World Christianity or global Christianity has been defined both as a term that attempts to convey the global nature of the

Christian religion Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popul ...

and an academic field of study that encompasses analysis of the histories, practices, and discourses of Christianity as a

world religion World religions is a category used in the study of religion to demarcate the five—and in some cases more—largest and most internationally widespread religious movements. Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are always inclu ...

and its various forms as they are found on the

six continents Six Continents was a large British-based hotel and hospitality business which was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. History The company was formed in June 2000 when the brewing business of Ba ...

. However, the term often focuses on "non-

Western Christianity Western Christianity is one of two sub-divisions of Christianity ( Eastern Christianity being the other). Western Christianity is composed of the Latin Church and Western Protestantism, together with their offshoots such as the Old Catholic ...

" which "comprises (usually the exotic) instances of Christian faith in 'the global South', in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, and

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

." It also includes

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

diasporic A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...

forms of Christianity in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

, and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

History of the term

The term ''world Christianity'' can first be found in the writings of Francis John McConnell in 1929 and Henry P. Van Dusen in 1947. Van Dusen was also instrumental in establishing the

Henry W. Luce Henry Winters Luce (June 24, 1868– December 7, 1941) was an American missionary and educator in China. He was the father of the publisher Henry R. Luce. Biography Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Luce graduated from Yale University in 1892 ...

Visiting Professorship in World Christianity at Union Seminary in 1945, with Francis C. M. Wei invited as its first incumbent. The term would likewise be used by the mission historian

Kenneth Scott Latourette Kenneth Scott Latourette (August 6, 1884 – December 26, 1968) was an American historian of China, Japan, and world Christianity.

to speak of the "World Christian Fellowship" and "World Christian Community". For these individuals, world Christianity was meant to promote the idea of

Christian mission A Christian mission is an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries, to carry on evangelism or other activities, such ...

s and ecumenical unity. However, after the end of World War II, as Christian missions ended in many countries such as

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and parts of Asia and Africa shifted due to

decolonization Decolonization or decolonisation is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on separatism, in ...

and

national independence The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a ''jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It stat ...

, these aspects of world Christianity were largely lost. The current usage of the term puts much less emphasis in missions and

ecumenism Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjec ...

. A number of historians have noted a twentieth-century "global shift" in Christianity, from a religion largely found in Europe and the Americas to one which is found in the Global South and

Third World The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the " First ...

countries. Hence, ''world Christianity'' has more recently been used to describe the diversity and the multiplicity of Christianity across its two-thousand-year history. Another term that is often used as analogous to ''world Christianity'' is the term ''global Christianity''. However, scholars such as

Lamin Sanneh Lamin Sanneh (May 24, 1942 – January 6, 2019) was the D. Willis James Professor of Missions and World Christianity at Yale Divinity School and Professor of History at Yale University. Biography Sanneh was born and raised in Gambia as part of ...

have argued that ''global Christianity'' refers to a

Eurocentric Eurocentrism (also Eurocentricity or Western-centrism) is a worldview that is centered on Western civilization or a biased view that favors it over non-Western civilizations. The exact scope of Eurocentrism varies from the entire Western world ...

understanding of Christianity that emphasizes the replication of Christian forms and patterns in Europe, whereas ''world Christianity'' refers to the multiplicity of

responses to the Christian gospel.

Philip Jenkins Philip Jenkins (born April 3, 1952) is a professor of history at Baylor University in the United States, and co-director for Baylor's Program on Historical Studies of Religion in the Institute for Studies of Religion. He is also the Edwin Erle Sp ...

and Graham Joseph Hill contend that Sanneh's distinction between ''world Christianity'' and ''global Christianity'' is artificial and unnecessary.

Notable figures

Some notable figures in the academic study of world Christianity include

Andrew Walls Andrew Finlay Walls (21 April 192812 August 2021) was a British historian of missions, best known for his pioneering studies of the history of the African church and a pioneer in the academic field of World Christianity. Biography Walls was b ...

, and Brian Stanley, all three of whom are associated with the "Yale-Edinburgh Group on the History of the Missionary Movement and World Christianity". More recently,

Klaus Koschorke Klaus Koschorke (born 13 April 1948) is a German historian of Christianity and was a Professor of Early and Global History of Christianity at the University of Munich in Germany from 1993 to 2013. Biography After studying Protestant theology i ...

and the “Munich School” of World Christianity has been highlighted for its contribution in understanding the polycentric nature of world Christianity. In contrast to these historians, there is a growing number of

theologians Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the s ...

who have been engaging the field of world Christianity from the discipline of

systematic theology Systematic theology, or systematics, is a discipline of Christian theology that formulates an orderly, rational, and coherent account of the doctrines of the Christian faith. It addresses issues such as what the Bible teaches about certain topi ...

ecclesiology In Christian theology, ecclesiology is the study of the Church, the origins of Christianity, its relationship to Jesus, its role in salvation, its polity, its discipline, its eschatology, and its leadership. In its early history, one of the ...

, and

missiology Missiology is the academic study of the Christian mission history and methodology, which began to be developed as an academic discipline in the 19th century. History Missiology as an academic discipline appeared only in the 19th century. It was ...

. Some examples of this include the Pentecostal Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Catholic Peter C. Phan, and the Baptist Graham Joseph Hill.

History of the term

Notable figures

See also

References

Further reading