Cooper, Associate Professor of World Christianity at Biblical Theological Seminary, has penned a clear, concise, and commendable book. It delivers just what it promises in its title and it does so with a writing style that is both engaging and smooth. The volume is ordered both chronologically and geographically. Chronologically, it has three sections: first through seventh centuries, eighth through fourteenth centuries, and fifteenth century up to the present. Geographically, the first two sections cover Asia, Africa, and Europe. The third part, as we might expect, adds Oceania, northern America, and Latin America. These three major chronological sections are sandwiched by a ten page introduction to “Christianity as a World Religion” (11–21) and a rather truncated less-than-two page “Conclusion” (243–244). I think most people will be crying for more after reading through the many suggestive themes that emerge in the prior chapters.
The prevailing conundrum of writing a book such as this is that you soon find out you are in a labyrinth that requires decisions at every turn, and there are many, many turns. Condensing all of Christian history, in all of the world, into 254 pages (including index, glossary and appendix) is both an impossible and an important task. What I say below is not meant as a long criticism, but as a help to bring the reader to an awareness of some of the many decisions that had to be made in a brief introductory volume like this.
Cooper made two critical decisions in the organization of this volume. First, regarding geography, he decided to use the United Nations geoscheme for nations. This is a fairly neutral sounding decision, but the divisions are made according to modern nation states, so at times it becomes awkward when writing about Christian history. The second major decision concerned periodization. The decision to have only three major divisions for all of Christian history may be as good as any other schema, for as soon as you add a fourth period, you must also add three to six more chapters to cover the geographic divisions. However, the first period covers the first through seventh centuries, and so the rise of Islam, conceptually, becomes part of the early church. Since the last section begins with the fifteenth century, the antecedents to the Reformation (as well as the Age of Exploration) become part of the modern (even contemporary) period. Again, these groupings are just the fallout from having to make so many major decisions.
Another decision Cooper made had to do with covering large continental masses within just a few pages. For example, the historian, Cooper here, has to answer this question: “How does one cover 600 years of history of Christianity in Europe in just twenty pages?” In this volume, the answer is to not cover each nation, but to lift up sample movements and events and then make some carefully worded generalizations. I think this is fair, but it is also very unsatisfying. Here is the “Chapter Overview” for Europe, from the fifteenth to the twenty-first centuries.
Naturally, a detailed study of Christianity at this time in Europe is well beyond the scope of this book, so we will focus on the most basic features of European Christianity. As we do so, try to imagine a continent completely divided in terms of ethnicity and language, but with a largely Christian culture intact. As the centuries pass and ideas, movements and brutal wars both enhance and devastate society, many Europeans begin to shy away from the Christian past and instead turn toward an uncertain religious future. (133)
The above quotation expresses, as well as anywhere else in the volume, how Cooper has framed the book: generalizations, guiding sentences, “Trail Markers” (short identification pieces), and writing about sample areas rather than a whole continent. This section on Europe is divided into the four compass regions and then sample countries are covered in each section. For the eastern section, there is one general paragraph and then Russia is covered. A good choice. Then for northern Europe, the author covers England (good choice), for western Europe, Germany (good choice), and for southern Europe, the former Yugoslavia. Three out of four are very reasonable choices. The former Yugoslavia is very important to modern politics and religion, but at the cost of skipping over Portugal, Spain, and Italy during the time of exploration and reformation, I believe, is a great loss. Some might argue that it misrepresents the period.
I think it is important to realize the difficulty of writing an introduction like this. Every decision leaves the author exposed to having offended most of the world. Latin America is represented by Brazil in the modern period (“What? They don't even speak Spanish!”), and Central America by Mexico. On pages 164 to 165, we move in three paragraphs from Pizarro to Liberation Theology. All historians will be sympathetic to the author's dilemma, if not delighted with the product.
Volumes like this are important and this now joins the many surveys, introductions, and thematic books—too many to list here—which are being produced in the growing area of world Christianity. Overall, the volume works for certain uses. I can see this as an introduction to Christianity or Christian history for an undergraduate program, or even to be used by community groups learning about each other's religious traditions. Lay leaders in a church may find it helpful to better understand Christianity as a global faith rather than as a declining western religion.
