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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
- Sprache: Englisch
This accessible textbook describes Christianity, the world's largest religion, in all of its historical and contemporary diversity. No other publication includes so much information or presents it so clearly and winsomely. This volume employs a "religious studies" approach that is neutral in tone yet accommodates the lived experiences of Christians in different traditions and from all regions of the globe. The World's Christians is a perfect textbook for either public university classrooms or liberal arts campuses. Divided into three parts, the text first describes the world's four largest Christian traditions (Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Pentecostal) which together account for roughly 98 percent of all Christians worldwide. A second section focuses on Christian history, explaining the movement's developing ideas and practices and examining Christianity's engagement with people and cultures around the world. The third and longest portion of the text details the distinctive experiences, contemporary challenges, and demographics of Christians in nine geographic regions, including the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, Eastern and Western Europe, South Asia, North America, East Asia, and Oceania. The second edition of this popular text has been thoroughly rewritten to take recent developments into account, and each chapter now includes two primary source readings, highlighting the diversity of voices that exist within the world Christian movement. Like the first edition, the revised text is enhanced with easily understandable maps, charts, tables and illustrative photographs. In summary, this new and improved second edition of The World's Christians is: * written in a clear style that readers will find engaging * enriched by the addition of thought-provoking primary source readings * thoroughly revised to bring the story of Christianity up to the 2020s * more geographically comprehensive than any competing text * more theologically/ecclesiastically comprehensive than any competing text * amply illustrated with maps, charts, tables, and photographs * perfect for use in the classroom or for general readers who want to understand the full diversity of Christianity as it currently exists around the world
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Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
List of Illustrations
Voices of World Christianity
Introduction to World Christianity
PART I: Who They Are
1 The Orthodox Tradition
Spirituality
Salvation
Structure
Story
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
2 The Catholic Tradition
Spirituality
Salvation
Structure
Story
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
3 The Protestant Tradition
Spirituality
Salvation
Structure
Story
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
4 The Pentecostal Tradition
Spirituality
Salvation
Structure
Story
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
PART II: How They Got There
5 The Ancient Tradition
Convictions
Encounters
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
6 The Great Division and the Age of the East
Convictions
Encounters
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
7 The Rise of the West and Decline of the East
Convictions
Encounters
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
8 Christianity in a Global Era
Convictions
Encounters
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
PART III: Where They Are
9 The Middle East and North Africa
Description of the Region
Christian Profile
Faith and Ethnicity
Weariness and Decline
Spirituality and Survival in Egypt
Turkey and Armenia
Israel and the Palestinian Territories
Hope?
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
10 Eastern Europe
Description of the Region
Current Christian Profile
The Crucible of Communism
The Balkans: Blending Ethnicity and Faith
Catholic Central Europe
Orthodoxy in the Russian Sphere of Influence
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
11 Central and South Asia
Description of the Region
Christian Profile
Overview of Christianity in South Asia
Religion and Nation‐Building in India
The Varieties of Indian Christianity
Christianity and Dalits
Jesus, Christianity, and Indian Culture
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
12 Western Europe
Description of the Region
Christian Profile
Catholic Western Europe
Scandinavia’s Protestant Turf
Religiously Mixed Western Europe
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
13 Sub‐Saharan Africa
Description of the Region
Christian Profile
The Crucible of Colonization
The Postcolonial Era
Challenges
Nigeria: Christianity, Islam, and the Evangelization of the World
Church and Politics in South Africa
Ethiopia: The Last Christian Empire
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
14 East Asia
Description of the Region
Christian Profile
Asian Spirituality and Christian Faith
Faith and Politics in the Philippines
Christianity’s Changing Public Image in South Korea
Indonesia: Politics and Religion in Changing Times
The Complexities of Christianity in China
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
15 Latin America
Description of Region
Christian Profile
A Complex History of Church, State, and Economy
Popular Catholicism: The Importance of Mary
Non‐Catholic (
Evangélico
) Christianity
Pentecostalism and Catholic Renewal
The New Religious Economy in Brazil
Holding the Line in Mexico
The Caribbean Difference
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
16 North America
Description of the Region
Christian Profile
Denominationalism: The Protestant Diversity that Freedom Produced
Simplifying Protestant Diversity: Mainline and Evangelical
Historically Black Churches
The Fuzzy Boundaries of Pentecostalism
Catholicism in Transition
Orthodoxy in the United States
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
17 Oceania
Description of the Region
Christian Profile
A Complex Conversion History
Mapping the Pacific: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia
Religion, Ethnicity, and Politics in Fiji
Christianity and the Relaxed Spirituality of Australia
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
Appendix: Counting Christians
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
Chapter 3
Table 3.1 Five main “families” of Protestantism, representing two thirds of all P...
Chapter 7
Table 7.1 Major Muslim empires, indicating general attitude toward Christianity...
Chapter 10
Table 10.1 Orthodox Christians in Eastern Europe. List of Orthodox churches in th...
Table 10.2 Christianity in the Balkans. Comparison of the four Christian mega‐tra...
Table 10.3 Catholic Central Europe. Comparison of the four Christian mega‐traditi...
Table 10.4 Christianity in the Russian sphere of influence. Comparison of the fou...
Chapter 12
Table 12.1 Levels of religiosity in Catholic Europe by country
*
Table 12.2 Population size of Christian traditions in religiously mixed Europ...
Chapter 13
Table 13.1 Social and economic data for ten largest Sub‐Saharan African nations...
Table 13.2 Changing size of four Christian traditions in Sub‐Saharan Africa, 1900...
Chapter 14
Table 14.1 Distribution of three major world religions in East Asia (as approxima...
Chapter 16
Table 16.1 The mainline Protestant denominations in the USA with membership data ...
Part 3
Table III.1 Estimated number of individuals associated with the four Christia...
List of Illustrations
Chapter 1
Figure 1.1 Number of Orthodox Christians living in each region of the world ...
Figure 1.2 Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral (Sibiu, Romania), interior of mai...
Figure 1.3 Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral (Sibiu, Romania), nave and iconos...
Figure 1.4 Interior of small Orthodox church (Paphos, Cyprus).
Figure 1.5 Key events in Orthodox history.
Chapter 2
Figure 2.1 Number of Catholic Christians living in each region of the world ...
Figure 2.2 Statues of the Infant of Prague (the baby Jesus) for sale at a sh...
Figure 2.3 Interior of the Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels (Los...
Figure 2.4 St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.
Figure 2.5 The Gero Cross (pictured here) is the oldest known crucifix made ...
Figure 2.6 Timeline showing key events in Catholic history.
Chapter 3
Figure 3.1 Number of Protestant Christians living in each region of the worl...
Figure 3.2 Interior of Reformed Church (Sibiu, Romania) illustrating the arc...
Figure 3.3 The Evangelical Lutheran Cathedral, located on the Senate Square ...
Figure 3.4 God’s Missionary Church (Camp Hill, Pennsylvania). About a third ...
Figure 3.5 Key events in Protestant history.
Chapter 4
Figure 4.1 Number of Pentecostal Christians living in each region of the wor...
Figure 4.2 Aimee Semple McPherson (second from left) in a performance at her...
Figure 4.3 Diagram illustrating sociological structure of the Pentecostal mo...
Figure 4.4 The Holy Spirit Church of East Africa (Bukoyani, Kenya) is one of...
Figure 4.5 International Church of the Grace of God, located on a pedestrian...
Chapter 5
Figure 5.1 Timeline for ancient Christianity, beginnings to 500.
Figure 5.2 Sketch of structure of a Roman basilica (left) and interior of Sa...
Figure 5.3 Two portrayals of Jesus in early Christian art: Jesus as “good sh...
Figure 5.4 Roman Empire at peak size (showing ancient major cities and moder...
Figure 5.5 Timeline of major events for Christianity in the Roman Empire....
Figure 5.6 Icon of the martyrdom of Perpetua, Felicitas, and others.
Figure 5.7 Church built around Symeon’s pillar with remains of the pillar in...
Figure 5.8 Map of Sasanian Empire, c. 250 (showing ancient major cities and ...
Figure 5.9 Church of the Holy Mother of God, a seventh‐century building loca...
Chapter 6
Figure 6.1 The Great Division.
Figure 6.2 Map showing the primary geographic locations of the four Christia...
Figure 6.3 Chapel of São Frutuoso (Braga, Portugal), a Visigoth church built...
Figure 6.4 Byzantine and Arab Empires, c. 800.
Figure 6.5 Timeline of the Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire, c. 500–1...
Figure 6.6 Timeline for the Church of the East, c. 500–1000.
Figure 6.7 Da Qin Pagoda (Pagoda of the West), an eighth‐century Christian m...
Figure 6.8 Mugao Caves Monastery (Dunhuang, China) where ancient Chinese Chr...
Figure 6.9 Charlemagne’s domain.
Figure 6.10 Baptism of Boris I, portrayed on a Bulgarian stamp, issued in 19...
Chapter 7
Figure 7.1 Timeline of general councils of the Catholic Church held during t...
Figure 7.2 Mid‐fourteenth century fresco in the Chapel of the Corporal withi...
Figure 7.3 This fresco by Domenico di Michelino (1417–91) portrays the Itali...
Figure 7.4 Map showing spread of Black Death, 1347–50, including areas that ...
Figure 7.5 Church of St. George (Lalibela, Ethiopia).
Figure 7.6 Timeline of medieval Christian crusades against religious others....
Figure 7.7 Map showing advance of the
reconquista
in Spain, c. 800–1492. Dat...
Figure 7.8 Aerial photograph (left) of Mezquita Cathedral (Cordoba, Spain) s...
Figure 7.9 Latin Empire in former Byzantine territory, 1204–61.
Figure 7.10 Queen Sorkaktani‐beki with her husband Tolui (Rashid al‐Din, 14t...
Figure 7.11 Timeline of Christian decline in Persia and Central Asia.
Chapter 8
Figure 8.1 Dirk Willems rescuing his pursuer. Etching by Jan Luyken in
The M
...
Figure 8.2 William J. Seymour with other leaders of the Azusa Street revival...
Figure 8.3 Chiesa di Sant’Ignazio di Loyola in Campo Marzio, a Baroque style...
Figure 8.4 Diagram displaying the race‐based hierarchy of social and spiritu...
Figure 8.5 João I, the first Christian king of the Congo, who ruled from 147...
Figure 8.6 Timeline of some of the religious wars resulting from the Protest...
Figure 8.7 Global map of the Cold War, c. 1980.
Figure 8.8 Changing demographics of the world Christian movement from 1900 t...
Chapter 9
Figure 9.1 The Middle East and North Africa: global location and population ...
Figure 9.2 Regional map of the Middle East and North Africa. Map by author....
Figure 9.3 Map showing overlap of Muslim, Arab, and formerly Ottoman territo...
Figure 9.4 Map showing nineteenth‐ and twentieth‐century European colonizati...
Figure 9.5 Christian profile of the Middle East and North Africa. Approximat...
Figure 9.6 Icon of the Christian martyrs killed by ISIS terrorists on a beac...
Figure 9.7 Coptic Pope Tawadros II appearing in church with Egyptian Preside...
Figure 9.8 Survivors of the Armenian genocide pose with a pyramid of skulls ...
Chapter 10
Figure 10.1 Eastern Europe: global location and population information. (Not...
Figure 10.2 Regional map of Eastern Europe.
Figure 10.3 Christian profile of Eastern Europe, showing approximate percent...
Figure 10.4 Three religious sub‐regions in Eastern Europe.
Figure 10.5 The Church of St. Sava dwarfs nearby buildings in Belgrade, Serb...
Figure 10.6 Icon of the Black Madonna of Czestochowa: close‐up of icon (left...
Figure 10.7 The Lord’s Ark Catholic Church (Nowa Huta, Poland). The exterior...
Figure 10.8 Map of Poland showing area of main support for the Law and Justi...
Figure 10.9 Cathedral of Christ the Savior being demolished by Stalin in Dec...
Figure 10.10 Current cultural and political map of Ukraine showing areas of ...
Chapter 11
Figure 11.1 Central and South Asia: global location and population informati...
Figure 11.2 Regional map of Central and South Asia.
Figure 11.3 Christian profile of Central and South Asia showing approximate ...
Figure 11.4 Map showing areas in Central and South Asia where Christians are...
Figure 11.5 Map of the seven eastern states of India showing percentage of t...
Figure 11.6 Protesters in Pakistan in 2018 after the acquittal of Aasia Bibi...
Figure 11.7 Chart showing divisions of the original St. Thomas Christian com...
Figure 11.8 Inside of Mother Teresa’s Home for the Dying in Kolkata, India....
Chapter 12
Figure 12.1 Western Europe: global location and population information.
Figure 12.2 Regional map of Western Europe.
Figure 12.3 Christian profile of Western Europe showing approximate percenta...
Figure 12.4 Distribution of Christian populations in Western Europe.
Figure 12.5 Anticlerical Republicans “execute” a statue of the Sacred Heart ...
Figure 12.6 Catholic prolife rally in Madrid with banners that are explicitl...
Figure 12.7 Muslims on the streets of Paris during Friday noontime prayers. ...
Figure 12.8 Ordination of Elizabeth Jane Holden Lane (or “Libby” Lane as she...
Figure 12.9 Map of Germany showing major cities and the sub‐regions that are...
Chapter 13
Figure 13.1 Sub‐Saharan Africa: global location and population information....
Figure 13.2 Regional map of Sub‐Saharan Africa.
Figure 13.3 Map showing distinctions between Sub‐Saharan Africa and northern...
Figure 13.4 Map of Sub‐Saharan Africa showing Christian percentage of the po...
Figure 13.5 Christian profile of Sub‐Saharan Africa showing approximate perc...
Figure 13.6 Map of Africa showing European colonial claims, c. 1920. Only tw...
Figure 13.7 Women organized by Leymah Gbowee protesting against the Liberian...
Figure 13.8 Crowded worship service at the RCCG’s Redemption Camp in Nigeria...
Figure 13.9 Meeting of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee in South Afric...
Figure 13.10 Ethiopian Orthodox priest carrying the
tabot
to be rechristened...
Chapter 14
Figure 14.1 East Asia: Global location and population information.
Figure 14.2 Regional map of East Asia.
Figure 14.3 Christian profile of East Asia showing approximate percentage of...
Figure 14.4
Traslación
of the statue of the Black Nazarene (January 201...
Figure 14.5 SaRang Community Church is one of the largest Presbyterian congr...
Figure 14.6 Map of Indonesia showing distribution of Christians across the c...
Figure 14.7 St. Joseph’s Catholic Church (Beijing) was originally built in t...
Figure 14.8 Growth of Roman Catholic population and of Protestant and Pentec...
Figure 14.9 The Golden Lampstand Church in Linfen, China (Shanxi Province) w...
Chapter 15
Figure 15.1 Latin America: global location and population information.
Figure 15.2 Map of Latin America in late 1500s showing Spain’s two viceroyal...
Figure 15.3 Map of Latin America today.
Figure 15.4 Christian profile of Latin America showing approximate percentag...
Figure 15.5
Tilma
of Juan Diego bearing the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe...
Figure 15.6 Fr. Marcelo Rossi walking into his church to say mass.
Figure 15.7 A photo of officers and family members from the Cristeros Castañ...
Figure 15.8 Mural on the back wall of the Kingston Evangelical Church in Kin...
Chapter 16
Figure 16.1 North America: global location and population information.
Figure 16.2 Christian profile of North America showing approximate percentag...
Figure 16.3 Percentage of adults in each state designated “highly religious....
Figure 16.4 Christian profile of the United States. Bold, unitalicized label...
Figure 16.5 The Supreme Court’s decision to ban prayer and Bible reading at ...
Figure 16.6 Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. preaching in Mason Temple (Memphis,...
Figure 16.7 The Azusa Street Mission as it appeared in 1906.
Figure 16.8 President John F. Kennedy meeting with Pope Paul VI in Rome in J...
Chapter 17
Figure 17.1 Oceania: global location and population information.
Figure 17.2 Regional map of Oceania showing independent nations and most ter...
Figure 17.3 Christian profile of Oceania showing approximate percentage of t...
Figure 17.4 Map showing locations of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia....
Figure 17.5 Catholic Church on Bora Bora island in French Polynesia.
Figure 17.6 Ratana church in rural New Zealand. Most Ratana church buldings ...
Figure 17.7 Map of Australia showing names of states and major cities. The s...
Figure 17.8 The Last Supper, a painting by the Aboriginal Christian artist W...
Part 3
Figure III.1 Nine cultural‐geographic regions of the world.
Figure III.2 Where the world’s Christians live (% of the global Christian po...
Guide
Cover Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
List of Illustrations
Voices of World Christianity
Introduction to World Christianity
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
Appendix: Counting Christians
Index
WILEY END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT
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The World’s Christians
SECOND EDITION
WHO THEY ARE, WHERE THEY ARE,AND HOW THEY GOT THERE
Douglas Jacobsen
This edition first published 2021© 2021 Douglas Jacobsen
Edition HistoryDouglas Jacobsen (1e, 2011)
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by law. Advice on how to obtain permission to reuse material from this title is available at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
The right of Douglas Jacobsen to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with law.
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Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data
Names: Jacobsen, Douglas G. (Douglas Gordon), 1951– author.Title: The World’s Christians : who they are, where they are, and how they got there / Douglas Jacobsen.Description: Second edition. | Hoboken, NJ : Wiley‐Blackwell, [2021] | Includes bibliographical references and index.Identifiers: LCCN 2020024698 (print) | LCCN 2020024699 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119626107 (paperback) | ISBN 9781119626176 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781119626121 (epub)Subjects: LCSH: Christianity.Classification: LCC BR121.3 .J33 2020 (print) | LCC BR121.3 (ebook) | DDC 270–dc23LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020024698LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020024699
Cover Design: WileyCover Image: © Jeremy Walker
List of Illustrations
Figures
Figure 1.1
Number of Orthodox Christians living in each region of the world
Figure 1.2
Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral (Sibiu, Romania), interior of main dome
Figure 1.3
Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral (Sibiu, Romania), nave and iconostasis
Figure 1.4
Interior of small Orthodox church (Kalopanagiotis, Cyprus)
Figure 1.5
Key events in Orthodox history
Figure 2.1
Number of Catholic Christians living in each region of the world
Figure 2.2
Statues of the Infant of Prague (the baby Jesus) for sale at shop near the Church of Our Lady Victorious in Prague (Czech Republic)
Figure 2.3
Interior of the Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels (Los Angeles, California)
Figure 2.4
St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican
Figure 2.5
The Gero Cross, the oldest known crucifix made in Western Europe north of the Alps
Figure 2.6
Timeline showing key events in Catholic history
Figure 3.1
Number of Protestant Christians living in each region of the world
Figure 3.2
Interior of Reformed Church (Sibiu, Romania) illustrating the architectural centrality of the pulpit
Figure 3.3
The Evangelical Lutheran Cathedral (Helsinki, Finland)
Figure 3.4
God’s Missionary Church (Camp Hill, Pennsylvania)
Figure 3.5
Key events in Protestant history
Figure 4.1
Number of Pentecostal Christians living in each region of the world
Figure 4.2
Aimee Semple McPherson
Figure 4.3
Diagram illustrating sociological structure of the Pentecostal movement
Figure 4.4
The Holy Spirit Church of East Africa (Bukoyani, Kenya)
Figure 4.5
International Church of the Grace of God (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Figure 5.1
Timeline for ancient Christianity, beginnings to 500
Figure 5.2
Sketch of structure of a Roman basilica and interior of Santa Maria Maggiore Church (Rome)
Figure 5.3
Two portrayals of Jesus in early Christian art
Figure 5.4
Roman Empire at peak size
Figure 5.5
Timeline of major events for Christianity in the Roman Empire
Figure 5.6
Icon of the martyrdom of Perpetua, Felicitas, and others
Figure 5.7
Church built around Symeon’s pillar
Figure 5.8
Map of Sasanian Empire, c. 250
Figure 5.9
Church of the Holy Mother of God, a seventh‐century building located in Ashtarak, Armenia
Figure 6.1
The Great Division
Figure 6.2
Map showing the primary geographic locations of the four Christian mega‐traditions that existed in the years 500 to 1000
Figure 6.3
Chapel of São Frutuoso (Braga, Portugal), a Visigoth church built in the 600s
Figure 6.4
Byzantine and Arab Empires, c. 800
Figure 6.5
Timeline of the Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire, c. 500–1000
Figure 6.6
Timeline for the Church of the East, c. 500–1000
Figure 6.7
Da Qin Pagoda (Pagoda of the West), an eighth‐century Christian monastery located about 50 miles southwest of Xian (formerly Chang’an), China
Figure 6.8
Mugao Caves Monastery (Dunhuang, China)
Figure 6.9
Charlemagne’s domain
Figure 6.10
Baptism of Boris I, illustration from a fourteenth‐century chronicle by Constantine Manasses
Figure 7.1
Timeline of general councils of the Catholic Church held during this time period (1000–1500)
Figure 7.2
Fresco in Orvieto Cathedral (Italy) that illustrates the doctrine of transubstantiation
Figure 7.3
Fresco by Domenico di Michelino (1417–91) portraying the Italian author Dante with the seven‐story mountain of purgatory made famous in his trilogy
The Divine Comedy
Figure 7.4
Map showing spread of Black Death, 1347–50
Figure 7.5
Church of St. George (Lalibela, Ethiopia)
Figure 7.6
Timeline of medieval Christian crusades against religious others
Figure 7.7
Map showing advance of the
reconquista
in Spain, c. 800–1492
Figure 7.8
Aerial and interior photographs of Mezquita Cathedral (Cordoba, Spain)
Figure 7.9
Latin Empire in former Byzantine territory, 1204–61
Figure 7.10
Queen Sorkaktani‐beki with her husband Tolui
Figure 7.11
Timeline of Christian decline in Persia and Central Asia
Figure 8.1
Dirk Willems rescuing his pursuer
Figure 8.2
William J. Seymour with other leaders of the Azusa Street revival
Figure 8.3
Chiesa di Sant’Ignazio di Loyola in Campo Marzio, a Baroque style Catholic church in Rome built in the early 1600s
Figure 8.4
Diagram displaying the race‐based hierarchy of social and spiritual status that existed in colonial Latin American society
Figure 8.5
João I, the first Christian king of the Congo, who ruled from 1470 to 1509
Figure 8.6
Timeline of some of the religious wars resulting from the Protestant Revolution and of three significant peace agreements
Figure 8.7
Global map of the Cold War, c. 1980
Figure 8.8
Changing demographics of the world Christian movement from 1900 to 2050
Figure III.1
Nine cultural‐geographic mega‐regions of the world
Figure III.2
Where the world’s Christians live
Figure 9.1
The Middle East and North Africa: global location and population information
Figure 9.2
Regional map of the Middle East and North Africa
Figure 9.3
Map showing overlap of Muslim, Arab, and formerly Ottoman territory in the Middle East and North Africa
Figure 9.4
Map showing nineteenth‐ and twentieth‐century European colonization of the Middle East and North Africa
Figure 9.5
Christian profile of the Middle East and North Africa
Figure 9.6
Icon of the Christian martyrs killed on a beach in Libya in 2015 portrayed as saints
Figure 9.7
Coptic Pope Tawadros II appearing in church with Egyptian President al‐Sisi in January 2018
Figure 9.8
Survivors of the Armenian genocide pose with a pyramid of skulls of those who died
Figure 10.1
Eastern Europe: global location and population information
Figure 10.2
Regional map of Eastern Europe
Figure 10.3
Christian profile of Eastern Europe, showing approximate percentage of the region’s total Christian population in each of the four Christian mega‐traditions
Figure 10.4
Three religious sub‐regions in Eastern Europe
Figure 10.5
The Church of St. Sava dwarfs nearby buildings in Belgrade, Serbia
Figure 10.6
Icon of the Black Madonna of Czestochowa
Figure 10.7
The Lord’s Ark Catholic Church (Nowa Huta, Poland)
Figure 10.8
Map of Poland showing area of main support for the Law and Justice Party and areas voting to be “LGBT‐free” zones
Figure 10.9
Cathedral of Christ the Savior being demolished by Stalin in December 1931 and reconstructed in 2000
Figure 10.10
Current cultural and political map of Ukraine showing areas of Russian control and influence
Figure 11.1
Central and South Asia: global location and population information
Figure 11.2
Regional map of Central and South Asia
Figure 11.3
Christian profile of Central and South Asia showing approximate percentage of the region’s Christian population in each of the four Christian mega‐traditions
Figure 11.4
Map showing areas in Central and South Asia where Christians are more densely clustered
Figure 11.5
Map of the seven eastern states of India showing percentage of the population that is Christian
Figure 11.6
Protesters in Pakistan in 2018 after the acquittal of Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman who had been accused of breaking the nation’s law against blasphemy
Figure 11.7
Chart showing divisions of the original St. Thomas Christian community of India into the seven currently existing denominations that claim this heritage
Figure 11.8
Inside of Mother Teresa’s Home for the Dying in Kolkata, India
Figure 12.1
Western Europe: global location and population information
Figure 12.2
Regional map of Western Europe
Figure 12.3
Christian profile of Western Europe showing approximate percentage of the region’s total Christian population represented by each of the four Christian mega‐traditions
Figure 12.4
Distribution of Christian populations in Western Europe
Figure 12.5
Anticlerical Republicans “execute” a statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at Cerro de los Angeles during the Spanish Civil War
Figure 12.6
Catholic prolife rally in Madrid with banners that are explicitly anti‐PSOE and pro‐PP
Figure 12.7
Muslims on the streets of Paris during Friday noontime prayers
Figure 12.8
Ordination of Elizabeth Jane Holden Lane as the first female bishop in the Church of England (January 26, 2015)
Figure 12.9
Map of Germany showing major cities and the sub‐regions that are predominantly Catholic, Protestant, and non‐religious
Figure 13.1
Sub‐Saharan Africa: global location and population information
Figure 13.2
Regional map of Sub‐Saharan Africa
Figure 13.3
Map showing distinctions between Sub‐Saharan Africa and northern Africa
Figure 13.4
Map of Sub‐Saharan Africa showing Christian percentage of the population
Figure 13.5
Christian profile of Sub‐Saharan Africa showing approximate percentage of the region’s Christian population in each of the four Christian mega‐traditions
Figure 13.6
Map of Africa showing European colonial claims, c. 1920
Figure 13.7
Women organized by Leymah Gbowee protesting against the Liberian civil war in 2003
Figure 13.8
Crowded worship service at the RCCG’s Redemption Camp in Nigeria
Figure 13.9
Meeting of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee in South Africa
Figure 13.10
Ethiopian Orthodox priest carrying the
tabot
to be rechristened during the festival of Timkat
Figure 14.1
East Asia: Global location and population information
Figure 14.2
Regional map of East Asia
Figure 14.3
Christian profile of East Asia showing approximate percentage of the region’s Christian population in each of the four Christian mega‐traditions
Figure 14.4
Traslación
of the statue of the Black Nazarene (January 2012)
Figure 14.5
SaRang Community Church is one of the largest Presbyterian congregations in Seoul
Figure 14.6
Map of Indonesia showing distribution of Christians across the country
Figure 14.7
St. Joseph’s Catholic Church (Beijing)
Figure 14.8
Growth of Roman Catholic population and of Protestant and Pentecostal (combined) population in China since founding of the PRC in 1949
Figure 14.9
The Golden Lampstand Church in Linfen, China (Shanxi Province) was one of the largest unregistered churches in the country until it was demolished by the government in 2018
Figure 15.1
Latin America: global location and population information
Figure 15.2
Map of Latin America in late 1500s showing areas of Spanish and Portuguese colonization
Figure 15.3
Regional map of Latin America
Figure 15.4
Christian profile of Latin America showing approximate percentage of the region’s Christian population in each of the four Christian mega‐traditions
Figure 15.5
Tilma
of Juan Diego bearing the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe
Figure 15.6
Fr. Marcelo Rossi walking into his church to say mass
Figure 15.7
A photo of officers and family members from the Cristeros Castañon fighting regiment
Figure 15.8
Mural on the back wall of the Kingston Evangelical Church in Kingston, St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Figure 16.1
North America: global location and population information
Figure 16.2
Christian profile of North America showing approximate percentage of the region’s Christian population in each of the four Christian mega‐traditions
Figure 16.3
Percentage of adults in each state designated “highly religious”
Figure 16.4
Christian profile of the United States
Figure 16.5
The Supreme Court’s decision to ban prayer and Bible reading at the beginning of the public school day made the headlines of
The New York Times
in June 1963
Figure 16.6
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. preaching in Mason Temple (Memphis, TN) the evening before he was assassinated
Figure 16.7
The Azusa Street Mission as it appeared in 1906
Figure 16.8
President John F. Kennedy meeting with Pope Paul VI in Rome in July of 1963
Figure 17.1
Oceania: global location and population information
Figure 17.2
Regional map of Oceania showing independent nations and most territories
Figure 17.3
Christian profile of Oceania showing approximate percentage of the region’s Christian population in each of the four Christian mega‐traditions
Figure 17.4
Map showing locations of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia
Figure 17.5
Catholic Church on Bora Bora island in French Polynesia
Figure 17.6
Ratana church in rural New Zealand
Figure 17.7
Map of Australia showing names of states and major cities
Figure 17.8
The Last Supper, a painting by the Aboriginal Christian artist Waniwa Lester
Tables
Table 3.1
Five main “families” of Protestantism, representing two thirds of all Protestants worldwide
Table 7.1
Major Muslim empires, indicating general attitude toward Christianity
Table III.1
Estimated number of individuals associated with the four Christian mega‐traditions in nine world regions
Table 10.1
Orthodox Christians in Eastern Europe
Table 10.2
Christianity in the Balkans
Table 10.3
Catholic Central Europe
Table 10.4
Christianity in the Russian sphere of influence
Table 12.1
Levels of religiosity in Catholic Europe by country
Table 12.2
Population size of Christian traditions in religiously mixed Europe
Table 13.1
Social and economic data for ten largest Sub‐Saharan African nations
Table 13.2
Changing size of four Christian traditions in Sub‐Saharan Africa, 1900 to present
Table 14.1
Distribution of three major world religions in East Asia
Table 16.1
The mainline Protestant denominations in the USA with membership data for 1950 and today
Voices of World Christianity
1.1
Vladimir Lossky on Orthodox Theology and Prayer
1.2
Empress Theodora I and the Triumph of Orthodoxy
2.1
John Henry Newman on the Pursuit of Truth
2.2
Julian of Norwich on God’s Love for Humankind
3.1
Fanny Crosby and Protestant Hymnody
3.2
Martin Luther on Faith
4.1
William J. Seymour on the Baptism with the Holy Spirit
4.2
Kathryn Kuhlman on Health and Healing
5.1
Thecla, An Early Christian Female Leader
5.2
Augustine of Hippo on the Two Cities
6.1
Patriarch Timothy I on Jesus and the Christian Life
6.2
Brigid of Kildare in Pagan/Christian Ireland
7.1
Catherine of Siena and the Pope
7.2
Marco Polo Describes the Religious Policy of Kublai Khan
8.1
David Yonggi Cho on “Rhema” Faith
8.2
Walatta Petros defends Ethiopian Orthodoxy against European Catholicism
9.1
Charles Malik on Truth and Public Life
9.2
Hanan Ashrawi on Palestinian Christianity and the Spiritual Cost of Conflict
10.1
Pope John Paul II on the Gospel and Poland
10.2
Maria Alyokhina and the Pussy Riot Church Protest
11.1
Paulos Mar Gregorios and the Principles of Interfaith Dialogue
11.2
Pandita Ramabai’s Spiritual Journey
12.1
Chiara Lubich and Focolare
12.2
Dietrich Bonhoeffer and European Secularism
13.1
Simon Kimbangu, a Congolese Christian Prophet
13.2
Mercy Amba Oduyoye on Women, the Bible, and African Christianity
14.1
Marianne Katoppo on Poverty, Women, and the Eucharist
14.2
Pastor Wang Yi on the Relationship of Church and State
15.1
Eva Peron’s Critique of the Catholic Church
15.2
Gustavo Gutiérrez on Liberation Theology
16.1
James Cone on Black and White Christianity
16.2
Mother Angelica on the Left–Right Divide in American Catholicism
17.1
Bernard Narokobi on Christianity and the Melanesian Way
17.2
Bobbie Houston on The Sisterhood
Introduction to World Christianity
The Christian movement began with just a handful of people, maybe a few hundred, who had known Jesus while he was alive and who looked to him even after his death as their religious teacher and guide. Jesus was born in a remote part of Palestine at the eastern edge of the Roman Empire, and during his lifetime his following never extended beyond that region. Most of his closest associates were of modest means, and many – perhaps most – were illiterate. All in all, there was little to suggest that this movement would endure for centuries and someday span the globe. Yet today Christianity, the religion of Jesus, is the largest and most widely disseminated religion in the world.
There are many different ways to study religion, and there are many different ways to study the particular religion that is known as Christianity. Some scholars of Christianity spend most of their time and energy trying to understand Jesus himself, some focus on the distinctive beliefs and moral teachings of Jesus’s followers (theology), some concentrate their work on the oldest writings of Christianity (biblical studies), some want to know how Christianity has grown and developed over the centuries (the history of Christianity), and some emphasize the great works of art, architecture, and literature that have been produced by the Christian community. This book takes a multi‐disciplinary approach, combining historical, sociological, and theological resources, seeking to describe the vast diversity that now exists within the movement.
Christianity’s Global Diversity
Christianity appears in so many diverse forms around the world that some scholars have begun talking about Christianity in the plural, as Christianities that at times seem to have little in common. But that may be an overstatement. Yes, contemporary Christianity is amazingly complex, but Christianity has possessed an inner diversity from the very beginning. The willingness to allow a range of different interpretations to coexist side by side is part of Christianity’s religious ethos, and it is one of the reasons that Christianity has spread so widely around the world. Everywhere Christianity has gone it has adapted itself to local ideas, ideals, and practices. By the end of the first century the Christian movement already included Jews and Gentiles and people from all over north Africa, southern Europe, and the Middle East. These early Christians came from many different cultures, they spoke a variety of different languages, and they had distinct ways of thinking about their faith.
Diverse perspectives are evident in the foundational documents of the movement, within the pages of the New Testament itself. For example, the book of Galatians argues that “good works” have nothing at all to do with Christian faith or salvation, while the book of James argues that faith without “works” (proper moral conduct) is dead. The four New Testament gospels (attributed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) present slightly different portraits of Jesus, but when the second‐century writer Tatian tried to harmonize those four gospels and turn them into one unified rendition of the life of Jesus, Christians rejected his text. They chose instead to maintain the four different versions of Jesus’s life that still appear in the Bible today.
The Christian movement was already diverse in the first and second centuries, and it has been diversifying ever since. As Christianity spread east into Asia, west into Europe, and south into Africa, each new tribe, nation, or linguistic unit that embraced the faith of Jesus added its own ideas and emphases to the movement, and this process of growth and transformation has accelerated in the last two centuries.
Today Christianity is the most culturally and ethnically diverse religion that has ever existed in human history. Christians live in every nation on earth, and they bring insights from all the world’s cultures into their understandings of faith. Roughly 25 percent of the world’s Christians now live in Europe, another 25 percent live in Africa, 25 percent in Latin America, 15 percent in Asia, and 10 percent reside in North America. (These population percentages are obviously rounded estimates. More precise numbers appear in the remainder of this book, and the process for obtaining those numbers is explained in the appendix on “Counting Christians.”) This relatively even distribution of the Christian population around the world represents a far greater global dispersion of faith than is characteristic of the other three major world religions of Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. More than 95 percent of today’s Hindus and Buddhists live in Asia, and Asia is also home to almost three‐quarters of the world’s Muslims.
Despite its wide dispersion across the globe, many people still think of Christianity as a “western” religion. During the four centuries from 1400 to 1800, most Christians in the world were, in fact, European; about 85 percent of all the Christians in the world lived in that single region. Christianity had flourished in parts of Asia and Africa in earlier centuries, but it contracted to Europe during these four centuries when coincidentally Europe was also beginning to spread its influence around the world. These centuries of European domination had a profound and lasting impact on global perceptions of Christianity. People worldwide came to see Christianity and Europeanness as two sides of the same coin. Christianity was reconceived as a purely “western” religion, and actions undertaken by anyone in “the West” were often attributed to Christianity.
The idea that Christianity is a western or European religion is sometimes reinforced by western Christians who are themselves often convinced that their own way of being Christian is the only or best way of being Christian and that all other ways are deficient or mistaken. While some Christians may continue to presume that western Christianity is the norm for all Christians everywhere, that is no longer the demographic reality. Christianity was a global faith for much of its history, and it is a thoroughly global movement today.
World Christianity as a Field of Study
The phrase “world Christianity” is used by scholars of Christianity to indicate that their research and writing is not narrowly focused on western forms of Christianity but instead encompasses Christianity in all its global diversity. Studying world Christianity means learning about and comparing all the diverse expressions of Christian faith that now exist around the world. This comparative work usually fits into one of four categories: missiological, ecumenical, postcolonial, or religious studies.
Scholarship undertaken from a missiological perspective aims to help Christian missionaries (who communicate Christian ideas and ideals across cultures to people who are not Christian) do their work more effectively. Individuals engaged in the missiological study of world Christianity seek to answer this question: Where is Christianity succeeding or failing (growing as a movement or shrinking), and what are the causes of that success or failure? Like all scholars, people who study world Christianity missiologically want to know facts about the movement and not just advance their own opinions. However, they are typically interested in using that knowledge to strengthen Christianity globally. Not surprisingly, most individuals who adopt a missiological perspective are Christians themselves.
The ecumenical perspective, like the missiological, seeks to enhance Christianity worldwide, but its goal is to encourage and facilitate the unity of Christians globally, quite apart from whether or not the movement is growing. The purpose of the ecumenical movement has historically been to unite churches as institutions, rather than Christians as individuals, so this style of world Christian studies usually stresses the beliefs, practices, and organizational structures of the world’s many different churches. The central question for scholars studying world Christianity ecumenically is: What can all the different Christian churches learn from each other, and how can that knowledge help Christians relate more positively with each other?
A third category of world Christian studies can be termed “postcolonial.” The focus of postcolonial study is on the dynamics of life in regions of the world that were once colonized by one or another European nation, which includes about half the world. In many of these previously colonized places, Christianity was introduced (or reintroduced) to the region as part of the colonizing process. As colonialism has slowly come to an end, many Christian churches in these formerly colonized countries have rejected at least some of the western understandings of Christianity that were imposed on them and have developed their own local, indigenous views of what Christianity can or should be. Scholars with a postcolonial perspective focus their work on these new non‐western, indigenous developments and often see them as inherently more valid and authentic than the colonial forms of Christianity that preceded them. A key question posed by scholars with a postcolonial perspective is: What does (or what might) Christianity look like once it is freed from western domination?
The fourth category is that of “religious studies,” which is the approach taken by researchers who seek to be dispassionate and descriptive. Their goal is not to help Christians advance their faith around the world (like missiology) or to encourage Christian unity (an ecumenical perspective) or to champion a less western understanding of Christianity (the postcolonial approach). Instead, the goal of the religious studies approach is to understand and to describe how and why Christianity has taken root in various parts of the world and what those different varieties of Christianity look like. While no scholar can be completely objective or perfectly fair, the intention of religious studies is to avoid making normative judgments about which kinds of Christianity are better than others. From the perspective of religious studies, differences within the Christian movement are seen as mere differences, not as matters that require moral or spiritual assessment. While personal beliefs, values, and ideals will inevitably seep into any human endeavor, scholars who take a religious studies approach seek to bracket their own biases as much as possible. Their key research question is the simple query: How is Christianity practiced similarly and differently around the world and why? The World’s Christians uses this religious studies approach.
How This Book Is Organized
The goal of this book is signaled in the volume’s subtitle: to explain who the world’s Christians are, where they currently reside, and how they got there. The “who” section describes the main theological and organizational divisions that exist among the world’s Christians, the “where” section identifies the particular experiences of Christians living in various regions of the world, and the section on “how they got there” provides a brief history of Christianity’s global growth and development.
“Who are the world’s Christians?” is answered in Part I by describing the four largest Christian sub‐traditions, which are called “mega‐traditions” in this book: Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, and Pentecostalism. Taken together these four groups account for roughly 97 or 98 percent of all Christians worldwide. The chapters in this section of the book describe the spirituality (the lived character and general religious ethos) of each of these traditions, how each group understands the Christian idea of salvation, the institutional structure of each group, and the story of each group’s origins and subsequent development.
Part II of The World’s Christians describes how Christianity came to assume its current global shape. It includes four chapters, each covering 500 years of Christian history. These chapters explain both the internal (spiritual and theological) developments of the Christian movement and Christianity’s external engagement with the world’s different cultures. This section of the book underscores the dynamic character of Christianity, how it grew from being a tiny religious movement in the Middle East into the incredibly complex faith it is today. While Christianity has been a world religion for a very long time, its global shape has changed dramatically over the course of the last two thousand years, and it is still changing today.
Part III – the largest part of the book – is organized geographically and describes where Christians are living in the present. Nine regions are identified as representing distinctly different zones of Christian life and experience. These regions are: (1) the Middle East and North Africa, where Christianity is barely surviving; (2) Eastern Europe, where Orthodox Christianity is dominant; (3) Central and South Asia, where Christians represent only a very small minority of the population, but have ancient roots; (4) Western Europe, which was the undisputed center of world Christianity for almost five hundred years; (5) Sub‐Saharan Africa, where Christianity is currently growing faster than anywhere else; (6) East Asia, where Christianity is more unevenly distributed than anywhere else on earth; (7) Latin America, where close to half of the world’s Catholics now live; (8) North America, which is the most Protestant region of the globe; and (9) Oceania (Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific islands), where Christianity was only recently introduced.
The increasing diversity of contemporary Christianity is made obvious in these nine chapters. In contrast to past centuries, world Christianity no longer has any identifiable spiritual or geographic center that controls the movement as a whole. Instead, Christians now inhabit a “flat” world, a world where the Christian population is spread out more or less evenly around the globe and where new and varied experiments are being lived out regarding what it means to be a follower of Jesus today.
PART IWho They Are:Four Christian Mega‐Traditions
Introduction
To be a Christian is to be a follower of Jesus Christ, but not all Christians follow Christ in the same way. Those differences become apparent with a quick survey of the social structure of contemporary Christianity. Christians are institutionally divided into more than 35,000 separate and distinct organizations, ranging in size from the enormous Roman Catholic Church, which has more than a billion members worldwide, to the grandly named Universal Church of Christ, which has only a few hundred members, almost all of them in the Caribbean. Every week, Christians gather at more than five million local churches and parishes to worship God. And that’s just the formal structure. Informally, there are millions of additional Christian groups that meet in homes, schools, and places of work for Bible study, prayer, and mutual support.
The diversity that now exists within Christianity is so broad and multifaceted that some scholars have begun to use the term “Christianities” (instead of “Christianity” in the singular) to describe the movement. There is a logic to this plural terminology. World Christianity has become so divergent that it can sometimes be very hard to see what binds together all these groups and individuals. But, despite an enormous variety of beliefs and practices, some important commonalities still define the movement, and these distinctive ideas, practices, and understandings of human life are shared by all or almost all Christians.
What Christians Hold in Common
The broad contours of participation in the Christian movement are relatively obvious. The vast majority of Christians worldwide share the practice of gathering for worship on Sunday; most Christians, if they can afford it, meet for worship in a building called a church; and almost all Christians view the Bible as uniquely the “word of God” that Christians are called to follow. Additionally, almost all Christians worldwide share a common understanding of Jesus as Christ, of God as a Trinity, of salvation as a gift from God, and of sacraments as church rituals that help Christians in their walk with God.
Jesus as Christ: The most obvious point of connection among Christians is their faith in Jesus. The historical Jesus was an unlikely religious leader. He lived the first thirty years of his life in relative obscurity as the son of Mary and her husband Joseph, who was a carpenter in the small town of Nazareth. Then, for just a few years, Jesus took on the role of a wandering Jewish prophet and teacher, first in the rural region of Galilee and later in Jerusalem.
Jesus’s message was simple but profound. As a faithful Jew, he affirmed much of the Judaism of his day, including the Golden Rule (“do unto others what you would have them do unto you”), but Jesus frequently added his own twist to those teachings. Some of these additions – the folksy way he referred to God as “abba” (best translated as “daddy”), his willingness to bend the law to accommodate human frailty, his claim that he was able to forgive sins – were troubling to some of his Jewish contemporaries.
His message was also troubling to Rome. Jesus spoke of a coming “kingdom of God” and described his own actions as the dawning of that kingdom. He instructed his followers to give appropriate respect to Caesar, the Roman Emperor, but he also told them to give their entire lives to God, a qualification that clearly limited any loyalty owed to Caesar. And, while he did not seek political power for himself, he refused to cower when he was arrested and questioned by Rome’s political appointees in Palestine. All of it seemed potentially subversive to an empire that demanded absolute obedience, and Rome responded vigorously, as Rome always did. Using the gruesome spectacle of execution on a cross, the Empire eliminated Jesus and sent a public message to his followers that the show was over.
Most local residents thought that was the end of the matter; they assumed that another pesky prophet had come and gone and that life would now return to normal. But killing Jesus did not stop the movement. His closest followers – all of whom were, like Jesus, Jews themselves – soon became convinced that Jesus had survived his crucifixion or, as they put it, he had risen from the grave and conquered death. They reported that they had seen him alive, in a glorious resurrected body, and that he had commanded them to continue the work he had begun. Rather than using his given name Jesus, which numerous other individuals shared, they called him “the Christ” (or just “Christ”), which means “the anointed one,” God’s special representative on earth.
Very quickly, many of the earliest followers of Christ came to think of Jesus Christ not merely as God’s representative, but somehow as divine himself. Yes, they said, Jesus was a human being, but Jesus was also God incarnate, God appearing in human form. Christians around the world today continue to make this claim. Thus, in addition to being committed to following the teachings of Christ, most Christians also worship Christ as God. This has been the main driving force powering the growth of Christianity through the centuries and around the world: that, in Jesus, God came to earth in order to heal the woes of humankind. This belief makes Christianity more than just the religion of Jesus, the religion taught and practiced by Jesus himself. If that was all that was claimed, then Christianity would be a new variety of Judaism. But Christianity quite quickly became a very different religion than Judaism, and the key difference is what Christians believe about Jesus.
God as Trinity: New ideas about God did not stop with Christianity’s affirmation of the deity of Christ; Christians also believe that God is a Trinity. Jesus had spoken of a paraclete (meaning “comforter” or “advocate”) who would come to help his followers after he had departed the earth. With that promise in mind, Jesus’s closest followers gathered together in Jerusalem after his death to wait for this to happen. On the day of Pentecost, a Jewish holy day that took place fifty days after the celebration of Passover, those followers reported that the Holy Spirit had descended from heaven and filled them, both individually and as a group, with God’s presence and power. Ever since, Christians have conceptualized their relationship with God as involving not only the God of creation and the person of Jesus Christ, but also their ongoing experience of God as life‐giving Spirit.
After many years of reflecting on this threefold understanding of God – as Creator, as Christ, and as Holy Spirit (or “Holy Ghost”) – Christians settled on the word “Trinity” to describe their complex understanding of God. Many different theologians over the centuries have tried to explain the three‐ness of God. No single explanation of the Trinity has ever been adopted as the one model that all Christians accept, but almost all Christians continue to ascribe some kind of three‐ness to God. Most Christians describe God as “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” – three divine “persons” bound indissolubly together in one divine being. The notion of God as Trinity sets Christianity apart from the other two Abrahamic religions, Judaism and Islam. In fact, many Jews and Muslims think that Christians have somehow abandoned monotheism for an alternative belief in three separate Gods. Christians themselves maintain that they are indeed monotheists, but they believe that God’s inner being is more complex than can be communicated by simple singularity.
Salvation: Christians assume that the world as it currently exists, and especially the way people currently live, falls short of what God intended for them. In the terminology of the New Testament, this is called “sin” (harmartia), a word that literally means “to fall short” or “to miss the mark.” The word “salvation” refers to the act or process by which God overcomes sin, redeeming human beings and giving them the opportunity to become the people they were meant to be.
