John Philip Jenkins

Really outstanding beautifully written account of the extraordinary strife in the early Christian church to define who Jesus really was. This went backwards and forwards between two factions; the One Nature believers, who felt that Jesus was entirely God and who had no human part and was not born God but became God when he was baptised by John, and the Two Nature believers who felt that Jesus was equal parts man and God in the same person. Each side held sway for long periods. The faith in the early church was incredibly strong in Egypt, Syria and Palestine but eventually these regions were so weakened by these religious divisions that they fell victim to the new young faith of Islam and the center of Christianity moved to Rome.… (mer)

Jenkins spills a lot of ink on lamenting the loss of the Christian churches of the Middle East and North Africa to be Muslim onslaught, and he bemoans present-day Christians' ignorance of this history and failure to draw lessons from it. This book is valuable for presenting a much more complete picture of how these churches disappeared, or almost disappeared. He counters the views of modern historians who often seem to portray Muslims as benevolent rulers, showing that while there were periods of peace and cohabitation, there were also horrendous massacres and forced conversions, extending into the 20th century with Muslim Turkey's genocide of half the Christian Armenian population. Jenkins rightly acknowledges that Christians (and biblical Jews) have also massacred Muslims (and other sects of Christians, for that matter). In the end, Jenkins' message is rather muddled. He offers hope for things to change in the long-term, pointing out how unimaginable it was to image the Jews returning to Israel after 1800 years. But the same history he has written about the decline of Christianity in parts of the world could be written by Muslims about their loss of Spain, Hungary, or other places. Although shot through with faith, Jenkins' book should make any intelligent person draw the logical conclusion: there is no god. While most humans seem to undeniably need belief in a higher power, the shape of that power differs significantly. It is ridiculous to think that one religion, whether it is Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, or any other holds any exclusive place in the heart of an imagined deity.… (mer)

This is what I thought its predecessor, 'The Next Christendom,' would be: an actual depiction of Christianity in its new heartlands. Jenkins is particularly good on resisting the academic urge to paint post-colonial people as liberationists; he doesn't ignore the liberatory strands in African or Asian practices, but also frankly admits that the Christianities found around the world are only rarely the kind you find in north-east American Episcopalianism. I don't like that, but it seems to be a fact, so better to know about it than pretend every African bishop is a womanist eco-warrior.… (mer)

Jenkins discusses his topic, non sine causa, sed sine fine. This is a real Goodreads star rating: the book is great, but I didn't like it very much, because it's an exceptionally well-organized data dump. Did you know that Christianity will probably be a non-Western religion pretty soon? Here's your statistical proof. That's pretty much it, though it is entirely skimmable, so you can find the specific datum you're looking for. But if I never read the phrase "Demography shows..." again, it will be too soon.… (mer)