The book describes the Christian movement from New Testament times and the Gentile mission to developments in the Roman Empire. It expounds Christianity's eastward expansion and seminal interaction with Islam whose resistance encouraged Europe to embark on its maritime expansion to the East and the New World. Christianity followed Europe into the non‐Christian world, and became identified with the rising mercantilism and colonial empires. Missions gained—and lost—momentum by association with the slave trade and with related systems of native exploitation, acquiring range and imperial protectio ... More

The book describes the Christian movement from New Testament times and the Gentile mission to developments in the Roman Empire. It expounds Christianity's eastward expansion and seminal interaction with Islam whose resistance encouraged Europe to embark on its maritime expansion to the East and the New World. Christianity followed Europe into the non‐Christian world, and became identified with the rising mercantilism and colonial empires. Missions gained—and lost—momentum by association with the slave trade and with related systems of native exploitation, acquiring range and imperial protection, for example, but also by provoking local resistance. Conversely, the first mass conversion of New World Africans provided impetus for the missionary drive into Africa and Asia, culminating in the 20th-century post‐Western awakening. Nineteenth-century colonial empires masked the true potential of Christianity's indigenous appeal, though the adoption of vernacular Bible translation appealed to reserves of local initiative and persisted vigorously into the post‐colonial phase. The book follows the theme to post‐Maoist China and in developments in the global Pentecostal/Charismatic movement. All these manifestations paint the picture of World Christianity as a critical dynamic force in the 21st century.