Introducing World Christianity

List of Illustrations vii

List of Contributors viii

Foreword ix
Robert W. Hefner

Acknowledgments xi

Map 0.1 Percentage majority religion by province, 2010 xii

Introduction 1
Charles E. Farhadian

Part I: Africa 5

1 Middle Eastern and North African Christianity: Persisting in the Lands of Islam 7
Heather J. Sharkey

2 Christian Belongings in East Africa: Flocking to the Churches 21
Ben Knighton

3 West African Christianity: Padres, Pastors, Prophets, and Pentecostals 36
Ogbu Kalu

4 Christianity in Southern Africa: The Aesthetics of Well-Being 51
Frederick Klaits

Part II: Europe 63

5 Christianity in Western Europe: Mission Fields, Old and New? 65
Simon Coleman

6 Christianity in Eastern Europe: A Story of Pain, Glory, Persecution, and Freedom 77
Peter Kuzmic

Part III: Asia 91

7 Christianity in South Asia: Negotiating Religious Pluralism 93
Arun Jones

8 Christianity in Southeast Asia: Similarity and Difference in a Culturally Diverse Region 108
Barbara Watson Andaya

9 Christianity in East Asia: Evangelicalism and the March First Independence Movement in Korea 122
Timothy S. Lee

Part IV: Americas 137

10 Christianity in North America: Changes and Challenges in a Land of Promise 139
Kevin J. Christiano

11 Central America and the Caribbean: Christianity on the Periphery 154
Virginia Garrard-Burnett

12 Christianity in Latin America: Changing Churches in a Changing Continent 171
Samuel Escobar

13 Brazilian Charisma: Pentecostalized Christianity in Latin America’s Largest Nation 186
R. Andrew Chesnut

Part V: The Pacific 201

14 Christianity in Australia and New Zealand: Faith and Politics in Secular Soil 203
Marion Maddox

15 Christianity in Polynesia: Transforming the Islands 218
Ian Breward

16 Christianity in Micronesia: The Interplay between Church and Culture 230
Francis X. Hezel

17 Christianity in Melanesia: Transforming the Warrior Spirit 244
Garry W. Trompf

Conclusion: World Christianity – Its History, Spread, and Social Influence 259
Robert D. Woodberry

Index 272