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THE TRANSFORMATION OF CHRISTIANITY: AN INTERPRETATION
OF THE 20TH CENTURY
AN INAUGURAL PROFESSORIAL
LECTURE
Professor William K. Kay
Catrin Finch Centre, Glyndŵr University, 11 Jan 2011
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1900 2000 Orthodox
Syrian Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox...
Roman Catholic Protestant
Anglican, old Protestant (i.e. Congregational, Baptist, Presbyterian) and Independent (including classical Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal)...
Marginals
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A STATISTICAL COMPARISONPopulation 1910 2010
World Population 1759 6960
Christian population of world
612 (34.7%) 2292 (33.2%)
European Population
427 730
Christian population of Europe
403 (94.3%) 585 (80.1%)
Europe as % of world population
24.2 10.5
Figures taken from Todd M Johnson & Kenneth R Ross (2009), Atlas of Global Christianity, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press
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LITURGICALRoman Catholic
Greek Orthodox
Protestant
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EUROPE 1900 Main line Denomination
SundaysOrdained clergy
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Baptismal font:
65% of births baptised in CofEin 1902
Bishop CharlesGore
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EUROPE 1900 Extempore Protestantism
D L Moody and Ira Sankey, 1872-5
Salvation Army
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THE WELSH REVIVAL 1904 Evan Robert’s travelling evangelistic
bands: 100,000 commitments to Christ Social impact - crime figures all over
the Principality dropped. The meetings -informal, lengthy and
spontaneous Any member of the congregation,
including women or children, might suddenly lead the rest in prayer or start with the singing of a hymn.
Roberts himself convened the meetings and presided over them [but was not ordained]
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AMERICA & REVIVAL William Seymour 1906 Azusa Street mission
broke the social mould –all races Extempore yet biblical teachingpower and presence of the Holy Spirit in
prophecy, speaking in tongues, miracles and healings
Its own Newspaper- The Apostolic Faith spread the news
-1912
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EDINBURGH 1910
•1215 delegates from the larger missionary societies –all men, few from Asia/less from Africa / Latin America•Assumption: Christian West to the non-Christian East•Failure to see: the increasing flow of the Pentecostal movement and the impact of the two world wars
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WORLD WAR 1 The moral authority of Christianity was
enormously diminished The habit of churchgoing was disrupted
by war. The political authority of Christianity
was diminished. In defeat Germany lost its colonies and
therefore its missionary work in Africa and elsewhere.
Russia became Soviet Russia, the first state to be governed by militant atheists.
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EUROPE: COMMUNISM The Persecuted
Church in the Communist blocDestruction ImprisonmentGulagsYet Baptists,
Pentecostals kept going!
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FASCISM The evils of communism on one side
and fascism on the other seemed a pincer movement made in hell
Fascism covered Spain, Italy and Germany and sought to incorporate the church into its ruling philosophy
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ISSUES IN THE EUROPEAN CHURCH Mission slows down Anglican reform falters Ecumenism begins BUT the Revivalistic stream
Pentecostalism grew UK- George Jeffreys conducted his
revival and divine healing crusades
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GROWTH OF PENTECOSTALISM Missionaries...
European national leaders- T.B. Barrett, Lewi Pethrus, Karl Fix, G.
Polman, Donald Gee
American revivalism... Pentecostals went worldwide while
building at home
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WORLD WAR 2 Nazis attempted to control the church
in Germany and use it to promote their racist message.
The Confessing Church was formed to oppose this.
Karl Barth from Switzerland castigated Lutheran surrender to Hitler’s demands
Dietrich Bonhoeffer dies in a plot against Hitler.
Some Pentecostal churches in Germany were small enough to be left alone.
In Asia, you will recall The Bridge on the River Kwai and prisoner of war speaking the Lord’s Prayer before being shot.
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WORLD WAR 2 In UK Archbishop William Temple
acknowledged pacifism as a legitimate Christian witness.
From the Vatican, Pope Pius XII always considered communism to be a greater threat than fascism and tried to resolve the threats to his flock by concordats with Hitler.
Church attendance was again disrupted In Belgium and the Netherlands Nazi rule
was imposed upon the population. In Soviet Russia the situation was dire
Orthodox Church in 1943 -Stalin sought the Russian patriarch’s aid for morale. Others were persecuted.
Normal church activity was hampered. Sunday school, evening services, no rallies.
Churches were bombed out on both sides.
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WORLD WAR 2’S EFFECTS ON CHRISTIANITY Bombed out churches – to rebuild Humanitarian work of the Vatican
and other Christian groups respect
1948 World Council of Churches –ecumenism preferred NB First World Pentecostal
Conference 1947 Zurich England:
in 1944 Education Act insisted on the teaching of Christianity within all maintained schools as an antidote to fascist and Nazi values.
Coventry Cathedral
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Church growth
• Billy Graham: •LA London global
•Yet nuclear fears...
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GROWTH... TECHNOLOGY IN USA
Oral Roberts, T.L Osborn ... Many other healing evangelists go global – Magazines, Radio, TV,
From Poverty to health and prosperity theology 1960s ‘social revolution’
1960s saw a breaking down of moral and intellectual barriers.
Christian ideals -maintained by godly women - were now jettisoned
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TRANSITION: 1950S TO 1960S
Conformist 1950s
Nonconformist
1960s
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THE CHARISMATIC MOVEMENT Religious experience prioritised (an
outpouring of the Holy Spirit) Catholic
Lay academics at Duquesne University 1967
The Second Vatican Council, 1962David du Plessis
Mainline Protestant affectedRenewal, Restoration, Radical ChristianityNew Churches = ? neo-Pentecostal or neo-
charismatic or ‘Third Wave’[1980s] though they prefer now ‘Apostolic’ [2000s]
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VATICAN 2 (1962-65)
The Church is much more than an organization: it is the organism of the Holy Spirit, something that is alive, that takes hold of our inmost being (2001)
Joseph Ratzinger = the current Pope
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THE CHARISMATIC MOVEMENT Women leaders Home groups Modernised worship
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NEW CHURCHES (1970S)
Structure:Congregation[s] and their apostle,
-global travel, networksmanagement consultants, constructed
networks of churches bonded with personal relationship
Holy Spirit led by spiritual gifts - not committees or constitutions
mega-networks or mini-networks and interaction between networks
The Network structures
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MEGA CHURCHES Global scene – Korea – Latin America –
Africa entire set of social and spiritual
activities available website, multi-purpose building,
specialist staff and, often, broadcasting capability.
DangersPermeated with culturemusical directors, worship teams – pop
concert?! Yet biblical exposition included
Yoido Pentecostal Church Seoul, S. Korea
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MEGA CHURCHES IN ASIACity Harvest church, Singapore
Band, orchestras, big show style...
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A STATISTICAL COMPARISON Population 1910 2010
World Population 1759 6960
Christian population of world 612 (34.7%) 2292 (33.2%)
Roman Catholic (% of Christian pop) 291 (47.6%) 1155 (50.4%)
Orthodox (% of Christian pop) 124 (20.4%) 274 (12%)
Protestant (% of Christian pop) 115 (18.8%) 419 (18.3%)
Renewalists (=Pent + charismatics) 1 (0.2%) 614 (26.8%)
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RESULTS Decline in Orthodoxy Protestant and Roman Catholic parity
with world population Renewalists become the second largest
group Moreover Renewalists cross boundaries
between Protestant and Roman Catholic
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SHIFT IN GEOGRAPHIC CENTRE OF CHRISTIANITY
Examples of 1900s movement , and 2000s movement of ‘mission’
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