• Directories
    • Business Directory
    • Church Directory
    • Organization Directory
  • Advertise
  • Donate
  • Help
  • Log In
MENUMENU
  • Learning
        • Leader’s Edge
          • Author Interviews
          • Book Summaries
        • Book Reviews
          • Book Look
          • EMQ Book Reviews
        • Publications
          • Anthology
          • Evangelical Missions Quarterly (EMQ)
          • Missiographics
        • Podcasts
          • The Mission MattersNew
          • Missio Nexus
          • People First HR
          • Members Only Feed
        • Blogs
          • Global Issues Updates
          • Member Highlights
          • Mission Advisors
        • Topics
          • COVID-19 ResourcesNew
          • Diaspora Missions
          • Mobilization
          • Muslim Missions
          • Support Raising
        • Media Library
          • Conferences
          • Global Issue Updates
          • On Mission
          • Thought Leader Briefings
          • Webinars
          • Workshop
          • View All
  • Programs
    • Accreditation
    • Alliance for Benefits
    • Bible CertificateNew
    • Church Missions Coaching
    • Cohorts
    • Cybersecurity
    • ImproveNew
    • Mission Jobs
    • Publish
    • RightNow Media
    • The Mission App
    • Women’s Development
  • Events
          • Calendar
          • In-Person Events
          • Virtual Events
          • Event Recordings
          • Awards
        • Premier Events
          • Mission Leaders Conference
          • On Mission
        • Upcoming Events

          • Essentials for Fundraising and Development for Missions Agencies
            Thu Apr 22 2021, 01:00pm EDT
          • Webinar: The Blessed Alliance—Men and Women Serving God Together
            Thu Apr 22 2021, 02:00pm EDT
          • Innovation Labs - Session 4
            Tue Apr 27 2021, 10:00am EDT
        • View All Events
  • Research
          • Missiographics
          • Mission Handbook
          • Research Reports
        • Popular Research
          • Compensation Reports
          • COVID-19 ResourcesNew
          • Field Attrition Report
          • View All Reports
        • Contribute
          • Current Research Projects
          • Submit Data for Mission Handbook
          • Volunteer
  • About Us
        • Who We Are
          • Our Contribution
          • Meet the Team
          • Board Members
          • History (1917–present)
        • Our Beliefs
          • Statement of Faith
          • Community Standards
        • Awards
        • Partner with Us
          • Advertise
          • Donate
          • Sponsorships
          • Volunteer
        • Help
          • Contact Us
          • Advertising Specs
          • Branding Guidelines
  • Join
        • Learn
        • Learn what you cannot learn anywhere else.

        • Meet
        • Meet people you otherwise won’t meet.

        • Engage
        • Engage in a community like none other.

          • Benefits
          • Benefits for Churches
          • Pricing

Sponsored Content

Upcoming Events

  • Essentials for Fundraising and Development for Missions Agencies
    Thu Apr 22 2021, 01:00pm EDT
  • Webinar: The Blessed Alliance—Men and Women Serving God Together
    Thu Apr 22 2021, 02:00pm EDT
  • Innovation Labs - Session 4
    Tue Apr 27 2021, 10:00am EDT
  • Renew: CEO & Spouse Retreat
    Tue May 4 2021, 03:00pm EDT
  • Church Mission Leaders Peer 2 Peer: Diaspora Ministry and the Local Church
    Wed May 12 2021, 01:00pm EDT

View all events »

Topics

author interview Canada CEO Church Church Missions Church Mission Team Church Planting Conference Proceedings COVID-19 Cross Cultural Skills Diaspora Discipleship Evangelism Focus Future Globally Engaged Churches Innovation Islam Justin Long Leadership Management Missiology Missionaries Mission Finance and Administration MLC2019 MLC2020 MLC2021 Mobilization muslim Muslim Diaspora Networks Partnership Personal Productivity Podcast Presenter Research Short-Term Missions Spirituality support raising Training Trends Unengaged Unreached Weekly Roundup Women

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South

Posted on October 1, 2007 by October 1, 2007

by Philip Jenkins

Philip Jenkins demonstrates how close the thought world of the global South is to that of the first century culture of the Bible.

Oxford University Press, 198 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016, 2006, 252 pages, $26.00.

—Reviewed by Dave Broucek, Centre for Lifelong Learning, The Evangelical Alliance Mission (TEAM), Wheaton, Illinois; and book review editor for EMQ.

Philip Jenkins demonstrates how close the thought world of the global South is to that of the first century culture of the Bible. Is it any wonder, then, that the Bible has such impact among its newer readers?

And is it any wonder that they read the Bible differently from “the privatized Christianity of a largely prosperous post-Enlightenment West?” Churches in Asia, Africa and Latin America, depending on their location, live with minority status, competing religions, dire poverty, unreliable, hostile or corrupt political powers, unjust economic structures, the threat and reality of persecution, famine and plague. And all live in a world populated with influential unseen spirits.

Social situations that Northern Christians picture from a distance are part of the lived reality of Southern Christians. The differences in attitudes toward an understanding of the Bible that Jenkins describes are not a simplistic bifurcation between the “liberal North” and the “conservative South.” Nor does Jenkins allow the dismissive rhetoric that portrays Southern biblical literalism as the mere product of missionary indoctrination. He sees far too much diversity, too much energy and too much creativity to allow for that reductionistic argument. From Jenkins, we understand why the Epistle of James—with its acknowledgement that “life is a vapor,” its prayer for healing and its warning against rich oppressors—is such a favored text. We see the attraction of the wisdom literature and the Old Testament as a whole. We see how texts that seem repressive to Northern minds actually bring liberation to Southern readers.

As we have come to expect from Jenkins, he has a scholar’s command of the literature, and through extensive quotations he lets Southern theologians speak with their own voice. He writes with grace and wry humor. While noncommittal about his own beliefs, he clearly gives sympathetic treatment to Southern Christianity, and he seems to delight in tweaking his Northern counterparts for their attitudes of superiority.

The very fact that the publishers place Psalm 91 and the Epistle of James as exhibits in Appendices indicates, perhaps, something about the target readers. But it would be a mistake for those of us who consider ourselves to be “Bible believers” to absolve ourselves of all need of Jenkins’ scholarship.

I remember the reaction of my students in a global South country when I explained to them (citing a well-respected commentary that I used in seminary) that, based on Greek vocabulary, the “angel” who released Peter from prison (Acts 12:6-10) could possibly have been a human agent sent by God rather than a heavenly being. At best I received a bemused reaction; they wondered why their teacher felt the need to import a non-supernatural character into a clearly supernatural story.
Jenkins’ book makes us ask, “Why, indeed?”

—–

Copyright © 2007 Evangelism and Missions Information Service (EMIS). All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from EMIS.

GoToOlder PostNewer PostAll PostsBook ReviewsEMQSectionVolume 43 - Issue 4

Comments are closed.

Subscribe to Our Mailing List

Keep up to date with our community.

Menu

  • Home
  • Directories
  • Advertise
  • Donate
  • Contact Us

Join

  • Join
  • Benefits
  • Learn
  • Meet
  • Engage

Help

  • Contact Us
  • Terms
  • Cookies Policy

About Us

  • Who We Are
  • Statement of Faith
  • Awards
  • Resources
Missio Nexus Logo

© Missio Nexus. All rights reserved.


PO Box 398
Wheaton, IL 60187-0398

Phone: 770.457.6677
678.392.4577

Annual Sponsors

ECFA Logo Brotherhood Mutual Logo

Membership website powered by MembershipWorks