Is the Good Book Good Enough? by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic

For American evangelicals, who are by and large theologically conservative, Akinola and other global South leaders have become important allies. As Philip Jenkins notes, the conservatism of “Southern believers is music to the ears of North Americans or Europeans who find themselves at odds with the progressive leadership of their own churches” (Jenkins 2002, 202). The globalization of Christianity has thus brought about an ecclesiastical realignment in which American evangelicals have joined with African, Latin American, and Asian evangelicals in challenging theological liberalism in the Western churches.

The political implications of Christianity’s southward shift have been no less significant. For one thing, this development has internationalized the domestic culture wars and given American evangelicals new allies in their political battles at home. This might well augur a broader global transformation in battles over the meaning and the limits of freedom, personhood, gender, and family which will pit orthodox religious believers against secular modernists. More subtly, these new connections between evangelicals in America and the developing world have challenged the parochial political worldview that has defined American evangelicalism since the rise of the religious right in the 1970s. In particular, the rise of a more globally interconnected evangelicalism has drawn American evangelicals into contact with the sufferings and persecution faced by Christians around the world. For instance, American evangelical Anglicans who have partnered with Rwandan, Nigerian, and Sudanese Anglican churches have been introduced to intimate accounts of genocide, poverty, and religious persecution. Moreover, evangelical growth throughout the global south, particularly in Latin America, has occurred among the poorest segments of society. A Baptist pastor in Brazil noted, “The Catholic Church opted for the poor, but the poor opted for the Evangelicals” (Ostling 2001). The flattening of the world has flattened the church, and American evangelicals now find themselves embedded within a global church community, much of which suffers from poverty and oppression.

The experience of Rick Warren, pastor at Saddleback Church and author of The Purpose-Driven Life, offers one example of how the global interconnectedness of evangelical Christianity is transforming the attitudes and practices of the American church. With little previous interest in such international issues as poverty, economic development, and disease, Warren took a 2003 trip to South Africa. There he “came across a tiny church operating from a dilapidated tent—yet sheltering 25 children orphaned by AIDS.” The encounter awakened Warren to the needs of the global church and led him to exert his considerable influence to shape evangelical opinion. Thousands of Saddleback Church congregants have subsequently traveled to Africa to volunteer in relief efforts (Kristof 2008). Similarly transformative events have happened throughout the evangelical community, generating a network of institutions committed to advancing evangelical work globally. The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church was established in 1996. International Justice Mission, a Christian human rights organization, was founded in 1997 to aid victims of oppression throughout the world. The Institute for Global Engagement was established to promote religious freedom in academic and public policy debates. More recently, Evangelicals for Human Rights was formed in response to the United States’ use of torture.

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