Culturally, Christianity was first dominated by Jews and centered in Jerusalem. Later it was dominated by Hellenists and centered in the Mediterranean. Later the barbarians of Northern Europe received the faith and Christianity came to be dominated by western Europeans and then North Americans.
Today most Christians in the world live in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Christianity soon will be centered in the southern and eastern hemispheres. in 1900 more than 80% of Christians lived in Europe and America. Today 60% live in the developing world. And this growth comes after the end of colonialism. Introduced by foreign occupiers, the faith now thrives without them.
Cultural diversity was built into the Christian faith in Acts 15, it was declared that the new gentile Christians didn’t have to enter Jewish culture. The converts had to work out a Hellenistic way of being a Christian. So no one ethnicity owns the Christian faith. There is no “Christian culture” the way there is an “Islamic culture” which is recognized from Pakistan to Tunisia to Morocco. Contrary to popular opinion, then, Christianity is not a Western religion that destroys local cultures. Rather, Christianity has taken more culturally diverse forms than other faiths. It has deep layers of insight from the Hebrew, Greek, and European cultures. And over the next hundred years will be further shaped by Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Christianity may become the most truly “catholic vision of the world,” having opened its leadership over the centuries to people from "every tongue, tribe, people and nation."
Next time, Christianity’s unique understanding of God. In Christ…
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