By the year 2,050 only one Christian in five will be non-Latino and white, and the center of gravity of the Christian world will have shifted firmly to the Southern Hemisphere.

The Next Christendom is the first book to take the full measure of the changing face of the Christian faith. Philip Jenkins shows that the churches that have grown most rapidly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America are often more morally conservative and apocalyptic than their northern counterparts. Mysticism, puritanism, faith-healing, exorcism, and dream-visions--concepts which more liberal western churches have traded in for progressive political and social concerns--are basic to these newer churches. And the effects of such beliefs on global politics, Jenkins argues, will be enormous, as religious identification begins to take precedence over allegiance to secular nation-states. Indeed, as Christianity grows in regions where Islam is also expected to increase we may even see a return to the religious wars of the past, fought out with renewed intensity and high-tech weapons far surpassing the swords and spears of the middle ages.

"Philip Jenkins...reminds us that the war may not be huge, but it still rages in too many hearts."--The Philadelphia Inquirer

"A valuable and provocative look at the phenomenon widely ignored in the affluent North but likely to be of enormous importance in the century ahead.... The Next Christendom is chillingly realistic about the relationship between Christianity and Islam."--Russell Shaw, Crisis

"Jenkins is to be commended for reminding us, throughout the often gripping pages of this lively work of synthesis, that the history of Christianity is the history of innovative--and unpredictable--adaptions."--The New York Times Book Review

"If the times demand nothing less than a major rethinking of contemporary global history from a Christian perspective, Philip Jenkins's The Next Christendom will be one of the significant landmarks pointing the way."--Mark Noll, BooksandCulture

"Well formed, well supported by empirical evidence, and compellingly argued. The only criticism is the brevity of the book."--Library Journal (starred review)

"Meticulously researched...a wake-up call for northern Christians."--National Review

The first edition of The Next Christendom has been hailed as a landmark in our understanding of modern Christianity. In this new and substantially expanded second edition, Jenkins continues to illuminate the remarkable expanion of Christianity in the global South--in Africa, Asia, and Latin America--as well as the clash betwen Islam and Christianity since September 11. Among the major topics covered are the growing schism between Northern and Southern churches over issues of gender and sexuality, immigrant and ethnic churches in North America, and a special section on the split within the Anglican Communion. The first in a three-book trilogy on the changes besetting modern Christianity, this award-winning book will be welcomed by all of those who have come to recognize Philip Jenkins as one of our leading commentators on religion and world affairs.

Taking a global view, this volume is a landmark analysis of the enormous growth of Christianity in the southern hemisphere and its revolutionary implications for both the church and political landscape in the 21st century.

Philip Jenkins is Distinguished Professor of History and Religious Studies at Pennsylvania State University. He is the author of many books and articles, including Hidden Gospels, Pedophiles and Priests, and The New Anti-Catholicism. He lives in State College, PA.