Global Christianity: A Guide to the World’s Largest Religion from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, by Gina Zurlo

Abstract

Gina Zurlo’s comprehensive and readily available new book, Global Christianity: A Guide to the World’s Largest Religion from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, is a popular-level reference for understanding the “contemporary trends in the world’s largest religion” and analyzing “how Christianity has changed over the twentieth century and continues to change today” (xv). Chock-full of important facts; colorful maps, graphs, and charts; and demographic data regarding four major Christian traditions, two Christian movements, six continents, and 234 countries, Global Christianity distills an immense amount of information and covers a broad range of inquiries, from questions such as “How many Evangelicals are situated in North America?” and “What is the projected growth of the Christian population in comparison to Islam in Africa by 2050?” to more context-specific questions such as “What does Christianity look like in a Muslim-dominant nation such as Indonesia?”Drawing from the United Nations demographic database and research conducted by the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, which has produced some widely utilized resources such as the third edition of the World Christian Encyclopedia and the World Christian Database, Zurlo’s work has put quantitative research on Christianity at arm’s reach of both scholars and the general public. Global Christianity bases its work on the social-scientific principle of self-identification in quantifying religious affiliation and in determining who Christians are. Methodical in its approach, this book is arranged into three distinct parts: “Christianity by Continent,” “Christianity by Tradition and Movement,” and “Christianity by Country,” with the last part occupying a substantial portion of the book.The first part sheds light on the reality that “Christianity has shifted from a tradition that was once majority global North to one that is majority global South” (4). This claim is supported through the close treatment of six continents (Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America, and Oceania) and the corresponding demographic data that demonstrate the gradual decline in the number of Christians in the global North and the significant growth of Christianity in the global South during a period of just more than a century. Simple yet practical information presented in this part includes the number of missionaries received and sent, the number of Bible translations, and a list of Christian families in the various continents.The second part, titled “Christianity by Tradition and Movement,” categorizes world Christianity into four major traditions: Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and Independents. While the first three might be more commonly known, the “Independents” group consists of diverse Christian traditions who self-identify as Christians but are “independent of historic, organized, institutionalized, and denominational Christianity” (22). Examples of such churches include the African Independent Churches (AIC), the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), and the Anglican Church of North American (ACNA). The section also describes two Christian movements—Evangelicals and Pentecostals/Charismatics—that overlap with the four major Christian traditions.The final part (a total of 284 pages) can be considered the crux of this book, as it examines 234 nations in alphabetical order from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, not overlooking newly formed nations such as South Sudan, Kosovo, Timor-Leste, and Montenegro. The countries the book seeks to cover are thoughtfully laid out. Countries with larger Christian populations (from one hundred thousand to over five million) generally occupy one to two pages, and countries with smaller Christian populations (less than one hundred thousand) are introduced in half a page. Regardless of the Christian population, however, each entry features a brief introduction and history of Christianity, overall religious trends, and some notable facts regarding the “wider socio-political-religious understanding of Christianity in its specific context” (xv).Readers should not be intimated by the length of the book nor by the numerous graphs and charts it includes, as books such as this are not meant to be read from cover to cover. Rather, the book is best used as an up-to-date source targeted for nonacademics, specifically with the “American churches, Christian organizations, and individuals” (xv) in mind. Global Christianity has indeed made the lengthy (and significantly more expensive!) World Christian Encyclopedia more accessible and easier on the eye, with the added benefit of covering local realities and important historical, economic, social, and political factors that are often intertwined with Christianity. In addition, Zurlo’s intentional emphasis on oft-omitted facts on Christian women and their contribution must not be overlooked.For students and scholars of world Christianity, it is important to note that Zurlo does not make a distinction between “global Christianity” and “world Christianity,” but uses them interchangeably throughout her work. And even though Zurlo’s goal is not to provoke any theological debate on who can be identified as a Christian, her data should be taken with a grain of salt, as numbers can often be misleading or might not capture the entirety, especially in contexts with socioreligious complexities and issues regarding religious freedom and interreligious violence. Yet, her accessible and drive-through style offers a quick and easy way for anyone to be informed and serves as a helpful entryway to understanding world Christianity. Furthermore, information that is less frequently addressed, such as data on physicians per thousand people and the gender gap index, might serve as helpful tools for inviting further research on Christianity worldwide.