The image is Heinrich Bünting, Die gantze Welt in einem Kleberblat / Welches ist der Stadt Hannover meines lieben Vaterlandes Wapen (“The entire world in the shape of a clover-leaf, which is the emblem of the city of Hannover, my beloved homeland”), 1581, woodcut print.
The idea of “world Christianity” is a development—but it is not an development out of nowhere. World Christianity emerges out of a particular history and so an extended discourse. To be sure, it challenges that history. Yet, it still draws upon various expectations and determining conceptual frameworks, recognises authorities (both textual and embodied forms), and employs various methodologies.
First, it means that world Christianity has a backstory. Now, it may seem that world Christianity is a self-evident field of study. However, to cite Gambian theologian and one of the pioneers in the field of world Christianity, Lamin Sanneh (1942-2019), “it is a curious thing that Western academic theologians (alas!) have scarcely shown any sustained interest in the subject, having decided to turn their backs on world Christianity as the off spring of mission’s outdated theology of territorial expansionism.” (Lamin O. Sanneh, “World Christianity and the New Historiography: Historical and Global Interconnections,” in Enlarging the Story: Perspectives on Writing World Christian History, Wilbert R. Shenk ed., (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2002), 94–114, here 102.)
Sanneh is not himself uncritical regarding the western missionary enterprise. Instead, his position here follows an identical criticism of the historiography common in the study of “church history”: it is a history of western expansion—even when critical of its own history, the actions of the western retain the focus. To continue with Sanneh, “[h]owever the missionaries may have represented Christianity, goes the theological argument, aboriginal populations could form no adequate concept of Christian doctrine to have embraced the religion correctly. So their profession of Christianity is misguided and mistaken, if not downright corrupted” (Sanneh, 102). In other words, the lack of attention to world Christianity within academic theology, even as this absence might be valorised as an anti-colonial position, represents a continuation of the colonial enterprise. World Christianity needs to speak and to be listened to on its own terms, and this will include a range of negotiations for established traditions, embodied forms of the faith, and institutions and structures.
Second, because world Christianity needs to speak on its own terms, it will require the development of different methodologies, conceptual frameworks, interdisciplinary partnerships and global networks. This academic creativity is basic to the definition of the field itself. To cite a definition developed by Dale Irvin, world Christianity is
an emerging field that investigates and seeks to understand Christian communities, faith, and practice as they are found on six continents, expressed in diverse ecclesial traditions, and informed by the multitude of historical and cultural experiences It is concerned with both the diversity of local or indigenous expressions of Christian life and faith throughout the world, and the variety of ways these interact with one another critically and constructively across time and space. It is particularly concerned with under-represented and marginalized communities of faith, resulting in a greater degree of attention being paid to Asian, African, and Latin American experiences; the experience of marginalized communities within the North Atlantic world; and the experiences of women throughout the world.
Irvin, Dale T. “World Christianity: An Introduction.” The Journal of World Christianity 1, no. 1 (2008): 1–26, here 1-2.
World Christianity is about voice, about allowing that voice to speak and be heard in its own terms. And there are a great many voices to be uncovered across a range of languages, cultures and histories. Encouraging and bringing forward these voices does not begin with a tabula rasa; it begins in the middle of an existing discourse with competing voices, forms of resistance, and existing intellectual frameworks. Note, for example, already in Irvin’s definition that an entire continent is missing, i.e., Oceania. As to the ground of its absence, this is a question to be explored, but the fact of its absence points to an existing set of assumptions within the field itself. There are already existing frameworks for how one conceives, distinguishes, and relates different regions of the “world” of world Christianity.
“World Christianity” has matured as a theological field, with a significant bibliography, since its inception in the 1970s. But, even as the field has developed, one can nonetheless observe a range of framing concepts that were already in place at the earliest stages and have become a form of orthodoxy. See, for example the two below introductory citations. I have bolded key categories that one finds through the literature.
The most significant trend within global Christianity over the last century has been its profound demographic shift from the Global North to the Global South. Although the percentage [demographic assertion] of Christians in the world population has remained fairly constant since 1900, where those Christians are found has changed dramatically. In 1900 more than 80% lived in the Global North, but by 2010 that figure had fallen to less than 40%. Despite Christianity’s inherent linguistic and cultural translatability [theological claim], however, Southern Christianity was formed with and still retains many Northern trappings [colonialism], so that it often appears foreign to non-Christians (and even, at times, to Southern Christians). In addition, Southern Christians have yet to assume the leadership (in areas as diverse as international Christian organizations and articulating theology) that their global numbers would seem to suggest [polycentric failure]. Southern Christians also hold a disproportionately small share of global Christian income and wealth [Christianity will become poor], which can inhibit their ability to fund ministry where Christianity is growing most rapidly.
Albert W. Hickman, “Christianity’s Shift From the Global North to the Global South,” Review & Expositor 111, no. 1 (2014): 41–47, here 41.
“These remarkable geographic changes in Christianity also reflect serious differences between the worldviews of ‘Northern’ and ‘Southern’ Christians. In many ways Christianity has shifted to the global South demographically, but not culturally. This is a legitimate concern for Christians around the globe. Compared to most other religious traditions, Christianity has been generally accepting of scriptural, liturgical, and cultural translation throughout its history [theology/historiographical claim], with the translation processof the Christian message going back nearly to its inception [continuity/nature of Christianity claim].”
Todd M. Johnson and Gina A. Bellofatto, “Upon Closer Examination: Status of World Christianity,” in River of God: An Introduction to World Mission, Douglas D. Priest and Stephen E. Burris, eds. (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2012), 108–24, here 113.
Note, first, the idea of a ‘demographic’ shift. This reference to a numbers game often sets the contrast between 1900 to 2010 and then to 2050. This shift is used to legitimate world Christianity as a field of study—which is, frankly, a naive position because it is detached from any particular theological ground.
Second, the demographics succeeds in categorising the world in terms of the “North” and the “South.” This categorisation includes assumptions concerning the nature of the faith’s vitality (Pentecostal/charismatic, healing/exorcism), its type of theological approach (“fundamentalist,” biblical literalist), and its constitution (poor and non-white).
Third, it builds upon a significant and normative theological assertion concerning the “inherent translatability” of the Christian faith. Translatability carries a good deal of weight—it establishes this as an essential pattern within the New Testament and finds this pattern through Christian history, i.e., it becomes basic to the “new historiography” driving the field. Translatability assumes, as normative, a significant difference in the faith’s embodiment, considers this difference through time to be the nature of the faith’s continuity, and links each diverse expression of the faith to this process in the earliest church.
But note also a range of curious tensions. Vis the demographic observation, this is oft-repeated key legitimating observation, i.e., not in world Christianity as true of the very nature of Christianity. What if, in the case of Oceania, for example, there are not sufficient numbers to rate as demographically meritorious? Does Oceania simply become “Western” in categorisation? Why start the demographic survey at 1900? Why not 1500, for example? Does not 1900 already presuppose a western colonial frame to the very question of world Christianity? Both citations assert the inherent translatability of the faith, but then observe some failure in that very process, i.e., the faith has not been translated. One points to a demographic shift, but then denies a similar cultural shift. The other talks of the “foreign” appearance of Christianity and the lack of local leadership. Recognising this tension, however, does not inform the underlying theological axiom or the clear demarkation of North and South.
In other words, the study of world Christianity enlists a range of conceptual orthodoxies and these orthodoxies bear interrogation. Such is the purpose of the following studies: to examine the theoretical shape of world Christianity along with its areas of potential. The links below trace the genealogy of world Christianity as a theory and method. It begins at the beginning of the discussion from the 1970s, and then steps through the key conceptual frameworks of: demographics, the categorisation of the world (including the North/South divide), historiography and cartography, and the claim of polycentricity.
Basic Bibliography (Ordered Chronologically)
Barrett, David B. “AD 2000: 350 Million Christians in Africa.” International Review of Mission 59, no. 233 (1970): 39–54.
Bühlmann, Walbert. The Coming of the Third Church: An Analysis of the Present and Future of the Church. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1977.
Sanneh, Lamin O. Translating the Message: The Missionary Impact on Culture. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1989.
Bediako, Kwame. Theology and Identity: The Impact of Culture upon Christian Thought in the Second Century and in Modern Africa. Oxford: Regnum Books, 1992.
Burrows, William R. “Needs and Opportunities in Studies of Mission and World Christianity.” International Bulletin of Missionary Research 19, no. 4 (1995): 172–78.
Shenk, Wilbert R. “Toward a Global Church History.” International Bulletin of Missionary Research 20, no. 2 (1996): 50–57.
Walls, Andrew F. “From Christendom to World Christianity: Missions and the Demographic Transformation of the Church.” Princeton Seminary Bulletin 22, no. 3 (2001): 306–30.
Walls, Andrew F. “Christianity in the Non-Western World: A Study in the Serial Nature of Christian Expansion.” In The Cross-cultural Process in Christian History: Studies in the Transmission and Appropriation of Faith, 27–48. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2002.
González, Justo L. The Changing Shape of Church History. St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 2002.
Jenkins, Philip. The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Sanneh, Lamin O. “World Christianity and the New Historiography: Historical and Global Interconnections.” In Enlarging the Story: Perspectives on Writing World Christian History, edited by Wilbert R. Shenk, 94–114. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2002.
Kollman, Paul V. “After Church History? Writing the History of Christianity from a Global Perspective.” Horizons 31, no. 2 (2004): 322–42.
Wuthnow, Robert. Boundless Faith: The Global Outreach of American Churches. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009.
Spickard, Paul R. “It’s the World’s History: Decolonizing Historiography and the History of Christianity.” Fides et Historia 31, no. 2 (1999): 13–30.
Robert, Dana L. “Historiographic Foundations from Latourette and Van Dusen to Andrew F. Walls.” In Understanding World Christianity: The Vision and Work of Andrew F. Walls, edited by William R. Burrows, Mark R. Gornik, and Janice A. McLean, 141–54. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2011.
Gifford, Paul. “The Southern Shift of Christianity,” in Veränderte Landkarten: Auf dem Weg zu einer polyzentrischen Geschichte des Weltchristentums: Festschrift für Klaus Koschorke zum 65. Geburtstag, edited by Adrian Hermann and Ciprian Burlacioiu, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2013.
Lienemann-Perrin, Christine. “World Christianity als Erfahrungsfeld und theoretisches Konzept.” Theologische Zeitschrift 69, no. 1-2 (2013): 118–45.
Kollman, Paul V. “Understanding the World-Christian Turn in the History of Christianity and Theology.” Theology Today 71, no. 2 (2014): 164–77.
Jones, Arun W. “Scholarly Transgressions: (Re)writing the History of World Christianity.” Theology Today 71, no. 2 (2014): 221–32.
Koschorke, Klaus. “New Maps of the History of World Christianity: Current Challenges and Future Perspectives.” Theology Today 71, no. 2 (2014): 178–91.
McDougall, Joy Ann. “Contemporary Landscapes and New Horizons: The Changing Maps of World Christianity.” Theology Today 71 (2014): 159–63.
Phan, Peter C. “World Christianities: Transcontinental Connections.” Journal of World Christianity 6, no. 1 (2016): 205–16.
Hermann, Adrian, and Ciprian Burlacioiu. “Introduction: Klaus Koschorke and the ‘Munich School’ Perspective on the History of world Christianity.” Journal of World Christianity 6, no. 1 (2016): 4–27.
Koschorke, Klaus. “Transcontinental Links, Enlarged Maps, and Polycentric Structures in the History of World Christianity.” Journal of World Christianity 6, no. 1 (2016): 28–56. [This appears to be a close working of: Koschorke, Klaus. “Veränderte Landkarten der globalen Christentumsgeschichte.” Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte 22, no. 1 (2009): 187–210.]
Irvin, Dale T. “What is World Christianity?” In World Christianity: Perspectives and Insights, edited by Jonathan Y. Tan, and Anh Q. Tran, 3–27. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2016.
Cabrita, Joel, and David Maxwell. “Relocating World Christianity.” In Relocating World Christianity, Interdisciplinary Studies in Universal and Local Expressions of the Christian Faith, edited by Joel Cabrita, David Maxwell, and Emma Wild-Wood, 1–44. Brill, 2017.
Frederiks, Martha. “World Christianity: Contours of an Approach.” In World Christianity: Methodological Considerations, edited by Martha Frederiks, and Dorottya Nagy, 10–39. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2020.
Irvin, Dale T. “World Christianity: A Genealogy.” Journal of World Christianity 9, no. 1 (2019): 5–22.
Hanciles, Jehu, J., ed. World Christianity: History, Methodologies, Horizons Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Press, 2021.
Outline
- The Transition to World Christianity (forthcoming)
- “Gravity” and the Conceptual Flows of Demographics (forthcoming)
- Cherished Binaries and the Origins of the “South” (forthcoming)
- The “New” Historiography (forthcoming)
- Cartography: Charting our Maps (forthcoming)
- The “Polycentricity” of world Christianity (forthcoming)
