Introduction to World Christian History by Derek Cooper

Introduction to World Christian History Reviews

• 
  James

  My grad school prided itself on its global Christian impact; yet the church history I learned there was a largely Western story. Certainly there was an acknowledgement  that Christendom's origins weren't in the West, and the church in Africa and Asia; yet more time and energy was spent unearthing the European story as the dominant narrative running through Christian history. This made a certain amount of sense. It was a school in the West and the West has pride of place in medieval and modern Christianity; however there was a richer story than the one I was, in large part, told.
  
  In 
  Introduction to World Christian History, Derek Cooper explores the global development 'across time and continents.' Cooper is the associate professor of world Christian history at Biblical Theological Seminary in Hatfield, Pennsylvania. As such, he is used to introducing  students to the diversity of the world Christian movement. For this book, he utilizes the United Nations Geo-scheme for Nations as a template for exploring Christian history in three periods: the first to the seventh , the eighth to the fourteenth, and the fifteenth to the twentieth centuries.  These division departs between the seventh and eighth centuries in his periods, de-centers the European story. Traditional church history treats the conversion of Constantine and the first Council (both fourth century) as
  a "watershed moment" in the Christian story (16). However Cooper observes these events may be overstated in global importance, particularly when you consider that the church was never coterminous with the Roman empire and the "councils never represented the whole church" (16-17).
  
  In part one, Cooper explores Christianity in the first to seventh centuries. He begins, in chapter one, with Asia as the birthplace and cradle of the Christian faith, describing the growth of the Christian movement in western Asia (i.e. president day Saudi Arabia and Turkey), central Asia (India and China) and Southern Asia (Iran).  Chapter two describes the deep roots of the African church (Northern Africa like Alexandria, Algeria and Tunisia, and the Eastern African church of Ethiopia. Chapter three examines the European story (in Eastern, Southern, Northern and Western Europe). In the early part of the Christian story Asian and African Christianity loom large.
  
  Part two examines again the regions of Asia, Africa and Europe, this time from the eighth to the fourteenth centuries. While Asian and African Christians were dominant in earlier times, this was a difficult period for both of them (i.e. the spread of Islam and other faiths, the Crusades, isolation of Asian Christian communities). Cooper writes, "Although it is not accurate to state that Christianity died in Asia at this time, it certainly diminished—and fairly rapidly and extensively so" (87). This is true of Africa as well. African Christians suffered severe persecution with the spread of Islam. In some areas the Christian faith was stamped out though a Christian witness remained in both Asia and Africa, though a chastened one.  It is in this era the European story becomes the dominant narrative of Christian history (chapter six).
  
  Part three describes Christianity from the Fifteenth to the Twenty-First Centuries. In this period global diversity explodes in the Christian movement. Cooper lays aside his tripartite division of Asia, Africa and Europe, adding region and scope. He begins with Europe (chapter seven) and traces the growth of  global Christianity through evangelization. He devotes a chapter each to Christianity in Latin America, Northern America, Oceania (Australia and New Zealand, Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia), Africa and Asia.
  
  This is a short book. about 250 pages for all of Christian history. As the title suggests this is an introduction to World Christian history, not the definitive word. By necessity Cooper gives us a bird's-eye-view of Christianity than a detailed analysis of every region; nevertheless he does give us a more robust sense of the global Christian movement through the ages. Theologians like Thomas Oden and historians like Phillip Jenkins have noted that the center of Christianity has shifted, in recent history, east and south. This is true, and Cooper would concur. However his 'at-a-glance' romp through church history reveals that the global character of Christianity is not a recent phenomenon, but one of its persistent features.
  
  This would be a good supplementary text for a Church history class, though it is an accessible read for anyone interested in Christian history. As a student, I would have used this book as a jumping-off-point for deeper research. Cooper uses contemporary names for regions and countries throughout makes this approachable for the non-scholar and ordinary reader. I give this four stars.
  
  Note I received this book from IVP Academic in exchange for my honest review.
• 
  Robert D. Cornwall

  There is a tendency to speak of Christianity as being a "Western" religion, by which most people think of Christianity as a European religion. The fact is, Christianity, like Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and a number of other major religions, is in fact an Asian-born religion. Its roots are in Asia and from there it spread south, east, west, and yes, north in the two millennia since its birth in the first century of the common era. Telling the story of Christianity is not easy for it is a diverse religion, spread across the globe. Christianity has ebbed and flowed in different parts of the world, its fortunes often related to other factors including migration, nationalism, as well as nature itself.
  
  As a Church historian I've read my share of histories. Some are long and detailed, others relatively brief. Each has its place and purpose, and such is the case with Derek Cooper's Introduction to World Christian History. Cooper introduces us to world Christianity in a matter of 244 pages. He covers a lot of ground, both chronologically and geographically. He rarely stops in one place for long. Sometimes he chooses to emphasize one particular country to illustrate what is happening in a broader region. For the most part he seems to cover the topics at hand with diligence and forthrightness. He does make an occasional mistake or at least it would seem to me that a mistake had been made (one glaring example concerns the suggestion that explorer Henry Stanley was a disciple of David Livingstone).
  
  What makes this book intriguing and somewhat unique is the way in which he lays out his study. He organizes the book according to the United Nations Geoscheme, exploring the place of Christianity as it exists in each subregion. To give an example, the UN Geoscheme organizes Asia according to five subregions: Central, Eastern, Southern, Southeastern, and Western.
  
  With this as the geographical scheme, the book is divided into three chronological parts. Part one covers Christianity from its birth in the first century to the seventh century. During this period Christianity existed in Asia, Africa, and Europe. It was, of course, in the seventh century that Islam began to make its push across Asia and northern Africa, overtaking what had previously been Christian strongholds. So we watch as Christianity moves outward, finding its earliest successes in Asia, including modern Turkey, and moving across northern Africa, with Egypt becoming a major success. While Cooper doesn't focus on theology, he does note that early Christianity was diverse, and often divided theologically, especially regard to the nature of Christ.
  
  Part two again focuses on the presence of Christianity in Asia, Africa, and Europe. It is in this period that runs from the eighth through the fourteenth centuries that Christianity makes its great inroads into Europe, even as it begins its long decline in Asia and Africa. Even as the former centers of Christianity, including the Holy Land, came under Islamic rule, culminating in the fall of the Byzantine Empire in the fifteenth century, Christianity came to dominate Europe, largely under Catholic influence, through the conversion of Germanic peoples, especially the Franks, which culminated in the crowning of Charlemagne as the Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III in 800 CE. While the Byzantine Empire pulled back during the Middle Ages, Orthodoxy spread north and east, finally taking root in Russia.
  
  There is a tendency to think of the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century as being the great divide within the Christian world, and it was a major fissure, but if we're thinking on a global scale, as Cooper wants to do, then it's not the Reformation that is the great chronological marker, it is the beginnings in the fifteenth century of the age of exploration. As Cooper reminds us, Protestantism remained a largely European and then North American phenomena long after Christianity was being spread by Roman Catholics in Africa, Latin America, North America, Asia, including India, and Oceania, long before Protestant missionaries began to go out in the eighteenth century.
  
  For the most part Cooper, who appears to be an evangelical, remains true to his promise not to "arbitrate among rival articulations of what it means to be a Christian" (p. 19). He doesn't place a grid of orthodoxy on the various claimants to Christianity. If you make the claim, he counts you. In doing so, he allows for us to explore the global expansion of Christianity in all its forms. For many Christians reading this book will introduce them to forms of Christianity that have great ancient lineages, and have existed in places like Iraq and India and Ethiopia from almost the beginnings of the Church. It will also be helpful in letting go of the idea that Christianity is a European/American religion.
  
  This last recognition is important because it is becoming clear that even as Christianity is in decline in Western Europe and North America, it is booming in the Global South and in Asia. Failure recognize this reversal of fortune will diminish our own sense of who we are as a Christian community. In many ways, the Christian community is returning to its roots.
  
  Of course a book this brief cannot cover every region in the same way. I wish more had been said about the spread of Christianity in Oceania. In regards to Southeastern Asia, while the Philippines is certainly in need of exploration, I was hoping for something to be said about Christian presence in Vietnam.
  
  All in all, I believe this book will serve nicely as an introduction to world Christianity, as its title indicates!
  
  
  
• 
  Lisa

  I’m often asked for history books to recommend and find it hard to navigate the tension between readability and thoroughness/accuracy. Cooper’s Book is really well organized, contains interesting tidbits of stories as well as laying out the big picture efficiently enough that an educated non-historian can read it. This will be my new go-to book.
• 
  Nick Eshnaur

  A sterile, yet informative, overview of the spread of Christianity demarcated into three historical periods.
• 
  Stan

  Introduction to World Christian History is, for me, a fascinating book. Derek Cooper is the first author I have read who approaches this subject in the way he does, which is different than other books I have read on Church History.
  
  Church History often approaches the subject from the author's view of which "Church" was the correct expression of Christianity. Cooper does not make such judgments in this book. He touches on differences of belief, but does not explore such differences in depth. Allowing all who call themselves Christians to be represented (though he does not spend much time on groups like Gnostics or the most recent Western developments like LDS or JW). Taking this approach allows him to present the global presence of Christianity in a way that reveals what so many other Church History books fail to communicate - Christianity has held a global presence from its earliest years.
  
  Cooper approaches this global presence using the UN global scheme of regions. While this may seem odd at first, it actually reads very well.
  
  Also, Cooper does not divide History according to the divisions often used in Western oriented Church Histories. He considers global history and its impact on global Christianity. Approaching the subject in this way, he addresses Christianity from its beginning to the seventh century, the eight through the fourteenth centuries, and the fifteenth century to the present. On a global scale, Cooper considers the development and rise of Islam as more important than the fall of the Roman Empire. He also considers the exploration of the Spanish and Portuguese accompanied by Catholic missionaries as more important than the Protestant Reformation, where the impact on global Christianity is concerned.
  
  Add all of these factors together and you have a very unique (in my reading experience) book about World Christian History. If I have one negative thing to say about this book it is simply this - I'd love to see a readable three volume (or more) set dealing with Christian History in this format with sections that delve more deeply into both local history and theological distinctions. That would be a massive undertaking, but Cooper writes neutrally about the various "churches" and may just be the man to write such a set.
  
  I recommend this highly. Enjoy!
• 
  Andrew

  Derek Cooper's An Introduction to World Christian History overviews two thousand years not only at 30,000 feet but at 500 miles an hour. You better not blink or you will miss a century or two.
  
  The merits of Cooper's volume are many. First, it is extremely well balanced, giving as much coverage to Asia and Africa as to Europe. For example, the steady spread of Christianity into Central, Southern and Eastern Asia in the first seven centuries by the Church of the East (often called Nestorians) reveals the largest and widest expanse of the church at that time. Christianity in Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, Nubia and Northern Africa receives equal attention.
  
  Second, all groups who self-identify as Christian are in his scope, regardless of how they might have been viewed by other Christians. This gives the widest possible range and thus allots space to many who are neglected in traditional Western-oriented histories. Third, you get a massive sweep quickly.
  
  Because of his global approach, he divides the epochs of Christian history differently than many. Constantine is mostly significant in the West, and the East-West division of 1054 was not important to much of Asia and Africa. Instead, what had the most significant impact on Christianity East, West, and South during the first millennium? Islam. So a major division comes in the seventh century. The fifteenth century forms the other break, due to the fall of Christian Byzantium to Islam and for the age of European exploration that ultimately took Christianity to the Americas, Oceana and more.
  
  The book could have been improved with the addition of maps, especially since the book is organized as much geographically as it is chronologically. Also China is given a subsection in each of the first two parts of the book, but curiously it did not get such attention in the last part covering the modern era.
  
  What is clear in Cooper's narrative is the wide diversity of Christian expressions from the very beginning. Divisiveness was not just a Protestant innovation. Even from the earliest stages divisions and arguments arose among Christ followers. Dozens of groups and factions emerged early and often.
  
  Cooper also emphasizes how this conflict and territoriality (instead of cooperation and mutual support) among Christian groups hurt the church worldwide. When external cultural and religious forces began bearing down on Christians, they often had less strength than they might have had to face these challenges. A cautionary tale for us all.
• 
  Rennae de Freitas

  Cooper’s unique strategy for telling the story of Christianity offers a new vantage point for the study of Church history. He reveals the significance of the Church of the East, the Christian kingdom of Aksum in Ethiopia, and the relationship of the Mongol Khans with Christians in Central Asia to contribute to this unconventional history of Christianity. Additionally, Cooper presents the Western contributions to this narrative in the broader context of global Christianity rather than through Eurocentric Christianity.
  
  Furthermore, this book includes seldom-mentioned figures, organizations, movements, and developments that encourage further research. For instance, Cooper (2016, 259) includes the story of Birgitta of Sweden who emerged in the 1300s “as perhaps the most famous woman writer in medieval Scandanavia.” After reading her story in this book, I wanted to know more and understand more about the influence of women during medieval history. Birgitta serves as only one example of the many oft-forgotten people and places that Cooper includes in his book.
  
  Additionally, Cooper delivers this extensive narrative in an accessible fashion. The arduous task of delivering a broad and global narrative presents many challenges. Yet Cooper seems to understand his complex task. He presents the material as a master teacher and directs the reader to connect with the story. I especially appreciated how he specifically asks the reader to consider the circumstances of each context and draws them away from traditional frameworks of understanding.
• 
  Y.R.M. Breemes

  I really liked this book, in the first place: as a European Christian and pastor to be i am used to read about church history from a eurocentric protestant point of view. i think its great Cooper walks through the whole history and all the regions of the world. The downside is ofcourse that you want to read more about certain traditons and regions and there isn't space for that. I think it therefore would have been a great addition if Cooper would have placed a 'booklist' at the end of the book, if you want to dig deeper into certain traditions or regions.
• 
  Kent

  Two clear goals of the book: 1) to introduce the reader to the history of Christianity all around the globe; 2) to disabuse the reader of notions that Christianity's strength is always Western. As to the first, this IS a great introduction to Christianity, the author guiding the reader continent by continent. I loved learning about the progress and state of Christianity in places like Ethiopia, Mexico, India, Korea, Japan, South Africa, Oceania, Egypt, Brazil, Cuba, Kazakhstan, etc. As to the second goal, the author over-stresses his legitimate point.
  
  The book doesn't arbitrate disputes and theological controversies (such as Christological ones), but charts uncritically the various Christian denominations (Orthodox, Church of the East, Catholic, Protestant, etc.). Footnotes provide a good bibliography should further reading about a particular region be desired. The author doesn't gloss over the ugly aspects of church history, though his take on the Crusades, while popular today, is incorrect. (For a better study of the Crusades, see Rodney Stark's God's Battalions.)
• 
  Audrey Johnson

  4 stars because it has really good information if this is the kind of thing you like… but if you don’t find all of this interesting ITS BORING AS HECK.
  The parts that grabbed my attention I really did enjoy learning about but everything else made me want to jump off a cliff soooo
• 
  Hope Willert

  As someone who is looking into doing missions work in the future, this was a good read. Very interesting to read about how Christianity has spread across the world and in different cultures.
• 
  Preston Young

  Great book on viewing Christianity, not as an American religion, but a truly worldwide movement. Amazing and well-written!
• 
  George P.

  Derek Cooper, Introduction to World Christian History (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2016).
  
  Derek Cooper begins his Introduction to World Christian History with a thought-provoking quote:
  

  In just over 100 years, the map of world Christianity has changed almost out of recognition. In 1900, it is estimated that 70 percent of all Christians were to be found in Europe … whereas … by 2025 Africa and Latin America will be vying with one another to claim the most Christians, having about a quarter each of the world’s Christian population (p. 11, quoting Sebastian Kim and Kirsteen Kim, Christianity as a World Religion).

  
  Given this monumental demographic shift, Christianity must be understood broadly as a global movement, rather than narrowly as a Western one.
  
  Unfortunately, too many evangelical histories of Christianity continue to evince a Eurocentric bias in their presentation. (The same can be said of other Christian traditions too, of course.) They trace the Church’s story from first-century Judea (where the Church was born) to fourth-century Rome (where orthodoxy formed a problematic relationship with the State) to medieval Europe (where Catholic Christendom flourished) to early modern Northern Europe (where the Reformation took root) to Enlightenment-era Britain and America (where evangelicalism began) to today—that is to say, they trace the history from “them” to “us.” That story is true, as far as it goes, but it leaves a lot of vital information out, about both past and present realities of the Church.
  
  The emerging field of “world Christian history” or “global Christian history” seeks to correct this Eurocentric bias and provide a more accurate history of the development of Christianity. “Despite its close connection to the West today, Christianity has always been a global and ethnically diverse religion,” Derek Cooper writes. “The time has come for the church to recognize that its history extends far beyond the Western hemisphere. The church was planted in Asia, nurtured in African and harvested worldwide” (p. 13).
  
  A thorough history of world Christianity would be a multi-volume affair. See, for example, Dale T. Irvin and Scott W. Sunquist’s projected World Christian Movement, whose first two volumes total 1,000 pages, with a third volume still awaiting publication. Even readers with an interest in the topic do not always have the time or patience to read long books like those. They should begin, instead, with Cooper’s Introduction to World Christian History, which summarizes the main points of world Christian history in less than 250 pages.
  
  Cooper arranges his narrative chronologically and geographically. Chronologically, he divides his material into “three fluid periods: (1) the first to seventh centuries, (2) the eighth through fourteenth centuries, and (3) the fifteenth to the twenty-first centuries” (p. 16). Geographically, he divides his material using the United Nations Geoscheme for Nations. Part 1 and 2 examine the development of Christianity in Asia, Africa, and Europe during the church’s first fifteen centuries. Part 3 begins in Europe, which is where Christianity had become spiritually and politically dominant, but then traces the Church’s development into new fields in Latin America, North America, Oceania, Southern Africa, and Asia. The Church’s development in this period coincided with European colonialism, which—paradoxically—constituted both an obstacle to the acceptance of Christianity by the indigenous peoples (because it was associated with foreign domination) as well as the catalyst for its growth (because indigenous peoples took the missionaries’ gospel and made it their own).
  
  Reflecting on this history, Cooper concludes his book with words that are worth quoting:
  

  Christianity does not belong to Europe or America, or to Asia or Africa or Oceania any more than the wind can be captured, claimed and bottled. The wind [of the Holy Spirit] continues to blow today, just as it did in the past. We can hear the sound of it and witness how it transforms peoples and cultures. But we do not know how long the wind will remain with us and where it will go next (p. 244).

  
  Wherever the Wind may blow, Christians should pray and work so that the Wind carries them along with it.
  
  _____
  P.S. This review is cross-posted at
  InfluenceMagazine.com.
  
  P.P.S. If you found this review helpful,
  please vote “Yes” on my Amazon.com review page.
• 
  Jimmy Reagan

  This book serves as a short introduction to Christian history and actually covers that territory in 250 pages. It’s other unique feature is the extent it goes to prove that Christianity has a global rather than a western history.
  
  The volume was successful in proving what we often forget–Christianity has had peak periods all over the world. I personally wasn’t aware how some areas, like, for example, the Far East, had periods of flourishing in Christianity. The history is presented in broad sweeps, but you could easily get the big picture and know where to pursue other studies.
  
  Reading a broad introduction also made it easy to notice trends. I was amazed how getting close to any government often spelled a sudden destruction of Christianity. There was proof given too of how European countries that once were highly Christian are now mostly secular.
  
  The downside of the book is that it makes no distinction of anything ever called Christian. It passes no judgment except where western excesses were presented, or so it seemed to me. In an effort to make a global case, it was too threadbare in presenting American Christianity.
  
  Still, it is a great book for a broad perspective and a global emphasis.
  
  I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
• 
  David Withun

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• 
  Yanan Rahim

  Good overview of church history through non-western eyes. But it's just an overview.