Well, it seems inevitable. As Christianity grows in Africa and Asia (especially China) things will change dramatically. China might very well have the largest Christian population of any nation on earth in just one generation. They already have the largest Bible publishing plant in the world!
Although it’s been a while since I first read his book (1st ed.) I don’t remember it being anti-western; I do recall him being amused at how conservative these 3rd world Christians were however, and how much that will clash with our “enlightened” western clergy.
If you look at what populations are expanding the fastest, and the ones that aren’t, it becomes clear a lot of things are going to turn out more Latin and non-European.
In the short term, until those populations become more modernized and successful, we can look for them to bury us numbers wise.
That’s not going to stop at the religious shores either.
A lot of our countrymen seem to increasingly worship Unions, Socialism, Gaia (the Earth Goddess), and Homosexuality. No thanks.
Jenkins seems anti-West to me in a lot of his views. It is NOT necessary for immigrants to be the factor in spritual re-vitalization...what IS needed is the Holy Spirit.
He leaves out this very large factor in many of his arguments while seeming to go along with the notion that the syncretism of much Asian and Latin "christianity" is OK.
Jenkins seems much more of a sociologist to me (and I betcha he's a liberal one at that) than one that should be consulted on theological matters.
To my mind this is the weenie:
"Regarding the politics of the Next Christendom, European terms like ‘right’ and ‘left’ do not apply. While these Third World Christians may agree with American social conservatives on a few issues, they practice anti-Western identity politics and often demand wealth redistribution from the First World to the Third. Third World Catholics, for instance, may cite the 1967 papal encyclical Populorum Progressio, calling for “bold transformations to redistribute wealth globally”. In this respect, Samuel Huntington has identified the modern Catholic Church as one of the principal engines for Third World progressive movements in the 1980s. The Catholic Church also sides with the Third World and against the West on the issue of mass immigration.
Collectivism, involuntary wealth redistribution, identity politics for all except heterosexual white males (for whom it is forbidden), and mass immigration to the West (but to nowhere else) are the foundational tenets of leftism.
This is not Christianity but rather is its opposite.
I think some of the reason for this is the factionalism of Western Christianity. I had a friend who was a member of the Assembly of God and another friend who was a member of the United Pentacostal Church. They used to follow each others’ buses around and hand out pamphlets when their opposing Church members got off their bus.
Baptists think that Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh Day adventists and almost every body else not them are going to hell.
The Baptist parents of a friend of my grandson, who goes to a non-denominational Christian Church, do not want him associating with my Grandson because he is not a Baptist.
Another So-called Christian Friend of mine does not think that God hears the prayers of a Catholic.
My daughter was married to a Greek Orthodox in a Protestant Ceremony and his parents would not even attend.
Keep it up guys, promise not to vote for Huck or Romney or Gingrich because their faith is not yours and watch Christianity weakened before your eyes.
We need allies, not bigotry and bias.