Lost Christendom Focus of Evans Lecture
Laurinburg, N.C. - "I'm going to tell a story you haven't heard. Once upon a time there was a pagan empire. Christianity used the language and the roads of the empire to expand until the empire faded away until there was simply a ghost of that empire. You're thinking that you have heard this story before, the story of the Roman Empire. But I am not telling that story. I am telling the story of the Persian Empire."
Dr. Philip Jenkins, the 2008-2009 E. Hervey Evans Distinguished Fellow at St. Andrews Presbyterian College, used this story as a starting point for exploring the lost Christian history of Asia during the Evans Lecture held in the Carol Grotnes Belk Main Room of the William Henry Belk College Center Monday evening.
"We know that Christianity was born in the holy city of Jerusalem," said Jenkins. "From Jerusalem it goes west to Greece, Italy, France, Spain, England, and leaps the Atlantic. At the same time Christianity spreads east to Asia and south to Africa. There are many parts of the story that we have lost."
The Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Humanities at Pennsylvania State University shared a variety of evidence through art, maps and historical documents to illustrate the strength of the Eastern Church throughout Asia. He also used the information to emphasize the relationships formed between the religious leaders of the day.
"In China, a Buddhist missionary wants to make the texts available to the Chinese people," Jenkins said. "But he doesn't follow the first rule of mission work in knowing the language. So who does he contact? He contacts the Christian bishop called Adam. They work together for years to translate these scrolls to Chinese. At the same time there are Buddhist monks from Japan. They take these translations back to Japan. We don't know how much of an influence these translations had on Adam or how much he influences the texts."
Jenkins also shared that the rise of Islam in the seventh century did not lead to immediate conflict with Christians. The variable that created much of the conflict, according to Jenkins, was the Mongol invasion of the Middle East during the 13th century.
"From 1260 - 1300, it looks as if Asia is going to be a Christian culture," Jenkins said. "There are several Mongol Christian Kings. In 1300 things start going very wrong and Mongols convert to Islam. There is global climate change in what is known as the little ice age. The average temperatures fall. It is harder to keep crops growing as the growing season is shorter. Cities shrink and there is a starving population. In these times, people look for the minorities that made God angry. Christians kill Jews in Europe. In Asia, Muslims kill Christians."
Jenkins asked those in attendance how they are to view this great lost Christendom in terms of God's guiding hand.
"If we assume the heart of the Christian world was centered around the Middle East and it went from Christian to Muslim," he said. "How are we to understand that? Perhaps Islam was in God's plan. Perhaps that region of churches was just incredibly sinful and destroyed. I prefer to say that our puzzlement is that we are working on a human timescale. We don't know when they are going to come back. In China, Christianity flourishes for 200 years, and then disappears for 200 years. And then it flourishes for 200 years. This cycle has repeated five times and each time we say that's the end of Christianity in China."
In nearly 30 years at Pennsylvania State University, Jenkins has published more than 20 books and approximately 120 book chapters and referenced articles. He has also delivered more than 100 papers to scholarly gatherings and professional associations. Among his presentations are Globalization and the Transformation of Christianity to the Foreign Policy Research Institute and The Competition for Converts between Christianity and Islam at the Harvard Academy Seminar on Globalization and Culture. He has also spoken frequently on aspects of global Christianity and the expansion of Christianity in the global South.
He received his B.A. in History and Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic Studies, M.A. and Ph.D. in History from the University of Cambridge.
Named in honor of E. Hervey Evans, the Fellowship recognizes people "who are known for the rigor of their intellect, for the depth and breadth of their concerns and competency, and who have gained broad recognition for their wisdom in relating the humane values of the Judeo-Christian tradition to the pressing issues of our time."
About St. Andrews Presbyterian College
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On Aug. 29, 1958, the merger between Presbyterian Junior College and Flora Macdonald College became official with the formation St. Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, N.C. Further information may be obtained by visiting the College's website www.sapc.edu, calling 800-763-0198 or sending an e-mail to info@sapc.edu.
