Article August 4, 2003 Issue

CHRISTIANITY on the move

Author Philip Jenkins discusses global Christianity and the shift of Christendom's center to the Southern Hemisphere.

By Marilyn Jones Senior Writer

THE MAN I MET FOR LUNCH on a recent July afternoon at the Allen Street Grill in State College, Pennsylvania, didn’t exactly conform to the mental image I'd been developing over the preceding month or so. The Dr. Philip Jenkins I'd conjured through reading his book The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity would be a rather aloof, intimidating intellectual. As his curriculum vitae notes, Dr. Jenkins is the author of 18 books, over 100 book chapters, numerous articles, and is Distinguished Professor of History and Religious Studies at Penn State. And that's just the first few lines.

The man who greeted me on this warm summer day, however, was dressed casually in a black Lacoste golf shirt and dark cotton pants—his wire-rimmed glasses the only hint of professorhood. Chatting with me in his soft Welsh-inflected accent, he was as approachable and friendly as any graduate student on summer break.

Later, strolling to his campus office, we launched a more serious topic of discussion: The future of Christianity. I asked him to summarize the thesis of The Next Christendom.

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