by Harvey Cox
2. See Harvey Cox, Fire From Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty-First Century (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley 1995), p. 75.
3. Donald Miller and Tetsunao Yamamori, Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007).
4. See Andrew Chesnut, Born Again in Brazil: The Pentecostal Boom and the Pathogens of Poverty (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1997); John R. Pottenger, The Political Theory of Liberation Theology (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989); John Burdick, Looking for God in Brazil (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993).
5. Also, for Africa, see Ogbu Kalo, African Pentecostalism: An Introduction (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2008).
6. See Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1969). Also see Rowan Ireland, “Popular Religions and the Building of Democracy in Latin America: Saving the Tocqueville Parallel,” in Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 41, 4 (Winter 1999): 111.
7. For the UCKG, see Ari Pedro Oro, Andre Corten, and Jean-Pierre Dozon, Les Nouveaux Conquerants de la Foi: L’Eglise Universelle de Royaume de Dieu (Bresil), Preface by Harvey Cox (Paris: Karthala, 2000). The same editors have published this book in Portuguese as Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus (São Paulo: Paulinas, 2003).
CHAPTER 15
1. Talal Asad, “Comments on the Islamic Revival and Islamic Discourse,” paper prepared for a conference on political theologies, Harvard University, 2003, p. 4.
2. Scott Shane, “Global Forecast by American Intelligence Expects Al Qaeda’s Appeal to Falter,” New York Times, Friday, November 21, 2008, p. A13.
3. Marcus J. Borg, The Heart of Christianity (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2003), pp. 6, 13.
4. Tissa Balasuriya, Mary and Human Liberation: The Story and the Text, ed. Helen Stanton (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 1997). See also Sathianathan Clarke, Dalits and Christianity: Subaltern Religion and Liberation Theology in India (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1998).
5. Many scholars now suggest that the study of religion should go beyond the emphasis on beliefs, because it often turns into a dead end. Sociologist Andrew Greeley, for example, urges less attention to beliefs, less focus on the “prose” and more on the “poetry” (Religious Change in America [Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989], p. 129).
For Further Reading
Allen Dwight Callahan’s The Talking Book: African Americans and the Bible (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008) reminds readers of the invaluable insights to be gained by discovering how the Bible has been read and applied by those previously not admitted to the scholarly fraternity.
In his fascinating and aptly titled The Religious Case Against Belief (New York: Penguin, 2008), James P. Carse draws on history to make the same distinction between belief and authentic religious faith I discuss in the present volume.
Gary Dorrien’s The Remaking of Evangelical Theology (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998) follows the important changes going on in a critical part of the Christian world.
A Sociology of Spirituality, edited by Kieran Flanagan and Peter C. Jupp (Ashgate, 2007), analyzes the variety of ways the term “spirituality” has come to be used and some of the problems it creates, in a variety of settings.
Stephen Jay Gould’s balanced and eloquent Rocks of Ages (New York: Ballantine, 1999) is in my view still the best single treatment of the much debated topic of the relationship between science and religion.
As Christians and others search for a more solid and effective theology of public life, Eric Gregory’s Politics and the Order of Love: An Augustinian Ethic of Democratic Citizenship (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008) reaches back to an immensely influential figure and argues persuasively for his relevance today.
Richard Horsley’s Jesus and Empire: The Kingdom of God and the New World Disorder (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 2002) is the best single source for understanding early Christianity in the light of its Roman imperial context.
Philip Jenkins’s The Lost History of Christianity (San Francisco: HarperOne, 2008) describes the thousand-year “golden age” of Christianity in what is now called the global South.
Mark Juergensmeyer’s Global Rebellion: Religious Challenges to the Secular State from Christian Militias to Al Qaeda (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008) thoughtfully explores the link between “fundamentalism,” nationalism, and disquietude about the secular state.
Karen King’s engaging and groundbreaking What Is Gnosticism? (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003) makes it impossible to rule out many expressions of early Christianity as simply “heretical.”
Helmut Koester’s Ancient Christian Gospels: Their History and Development (Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1992) is still the most complete and accurate overall guide to the welter of early Christian documents that have reshaped our understanding of that period.
As the dialogue between Christians and Muslims looms larger, David Levering Lewis’s God’s Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570–1215 (New York: Norton, 2008) reminds us that this conversation has been going on in one way or another for a long time.
For the most recent and comprehensive analysis of the exploding Pentecostal movement, see Donald Miller and Tetsunao Yamamori, Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007). The book includes a fascinating DVD.
Are We Rome? The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America, by Cullen Murphy (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007), draws some fascinating comparisons and contrasts between ourselves and the ancient world.
Carol Osiek and Kevin Madigan in Ordained Women in the Early Church, 30-600: A Documentary History (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005) present convincing evidence for a much larger role of women in the history of the church than has previously been recognized.
Joerg Rieger’s Christ and Empire: From Paul to Postcolonial Times (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 2008) documents how theological assumptions have been tainted by imperial thinking for centuries. Rieger is the coeditor with Pui-Lan Kwok and Don M. Compier of Empire and the Christian Tradition: New Readings of Classical Theologians (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 2007).
Lamin O. Sanneh’s Disciples of All Nations: Pillars of World Christianity (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2008) ties the previous history of Christianity to its phenomenal growth in the global South today. This book is part of the invaluable Oxford Studies in World Christianity, of which Sanneh is the editor.
Charles Taylor’s massive but thorough A Secular Age (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, Belknap Press, 2007) traces the history of the emergence and acceptance of nonreligious and antireligious thinking, locating its sources well before our contemporary era.
For nonspecialists who want to keep abreast of the recurrent discoveries in early Christian archaeology and textual analysis, the monthly Biblical Archeology Review is an indispensable source.
Searchable Terms
Note: Entries in this index, carried over verbatim from the print edition of this title, are unlikely to correspond to the pagination of any given e-book reader. However, entries in this index, and other terms, may be easily located by using the search feature of your e-book reader.
African churches
cultural blending in, 51, 116–117, 177
embracing interfaith dialogue, 136
resembling early church, 56, 175
support for ordination of women/ gays, 178, 223
Age of Belief (Constantinian era)
creation of “lost gospels,” 88–89
faith of the laity, 7–8
“heretical” nonconformists in, 10–11, 183–184
intellectualization of faith, 46, 221
learning lessons from, 184–185
passing of, 15, 178–179
re
visionism in, 58
tension between faith and belief in, 5–8
two-tiered belief system, 219–221
See also devolution of early church; imperial church
Age of Faith (early church)
Christianity as anti-imperial movement, 57–58, 62–64, 70–72, 81–82
creeds/hierarchies absent in, 57, 58, 60, 77, 86, 174, 221
diversity of, 57–60, 85–86, 173–174, 184
emperor cult and pagan pantheons, 70, 81–83, 174
geographic spread of early church, 78, 83, 85
“heresy” unknown to, 57, 58
lessons for contemporary Christianity, 55–57, 82, 172
liberation theology reflecting, 72, 194–196
myriad of new religions in, 79–80
people of “the Way,” 77–78, 174
persecution by Romans, 69, 70, 82, 91–92
role of women in, 179–181
vibrancy of, 5, 53–54
See also devolution of early church; recent research on early Christianity; similarities between Age of Faith/Spirit
Age of the Spirit (contemporary) awe and wonder in, 22–23
Catholic Church’s changing views, 46, 53, 84
Christian fundamentalism in, 135–138, 151–152
as Christianity’s second chance, 55–56
conservative Christianity in, 138
current phenomenon of, 9–14, 85, 213–218
emerging-church movement, 218–219
Holy Spirit in, 9–10, 94
Joachim’s vision of, 8–9
new models for social engagement, 171–173
passing from Age of Belief into, 15, 184–185, 220–221
Pentecostalism in, 200, 202, 211
See also global South; liberation theology; similarities between Age of Faith/Spirit
American consumerism, 208–211
Anglicanism, 176, 178, 223
apocryphal books, 156–157
Apostles’ Creed, 110–111
apostolic succession in contemporary Catholic Church, 56, 57, 117
apostolic succession —continued as fiction, 58, 60–61, 65–67, 87, 88
Irenaeus’s support of, 93
robbing laity of power, 95
role of First Clement in, 89–91
See also hierarchies Aquinas, Thomas, 46
Arius/Arianism, 103–106
Armageddon, 62, 138, 147
Asad, Talal, 214–215
Asian churches blending of cultural practices into, 51, 177
embracing interfaith dialogue, 136–137
integrating into other religions, 222
Pentecostal, 200, 202
rapid growth of, 173, 191
resembling early church, 20, 56, 175
Asian spiritual practices, 13, 218, 221
Assumption of the Virgin Mary, 74, 119–120
Athanasius, 104–105, 177
atheism, 38, 183
awe and wonder, 2, 13–14, 22–25. See also mystery
Balasuriya, Tissa, 222
al-Banna, Hasan, 215
Baptists, 39, 50, 56
base communities, 172–173, 191, 195–196, 223
belief
belief/nonbelief axis, 16–18, 28, 183, 219–220
vs. faith, 3–4, 26–27, 213, 219, 223
importance to Christian fundamentalists, 74, 141
practice and, 16–18
public beliefs rationale, 220–221
See also creeds; doctrine Bellah, Robert, 219
Benedict XVI, Pope, 67, 113–114, 116–119, 121
Bible Cain and Able story, 31, 34, 135
cultural influences on, 165–166
in early church, 59
Good as News, 161–163
the Hexapla, 158–159
historical development of, 156–157, 167
King James version, 157, 160–162
message of hope, 42
modern-day reading of, 168–170
New Testament canonization, 90–92
Old Testament cycle, 39–42, 53
primacy to Christian fundamentalists, 148–151, 200
recognizing various versions, 155–157, 163
in religiously pluralistic world, 166–167
Revised Standard Version, 157–158, 161
Revolve, 162–163
Woman’s Bible, The, 165
Bible-believing Christians facing various translations, 157–160
lack of original manuscripts, 160–161, 166
reclaiming the Bible from, 167–168, 170
in religiously pluralistic world, 166–167
replacing faith with the Bible, 165, 166
warfare with science, 182–183
bishops, 92, 93, 95–97, 107, 108, 179–181
Boff, Leonardo, 114, 116
Brazil, 199–200, 203, 204, 206, 209
Buddhism, 37–39, 48, 129, 167, 216–217, 221
Cain and Abel story, 31, 34, 135
Calvinists, 145–146, 176
Campenhausen, Hans von, 90–91
Catholic Church Assumption of the Virgin Mary, 74, 119–120
Bible of, 156, 163
challenges of modern cultural diversity, 116–117, 174–175, 222
changing views of contemporary, 46, 53, 84
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 114–115
current charismatic movement in, 94
as extension of Europe, 118
First Vatican Council, 119, 120
Inquisition, 7, 109, 116, 182, 183
modern-day “heresy,” 114, 116–117
public lay associations, 173
revisionist views of heresy, 108–109, 111
Second Vatican Council, 97, 114, 125, 219
Secretariat for Nonbelievers, 125–126, 219
“spirituality” in, 10, 13
traditionalists, 152, 189
view on early church degeneration, 74
See also Age of Belief; apostolic succession; clerical caste; devolution of early church; imperial church
CEBs (ecclesial base communities), 172–173, 195–196, 223
charismatics, 6, 13, 93–94. See also Pentecostals
China, 175, 191, 200, 208
Christian Conference of Asia, 136
Christian fundamentalism adherence to beliefs/creeds, 74, 75–76, 144, 201
Bible to as divinely inspired/inerrant, 148–151, 166, 168, 200
concern with social issues/politics, 131–132, 223
cultural influences on, 148–150, 158
differences with Pentecostals, 145–146, 199–202
dispensationalism, 147
effort required to maintain, 152–153
emergence and core beliefs, 141, 147–151
“end times” beliefs, 62, 138, 146–147, 151
including in interfaith dialogue, 131–135
lack of concern for social justice, 143
lacking reference to Jesus, 141, 148
legacy of aggressive argumentativeness, 150–151
as “modernists,” 87
opposing “modernists,” 144, 148, 149
part in Age of the Spirit, 135–138, 151–152
replacing faith with doctrine/belief, 141, 159–160, 166
separation in, 151
similarity to Catholic outlook, 6, 74, 119
stereotypes of, 139, 143
violence in, 132
waning of, 2
Christian history colonial missionary expansion, 173–174
historical development of the Bible, 156–157, 167
overview of, 4–8, 14
papacy’s impact on, 122–123
“people’s history,” 67–70, 221–222
post-Western Christianity, 173–177, 222
See also Age of Belief; Age of Faith; Age of the Spirit; imperial church; recent research on early Christianity
Christian Right. See Christian fundamentalism
Christianity
Christians as Body of Chri
st, 52
intrafaith disputes, 132, 135, 137–138
literalization of the symbolic, 24–28
practice and belief, 16–18
proposed minimization of belief, 28
Protestantism, 86, 108–109, 125, 156
tradition of church-state separation, 68–70
transformation of, 2–3, 19–20
See also Bible; Catholic Church; Christian fundamentalism; Christian history; creeds; faith; global South; Jesus; Judeo-Christian tradition; laity
Christmas cycle, 42–49, 53
“church,” 97
Church of St. Praxedis, 180–181
church-state separation, 68–70
citizen diplomats, 172
clerical caste as the “church,” 97
corruption of imperial bishops, 107, 108
devolution of church into, 55, 73, 179, 221
dismissive of women, 179–181
establishing imperial church power, 5–6, 88–91, 93, 95–97, 103
heresy/orthodoxy dichotomy in, 86–88, 108
influence of Ignatius and Irenaeus on, 92–93
the papacy, 116–120, 122–126
waning of, 196
See also apostolic succession Community of Sant’Egidio, 171–173, 183
comparative religion, 37, 38–39, 221
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 114–115
Constantine, Emperor Christianity immediately following, 107–108
Christians as soldiers under, 73, 79, 84
concern for church unity, 101, 103–104
conversion of, 100
early years of, 99–100
establishment of imperial Christianity, 5–6, 98, 101–103, 174, 221
role in Council of Nicaea, 104–107
consumerism, 208–211
contemporary Christianity. See Age of the Spirit Council of Nicaea, 47, 104–107