KEKRISTENAN GLOBAL: SEBUAH PERSPEKTIF EROPA

Abstract

Philip Jenkins shows in his book The Next Christendom, that the gravity of Christianity has moved Southward with the consequence that also the character of Christianity has changed to a more biblical Christianity. In this article there is a reaction form the perspective of the Old Christianity, from an European perspective. The viewpoint of the author is as follows: 1) the missiological challenge of the shift of Christianity is the hermeneutic communication between Northern and Southern Christians; 2) The struggle between Northern and Southern Christians is about the values of modernity and 3) European theologians cannot simple return to pre-modern values, stick to modern universalism or be satisfied with post-modern relativity, but move beyond modern values and develop further a trans-modern hermeneutic. He gives his argument in five steps. First the history of political colonization and de-colonization: Christianization and modernization. Secondly the spiritual de-colonization in the world today: The West and the rest of the world. Thirdly Christian migrants in the Netherlands because they represent the New Christendom in Europe: African Christians in the Netherlands. Next the consequences for inter-national relations: Theology and pastoral ministry. Finally he presents an alternative framework: trans-modernity. In the conclusion is made clear, that Europeans can learn much from non-Western Christians, but that non-Western people also can learn from the particular European history of emancipation.