|
Published
by Oxford University Press and edited and directed by Lamin
Sanneh, Professor of Missions and World Christianity and
Professor of History at Yale University, The Oxford Studies in
World ChristianityÒ
is a series of volumes currently under production that will
address World Christianity in light of its non-Western appeal
and development.
Disciples
of All Nations: Pillars of World Christianity (Oxford
University Press, October 2007) [ CLICK
HERE ] by Prof. Sanneh is
the first in the series.
While
Christianity has not ceased to be a Western religion, its future
as a world religion is now being formed and shaped at the hands
and in the minds of its non-Western adherents. In 1950 some 80%
of the world’s Christians lived in the northern hemisphere in
Europe and North America. By 2005 the vast majority of
Christians lived in the southern hemisphere in Asia, Africa and
Latin America.
In the last century, the Christian population in Africa
alone increased from 9 million to roughly 380 million.
Christianity is in the twilight of its Western phase and at the
beginning of its formative non-Western impact.
Although
we seem to be in the middle of massive cultural shifts and
realignments, the Oxford Studies in World Christianity will be
the first series to address these shifts and their implications.
The first volume will provide an introduction into the
identifying markers of the Christian movement. The remaining
volumes will individually address such topics as the Pentecostal
movement in Latin America and its influence on Roman
Catholicism, China and Japan’s ancient Christian roots against
the background of China’s political developments, as well as
the new ferment of the artistic spirit and vision in World
Christianity.
OMSC
supports this seminal project on World Christianity and looks
forward to its publications.
|
