printChristianity’s transformation in the XXI century:
the phenomenon of the “Christianity of South”
Andreeva L.A.
Prof., Ph.D., Dr. Sc. Leading researcher, Institute of Africa, Center for Civilization and Regional Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia larchen1969@gmail.com
Andreeva L.A. Christianity’s transformation in the XXI century: the phenomenon of the “Christianity of South”. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2017. No 5. P. 76-83
The article is devoted to the process of changing traditional ethnic and geographic localization of Christianity at the beginning of the XXI century, the transition of the center of Christianity from the “global North” to the “global South’s” countries and the formation of the new trend in Christianity, i.e. “Southern Christianity” as a result. Christianity moves rapidly from the lifestyle based on the European model (i.e. anthropocentrism, ideological tolerance, democracy, human rights, consumer society). It moves beyond the established traditional institutional forms that existed for centuries. “Southern Christianity” is the religion of the poor and disadvantaged people, and the evangelical poverty for those is not a metaphor. The conclusions, which are based on the analysis of religiosity “of the Southern Christians”, reveal not only geographical, but also profound qualitative differences between the “Southern Christianity” and the “Northern Christianity” of the Global West. The results of the analysis allow us to define the “Southern Christianity” as the new emerging global reality and as the “Next Christianity” and to conclude that the “Southern Christianity” is compatible with the so-called “traditional Christianity” of the “Global North” to a small extent. This transition of the “center of gravity” to the “Global South” threatens the traditional Christianity with archaization, which is understood as a decline of Christianity.
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