Byrnesys Blabberings

This difference in perspective for Christians living in the global south (eg. Africa, Asia, South America) is not one that I have not recognised in the past but I have never read anything of substance and this concise well written interview with Philip Jenkins in Christianity Today, makes some very interesting observations.  You should read it for yourselves as Im sure in the coming times there will be more and more dialogue with these nations through new media (Internet, email, podcasting) and an even more prominent voice within older forms of media such as books, magazines and journals.

An understanding of the perspectives from the global south will surely enable the northern hemisphere Church to stand with the Church in the global south and keep conflict (not necessarily dialogue) on issues to a minimum.

The following quote is very interesting to me, from both a biblical scholarship and a Christian living perspective it may mean Westerners will have to be humble and accept teaching from the Global South church, as their experience can illuminate for us.

Global South Christians are closer to the economic and social world of the Bible than many Western Christians. How does this affect their religious life? Things in the Bible make more intuitive sense. For a long time in Europe, for example, it’s been a very plausible defense to say, "These rules in the Bible are laid down for a totally different, alien society. We have to change with the times." But for many modern Africans, the Bible describes a world they can see around them. And that gives more credibility to the moral or theological content of the Bible. Also, food is a very strong element in the Bible, and we tend not to see that in a society where the main food-related story is an alleged obesity epidemic.

The reason I think it is so important for us to humbly accept that the Global South perspective, afforded ironically by their social and economic situation, may have alot to teach the Northern Hemisphere church is that many Western Christians will have to give up the feeling of some spiritual paternity over nationswho have needed economic assistance, this will be especially pertinent for the African nations.

How do global South Christians handle the fact of religious pluralism?

On the flipside I think the Western nations may have insightful imput for Global South Churchs. This Church which is much more within cultures that advocate religious violence may require an element of discpileship to learn the lesson learnt by Europe through the violence aspects of the reformation.

Ive added Philip jenkins book to my Amazon Wishlist, Im interested to see what else he has to say, but you can read the first chapter online right now!

What do you think about these issues? What kind of dialogue will emerge between these two geogrpahical Churches? What kind of dialogue exists now?