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What does the future hold for European Christianity? Is the Christian church doomed to collapse under the weight of globalization, Western secularism, and a flood of Muslim immigrants? Is Europe, in short, on the brink of becoming "Eurabia"? Though many pundits are loudly predicting just such a scenario, Philip Jenkins reveals the flaws in these arguments in God's Continent and offers a much more measured assessment of Europe's religious future. While frankly acknowledging current tensions, Jenkins shows, for instance, that the overheated rhetoric about a Muslim-dominated Europe is based on politically convenient myths: that Europe is being imperiled by floods of Muslim immigrants, exploding Muslim birth-rates, and the demise of European Christianity. He points out that by no means are Muslims the only new immigrants in Europe. Christians from Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe are also pouring into the Western countries, and bringing with them a vibrant and enthusiastic faith that is helping to transform the face of European Christianity. Jenkins agrees that both Christianity and Islam face real difficulties in surviving within Europe's secular culture. But instead of fading away, both have adapted, and are adapting. Yes, the churches are in decline, but there are also clear indications that Christian loyalty and devotion survive, even as institutions crumble. Jenkins sees encouraging signs of continuing Christian devotion in Europe, especially in pilgrimages that attract millions---more in fact than in bygone "ages of faith." The third book in an acclaimed trilogy that includes The Next Christendom and The New Faces of Christianity, God's Continent offers a realistic and historically grounded appraisal of the future of Christianity in a rapidly changing Europe. Philip Jenkins is Distinguished Professor of History and Religious Studies, Penn State University. He is the author of Dream Catchers: How Mainstream America Discovered Native Spirituality, The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice, and many other books. He lives in University Park, Pennsylvania.
What does the future hold for European Christianity? Is the Christian church doomed to collapse under the weight of globalization, Western secularism, and a flood of Muslim immigrants? Is Europe, in short, on the brink of becoming "Eurabia"?
Though many pundits are loudly predicting just such a scenario, Philip Jenkins reveals the flaws in these arguments in God's Continent and offers a much more measured assessment of Europe's religious future. While frankly acknowledging current tensions, Jenkins shows, for instance, that the overheated rhetoric about a Muslim-dominated Europe is based on politically convenient myths: that Europe is being imperiled by floods of Muslim immigrants, exploding Muslim birth-rates, and the demise of European Christianity. He points out that by no means are Muslims the only new immigrants in Europe. Christians from Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe are also pouring into the Western countries, and bringing with them a vibrant and enthusiastic faith that is helping to transform the face of European Christianity. Jenkins agrees that both Christianity and Islam face real difficulties in surviving within Europe's secular culture. But instead of fading away, both have adapted, and are adapting. Yes, the churches are in decline, but there are also clear indications that Christian loyalty and devotion survive, even as institutions crumble. Jenkins sees encouraging signs of continuing Christian devotion in Europe, especially in pilgrimages that attract millions--more in fact than in bygone "ages of faith."
The third book in an acclaimed trilogy that includes The Next Christendom and The New Faces of Christianity, God's Continent offers a realistic and historically grounded appraisal of the future of Christianity in a rapidly changing Europe.
Philip Jenkins is Distinguished Professor of History and Religious Studies, Penn State University. He is the author of Dream Catchers: How Mainstream America Discovered Native Spirituality, Beyond Tolerance: Child Pornography and the Internet, and many other books. He lives in University Park, Pennsylvania.
"The three volumes taken together comprise a massive repository of current religious and sociological facts, coupled with insightful and masterful predictions and potentialities of the future. His first two volumes have been lauded across the board and this third volume is no less praiseworthy."--he Living Church
"A novel-like book that's impossible to put down."--Publishers Weekly Religion Bookline
"Any book by Philip Jenkins is useful, but especially God's Continent: Christainity, Islam and Europe's Religious Crisis and The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity."--The Economist
"A sweeping survey at least partly aimed at defusing the kind of frenzied rhetoric found in While Europe Slept. Jenkins' elegant and fluid writing never allows the text to be bogged down by the data. Beyond being an eye-opener for general readers and an invaluable resource for academics, the book injects a much-needed voice of reason into the cacophony of outsized opinions on the topic."--Catholic Online
"A brilliantly researched, intellectually honest, and surprising account of Europe's cultural future."--Washington Monthly
"Philip Jenkins' latest book brings a comprehensive, objective, and above all, rational approach to the question of Europe's religious future. for those seeking to understand Islam in Europe, and the prospects for "God's continent," this book is the best place to start."--Dallas Morning News
"[Jenkins] examines rising Islam lapping on the shores of Europe that is in the throes of advanced secularization. It is an important and timely study, executed with skill, insight, and sensitivity, and with unflinching faithfulness to the facts as Jenkins sees them."--International Bulletin of Missionary Research
"A stimulating, informative, meaty, and judicious book."--Commonweal magazine
"Given the enormous disparity between the future as imagined forty years ago and the world we actually inhabit, you might suppose that today's prophets would be a bit more circumspect. You'd be wrong. And that's why Jenkins' book is so valuable. He's a cool contrarian, not out to peddle an alternative ("inevitable") future while heaping contempt on received opinion. Philip Jenkins is an excellent guide as we think about Christianity, Islam, and secularism in 21st-century Europe and in the world more generally."--Books & Culture
"An impressive review of the many Christian successes in Europe since the end of World War II...he weaves an inspiring story of new beginnings in many countries, from the British Isles to Ukraine. He also draws apt comparisons between Europe and the United States and shows how the current religious intolerance of secularized Europe complicates matters for both Christianity and Islam. This is the third excellent volume in the author's already popular trilogy of Christianity. Highly recommended for academic and public libraries."- Library Journal
"After two pathbreaking books on Christianity in parts of the world for which it is mostly a new religion, Jenkins turns his attention to the part of the world where it has long been best established. Like all of Jenkins's books, this one queries stereotypes and punctures conventional knowledge. The result is thought-provoking insight into all three parts of his subtitle." --Christian Century
"Impressively argued, well annotated... The strength of GC lies not so much in its central argument as in all of the things it achieves along the way. This one is a gem, abounding in sparkling points, telling anecdotes, observations and statistics... Another seminal book, to be sure." --Third Way
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