WM/CH610 Advance of the Church in the Non-Western World

WM/CH610 Advance of the Church in the Non-Western World Fall 2015 Instructors: Dr. Kevin Xiyi Yao Office Hours (Yao): TBA (ROM GL 114); (Always best to make appointment) Contact Information: E-mail: xyao@gordonconwell.edu; Tel: 978-646-4286 Byington Scholar: Bin Xia E-mail:bin@gcts.edu Course Description Advance of the Church in the Non-Western World is one of the most significant developments in modern mission history. The rise of Christianity in global South and East has been impacting the theology and ministry of the Church profoundly around the world. This course seeks to re-interpret mission history from the perspective world Christianity, and demonstrate the rapid globalization of the Church since the 19 th Century and current state of the Church around the globe, and analyze the dynamics and characteristics of the churches in Africa, Asia, and South America, and reflect on the trend s implications for our ministries. Learning Objectives 1. Students will have opportunity to examine the scholarly discourse on world Christianity, and read some major theorists works in that field, and grasp the perspective and methodology of study of world Christianity. The conventional Euro-centric historiography will be challenged. And the Christian history as a process of cross-cultural transmission of the message will be highlighted, and the possibility of a new, global approach to Christian history will be explored. 2. Students will re-examine the Christian missions in the ancient and medieval times from the perspective of world Christianity, and re-discover the cross-cultural nature and tri-continental dimensions of the Christian story from the First to 15 th Centuries. Students will trace the trajectory of the global spread of Christianity in late

18 th and 19 th Centuries, and understand its social and religious contexts, and grasp its dynamics and consequences. 3. Students will have chances to examine the monumental shifting southward of the center of gravity of Christianity, and discover the rise, experience, and characteristics of the Christian communities in global South and East in the 20 th Century. The achievements and challenges of Non-Western Churches will be highlighted. 4. Students will examine and grasp the impact the globalization of Christianity has upon the Church in the West, and reflect upon it s implications at ecclesiastical and personal levels., and explore our ways to respond. 5. Students will become familiar with the major literatures in the field, such as the works by Andrew Walls, Dana Robert, Lamin Sanneh, Stephen Neil, and Philip Jenkins. Requirements 1. Book Report 1: Each student is required to write a report on Gonzalez, The Changing Shape of Church History. The length of the report: five to six pages, doublespaced. The contents: the summary of the book contents, the impact the book has upon you, and other personal reflections and comments on the book. You can be critical. Due Date: (20%) 2. Book Report 2: Each student is required to write a report on either Jenkins, The Next Christendom or Sanneh, Disciples of all Nations. The length of the report: five to six pages, double-spaced. The contents: the summary of the book contents, the impact the book has upon you, and other personal reflections and comments on the book. You can be critical. Due Date: (20%) 3. One Term Paper: Each student is required to choose a topic concerning certain historical periods or regions and write a term paper about it. The topics need to be pertinent to the contents of this course, and interesting to you and relevant to your future ministry. Your topic should be approved by the instructor. The length: 20-25 pp, double-spaced, including footnotes and bibliography as needed. Term Paper Topic Due Date: 30 Sept; Paper Due Date: (50%) 4. Class Presentation and Participation: In the Week 13 & 14 of the semester each student is required to present the results of their research for the term paper to the whole class, and responsible for 25 minutes in one class session, including presentation and Q & A time. Each student can design the format of his or her presentation, and employ any audio-video means or multi-media to articulate his or 2

her points. And active participation in class discussion is highly valued and encouraged. A field trip may be arranged. (10%) Assignment and Grading Summary Assignments should be turned in (hard copy) in class on the due dates. Assignments Weight Due Date Book Reports 40% Term Paper Topic Due Presentations and Participation 50% 10% Week 13 & 14 Required Textbooks Gonzalez, Justo L., The Changing Shape of Church History, St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 2002 ( ISBN 0-8272-0490-6) Hastings, Adrian, ed. A World History of Christianity, Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1999 (ISBN 0-8028-4875-3) Jenkins, Philip, The Next Christendom, The Coming of Global Christianity, Oxford University Press, 2011 (ISBN 978-0-19-976746-5) Walls, Andrew, The Missionary Movement in Christian History, Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1996 (ISBN 0-567-08515-5). Wuthnow, Robert, Boundless Faith: The Global Outreach of American Churches, University of California Press, 2010 (ISBN-10: 0520268083; ISBN-13: 978-0520268081) Other Texts Included in Readings 3

Gallagher, Robert L. and Paul Hertig eds., Landmark Essays in Mission and World Christianity, Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2009 (ISBN 978-1-57075-829-4). Gonzalez, Ondina E. and Justo L. Gonzalez, Christianity in Latin America, A History (Cambridge University Press, 2008). Isichei, Elizabeth, A History of Christianity in Africa, From Antiquity to the Present (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1995). Jenkins, Philip, The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia---and How It Died, New York: Haperone, 2008 (ISBN 978-0-06-147280-0) Koschorke, Klaus, and others, eds., History of Christianity in Asia, Africa, and latin America, 1450-1990, A Documentary Source Book (ISBN 9780802828897) Noll, Mark A., The New Shape of World Christianity: How American Experience Reflects Global Faith, Downers Grove III: IVP Academic 2009 (ISBN 978-0-8308-2847-0). Robert, Dana L., Christian Mission, How Christianity Became a World Religion, Wiley- Blackwell, 2009, (ISBN 978-0-631-23620-7) Sanneh, Lamin, Translating the Message, The Missionary Impact on Culture, Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 2009 (ISBN 9781570758). -----, Disciples of All Nations: Pillars of World Christianity, Oxford University Press, 2008 (ISBN 978-0-19-518960-5;978-0-19-518961-2). Walls, Andrew, The Cross-Cultural Process in Christian History, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2002 (ISBN 0-567-08869-3) Topics and Required Readings Week 1 Introduction: Syllabus Review; Methodologies and Approaches of this Course; Dana L. Robert, Shifting Southward: Global Christianity since 1945, in Gallager, Landmark Essays in Mission and World Christianity, 46-62 4

Jenkins, The Next Christendom, Ch. 1 Gonzalez, pp.1-46, 145-154 Week 2 Re-interpreting Christian History from Global Perspective Sanneh, Disciples of All Nations, 3-12 Walls, Christianity in the Non-Western World, A Study in the Serial Nature of Christian Expansion, in The Cross-Cultural Process, 27-47. The Gospel as Prisoner and Liberator of Culture, in The Missionary Movement in Christian History, 3-15. The Translation Principle in Christian History, in The Missionary Movement in Christian History, 26-42 Week 3. Ancient and Medieval Church: Cross-Cultural and Tri-continental Outreach Sanneh, Disciples of All Nations, 13-56 Jenkins, The Next Christendom, 21-44 ---------, The Lost History of Christianity, 1-44 Week 4, Global Resurge: The 18 th and 19 th Centuries Robert, Christian Mission, 31-52 Walls, The Missionary Movement in Christian History, chap. 17 Jenkins, The Next Christendom, 44-68 Gallagher, Landmark Essays in Mission and World Christianity, Chap. 3 Term paper topic due. Week 5, The Emergence of World Christianity in the 20 th Century Gallagher, Landmark Essays in Mission and World Christianity, chap. 4 Jenkins, The Next Christendom, chap. 4 & 5 5

Week 6, Reading Week Jenkins, The Next Christendom, chap. 6, 7, 9, 10 Week 7, Growth and Revivals in Africa Hastings, chap. 6 Sanneh, Disciples of All Nations, chap.6 Gallagher, Landmark Essays in Mission and World Christianity, chap. 7. The first book report due. Week 8, The Rise of Pentecostalism and Protestantism in South America Hastings, chap. 9 Week 9, East / Southeast Asia/ the Pacific: Diversity and Pluralism Hastings, chap. 10 & 13 Week 10, Reading Week Wuthnow, 1-61, chap 4 Week 11, South / West Asia: Witness in Hindu and Islamic Contexts Hastings: chap.5 Jenkins, The Next Christendom, chap.8. The second book report due. Week 12, 25 Nov: What all these mean to us in American and other contexts? 6

Jenkins, The Next Christendom, chap. 9 Wuthnow, chap. 5 & 7. Week 13, Presentations Week 14, Final Exam Week Presentations 13 Dec: Term paper due. Guest speakers may be featured in this course. All topics are subject to change without notice. Selected Bibliography Anderson, Gerald H. ed., Biographical Dictionary of Christian Mission (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998). Bass, Diana Butler, A People s History of Christianity, The Other Side of the Story, (New York, NY: HarperOne, 2009). Baum, Wilhelm and Dietmar W. Winkler, The Church of the East: A Concise History (RoutledgeCurzon, 2003). Bays, Daniel H., A New History of Christianity in China (Wiley-Blackwell, 2011). Bediako, Kwame, Christianity in Africa, The Renewal of a Non-Western Religion (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1995). --------, Jesus in Africa, The Christian Gospel in African History and Experience (Regnum Africa, 2000), ISBN 1-870345-34-7. Bosch, David, J., Transforming Mission, Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1991). 7

Comby, Jean, How to Understand the History of Christian Mission (SCM Press, 1996). Covell, Ralph R., Confucius, the Buddha, and Christ (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1986). Davies, Noel A., World Christianity in the Twentieth Century, (London: SCM Press, 2008). Dussel, Enrique, A History of the Church in Latin America, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1981). Edwards, David L., The Future of Christianity, An Analysis of Historical, Contemporary and Future Trends within the Worldwide Church (Morehouse-Barlow, 1987). Gonzalez, Ondina E. and Justo L. Gonzalez, Christianity in Latin America, A History (Cambridge University Press, 2008). Hanciles, Jehu J., Beyond Christendom: Globalization, African Migration, and the Transforming of the West (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 2008). Hastings, Adrian, ed., A World History of Christianity, Grand Rapid, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1999(ISBN 0802824420). Hylson-Smith, Kenneth, To the Ends of the Earth: The Globalization of Christianity (London: Paternoster, 2007). Hunt, Robert A., The Gospel among the Nations: A Documentary history of Inculturation (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 2010). Irvin, Dale T., Sunquist Scott W., History of World Christian Movement, Vol I: Earliest Christianity to 1453 ( Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2001). -----------, History of World Christian Movement, Vol II: Modern Christianity from 1454-1800 (New York: Orbis Books, 2012). Isichei, Elizabeth, A History of Christianity in Africa, From Antiquity to the Present (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1995). Jenkins, Philip, The New Faces of Christianity: Believing the Bible in the Global South (Oxford University Press, 2006). Kalu, Ogbu U., ed. African Christianity: An African Story (Pretoria: University of Pretoria, 2005). 8

------, ed. Interpreting Contemporary Christianity, Global Processes and Local Identities (Grand rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008). Kim, Sebastian and Kirsteen Kim, Christianity as a World Religion (London: Continuum, 2008). Latourette, Kenneth Scott, A History of the Expansion of Christianity, 7 vols (Zondervan, 1970). -----, A History of the Expansion of Christianity, Vol. VI: The Great Century in Northern Africa and Asia, A.D. 1800-A.D.1914 (New York: harper & Brothers Publishers, 1944). -----, A History of Christianity, 2 vols. (HarperSanFrancisco, 1975). Lemopoulos, George, ed. Your Will Be Done, Orthodoxy in Mission (Geneva: WCC Publications, 1989). Maxwell, David, ed. Christianity and the African Imagination (Leiden, Brill, 2002). Moffett, Samuel H., A History of Christianity in Asia, 2 vols (New York: harper-collins, 1991). Neill, Stephen, A History of Christian Missions, (London: Penguin Books, 1986). Schmemann, Alexander, Historical Road of Eastern Orthodoxy (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir s Seminary Press, 1977). Shenk, Wilbert R., ed., North American Foreign Missions, 1810-1914, Theology, Theory, and Policy (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 2004). Spencer, Stephen, SCM Study Guide to Christian Mission, Historic Types and Contemporary Expressions (London: SCM Press, 2007). Thomas, Norman E., Classic Texts in Mission and World Christianity (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1995). Wijsen, F.J.S and Robert Schreiter, eds., Global Christianity: Contested Claims (New York: Rodopi, 2007). Winter, Ralph D., and Steven C. Hawthorne, eds., Perspectives on the World Christian Movement (Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 2009). 9