Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ; PREFACE ; 1. Shall the Fundamentalists Win? ; 2. Power in the Book ; 3. Old and New ; 4. Poor and Rich ; 5. Good and Evil ; 6. Persecution and Vindication ; 7. Women and Men ; 8. North and South ; APPENDIX 1: PSALM 91 ; APPENDIX 2: THE EPISTLE OF JAMES ; ABBREVIATIONS ; NOTES ; SCRIPTURE INDEX ; INDEX

About the Author

Philip Jenkins, one of the world's leading religion scholars joined Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion as Distinguished Professor of History and Co-Director for the Program on Historical Studies of Religion. He has published widely on contemporary religious phenomena, but is best known for the highly acclaimed The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity. The book served as the basis for a
highly influential cover story for Atlantic Monthly, also written by Jenkins, which garnered widespread media attention.

Reviews

"Jenkins's prescient religious histories offer brilliant insights on the state of modern Christianity."  - Publishers Weekly

"An engaging book that invites - no, compels - rethinking the future of the global Christian movement."  - Richard John Neuhaus, Editor-in-Chief of First Things

"Gracefully and cogently synthesizing mountains of research, Jenkins illuminates a crucial aspect of the burgeoning 'Two-Thirds World' Christianity that he called attention to in The Next Christendom."  - Booklist

"Jenkins's prescient religious histories offer brilliant insights on the state of modern Christianity." - Publishers Weekly "An engaging book that invites - no, compels - rethinking the future of the global Christian movement." - Richard John Neuhaus, Editor-in-Chief of First Things "Gracefully and cogently synthesizing mountains of research, Jenkins illuminates a crucial aspect of the burgeoning 'Two-Thirds World' Christianity that he called attention to in The Next Christendom." - Booklist

In his highly acclaimed The Next Christendom (2002), Jenkins boldly proclaimed that the center of Christianity was moving slowly out of Europe and North America to Latin America, Africa and Asia. By 2025, he points out, Africa and Latin America will compete over which area is most Christian. In this compelling sequel, Jenkins probes more deeply the differences between northern and southern Christianity, examining various elements that characterize Christian life, especially belief in the Bible. He argues that the mostly agrarian Christian communities in Latin America, Africa and Asia resemble early Christian communities, enabling southern-hemisphere Christians to read the Bible with fresh eyes. Such communities read the Bible communally rather than individually, and they read it less critically and more literally than their North American and European counterparts. Explosive debates over the ordination of women and homosexuals and the authority of the Bible in various global denominations-such as the Anglican Communion-illustrate not only the stark theological differences between North and South but also the sheer size of the southern communions influencing the debate. As part of a proposed trilogy (his book on Europe's coming religious struggle is scheduled for late 2007), Jenkins's prescient religious histories offer brilliant insights on the state of modern Christianity. (Sept.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.