At the moment, my personal perception of the Global Christianity is very vague. I am a Christian Catholic, I visit church with my family from time to time, but I cannot say that I am much into religion. On the other hand, I think I can answer this question on the basis of my background knowledge, some internet research and media coverage of the topic.
Although national Christian Churches and Branches of Christianity, like Baptism, Orthodoxy and Anglicanism differ from each other in interpretations of the Bible, canons of worshipping, depictions of saints, decorations of churches and languages of praying; they still have a common corner stone. First of all, they all are based on belief in Christian God, Jesus Christ and Holly Mary. The main sacred book for all branches is the Holly Bible. Irrespective of the Bible’s various interpretations by religious denominations, it remains the corner stone of the Global Christianity.
It can be stated that the Global Christianity is diverse and multi-dimensional. The need for diversity was dictated by cultural heterogeneity of various nations practicing it. In order to suit needs and historical background of each nation or ethnic group, Christianity had to change, taking new shapes. Thus, nowadays, some Christian groups are more conservative in their beliefs and follow old canons stricter than other Christian followers. I think that the main reason why Christianity managed to survive until now and remain the World Religion is in its ability to adapt and change, keeping belief in God and the Bible as its corner stone. Subsequently, the main feature of the Global Christianity is in belief in Biblical, Christian God and his main canons of human behavior (decalogue).
Phillip Jenkins’ Perception of the Global Christianity
According to Phillip Jenkins, nowadays, the Global Christianity is facing a shift from the Northern Christian tradition of Europe and Northern America to the Southern Tradition of Latin America and Africa (14). This shift is due to the decrease and stagnation in the Western belief and the increase and spreading of the Southern concept of Christianity. The reason why two types are distinguished is in difference of historic-cultural background of two congregations. While Westerners are likely to adapt the Bible to the requirements of modern societies, Southerners incorporate it into the tribal mythological stories (Jenkins 31). Thus, the process of africanization of Christianity occurs. Another distinctive feature is that “Global South Christians – and African above all – retain much greater veneration of the Old Testament as a living source of authority than do Euro-American churches” (Jenkins 53). Southerners find common salvation as a means of uniting them into communities, following old ways of their ancestors. Another distinctive feature is that Southerners are more perceptive to the initial message of the Bible than people of the West. They are not measured by scientific evolution and digital, informational society. Those people still comprehend well what it means poor and rich; for them hopelessness of famine and lack of water in the desert are everyday reality. Jenkins concludes that “poor and rich life has an intuitive plausibility largely lost in urban societies” (72). They identify people from the Bible with themselves and not just as abstract example to follow. The most vivid peculiarity of the Southern Christianity is that it is influenced by pagan and animist believes (Jenkins 101). People believe in the evil spirits and realm of the dead as much as they believe in heaven and material world. Jesus is seen as the strongest power against evil. He was not just curing people; he was fighting demons (Jenkins 99). Adaptation of Christianity to local believes of ancestors contributes to its popularity, long-livingness, unambiguity of the Bible’s interpretation and change in the development of the Global Christianity in general.
Work Cited
Jenkins, P. The New Face of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South. New
York, NY: Oxford University Press USA. 2006. Print.
