becoming too powerful and the inherent competition between the religions due to their many similarities.
In addition Jenkins distinguished between the Christian fundamentalism in the United States and what he called the “women’s movement” within global Christianity. He said that the Western world typically does not like to think of women contributing to today’s religious fundamentalism. He argued, however, that fundamentalism offers a strong appeal to women because its offers them a “certainty of role, with no barriers.” The same appeal it holds for young, poor men can be extended to women.
Jenkins also corrected what he called a popular misconception of a current trend in Christianity. Beginning in 1979, the U.S State Department began charting what they saw as a decline in religiosity. Jenkins states that the very factors they cited as evidence of the decline, urbanization, modernization and industrialization have actually helped Christianity.
“In a city [a person] only has what they provide themselves with,” he said. “People came to survive through the use of their religious institutions.”
He also described what he saw as the direction Christianity was taking.
“The church of the future will be in Africa, Asia, and Japan,” he said. He also stressed that it is important to keep in mind that Christianity has no geographical core.
“[It is] important to learn about the history of Christianity outside the white, Western world,” said Colin Casey ’05.
“It’s striking that Jenkins was able to combine so much history and culture into Christianity,” said Jane Maxson ’06
According to Jenkins, people need to be informed about what is going on in the world.
“[It is] important to be critical of any religious change,” he said.
Jenkins was the first speaker in the lecture series “The Future of Christianity,” sponsored by the Christian Studies cluster with support from the Snowdon Fund. Future speakers will include Stanley Hauerwas, Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke Divinity School in February and John de Grunchy, from the University of Capetown’s Department of Religion in April.
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