Christianity in the Twentieth Century
A World History
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- $30.99
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- $30.99
Publisher Description
A history of unparalleled scope that charts the global transformation of Christianity during an age of profound political and cultural change
Christianity in the Twentieth Century charts the transformation of one of the world's great religions during an age marked by world wars, genocide, nationalism, decolonization, and powerful ideological currents, many of them hostile to Christianity. Written by a leading scholar of world Christianity, the book traces how Christianity evolved from a religion defined by the culture and politics of Europe to the expanding polycentric and multicultural faith it is today--one whose growing popular support is strongest in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, China, and other parts of Asia.
Brian Stanley sheds critical light on themes of central importance for understanding the global contours of modern Christianity, illustrating each one with contrasting case studies, usually taken from different parts of the world. Unlike other books on world Christianity, this one is not a regional survey or chronological narrative, nor does it focus on theology or ecclesiastical institutions. Rather, Stanley provides a history of Christianity as a popular faith experienced and lived by its adherents, telling a compelling and multifaceted story of Christendom's fortunes in Europe, North America, and across the rest of the globe.
Transnational in scope and drawing on the latest scholarship, Christianity in the Twentieth Century demonstrates how Christianity has had less to fear from the onslaughts of secularism than from the readiness of Christians themselves to accommodate their faith to ideologies that privilege racial identity or radical individualism.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This ambitious work by historian Stanley (The Global Diffusion of Evangelicalism), professor of world Christianity at the University of Edinburgh, surveys narratives of 20th-century Christian activity around the globe. At the dawn of the 20th century, evangelical Christians in the West were confident that the "global diffusion of Christianity from its Western heartlands" would be a "universal triumph of the Western civilizing creed," Stanley writes. But then global Christianities flourished in ways Western Christians had not envisioned. Stanley surveys these changes in thematic sections. The chapter on human rights examines how Christians in South Africa supported and opposed Apartheid, as well as the role of Protestant and Catholic churches in Canada's system of residential schools for indigenous children (now regarded as violating the human rights of a generation of First Nations people). The chapter on Pentecostal Christianities considers the development of missionary communities in Ghana and Brazil; the chapter on ecumenism looks at ways Christian practices of worship changed throughout China and the Indian subcontinent. At times the array of Christian organizations (there is a three-page list of abbreviations provided) and the rapid jumps between locations can feel bewildering yet the author provides reader-friendly transitions into and out of each theme. This comprehensive work is ideally suited for an undergraduate course or study group.