Comparing the spread of Christianity to the East to its more successful spread to the West, Montgomery illustrates the uneven diffusion of one of the world's most influential and successful religions. Through his sociological analysis, the author examines the causes for Christianity's success to the West and its relative failings in major societies to the east of Jerusalem, including India, Persia, and China. Applying five variables, including Christianity's missionary orientation, geography, intersocietal relations, sociocultural structures, and individual perceptions, Montgomery provides a theory of the diffusion of religion in general, and of Christianity in particular. Beginning by laying out the variables he will apply to the study, Montgomery carefully explains his approach, introducing the reader to this unique field of study. He then moves on to examine Christianity's earliest spread to areas east of Jerusalem. An examination of the rise of Islam in the East precedes a comparative analysis of the success of Christianity in its spread to the West to its relative failure to spread to the East. He concludes with a discussion of religious pluralism. Groundbreaking in its attempt to establish a better understanding of religious diffusion, this work will be indispensable to those interested in the study of sociology of religions, religious studies, missionary studies, and Christianity.

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Jesus Christ is the most famous person in human history. His favorite name for himself was “the Son of Man” or the “the Human One.” Rarely did his followers call him that, but it must have had great significance for him. This book describes why this name was so important and what it means for us now. Along with this favorite name, this book shows how Jesus Christ fulfills human longing, but at the same time is resisted by his own followers to this day. Nevertheless, his call to follow him has sounded down the centuries and been heeded by millions. The book leads to an exploration of the Way that is found in Jesus Christ, who called himself “the Human One.”

The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion offers a comprehensive exploration of the dynamics of religious conversion, which for centuries has profoundly shaped societies, cultures, and individuals throughout the world. Scholars from a wide array of religions and disciplines interpret both the varieties of conversion experiences and the processes that inform this personal and communal phenomenon. This volume examines the experiences of individuals and communities who change religions, those who experience an intensification of their religion of origin, and those who encounter new religions through colonial intrusion, missionary work, and charismatic and revitalization movements. The thirty-two innovative essays provide overviews of the history of particular religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Sikhism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, indigenous religions, and new religious movements. The essays also offer a wide range of disciplinary perspectives-psychological, sociological, anthropological, legal, political, feminist, and geographical-on methods and theories deployed in understanding conversion, and insight into various forms of deconversion.

Advanced Missiology draws the connections between the theory and practice of missions. Using the metaphor of a river, the book shows how theories “upstream” such as theology, education, anthropology, community development, and history have exerted an influence on missiology (and missiology, in turn, has gone back upstream to influence those disciplines). What causes these disciplines to converge in missiology is the goal of making disciples across cultures. Whereas missiologists are not always explicit about how their abstract theories actually relate to the task of making disciples across cultures, each chapter in Advanced Missiology shows how numerous theories, sub-fields, models, and strategies of missiology ultimately facilitate the Great Commission. The book argues that by using interdisciplinarity for this fundamental purpose, missiological studies will be more credible and useful. With contributions from: Rebecca Burnett Leanne Dzubinski Julie Martinez

Conversion has played a central role in the history of Christianity. In this first in-depth and wide-ranging narrative history, David Kling examines the dynamic of turning to the Christian faith by individuals, families, and people groups. Global in reach, the narrative progresses from early Christian beginnings in the Roman world to Christianity's expansion into Europe, the Americas, China, India, and Africa. Conversion is often associated with a particular strand of modern Christianity (evangelical) and a particular type of experience (sudden, overwhelming). However, when examined over two millennia, it emerges as a phenomenon far more complex than any one-dimensional profile would suggest. No single, unitary paradigm defines conversion and no easily explicable process accounts for why people convert to Christianity. Rather, a multiplicity of factors-historical, personal, social, geographical, theological, psychological, and cultural-shape the converting process. A History of Christian Conversion not only narrates the conversions of select individuals and peoples, it also engages current theories and models to explain conversion, and examines recurring themes in the conversion process: divine presence, gender and the body, agency and motivation, testimony and memory, group- and self-identity, "authentic" and "nominal" conversion, and modes of communication. Accessible to scholars, students, and those with a general interest in conversion, Kling's book is the most satisfying and comprehensive account of conversion in Christian history to date; this major work will become a standard must-read in conversion studies.

CONTENTS: Introduction Stephen J. Chester Conversion Studies, Pastoral Counseling, and Cultural Studies: Engaging and Embracing a New Paradigm Lewis R. Rambo Response to Rambo Phillis Isabella Sheppard Observations on "Conversion" and the Old Testament J. Andrew Dearman Response to Dearman Rajkumar Boaz Johnson The Conversion of Simon Peter Markus Bockmuehl Response to Bockmuehl Michael J. Gorman Zacchaeus's Conversion: To Be or Not To Be a Tax Collector (Luke 19:1-10) Wyndy Corbin Reuschling Response to Corbin Reuschling Elizabeth Musselman Palmer Towards Individual and Communal Renewal: Reflections on Luke's Theology of Conversion Frank D. Macchia Response to Macchia D. Christopher Spinks Was Paul a Convert? Scot McKnight Response to McKnight Eric James Greaux Sr. Romans 7 and Conversion in the Protestant Tradition Stephen J. Chester Response to Chester Mary Veeneman Ambrose, Paul, and the Conversion of the Jews J. Warren Smith Response to Smith George Kalantzis I Thank Christ Jesus our Lord: 1 Timothy 1:12-17 Eric James Greaux Sr.

Many church leaders are confused. Patterns of ministry which worked so well in the past are no longer effective. Churches which grew rapidly have ceased to grow. The culture of the Western world has changed. At its heart is a change in the nature of authority: from tradition and reason to the authority of personal experience. This book explores the changes in culture and church life. Rev Dr Philip Hughes, the senior research officer of the Christian Research Association outlines the problem the churches are facing. Rev Gary Bouma, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Monash University, and an Anglican Priest, charts the origins of the problem. The large part of the book is the work of Rev Dr Gerald Rose, a senior minister in the Churches of Christ in Victoria, Australia. Through careful observation and detailed interviews of ministers, he describes a range of ministry responses to the changing culture. He explores, not one solution, but many: the ministry of intentional mission, of the charismatic movement, of ministry based in relationships, and of ministry rooted in classical spirituality. This is a book which should be read by church leaders, ministers and pastors of all denominations. It provides great insight into the nature of contemporary culture and outlines positive pathways for ministry in the Western context.

This book explores the concept of diffused religion as it is found in contemporary society, resulting from a vast process of religious socialisation that continues to pervade our cultural reality. It provides a critical engagement with a framework of non-institutional religion that is based on values largely shared in society by being diffused through primary and secondary socialisation. Cipriani also contends that these very values which give form to diffused religion can also be seen in themselves as their own kind of religion. As a result, they go beyond secularisation and favour the religious continuum extending around the world of diffused religions. This work will be of great interest to scholars in the Sociology of Religion and to anyone wanting to learn more about the social aspects of religion.

This timely and authoritative resource combines both topical and country-by-country coverage to help readers understand the coexistence of church and state in nations around the world today. At a time when faith-based groups have become more politically active in the United States, and with religious conflicts at the epicenter of many of the world's most dangerous hotspots, Religion and the State: An International Analysis of Roles and Relationships could not be more welcomed or timely. Country by country, faith by faith, it unravels the historic underpinnings and long-range effects of the relationship between religious principles and the operations of government in its many guises worldwide. The work combines topical essays on significant developments in the confluence of religion and law throughout the world with short descriptions of each countries' current treatment of religion. Readers can investigate specific nations, compare situations across nations, and explore key issues in the pervasive, often controversial relationship between religion and government.