The most underrated force in global affairs is ...?

**The NY Times for Saturday, Dec 28, 2002 has a major piece on what subjects were "In" and "Out" in 2002 (On Target and Off in 2002.) First in the list of "underrated" is Christianity

It is by far the world's largest religion, and it will continue to hold this position into the foreseeable future; but few of us notice how the character of that faith is being transformed. Over the past century, Christian numbers have been booming in the global south, in Africa, Asia and Latin America. For example, since 1900, the number of African Christians has grown spectacularly from around 10 million to over 360 million. Just within my baby-boomer lifetime, "Western Christianity" has become ever less significant as the faith's center of gravity has shifted.

And as Christianity has been, so to speak, going south, the religion has been adapting very rapidly to the cultures in which it operates. We see an upsurge of charismatic and supernatural-oriented forms of belief and practice. The emergence of southern Christianity constitutes a religious and cultural revolution quite comparable to the Reformation of the 16th century, though on a far vaster scale.

Philip Jenkins is professor of history and religious studies, Pennsylvania State University

NOTE: For more on Jenkins' thesis, see our entry here for December 11, 2002, What is Christianity coming to?

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