In the second book of his Future of Christianity Trilogy, The New Faces of Christianity, Philip Jenkins draws a distinction between the Christians of the North and the Christians of the global South. The sharp contrast is between the “worldly wise” of the North and the “godly foolish” of the South.
In the growing North-South confrontation, Southern conservatives find ample justification in the language of scripture, noting the hostility between the worldly-wise and the (godly) foolish, those who remain unseduced by secular learning. Using the Pauline epistles, Nigerian church leaders identify modern liberal Westerners with the pagan Greeks of old: “[In] spite of their pride in their wisdom (the Greek love of sophia) they had become utterly foolish. The last stage had been reached.” To adapt the famous image offered by Tertullian, that great African thinker, Christians of the global South are citizens of Jerusalem, and they follow the Bible; Americans and Europeans, residents of Athens, obey secular texts. And what has Athens to do with Jerusalem?
Perhaps we are just too “sophisticated” for our own good? Too many strategies, conferences, plans, books, systems, mechanisms, communications. What do you think?