The New Faces of Christianity:
Believing the Bible in the Global
South by Philip Jenkins
New Knowledge On A Critical Topic
Named one of the top religion books of 2002 by USA Today, Philip Jenkins
phenomenally successful The Next Christendom permanently changed the
way people think about Christianity in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Now, in this brilliant sequel, Jenkins takes a much closer look at
Christianity in the global South, revealing what it is like, and what it means
for the future. The faith of the South, Jenkins finds, is first and foremost a
Biblical faith. Indeed, many Christians identify powerfully with the world
portrayed in the New Testament--an agricultural world very much like their
own, marked by famine and plague, poverty and exile. In the global South,
as in the biblical world, belief in spirits and witchcraft are commonplace,
and in many places--such as Nigeria, Indonesia, and Sudan--Christians
are persecuted just as early Christians were. Thus the Bible speaks to
them with a vividness and authenticity unavailable to most believers in the

industrialized North. More important, Jenkins shows that throughout the
global South, believers are reading the Bible with fresh eyes, and coming
away with new and sometimes startling interpretations. Some of their
conclusions are distinctly fundamentalist, but Jenkins finds an intriguing
paradox, for they are also finding ideas in the Bible that are socially
liberating, especially with respect to womens rights. Across Africa, Asia,
and Latin America, such Christians are social activists in the forefront of a
wide range of liberation movements. Anyone interested in the implications
of these trends for the major denominations, for Muslim-Christian conflict,
and for global politics will find The New Faces of Christianity provocative
and incisive--and indispensable.
Personal Review: The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the
Bible in the Global South by Philip Jenkins
This book is a companion volume to Jenkins' highly successful "The next
Christendom" which looked at the position of Christianity in the global
south. As numbers of Christians remain static or fall in the Western nations
but grow significantly in Africa, Asia and South America, the Christianity
that these nations exhibit can be very different to that with which we are
familiar. Jenkins explores, mostly using Africa as an example, how
Christianity is experienced in the global south, including the significant
focus on healings, demons, witchcraft and persecution, all within a
framework of a world like that of the Bible, marked by plague, poverty and
exile.
Jenkins shows how Christians in the global south are reading the Bible
with fresh eyes, taking new messages or highlighting areas that for post-
enlightenment westerners have lost their power. Some of the behaviour
and theology of these churches made for uncomfortable reading for me as
a western believer but it was a fascinating reminder that Christianity is a
global religion and that we are often very different from our neighbours on
the planet, and yet the Bible can speak to us all in our own languages. It's
a worthwhile and thought-provoking book and an excellent companion to
"The Next Christendom".
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