The Shift from the West:The New Christianity
The history of Christianity until about 1600 tends to focus on developments in Europe. This is unhelpful in a number of ways, not least in that it tends to suggest that Christianity is essentially a European religion. This is clearly not true. It is a faith which originated in the Middle East, which adapted itself remarkably well to the European context – so well that many naturally assume that it originated in, and has come to be defined by, this context. Yet Europe is ultimately only one of a number of contexts in which Christianity has settled and developed. Others must be noted, especially in North Africa and parts of the Middle East.
The great European missionary ventures of the early modern period, initially on the part of the Catholic church, and subsequently by Protestants, vastly extended the geo- graphical range of the Christian faith. Yet in most cases, the forms of Christianity planted in European colonies bore a marked resemblance to their homeland. It was as if European church practices, architecture, and traditions were parachuted into alien territory. As we noted earlier, most missionaries were far from being complicit in colonialism. Yet there was always a temptation for missionaries in Latin America and Africa to rely on what had been tried and tested in a European context.
