Christianities in Asia - Paperback

by Peter C. Phan (Editor)

Christianity in Asia explores the history, development, and current state of Christianity across the world's largest and most populous continent.

• Offers detailed coverage of the growth of Christianity within South Asia; among the thousands of islands comprising Southeast Asia; and across countries whose Christian origins were historically linked, including Vietnam, Thailand, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea
• Brings together a truly international team of contributors, many of whom are natives of the countries they are writing about
• Considers the Middle Eastern countries whose Christian roots are deepest, yet have turbulent histories and uncertain futures
• Explores the ways in which Christians in Asian countries have received and transformed Christianity into their local or indigenous religion
• Shows Christianity to be a vibrant contemporary movement in many Asian countries, despite its comparatively minority status in these regions

Back Jacket

The presence of Christianity in Asia is as old as Christianity itself, and yet despite its ancient roots, its following in this continent has taken many divergent paths. Christianity in Asia brings together a truly international team of contributors to explore the history and development of Christianity across the world's largest and most populous continent.

The book explores Christianity in the countries of South Asia - India and Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, and Sri Lanka - along with its growth across the thousands of islands comprising Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines. It also considers Christianity's role in countries whose Christian origins were historically linked, such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, China, Mongolia, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea. As a point of comparison, it also considers those Middle Eastern countries with the deepest Christian roots, yet whose histories are most turbulent. It is this breadth of coverage that offers readers such an illuminating overview into the impact and role of Christianity; showing it to be a vibrant contemporary movement in many Asian countries, despite its comparatively minority status in these regions.

Author Biography

Peter C. Phan holds the Ignacio Ellacuría Chair of Catholic Social Thought at Georgetown University. The first non-Anglo person to be elected President of Catholic Theological Society of America, his books include Mission and Catechesis (1999), Christianity with an Asia Face (2003), and Vietnamese-American Catholics (2005).