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

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.

The Next Christendom is a much-needed antidote to the pessimism of so many American Christians about the future of Christianity in the world. Jenkins paints a compelling picture of a vibrant and growing Christian faith in Africa and Asia - a faith with many weaknesses, to be sure, but one that is in many ways on the right track and growing in the right direction.Christians have confessional reasons to be optimistic about the future of the church - Daniel 2 says the kingdom will grow, and Jesus made it clear that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church he is building. He ascended to heaven as one who has received all authority in heaven and on earth. The church's victory is along the path of suffering and death - but it is victory nonetheless. Jenkins argues that we can see this growth happening around the world. Whatever weaknesses - and even decline - we may think is present in the West, Western Christians need to fight their myopic tendencies and broaden their sense of the kingdom. We should be able to be excited about what God is doing around the world.

This book offers the reader a world-wide perspective of Christianity. The reader will learn much about where the religion has been and where it may possibly be going.However, the reader should also be prepared to engage with the author’s use of the term “Christian” in a very broad sense. The author purposefully rejects making the necessary judgments about what actually forms the essential beliefs and practices of Christianity.In short, the book is valuable as an informative and globally-minded perspective of Christianity as a social, a religious, and even a political movement. But the book is greatly lacking in its attempt to draw out the distinctions between what merely claims to be Christian and what actually is Christian in the world.

This book advances a fascinating thesis, that even whilst the Western world heads towards post-Christendom, Christianity is actually growing and expanding as a worldwide phenomenon. This next Christendom is moving southwards, flourishing in the non-Western regions of Latin America, Africa and Asia. It is also evolving into a different kind of Christendom, less culturally Eurocentric and more charismatic and evangelical. The book devotes much attention to these new and vibrant expressions of the faith, showing especially the steady process of indigenisation of faith practices once imported from the West. Consequently, Jenkins posits a growing divergence in the brand of Christianity practised in the West vs. the "majority world". Altogether, the book serves as a tremendous eye-opener on the trajectory of Christian growth in the coming decades and raises uncomfortable questions over the future of Western Christianity.

Book is full of thoughtful statistics and data, which makes you think and analyze and try to envision the future of faith. As usual, Jenkins is a free spirit, not stuck in the conventions, makes you see the good even in the weird.

I like to listen to the book being read as I follow on my kindle or hard copy. Was so glad to see this available in audio but feel cheated in that audible purports (in my view) to be 3rd edition when in fact the book has been practically rewritten in the 18 years since it came out making it impossible to follow along if you have the latest edition which anyone who wanted to know about growth in numbers and world impact of Christianity would probably want to know. Just wanted it to be clear this audible reading is VERY outdated.

We used this as a text book for our Kaleo class. Jenkins shows that Christianity is growing but it's growing South and East. The Next Christendom is upon us and the church is and will continue be the Body of Christ.

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. I do think it is an important entry in an important field of thought though, because it is high time Christians got serious about planning out the future and what it might hold as a global movement.

An extremely interesting account of the rapid growth of Christianity in the developing world, this book covers developments in all the different strands of Christianity. Written sympathetically, but with an eye to the weaknesses as well as strengths of the various movements, I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who thinks that Christianity is in decline, or who wants to put the liberal/conservative conflict in European and North American churches into a world context. The only reason for 4 stars rather than five is that I found the style of the book is a little frustrating - falling somewhere between an academic and a popular approach, so that in places you feel you would like more in depth analysis, while in others that you'd like the author to get on with the story.

Im gesamten Buch wurden lange Textpassagen mit gelbem und pinkfarbenem Permanentmarker markiert. Ich habe bisher schon öfter gebrauchte Bücher bestellt, jedoch noch nie ein Buch in solch einem Zustand erhalten. Ich werde wohl in Zukunft wieder auf neue Bücher zurückgreifen.

J'écris ces lignes au surlendemain de la renonciation de Benoît XVI à son pontificat alors que l'on parle de l'élection d'un Pape latino-américain ou africain. La thèse de Jenkins exposée dans ce livre paru pour la première fois aux États-Unis en 2002 n'a cessé d'être confirmée depuis par les faits (la troisième édition date de 2010). Le Christianisme (toutes dénominations confondues y compris les "suspectes" comme les Mormons et les cultes syncrétiques) est aujourd'hui la première religion du monde regroupant un tiers de l'humanité. Au fur et à mesure qu'elle croît en dehors de l'Europe, elle redevient ce qu'elle était au premier millénaire de notre ère : une religion non-européenne. D'ores et déjà l'Afrique apporte une vitalité nouvelle à des confessions qui ne sont plus en Europe que des curiosités de musées. Les peuples d'Amérique latine, d'Afrique et d'Asie redéfinissent le Christianisme selon leurs cultures et surtout leurs priorités. Aussi choquant que cela soit pour des Européens habitués à une culture rationaliste, consumériste et se vantant de leur liberté sexuelle, ce Christianisme ne nie pas l'existence du surnaturel, partage sans discuter le pessimisme sur le monde du Nouveau Testament et adhère à une morale traditionnelle qui nous parait pourtant rétrograde. Mais il possède aussi un aspect égalitaire qui permet aux membres des castes et des tribus défavorisées, et même aussi étonnant que cela puisse paraître aux femmes, de trouver leur place ou encore de devenir leader. Le livre est rempli de statistiques. Mes préférées sont celles sur la croissance des églises évangéliques et pentecôtistes qui amènent l'auteur à faire remarquer que les Occidentaux se trompent probablement en considérant le fascisme ou le communisme comme l'idéologie ayant marqué le XXème siècle : il ne reste plus beaucoup de fascistes ou de communistes aujourd'hui alors que les pentecôtistes qui n'existaient pas il y 100 ans sont plusieurs centaines de millions. Philip Jenkins propose plusieurs scénarios pour l'avenir : un renouveau spirituel mené par l'immigration, une redéfinition de l'Occident contre le Christianisme désormais considéré comme "une chose de la jungle", une croisade du Sud contre le Nord, des affrontements entre théocraties chrétiennes et musulmanes en Afrique ("Imaginez le monde du XIIIème siècle avec des armes nucléaires et l'anthrax") ou un christianisme militant meilleur allié de la démocratie. Quoi qu'il arrive, une chose est certaine : ce livre est indispensable pour comprendre ce qui va se passer.

The short answer is...a must read! If you don'r have time to read the entire trilogy, at least MAKE time to read this volume. Chris Verscheure, M.A.