PPR485 World Christianity: Local Issues and Global Processes

Objectives

This module provides an opportunity for students at postgraduate level to widen their understanding of contemporary Christianity and engage with key issues, both local and global that shapes Christianity today. It introduces students to some of the most central themes and issues which arise in the study of World Christianity. This course will give a broad perspective on the political, social and cultural context of Christianity as experienced in the world today and the impact it has on the peoples who inhabit different geographical areas. Following topics would be covered in this course;

• Secularization and De-secularization
• Religion, Violence and War
• Religion and Globalization
• Christianity and Culture
•  Caste and Christianity
• Multi–Religious Context
• Religious Conversions: History and Politics
• Postcolonial and Subaltern Hermeneutics
• Diaspora Christianity

The course as a whole will help students engage with questions about the lived experience of Christian communities around the world especially in the context of the complex socio-economic forces. The focus will be on questions such as, What are the challenges, both traditional and modern that face Christianity as a religion, especially one that has high levels of diversity, and a constant battle between secularisation and commercialisation? In many parts of the world where Christianity is a minority religion, and what implications does this have for other societies, including Western ones?

Select Bibliography:

Beyer, P and Beaman, L (eds).Religion, Globalization and Culture. Leiden: Brill, 2007

Juergensmeyer, Mark. Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001

Ogbu U. Kalu (ed). Interpreting contemporary Christianity : global processes and local identities, Cambridge :William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2008

Cornille, Catherine (ed). Many mansions? : Multiple religious belonging and Christian identity, Maryknoll, N.Y. : Orbis Books, 2002.

Robinson, Rowena and Clarke, Sathianathan (eds). Religious conversion in India: Modes, Motivations and Meanings, edited by, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Sugirtharajah,R. S. The Bible and Empire: Postcolonial Theory and Practice, Cambridge : Cambridge University Press London, 2005

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