Overview
Christianity's demographics, vitality, and influence have tipped markedly toward the global South and East. Addressing this seismic shift, one of America's leading church historians shows how studying world Christianity changed and enriched his understanding of the nature of the faith as well as of its history.
Mark Noll illustrates the riches awaiting anyone who gains even a preliminary understanding of the diverse histories that make up the Christian story. He shows how coming to view human culture as created by God was an important gift he received from the historical study of world Christian diversity, which then led him to a deeper theological understanding of Christianity itself. He also offers advice to students who sense a call to a learned vocation.
This is the third book in the Turning South series, which offers reflections by eminent Christian scholars who have turned their attention and commitments beyond North America.
Mark Noll illustrates the riches awaiting anyone who gains even a preliminary understanding of the diverse histories that make up the Christian story. He shows how coming to view human culture as created by God was an important gift he received from the historical study of world Christian diversity, which then led him to a deeper theological understanding of Christianity itself. He also offers advice to students who sense a call to a learned vocation.
This is the third book in the Turning South series, which offers reflections by eminent Christian scholars who have turned their attention and commitments beyond North America.
Table of Contents
Contents
Introduction
1. Cedar Rapids
2. Rescued by the Reformation
3. First Teachers
4. Settling In
5. Moving Out I
6. Looking North: A Guide
7. Looking North: Insight
8. Moving Out II
9. Moving Out III
10. Missiology Helping History
11. Courses and Classrooms
12. Experts
13. By the Numbers
14. Looking South: A Guide
15. Looking South: Academic Insights
16. China Watching
17. Explorations with Pen in Hand
18. Notre Dame
19. The Story So Far
Appendix: Checklist of Publications on World Christian Themes
Index
Introduction
1. Cedar Rapids
2. Rescued by the Reformation
3. First Teachers
4. Settling In
5. Moving Out I
6. Looking North: A Guide
7. Looking North: Insight
8. Moving Out II
9. Moving Out III
10. Missiology Helping History
11. Courses and Classrooms
12. Experts
13. By the Numbers
14. Looking South: A Guide
15. Looking South: Academic Insights
16. China Watching
17. Explorations with Pen in Hand
18. Notre Dame
19. The Story So Far
Appendix: Checklist of Publications on World Christian Themes
Index
Endorsements
"Many of us have learned so much from what Mark Noll has taught us about the past. But now we have the book that we have been hoping he would also write: a marvelous, personal account of his own journey thus far, from his early days as a teenage baseball fan in Iowa to his groundbreaking work as a gifted historian of global Christianity."
Richard J. Mouw, professor of faith and public life, Fuller Theological Seminary
"Mark Noll takes his readers on a fascinating journey in which they can share his enthusiasm of discovery regarding one of the most remarkable developments within recent memory: the burgeoning of Christianity around the globe. Noll's range of expertise is truly wonderful, and he offers a host of insights along the way."
George Marsden, professor of history emeritus, University of Notre Dame
"Yes, I'm prejudiced. I know that any new book by Mark Noll is undoubtedly a cause for excitement, both for myself and for anyone interested in the history of Christianity. I am especially delighted by From Every Tribe and Nation, which takes the literature on world Christianity to a whole new level. The book's foundation is the modern-day evolution of Christianity into a global faith, and it asks the essential 'So what?' questions about the implications of this overwhelming fact. Readable, insightful, and often moving."
Philip Jenkins, distinguished professor of history, Baylor University
"Experience is all. From Every Tribe and Nation is a spirited tale told in the first person of how a boy who grew up in a Baptist community in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, came to know, in his life and in his scholarship, the truth of the words of Revelation, 'By your blood you ransomed for God saints from every tribe and language and people and nation.' Noll is a good storyteller, and his lively accounts of Christian life and witness across the globe, in Asia and Africa and Eastern Europe, will delight and inspire readers."
Robert Louis Wilken, William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of the History of Christianity Emeritus, University of Virginia
"Mark Noll invites us to join him on the intellectual and spiritual journey that led him to realize that Christianity from its origin onward must be understood and evaluated as both cross-cultural and global. Noll points out significant signposts along the way that encouraged him to reconsider the methodologies he employed as a historian of Christianity and to embrace an approach that combines serious historical scholarship with greater attention to broad and local contexts, empathetic interpretation, thoughtful criticism, and history as theology. As an 'autobiographical memoir,' this engaging book gives insight into the mind of an important scholar today, but it also summons historians and scholars in other fields to assess the approaches they take in the study of Christianity."
Karen Westerfield Tucker, professor of worship, Boston University
"Mark Noll applies his characteristically meticulous attention to precision and complexity to the story of his own journey of engagement with world Christianity. What emerges is fascinating. We get a rare glimpse into the mind and heart of a historian as he reflects on the intertwining of his own professional and personal story with the story of world Christianity. The book leaves us hungry to know more--more about how the study of history can enrich our own spiritual journeys, more about the rich and unfolding story of a changing scholarly and pedagogical orientation toward world Christianity, and more about the power of the gospel as the incarnate Word both finds itself 'at home' in and at the same time transcends the particularities of every culture of the globe. This book has the potential to kindle many productive conversations among friends and colleagues in both the church and the academy!"
Shirley A. Mullen, president, Houghton College
"Mark Noll's story of how he came to engage world Christianity is powerful and instructive--and a delight to read. It should be required reading for seminarians and widely discussed in churches interested in the global contours of the Christian faith. Here we witness how thinking changed, but much more--how a life was reordered and transformed."
Nathan O. Hatch, president, Wake Forest University
Author
Mark A. Noll
Mark A. Noll (PhD, Vanderbilt University) is research professor of history at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, and professor of history emeritus at the University of Notre Dame. He is the author or coauthor of dozens of books, including America's God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind, and Is the Reformation Over?