Today, the majority of the world's Christian population lives in the Global South. Knowledge of their history is therefore indispensable. This textbook offers a compact and vivid overview of the history of Christianity in Asia, Africa and Latin America since 1450, focussing on diversity and interdependence, local actors and global effects. Maps, illustrations and numerous photos as well as continuous references to easily accessible source texts support the reader's own reading and its use in various forms of academic teaching.

For the non-specialist, Martin Marty traces the church's quest through twenty centuries for unity, sanctity, universality, and authentic witness. He delves into the disparity between the ideals of the church and historical realty in order to provide a brilliant, instructive, and eminently fair statement of the history of Christianity from its founding to the present day.In this second edition, revised and expanded, Marty has added an entirely new section entitled "Postscript and Prescript" in which he discusses the recent past and prospects. Fresh insights and revisions based on the most recent contemporary developments keep this volume abreast of the times, making it an up-to-date survey of the history of Christianity.

A short, sharp and entertaining survey of the development of all aspects of the Western philosophical tradition from the ancient Greeks to the present day. Stephen Trombley's A Short History of Western Thought, outlines the 2,500-year history of European ideas from the philosophers of Classical Antiquity to the thinkers of today. No major representative of any significant strand of Western thought escapes Trombley's attention: the Christian Scholastic theologians of the Middle Ages, the great philosophers of the Enlightenment, the German idealists from Kant to Hegel; the utilitarians Bentham and Mill; the transcendentalists Emerson and Thoreau; Kierkegaard and the existentialists; the analytic philosophers Russell, Moore, Whitehead and Wittgenstein; and - last but not least - the four shapers-in-chief of our modern world: Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, Sigmund Freud and Albert Einstein. A Short History of Western Thought is a masterly distillation of two-and-a-half millennia of intellectual history, and a readable and entertaining crash course in Western philosophy.

An attempt to write the history of Christianity in the space of an average novel is so obviously open to objections that, instead of trying to parry them, I will merely state what seems to me the possible compensation of brevity in such a matter. It is or may be conducive to total comprehension, to coherence of judgment, and in a measure even to the understanding of details. A distinguished expert in historical and philological research has avowed that specialists sometimes get their most illuminating ideas from a haphazard glance into a popular and condensed presentment of their own subject. Without hoping so to help the experts, I humbly conceive that the present conspectus of Christian history may do an occasional service even to an opponent by bringing out a clear issue. Writers of a different way of thinking have done as much for me. The primary difficulty is of course the problem of origins. In my treatment of this problem, going as I do beyond the concessions of the most advanced professional scholars, I cannot expect much acquiescence for the present. It must here suffice to say, first, that the data and the argument, insofar as they are not fully set forth in the following pages, have been presented in the larger work entitled Christianity and Mythology,1 or in the quarters mentioned in the Synopsis of Literature appended to this volume; and, secondly, to urge that opponents should read the study on the Gospels by Professor Schmiedel in the new Encyclopædia Biblica before taking up their defensive positions...

The five-volume Oxford History of Protestant Dissenting Traditions series is governed by a motif of migration ('out-of-England'). It first traces organized church traditions that arose in England as Dissenters distanced themselves from a state church defined by diocesan episcopacy, the Book of Common Prayer, the Thirty-Nine Articles, and royal supremacy, but then follows those traditions as they spread beyond England-and also traces newer traditions that emerged downstream in other parts of the world from earlier forms of Dissent. Secondly, it does the same for the doctrines, church practices, stances toward state and society, attitudes toward Scripture, and characteristic patterns of organization that also originated in earlier English Dissent, but that have often defined a trajectory of influence independent ecclesiastical organizations. Volume IV examines the globalization of dissenting traditions in the twentieth century. During this period, Protestant Dissent achieved not only its widest geographical reach but also the greatest genealogical distance from its point of origin. Covering Africa, Asia, the Middle East, America, Europe, Latin America, and the Pacific, this collection provides detailed examination of Protestant Dissent as a globalizing movement. Contributors probe the radical shifts and complex reconstruction that took place as dissenting traditions encountered diverse cultures and took root in a multitude of contexts, many of which were experiencing major historical change at the same time. This authoritative overview unambiguously reveals that 'Dissent' was transformed as it travelled.

What does it mean to call Western society 'secular'? What is 'secularism'? And how should we understand the concept of 'secularism' in international relations, particularly the clash between radical Islam and the West? The Latin term from which the word 'secular' is derived - 'saeculum' - means 'generation' or 'age', and came to mean that which belongs to this life, to the here and now, in this world. It is widely used as a shorthand for the ideology which shapes contemporary society without reference to the divine.However, according to Graeme Smith, 'secularism' represents a great deal more. He offers a radical reappraisal of the notion of secularism and its history, beginning with the Greeks and proceeding to modernity and the contemporary period. The assumption that the West is becoming increasingly secular is often unquestioned. By contrast, Dr Smith discerns a different kind of society: one informed by a historical legacy which makes sense only when it is appreciated that it is religious. Secularism was born of Christianity. Daringly - and very originally - Smith argues that it is impossible to understand the idea of the secular without appreciating that, at root, it is Christian. "A Short History of Secularism" will fundamentally reshape discussions of western culture, religion and politics. It will have strong appeal to students of religion, political philosophy, and the history of ideas.

One of the world's experts on classical Jewish history and literature offers an authoritative interpretation of the three major periods of Jewish history from the time of the Bible up to the present. What emerges is a captivating account of the life-forming nature of a dynamic religion in vastly differing historical contexts. Glossary, maps, illustrations, photographs.

Named by the International Bulletin of Missionary Studies as an Outstanding Book of 2014 for Mission Studies Over the last four decades, evangelical scholars have shown growing interest in Christian debates over other religions, seeking answers to essential questions: How are we to think about and relate to other religions, be open to the Spirit, and at the same time remain evangelical and orthodox? Gerald R. McDermott and Harold A. Netland offer critiques of a variety of theologians and religious studies scholars, including evangelicals, but also challenge evangelicals to move beyond parochial positions. This volume is both a manifesto and a research program, critically evaluating the last forty years of Christian treatments of religious others and proposing a comprehensive direction for the future. It addresses issues relating to the religions in both systematic theology and missiology, taking up long-debated questions such as contextualization, salvation, revelation, the relationship between culture and religion, conversion, social action, and ecumenism. It concludes with responses from four leading thinkers of African, Asian, and European backgrounds: Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Vinoth Ramachandra, Lamin Sanneh, and Christine Schirrmacher.

This book supplies fundamental information about the diverse religious beliefs of Africa, explains central tenets of the African worldview, and overviews various forms of African spiritual practices and experiences. Africa is an ancient land with a significant presence in world history—especially regarding the history of the United States, given the ethnic origins of a substantial proportion of the nation's population. This book presents a broad range of information about the diverse religious beliefs of Africa that serves to describe the beliefs, practices, deities, sacred places, and creation stories of African religions. Readers will learn about key forms of spiritual practices and experiences, such as incantations and prayer, dance as worship, and spirit possession, all of which pepper African American religious experiences today. The entries also discuss central tenets of the African worldview—for example, the belief that humankind is not to fight nature, but to integrate into the natural environment. This volume is specifically written to be highly accessible to students. It provides a much-needed source of connections between the religious traditions and practices of African Americans and those of the people of the continent of Africa. Through these connections, this work will inspire tolerance of other religions, traditions, and backgrounds. The included selection of primary documents provides users first-hand accounts of African religious beliefs and practices, serving to promote critical thinking skills and support Common Core State Standards.

Explores how Christians created, used, and adapted religionized categories of non-Christians through the centuries Christian Imaginations of the Religious Other traces the genealogy of religionization, the various ways Christians throughout history have created a sense of religious normativity while simultaneously producing various categories of non-Christian "otherness." Covering a broad expanse of processes, practices, and socio-political contexts, this innovative volume analyzes the complex intersections of patterns of religionization in different eras while investigating their entanglements with racialization, sexualization, and ethnicization. With a readable and accessible style, Marianne Moyaert offers a nuanced and well-balanced critical analysis of how and why Christianity’s otherswere named, categorized, essentialized, and governed by those exemplifying Christian normativity in Western European society. The author takes a longue durée approach — a long-term perspective on history that extends past human memory and the archaeological record — that integrates different case studies and a variety of ecclesial, theological, and literary documents. Throughout the text, Moyaert demonstrates how religionization shaped the ways Christians classified people, organized Christian societies, interacted with different Christian and non-Christian groups, and more. Surveys the relationship between shifts in Christian normativity and the way non-Christians are imagined Helps readers connect the lasting effects of patterns of religionization with their everyday experiences Discusses the role of Christian expansion in the differential and unequal treatment of Christianity’s others Examines legal regulations and disciplinary practices that were established to define the boundaries between Christians and non-Christians Incorporates a wide range of scholarly resources, cutting-edge research, and the most recent insights and issues in the field Includes textboxes with helpful summaries, illustrations, and commentary in each chapter Christian Imaginations of the Religious Other: A History of Religionization is an excellent textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses ininterreligious studies, comparative theology, theological approaches to religious diversity, Christian-Jewish-Muslim relations, race and religion, and theorizing religion. "Professor Moyaert is one of the world’s best scholars of comparative theology. In this magisterial new work, she helps scholars of religion to better learn how religious images, whether drawn with pictures or words, are crucial to how we understand ourselves and each other." - Amir Hussain, President, American Academy of Religion "Breathtaking in scope and detail, Moyaert offers an original history of the ways Christians have projected distorted images of their religious ‘others,’ with devastating material consequences. Her illuminating story of the past is a searchlight for our present." - Jeannine Hill Fletcher, Professor of Theology, Fordham University "Christian Imaginations is a superb study of the role that Western political programs play in the historical construction of identity boundaries. Analytically erudite and socially committed, Moyaert’s book powerfully interrogates what counts as religion making this text a must-read for anyone interested in interreligious studies." - Santiago Slabodsky, Florence and Robert Kaufman Professor in Jewish Studies, Hofstra University "Raising the historical formation of religious identities to the level of contemporary treatments of gender and racialization, Christian Imaginations of the Religious Other is essential reading for students of religion." - Michelle Voss, Professor of Theology and Past Principal, Emmanuel College of Victoria University in the University of Toronto "Crafting a Western European mosaic of religionization's turbulent history, Moyaert unveils how religious identities are constructed, hierarchies function, and their relevance for engaging diverse societies today worldwide." - Hans Gustafson, Adjunct Professor of Theology, University of St. Thomas