ABSTRACT
For centuries Christianity has been the religion which defined European civilization, but now the centre of gravity of the faith is shifting from the northern hemisphere to the southern. It is estimated that there are now nearly 461 million Christians in Africa-some 46.3 per cent of the continent’s population-with over 15 countries having Christianity as their dominant religion. With this shift new forms of Christianity are emerging that maintain ancient traditions, yet reflect the very different experiences of the cultures within which they are being formed. To take Africa and South America first, these two very different continents, with utterly different histories, were both evangelized by European missionaries who have left their mark on the faith of succeeding generations. Now both continents are open to the outreach of new waves of evangelism, often from North America, and in their turn are exporting their own forms of Christianity back to the countries from which the original missionaries came. Some of the forms of Christianity practised there are very conservative, both socially and theologically, while others are novel and often syncretistic.
