THE UNEXPECTED CHRISTIAN CENTURY The Reversal and Transformation of Global Christianity, !"##–$### Scott W. Sunquist Foreword by Mark A. Noll J Scott W. Sunquist, The Unexpected Christian Century Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2015. Used by permission. (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) Sunquist_UnexpectedChristianCentury_BB_kf.indd iii 7/6/15 4:03 PM © 2015 by Scott W. Sunquist Published by Baker Academic a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 www.bakeracademic.com Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sunquist, Scott, 1953– The unexpected Christian century : the reversal and transformation of global Christianity, 1900–2000 / Scott W. Sunquist ; foreword by Mark A. Noll. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8010-9746-1 (pbk.) 1. Church history—20th century. I. Title. BR479.S86 2015 270.8 2—dc23 2015014039 Scripture quotations labeled NIV are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copy- right © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com Scripture quotations labeled NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Scott W. Sunquist, The Unexpected Christian Century Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2015. Used by permission. (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) Sunquist_UnexpectedChristianCentury_BB_kf.indd iv 7/6/15 4:03 PM Dedicated to the memory of Dr. Samuel Hugh Moffett (1917–2015), pastor, missionary, professor, scholar, mentor, and friend. Sam lived through most of the twentieth century and with his wife, Eileen, made it a better century through their lives of grace and love of the church of Jesus Christ. Scott W. Sunquist, The Unexpected Christian Century Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2015. Used by permission. (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) Sunquist_UnexpectedChristianCentury_BB_kf.indd v 7/6/15 4:03 PM Contents List of Figures ix Foreword by Mark A. Noll xi Preface xv Acknowledgments xxiii Introduction: From Jesus to the End of Christendom 1 1. World Christianity: The Gilded Age through the Great War 15 2. Christian Lives: Practices and Piety 37 3. Politics and Persecution: How Global Politics Shaped Christianity 77 4. Confessional Families: Diverse Confessions, Diverse Fates 95 5. On the Move: Christianity and Migration 135 6. One Way among Others: Christianity and the World’s Religions 153 Epilogue: Future Hope and the Presence of the Past 177 Appendix 1: African Independence and Colonizers 189 Appendix 2: Asian Independence and Colonizers 191 Bibliography 193 Index 205 vii Scott W. Sunquist, The Unexpected Christian Century Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2015. Used by permission. (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) Sunquist_UnexpectedChristianCentury_BB_kf.indd vii 7/6/15 4:03 PM Figures 1. Church turned Waldorf School campus xviii 2. President McKinley and Admiral Dewey bow in prayer with Cardinal Gibbons 19 3. The assembly at the World Missionary Conference at New College, University of Edinburgh, 1910 25 4. Archbishop Desmond Tutu at a December 2009 press conference 43 5. Mother Teresa 49 6. Professor Madathilparampil Mammen Thomas 50 7. K. H. Ting and other participants gathered together for the World Council of Churches Meeting of the Central Committee 55 8. Dom Hélder Pêssoa Câmara 58 9. Mural of Archbishop Oscar Romero by Giobanny Ascencio y Raul Lemus 61 10. Professor Karl Barth 69 11. Bishop Newbigin and Father Florovsky during the Committee of 25 at Bossey in 1953 74 12. Y. T. Wu and Mao Zedong 89 13. Baptismal service for an infant at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 102 14. Vatican II Assembly by Lothar Wolleh 106 ix Scott W. Sunquist, The Unexpected Christian Century Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2015. Used by permission. (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) Sunquist_UnexpectedChristianCentury_BB_kf.indd ix 7/6/15 4:03 PM x Figures 15. Chart of the documents of Vatican II, highlighting the interlinking themes and teachings 107 16. The African Inland Church of Oreteti, Kenya, is situated on a prominent hill overlooking the Great Rift Valley 128 17. Stateless children of migrant workers in Sabah, Malaysia 143 18. Muslims as a share of the population of Europe 148 19. Map tracking the global statistical center of Christianity 150 20. 1893 World’s Parliament of Religions, Chicago 160 21. Gathering of the Interfaith Peace Council to honor the memory of massacred villagers in Acteal, Chiapas, Mexico 163 22. The Islamic Center of America, the largest mosque in the United States, located in Dearborn, Michigan 174 23. The church in Brazil reflected in Christian gra"ti and a rural church plant 178 24. Chongyi Church in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province 181 25. A Masai Christian youth takes advantage of evangelistic and discipleship camp opportunities led by a consortium of African churches during school breaks 186 Scott W. Sunquist, The Unexpected Christian Century Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2015. Used by permission. (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) Sunquist_UnexpectedChristianCentury_BB_kf.indd x 7/6/15 4:03 PM Foreword MARK A. N OLL The great merit of Scott Sunquist’s book is to narrate the recent history of Christianity as a genuinely and thoroughly world history . It is no longer fresh news that over the course of the last century the Christian faith has ex- panded into world regions where it was previously unknown, and that it has also receded significantly from areas that it once dominated. A distinguished array of learned experts—Andrew Walls, Dana Robert, Philip Jenkins, Lamin Sanneh, David Martin, among others—has provided landmark academic and popular publications announcing these facts. Such scholars have been joined by editors, denominational o"cials, mission executives, interested laypeople, and sometimes governmental leaders in analyzing, interpreting, projecting, strategizing, and reconceptualizing in the face of these new realities. Never- theless, accessible histories that feature the broad general developments of the recent past, and yet that remain connected to particular stories of particular places, remain rare. The Unexpected Christian Century is a notable addition to such e!orts. Scott Sunquist features five themes that serve him well for charting a com- plex history. These themes are his way of keeping faith with both forest and trees—both the large-scale patterns in recent history and the individual people, movements, denominations, conflicts, circumstances, tragedies, and triumphs that make up the nitty-gritty of historical development. Others might come Mark Noll is the author of From Every Tribe and Nation: A Historian’s Discovery of the World Christian Story (Baker Academic, 2014). xi Scott W. Sunquist, The Unexpected Christian Century Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2015. Used by permission. (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) Sunquist_UnexpectedChristianCentury_BB_kf.indd xi 7/6/15 4:03 PM xii Foreword up with di!erent interpretive categories, but it is hard to imagine a better set for summarizing a history that sprawls in every possible direction. One theme describes twenty-five notable Christians as illustrating the most important world Christian developments. They include figures like Mother Teresa, Billy Graham, Dietrich Bonhoe!er, Martin Luther King Jr., and Popes John XXIII and John Paul II, who are widely recognized in North America and Europe. But to follow Sunquist as he explains why Simon Kimbangu, Mercy Amba Oduyoye, John Sung, and Georges Florovsky belong on such a list begins to reveal the broader dimensions of a world history. It is similar with the interinfluencing of modern Christianity and modern warfare. The blow to the traditional European churches from World War I and World War II is well known, but not the very significant fallout of these conflicts for Christian faith throughout the whole world. How these large wars, as well as a never-ending series of smaller conflicts, have both promoted and retarded Christian expansion shows how thoroughly the “sacred” and the “secular” have marched together in the recent past. The apparently most conventional chapter of the book sketches the story of Christianity’s major denominational families: Orthodoxy, Roman Catholi- cism, Protestantism, and the newer spiritual and Pentecostal movements. Yet as Sunquist traces the unfolding trajectory of these families throughout the globe, they come alive with telling interpretive impact. How Orthodoxy sur- vived under Communist rule, how the Catholic church balances decline in Europe with dramatic expansion in the global