{"id":6287,"date":"2014-09-01T06:42:12","date_gmt":"2014-09-01T10:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cgcm\/?page_id=6287"},"modified":"2014-10-16T18:58:34","modified_gmt":"2014-10-16T22:58:34","slug":"what-in-the-world-is-world-christianity","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cgcm\/annual-theme\/what-in-the-world-is-world-christianity\/","title":{"rendered":"What in the World is World Christianity?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"singers-clipart\"<\/a>My real engagement with the phrase, \u201cWorld Christianity,\u201d happened when I was appointed as \u00a0D. W. & Ruth Brooks Visiting Professor of World Christianity at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA. \u00a0When that professorship was advertised in 1987, it was described as the Chair on World Mission and Ecumenism.\u00a0 After I accepted the invitation and joined the faculty in 1988, it was named as Chair on World Christianity. \u00a0Perhaps this is due to the fact that the term \u201cWorld Christianity\u201d was already familiar to people at Emory University. \u00a0In 1945, Henry Van Dusen of Union Theological Seminary, New York, had delivered the Jarrell Lectures at Emory University and those lectures were later published under the title, World Christianity: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow<\/i> (Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1947).\u00a0 Interestingly, Van Dusen highlights two aspects of what he means by World Christianity.\u00a0 Those are Christian mission, and Christian unity \u2013 the two that the Chair on World Christianity was committed to.<\/p>\n

Let me highlight two significant perspectives that this term offers us today.\u00a0 First, World Christianity \u2013 understood as world-wide Christianity \u2013 helps us to define the scope of Christianity.\u00a0 By calling it world or global Christianity we have removed all possible limits to the scope and extent of Christian community.\u00a0 Such a widening of the scope and extent of Christian community is not something new.\u00a0 It started at the Jerusalem Council in 52 C. E. when the early Christians decided to remove some of the limits to the scope and expanse of Christianity and has continued through centuries.\u00a0 Yet, the scope of Christian community has always been under pressure with the question of who is in and who is out, and by the desire to make a particular form of Christianity as the benchmark as well.\u00a0 At every such occasion, the Christian community has voted on the side of opening up the expanse of Christianity.\u00a0 Therefore, the term \u201cWorld Christianity\u201d stands as a constant reminder to the inclusive character of Christianity highlighting its catholicity.<\/p>\n

Second, the term World Christianity has placed Christian faith alongside of other World Religions, such as, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, and so on.\u00a0 Dana Robert rightly titles her book: Christian Mission: How Christianity Became a World Religion<\/i> (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009). \u00a0Since the term \u201cChristianity\u201d implies a religion or a religious system, Christianity becomes one religion among the various religions of the world.\u00a0 This is partly due to the historical turn in which Christianity ceased to be Christendom, but came to occupy its rightful place in the midst of all the religions of the world as one among them.\u00a0 By using this term instead of \u201cWorld Church,\u201d we have also recognized the wider and multi-faceted religious movement called Christianity.<\/p>\n

What is World Christianity then?\u00a0 It is the world-wide Christian community that stands with open arms to welcome anyone from any part of the world to its fellowship, and kneels with bended knee to take its humble yet rightful place among the religions of the world.<\/p>\n

M. Thomas Thangaraj
\nVisiting Professor of World Christianity
\nProfessor Emeritus of World Christianity at the Candler School of Theology, Emory University<\/p>\n

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My real engagement with the phrase, \u201cWorld Christianity,\u201d happened when I was appointed as \u00a0D. W. & Ruth Brooks Visiting Professor of World Christianity at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA. \u00a0When that professorship was advertised in 1987, it was described as the Chair on World Mission and Ecumenism.\u00a0 After I accepted the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3242,"featured_media":0,"parent":6213,"menu_order":11,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cgcm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6287"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cgcm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cgcm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cgcm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3242"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cgcm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6287"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cgcm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6611,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cgcm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6287\/revisions\/6611"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cgcm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cgcm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}