A Multitude of All Peoples: Engaging Ancient Christianity's Global Identity

Missiological Engagements

by Vince L. Bantu

Christianity Today Award of Merit Christianity is not becoming a global religion. It has always been a global religion. The early Christian movement spread from Jerusalem in every direction, taking on local cultural expression all around the ancient world. So why do so many people see Christianity as a primarily Western, white religion? In A Multitude of All Peoples , Vince Bantu surveys the geographic range of the early church's history, revealing an alternate, more accurate narrative to that of Christianity as a product of the Western world. He begins by investigating the historical roots of the Western cultural captivity of the church, from the conversion of Constantine to the rise of European Christian empires. He then shifts focus to the too-often-forgotten concurrent development of diverse expressions of Christianity across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. In the process, Bantu removes obstacles to contemporary missiological efforts. Focusing on the necessity for contextualization and indigenous leadership in effective Christian mission, he draws out practical lessons for intercultural communication of the gospel. Healing the wounds of racism, imperialism, and colonialism will be possible only with renewed attention to the marginalized voices of the historic global church. The full story of early Christianity makes clear that, as the apostle Peter said, "God does not show favoritism, but accepts those from every people who fear him and do what is right." Missiological Engagements charts interdisciplinary and innovative trajectories in the history, theology, and practice of Christian mission, featuring contributions by leading thinkers from both the Euro-American West and the majority world whose missiological scholarship bridges church, academy, and society.

Genres: Theology, History, Christian, Religion, Church History, Christianity, Nonfiction

265 pages, Paperback

Published March 10, 2020

Reviews

[Melody Schwarting · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly excellent, much-needed, clear, and concise history of ancient Christianity. The sheer amount of knowledge Bantu manages to place into this book, with such deftness, is just...*chef's kiss*

Some fun facts that are giving me life:

- Egyptian Christians did theology in response to ancient Egyptian religion (78-79)
- Christianity in Nubia predates Byzantine evangelization (84 ff)
- Ancient churches on the African continent were gorgeous (yes! there are pictures! chapter 2)
- Syria had its own complex literary-theological culture and its own forms (Ephrem the Syrian and others--122 ff)
- Syrian Christians have been dialoging with Muslims since the genesis of Islam (129)
- "The gospel not only took firm root in the Middle East [Armenia] but even gave rise to written language and national identity." (154) Mesrop Mashtots, a scholar, created the Armenian writing system and translated the Scriptures into Armenian.
- Many Christians lived peacefully in religiously diverse empires, but persecution frequently began when Christianity became associated with Rome, and governments began ousting Christianity as a way to reject a rival nation (various places; see China and the Middle East especially)

NB: Bantu explains his choice in geographical terminology in his introduction.

I have long harped on the speedy globalization of early Christianity, but until now have lacked a single, good resource for it, whether to read for my own education or recommend to others. Bantu's work answers a long-standing question in church history: it was never just Rome and Byzantium, right? Of course not. Bantu explores early Christianity in the Middle East, Asia (modern-day China, India, and the Silk Road), and Africa. He handles theological questions adroitly, particularly concerning Christological developments independent of Chalcedon. Bantu also deals with the encounter of Christianity and Islam, which is incredibly helpful. It was something I was looking for, after reading Jaroslav Pelikan's work on Eastern Orthodoxy.

Undergirding this important historical work is an urgent missiological need, which Bantu confronts with pastoral grace and penetrating insight. He shines a light on the "white, Western cultural captivity" of Christianity, both in Western and non-Western churches. However, this book is not about white, Western captivity. Bantu lays the foundation for it in one chapter, but as this is about early Christianity, he doesn't get into the cultural captivity we see today. From my POV as a white American evangelical, I see this cultural captivity in things like Caucasian representations of biblical characters (y'all know they were brown, right?); the Renaissance's wholehearted embrace of Greco-Roman aesthetics and our continued celebration of that as real high culture and true art; and Christian classical education programs making heavy use of Greco-Roman writers/methods/myths/languages while giving the side eye to other major cultures. Where this captivity becomes problematic is when it is conflated with the Gospel itself, and where being a Christian means buying into this culture. I recall seeing pictures of children in 19th century missionary schools wearing Western Victorian attire in their (often very warm) native climates, and seeing in their faces, "This is not me." One of Bantu's many triumphs in A Multitude of All Peoples is his exploration of understudied non-Western Christian communities. He reveals that deep, orthodox theology developed apart from the West, in beautifully contextualized expressions.

As a church historian, I cheered on every page, because Bantu was presenting something so beautiful. A passage on which I love to meditate is Revelation 21, in which "the splendor" of "the kings of the earth" and "the glory and honor of the nations" will be brought into the eternal city, and the light of God's glory will shine on all. Imagine the colors, the scents, the tastes, the sounds, the textures--the cultures of the world, redeemed, all bringing glory to God. In evangelicalism, I see folks rushing to "redeem" pop culture, running websites like Christ and Pop Culture. Celtic culture and Christianity flowed together so much that we now have Celtic Christianity, which has wholly retained its Celtic cultural identity alongside orthodoxy. This isn't wrong in itself, but I rarely see other cultural expressions being redeemed in this way, or at least welcomed by the white church. White folks tend to look suspiciously at hip-hop, rap, non-Western art forms, and various other cultural practices because they don't understand these forms, and lack cultural humility. Bantu makes some really excellent points about white Western cultural captivity in minority cultures in his book, and as a member of the majority culture of my locale, I'll defer to his expertise about it (see the conclusion in particular).

My offering to this discussion is prodding: why are white evangelicals so quick to desire diversity in our institutions, panels, and faculties? Our welcoming of people from other cultures and ethnicities is always happening on our terms and in our spaces. I can imagine certain colleges, for example, finally (finally) getting their faculties and student bodies up to a standard demographic ratio, but I can hardly conceive of such colleges becoming places where light skin is in the minority, and where power and space are truly conceded. Also, whiteness is a construct, don't make me get on that soapbox. Though I will, happily, every time: it is your auditory endurance that I protect.

I am quite far off-topic, but let me say again: A Multitude of All Peoples is really excellent, should be required reading for early Christian studies, and makes me genuinely excited about heaven and the church. I sincerely hope Bantu writes more monographs on this topic and related ones, and I'm excited to see him emerging as a leading scholar in this field. While I do have a few quibbles with this book, they are all minor (see: line editor, where were you?), and I'd much rather spend my time detailing what I loved, which was pretty much everything.

tl;dr YAY!

[Matthew Talley · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the late 20th century until now there has been a type of opposition to Christianity throughout the West within segments of people of Color. A small summary of the charges against this faith are as follows: “Christianity is a colonial religion. It is a Western religion with highly questionable baggage. It was established to enslave Africans.” While these are justifiable concerns by critics, there is a developing body of work by modern scholars who give a balanced assessment of the claims against the Christian faith.

Church historian and professor, Vince L. Bantu happens to be one of those poised researchers. Professor Bantu addresses his reader directly and honestly about Christianity, the dominant Western culture that projects a particular expression of that faith, and the perception it has on different cultural groups. Bantu’s argument is mainly historical, reaching into the early days of Christianity. The data Bantu sites start from the 1st century onward, across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. There’s a lot of information, so prepare to do some cross-checking if you love history and you want to follow the added threads he leaves. However, if you are looking for an itemized apologetic (or a defense) against popular critiques made by detractors, this is not that type of book.

While the book is dense in terms of historical data, Bantu’s message is clear: Historical Christianity is reflected within many different cultural groups shortly after Pentecost and the Apostle Paul’s missionary trips, and not just an invention by colonialist to enslave Africans. The well-known Antebellum South was a culture within the U.S., and their distorted version of Christianity merely reflected their beliefs in racial superiority.

Bantu offers several solutions in his closing chapter: Within the Gentile world Christianity (the main orthodoxy that God is triune, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – Jesus is both God and human who rose bodily of the dead) is represented within a range of people groups or cultures. That we should have an awareness of the fact that the dominant Western culture and Christianity which reflects from it, is still one culture among many. From a Western vantagepoint, cultures and practices from Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East (e.g., styles of worship, music, food, language, or dress) are not an ethnic form of Christianity, but is in fact, Christianity. In his conclusion, he offers a slight caution on evangelism or missionary work within the current zeitgeist: to share the Gospel with other cultures only when invited to do so.

What type of reader is this book for? It’s for those who have a familiarity with history and those who are looking for other perspectives outside of their own.

The book is an excellent read if you are a student of history and are interested in viewpoints outside your own. But if further deep dives into history are not your thing, or you were looking for a comprehensive detailed listing of the defense for Christianity within the current wave of detractors, than you may need to look elsewhere.

[Josh Hornback · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holy cow! Dr. Bantu has opened my eyes to a culture of Christianity that spread across the eastern hemisphere. While a little dry in some places most of the content was previously unknown. Dr Bantu creates a vision of a land that not only craved Christ, but formed the bedrock and foundation of the Christianity we know today.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved reading about all the evidence of ancient global Christianity. Makes me want to travel the world and visit all the sites mentioned. We truly ever only know a fraction of what God has done and is doing.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: A well-documented study of the global spread of ancient Christianity, controverting the argument of Christianity as White and western, and contending for the contextualizing and de-colonizing of contemporary global Christianity.

Often in Christian witness with people from Western countries, the challenge is whether someone can believe intellectually or volitionally, or dealing with ways they may have been put off by the church. In other parts of the world, or with people from those parts of the world or from minority cultures, the issue is that Christianity is thought of white and Western, and it would be an abandonment of one's culture to believe. In significant part, this arises from mission efforts that have been both culturally captive to the West, and often been the Trojan horse for colonizing efforts.

This book addresses this challenge in several ways. One is that it traces how the early church in the West diverged from other believers in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. The fusion of church and state that began with Constantine marked the beginning of the separation from churches in the East. The framing of orthodox Christian belief at Chalcedon in Hellenistic language distanced believers who spoke of Christian faith in different heart languages.

Then in successive chapters Bantu traces the indigenous Christian movements in Africa, in the Middle East, and along the Silk Road. The exclusion of Miaphysites, those who would say that Christ exists as one person and one human-divine nature, separated the Africans and others from the West. What Bantu shows is the vibrant indigenous churches that developed in each of these parts of the world--the Copts in Egypt, the Ethiopian Church, the Maronites in Lebanon, and the Armenian Church, the early church in India tracing its origins to St. Thomas, and churches along the Silk Road.

The book summarizes the history of each of these indigenous movements that at one time, or even down to the present have been a vibrant Christian presence (consider the 21 Coptic martyrs brutally killed in a videotaped Isis message). The history is accompanied by images of church buildings and artifacts from these churches. The history and archaeological evidence make a strong case for the trans-cultural, global character of early Christianity that existed from the earliest centuries through the first millennium, long before western mission movements.

Likewise, the history of the interaction between the early churches of the West, and sister churches in Africa, the Middle East and Asia offer lessons for today. Chalcedon, from the perspective of these churches, rejected their understanding of Christ and the Christian faith, insisting on a Hellenistic framework for this belief. Bantu shows how indigenous churches responded to the rise of Islam, and sometimes were able to frame Christian faith in ways that were doctrinally sound and yet sidestepped the controversies surrounding God and his Son. 

At the beginning of the third millennium of Christianity and the unprecedented global spread of Christianity, the message of this book more important than ever. At times, churches outside the West still struggle under Western theological and cultural domination. In other places, indigenous leadership is framing culturally contextualized yet theologically faithful approaches that advance the gospel. Will Western churches relinquish control in the former instance and affirm and learn from the latter? This book both offers historical evidence that indigenous churches may thrive, and that Christianity from its very beginnings was not exclusively white and Western.

________________________________

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

[Adam Shields · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: Exploring early Christianity's history, beliefs, and geography.

Christianity has always been a global religion, despite many believing that it is only recently that the universal nature of Christianity has learn.  A Multitude of All Peoples is not the first book of this type, but of the couple that I have read, I think it is the most helpful. Philip Jenkins' Lost History of Christianity looked at the demographic history of Christianity. Still, it did not engage the theological content of Christianity as well as A Multitude of All Peoples does. Thomas Oden's How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind is a narrower type of book, not just only looking at Africa, but also trying to justify more research into early Christianity in Africa.

The book opens with a discussion of the importance of understanding that Christianity has always been a global religion instead of the misplaced understanding that Christianity only came to Africa and Asia from European missionaries. Christianity misconstrued as only a western religion, is a severe stumbling block to formally colonialized or oppressed people. Also, the long history of Christianity's relationship to culture needs the history of local adaptation and enculturation, both in positive and negative ways, to give insight into how Christianity works in culture. Bantu ends the book with some of this discussion, and while I read more to understand his result better, his interaction with other perspectives is helpful.

Bantu has a couple of significant strengths. One is that he is concentrating not just on those Christians that spoke Greek or Latin or interacted with European Christians like Augustine or Athanasius, but also those that spoke languages that are relatively new to western study. There was a far more detailed history here than what was in either of the two other books.

Second, A Multitude of All Peoples looks at the theological disagreements, not just as religious, but also linguistic, cultural, and political. This plays out too often when Christians moved into roles of power within a state and then used the power of the state to persecute their political or theological opponents with the same tools of oppression used against them. Egyptian, Shenoute of Atripe, justified violence against non-Christians and even against other Christians as the will of God. (He killed one of his fellow monks during a physical punishment.) Part of this is how Christians viewed the state. Bantu shows that Eusebius identified the Roman Empire, "an eikon of the Kingdom of God."

The view of the state and the church becomes so entwined that it is difficult to separate one from the other. This happened not just within but also outside, as political enemies saw Christianity (or particular expressions of Christianity) as so connected with the state that it caused  (or justified) Christian persecutions. For instance, the Persian Empire persecuted Christians because of the Christian connection to Rome, or Mongol protection of Christianity resulted in Christianity being wiped out in China after the fall of the Mongol Empire. (Constantine sent a letter to the Persian emperor suggesting that Christians in Persia would be more loyal to Rome than to Persia and suggested at the same time to Christians that it was God's will that they are politically loyal to him because Rome was a Christian empire.)

It wasn't only political issues but also linguistic ones. It is not a new idea that the Filioque (the theological point that separated Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox were likely as much linguistic as theological because Catholics were speaking Latin and Eastern Orthodox were speaking Greek. When even more languages got involved, along with their cultural biases, theological splits were not solely about the theology but also about the linguistic and cultural divide as well.

Because Western Christianity has told a theological history from its own 'winning' perspective, it is easy to see how the 'losers' of some of these arguments were misconstrued. Bantu spends a good bit of time showing that the Miaphysites (single nature of Christ) were not arguing for Christ being only fully divine or fully human but were resistant to describing how Christ was both human and divine with extra-biblical (platonic) philosophy. This pattern repeats throughout the book with Bantu exploring non-theological issues that influenced the theological result.

Another linguistic issue is that Syriac and other eastern Christians appear to have the Old Testament translated directly from Hebrew and not through Greek. In other areas, some issues are still current. The earliest Christian work in Arabic, On the Triune Nature of God, explains the trinity without the use of sonship language, as do some modern missionaries and apologists that work with Muslims. In other cases, Syriac was considered the more holy language, and there was ethnic discrimination against those that did not speak Syriac as a first language, which resulted in an ethnic/religious caste system within Christianity.

Throughout later Christian history, there are many instances of Christians that are from separate Christian communities who mistrust one another for cultural reasons more than theological ones but frame it in theological terms. For instance, an Arabian Christian visiting India to be a missionary finds Christians there, but objects to listening to the gospel readings while seated 'and other things not permitted by divine law'. An Egyptian monk in the 6th century went to India and wrote eyewitness accounts of Christians in Ethiopia, Arabia, India, and Sri Lanka (a millennium before Marco Polo).

Before Marco Polo, there was a Chinese Mongol Christian that led a pilgrimage to Jerusalem around 1280. In part, because he found his trip to Jerusalem dangerous and Muslim persecution was increasing, in 1284, he went to Rome as an official emissary to try to recruit Papal support to make Jerusalem safe for pilgrims from all Christian areas and make partnerships against Muslim aggression. Similar to St Francis, Rabban Sawma disappointed his parents and sold all of his possessions and gave them to the poor, broke off an engagement, and began a monastic life. After being investegated by Cardinals before being allowed to see the Pope he recounted a statement that was orthodox but not centered in Western theological concerns. "Rabban Sawma respectfully pushes back against the idea that the Father and the Son are the cause of the Spirit because it is incongruous with the East Syriac doctrine of their fundamental unity...". Eventually, Sawma visits England and France and secures support for an alliance against Muslims.

Within 200 years, the Christian community in China largely disappears in reaction to persecution, which is related to the Mongol relationship to Christianity and the later East Syriac and Franciscan and then later Jesuit missionaries to China can not regain the Christian foothold that had existed there for at least 500 years, probably longer. China persecuted not just Christianity, but Islam as well as culturally incompatible with the new Chinese empire.

The story of A Multitude of All Peoples is that all theology is contextual. History, politics, culture, and current events matter to the spread and depth of Christian penetration in a culture. Christianity was not a Jewish then Greek then Roman religion that spread through Europe and then through the rest of the world. Christianity from the beginning was multicultural, multiethnic, and global. Recovering an understanding of early Asian and African Christian expressions can help discover a Christianity that is not rootest in Western colonialism.

I need to read more to fully understand the nuanced discussion that Bantu was trying to navigate between himself, Andrew Walls, Lamin Sanneh, Willie James Jennings, and others at the end of the book. There were portions that I seem to agree with multiple sides at the same time and I am sure I am missing more than I understood of that short section at the end.

I do highly recommend A Multitude for all People because we do need to Engage Ancient Christianity's Global Identity. The history here is readable and engaging. I read the whole book in a couple of days and want to read more.

[Ryan Beneke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paradigm shifting! In some ways you could call this a work of theological retrieval; however, unlike most contemporary examples, it retrieves the ancient theology and history of the non-Western church to serve as a model for Christian cultural engagement today. The final chapter’s discussion of “indigeneity” vs. “indigenization” is something I will be mulling over for a long time as I consider my own ministry in Japan.

One concern: while I can appreciate the political and cultural dynamics that shaped the Christological debates, at the end of the day, is there a right answer? Bantu gives the impression that Miaphysitism, Nestorianism, and monothelitism are equal alternatives defended by Christians in different contexts. I am not so sure. If nothing else, I suppose that is an argument for the Protestant doctrine of sola scripture above fallible church tradition.

[Carson Harraman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely wonderful. Combines missions and real-life, boots on the ground ministry with Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic studies. I mean, what more could you want? If I could give it 6 stars I would.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was kind of a rough read. I don’t think that the overall narrative of the book gives it a structure or pace that is approachable. The overall message of looking at the church outside of the west is good, it just felt like it fell flat. Maybe I’ll use it to reference things sometimes.

[Brian Wasko · Rating 3 out of 5]

The information here is important. The book lays out in historical summary how Christianity advanced in and affected non-western culture from the earliest days, debunking the common assumption that Christianity spread from Rome alone. It attempts to weaken the idea that Christianity is a white, western religion.

But the book reads like a dissertation. It raced through non-western church history at a bewildering pace, and for someone with little knowledge of non-western world history, I often got lost. It’s a tough slog.

[Tyler Horton · Rating 4 out of 5]

"That is to say, the primary concern of this investigation is rooted in the dilemma of people rejecting Christianity because of the perception that it is a Western/white religion and therefore not appropriate for non-Western/white eople. The Western/white captivity of the church is a profound stumbling bock to the reception of the gospel." (p. 6)

Bantu's book can be understood as having three major aims: a discussion of how Christianity came to be viewed as a white/Western religion in terms of 'identity politics,' a historical survey of Christianity outside the Western tradition (Africa, Middle East, Asia), and a set of prescriptive conclusions based on his observations. This is a good book, but I also think the elated reception it initially received is unwarranted. There is a real contribution here so I couldn't quite bring myself to give it 3/5, but I also feel like 4/5 is a bit generous. I'll just point to three things which colour my hesitant reaction to the book.

First, what do we mean by 'global'? The story of early Christianity especially cannot be global because it took time for the religion to spread. It makes sense that there is nothing here about the European (then North American) traditions but it is telling that Latin America is also absent. Christianity arrived there much later so it doesn't really fit the narrative here, but then in what sense can this book be a 'global' story? Bantu collates high points from the three regions noted above, but this runs the danger of giving a false impression and perhaps even over-globalizing the story. It is important to do what he has done and emphasize that Christianity was alive in places that many of us know nothing about. But including some counter point about where Christianity was-not (even in the regions he works with) would have given a truer picture. It is less attractive, but the book might be better subtitled as "Engaging Ancient Christianity's Non-Western Identity."

Second, although this book helps readers to better appreciate and engage with World Christianity, we have to acknowledge what Bantu has not provided. One of the things I appreciate most here is the de-romanticizing of the Global Church. Westerners start to find out that there is Christianity happening all over the world, but there are few steps forward which can be taken without stumbling over Miaphysitism and its cousins. The early creedal differences between these traditions persist and we need to figure out what that means for our increasing engagements. Bantu did not set out in this book to solve that rather difficult problem, and that is fine of course, but my criticism here is that the he way he positions his book in relation to the issue is problematic. The uncomfortable question is: who really are Christians? You can justifiably do what Bantu does here and let self-identification be the standard and then tell the story of all such groups. But he is also willing to call some groups "heretics" and is concerned in a number of places with orthodoxy (especially in relation to how theologians of colour have been pulled away from it). I think that a more open acknowledgement of this can (cask?) of worms would be necessary for his project to really succeed.

The third issue is that I noted a gap between what Bantu claims and what he demonstrates. The core of the book is a historical survey. But it is, as noted above, quite a limited survey and is built on high-points of Christianity which Bantu himself has selected. My question here is if a survey of this nature really warrants the kinds of conclusions which he makes. Most of this is kept for the final short chapter but there are some more prescriptive statements scattered throughout. His two main points from his survey are that indigenously contextualized theology and autochthonous leadership are essential. I have no interest in arguing against those two items, but I do not think the work he has done here definitely connects to them. At the very least, I think he could have done much more to connect his survey to these points. There is a real danger in making categorical claims on anecdotal evidence and, even though I think Bantu's claims are probably correct, I think he is awfully close to falling into this. Bantu has pretty well-defined goals at the outset of the book and I think it probably would have been a stronger project if he would have kept more strictly to them.

I am spending more time on these criticisms than is fair because Bantu's book is an important contribution. But, as noted above, I feel some need to pull back from the initial reception that this book has received. The historical material he presents is not new or recently unearthed. His contribution here is to collate it for and present it to an audience which would not otherwise access it. The pictures throughout the book are excellent and make a tangible contribution to his survey. Readers will come away with a list of more reading to do so that they can dig deeper and listen better to these traditions.

Bantu's book is a good first step and an accessible entry point to engage with the non-Western Christian traditions. He engages a bit with Lamin Sanneh and Andrew Walls in critical and appreciative ways but this engenders a comparison with their work. They are pillars in the study of World Christianity and so it is not a real problem to fall somewhat short of their work, but it is helpful to recognize that at this point, Bantu's project is not as clearly developed as theirs.

[cindy]

rec: Wan's friend

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Soong-Chan Rah describes this book as "a game-changer," saying that "all future discussion on the history of the church...must now go through this book." While that perhaps involves some over-emphasis, I wouldn't disagree. This book is a vital part of reimagining Christian history.

I started the book expecting an account of early Christian history in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. While that is certainly much of the second half of the book, the first half centers on the Chalcedonian Christological controversies, arguing (albeit somewhat tangentially) that Chalcedonian Christological formulations became identified with Greco-Roman Christian identity, and served to facilitate the first major schism in church history - a schism that separated Greco-Roman Christianity from Coptic/Nubian/Ethiopian, Palestinian, and Syrian/Persian Christianity, paving the way for a cultural captivity of the Western church that still exists today through the perception of Christian as a "white" and "Western" religion. Full stop. That is an important argument to consider seriously!

My main critique of the book is its style (often quite dense), the sometimes random-feeling jumps to contemporary theologians or issues, and the way key arguments were made tangentially rather than directly. Those critiques aside, this is a very important book. It changed the way I look at Christian history and the history of Christian theology, filled in some key gaps (e.g. the missionary efforts of the medieval Persian church across much of Asia), and provoked serious thought on the cultural captivity of the American/White/Western church today.

[James Fields · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Christianity is not becoming a global religion. It has always been a global religion." This is the tag line on the back cover of the book, and it is the very idea that got me interested in this book.

Having studied the historical development of Christianity in high school and college, I was very interested to see this developed out. That might surprise you, surely if I’ve studied this then it’s a commonly known premise how Christianity developed. Not entirely true. Whatever college you attend will certainly develop the history of Christianity, but they’ll pay particular attention to the certain faction they adhere to. As soon as other factions deviate off, their development is no longer talked about. There might be a mention of “this sect eventually became know as the Coptics” or something along those lines, but not rich development of what that means.

With a desire to fill the missing gap of my knowledge and an excitement to learn how God has influenced all the continents with His truth, I bought this book and eagerly dug in.

First note on reading this book, it’s much more of a text book in the way it reads than anything else. This can be a turn off for some, so I mention it cautiously. As you’ll note, I still give this book a high rating on my scale because it’s rich, deep, and extremely informative. But if a bit of a dryer read bothers you, maybe skip this one.

Second note on reading this book is that is covers every section of the known world in the years following the resurrection. Christianity spread all over Europe, Africa, and Asia. It made it’s way into China and beyond. Bantu references all kinds of dig sites along the Silk road that have hidden in their walls secret rooms with documents showing that Christianity came swiftly to China.

I found this a bit surprising as nowadays China is so hostile to Christianity. A common struggle for missionaries is to have Christianity viewed as a “western religion,” but the truth is Christianity reached China long before anyone thought of it as having a European root.

One of the great aspects of Bantu’s dive into the history of Christianity is how he dives into the theological development. He talks at length about why some of these segments have split off and how their theological difference are or are not that different from modern Christendom.

Bantu also does a great job at bringing out the history of regions that have not yet been translated into English or have only recently been translated. By doing this he provides an excellent resource for those wanting to know more, where other books on this topic are silent. In addition, he cites everything. So if you really like something he says about say the Coptic Church, he’s got a ton of books listed that will be great additions to your personal studies.

Top Quotes

As noted by New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman–who makes clear that he is not a Christian nor does he believe the historic theological claims of Christianity–the “mystery religion” theory that Christian claims about Jesus are copies of other ancient religions is ludicrous and historically unsubstantiated. ~Page 79

The number of times I’ve heard people say that Christianity stole its story-line from other religions is high (“If I had a dollar for every time….”). But the truth is, those that have studied this in depth find the idea laughable, including noted non-believing Bible scholars.

During the heavy-handed reign of Zar’a Ya’qob, there was a monastic movement that originated in Ethiopia named after their founder, Stepha. These ascetic Ethiopians–Stephanites–challenged the heightened authority of the Ethiopian king in church affairs, the veneration of Mary, and the elevation of any church documents in addition to Scripture. Therefore, over a century before Martin Luther nailed up the Ninety-Five Theses in Wittenberg, Ethiopia was experiencing its own Reformation that addressed many of the same theological concerns that were raised in Europe. ~Page 108

I love this call out. In the Reformed and Evangelical circles, Luther is the guy. It’s not uncommon to hear people say “Happy Reformation Day!” on Halloween. But we never hear about the Stephanites eschewing unbiblical dogmas a century before that. It’s enough reason to pause and think reformed believers aren’t the only ones, nor are they the first ones to find their beliefs sola scriptura.

And they said to him: “Art thou a Christian?” He answered them: “If I am worthy I am Christian.” These unclean ones said to him: “If you art a Christian stretch thy hand up.” And he immediately stretched up his right hand, and a man swiftly drew his sword, smote him, and cut it off. Again he said to him: “If thou are a Christian stretch up the other.” And immediately with joy he stretched up the left on also, and then that crucifier smote and cut off that as well. Again they asked him and said to him: “Art thou still a Christian?” And he said to them: “In life and in death I am a Christian, and praise be to God, our Lord Jesus Christ, who has deemed me worthy of this.” When they heard this, those foes of righteousness became angry and smote his feet also from behind and cut them both off. ~Quoted from the Book of the Himyarites, pages 141-142

I love this story of persecution. A saint so eager to be deemed worthy of Christ, he can’t help but lift up his hands when the only other option is to deny Jesus.

Beginning with Genghis Khan, every khan of the Mongol Empire for the next century had either a Christian mother, wife, or both. ~Page 198

It’s shocking to think that the so-called Mongol hoards were running around with Christians among them. Christians pushing them to stop barbarity and embrace peace.

I highly recommend this book to help you understand the history of the the spread and development of Christianity.

To see more reviews check out my blog: This Sporadic Life

[Joel Wentz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is extremely well-researched, and serves as an excellent supplement to the work of others like Philip Jenkins, in recovering a more robust historical view of the ancient church. Stylistically, some of the middle chapters do get bogged down a bit (but this is the flip-side of the extensive research and documentation, I suppose). The first chapter is an extraordinary overview and critique of the standard "Western" view of church history, and in the final chapter Bantu offers some very thoughtful and insightful critiques of perspectives from Willie Jennings and J Kameron Carter on how to displace the white-Euro-centric historical interpretation. A very worthy read for anyone interested in global church history.

[Mark Wessner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a not a book to read quickly. It is a brilliantly articulated description of the immense cultural and ethnic diversity of the first few hundred years of Christianity. While Roman Christianity became the dominant expression in the Western world due to the political, economic, and cultural expansion of the Roman Empire, other theologically sound expressions of Christianity thrived in Africa, the Middle East, Persia, and Asia. If you want to explore the original global identity of Christianity, read this book!

[Audra Spiven · Rating 4 out of 5]

The problem with logging my seminary textbooks on Goodreads is that, by the time I finish them, my brain has already critically engaged them in papers, forums, and discussions for class, so I never feel like I can give them a proper review in this forum because my brain is shorted out by that time. BUT, this book is a good historical tracing of early/ancient Christianity in the non-Western parts of the world with a good dose of challenge to contemporary Christians to consider and heed the importance of contextualizing Christianity.

[Evan Young · Rating 2 out of 5]

First, Let me follow Dan MacLellan's model by saying, "I appreciate and support the author's rhetorical goals." I commend what Bantu is trying to do. His goal is to disrupt the idea that Christianity is originally and inherently a white man's religion. That is a valuable and necessary goal.
However, his method is flawed. His agenda drives his writing in ways that imports unhelpful categories to the Roman world and ignores necessary ones. Hopefully, this monograph is one that starts a conversation around this topic, but that is all the good it is capable of doing.

[Bryan Becker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bantu’s argument is that the Church’s witness is hindered by its captivity to Western-ness and whiteness. He does well to state this point and argue it clearly by surveying the first millennium of Church history outside of Europe, America, and Australia.

Some of his arguments go too far in support of heterodox communities. Additionally, I believe that Bantu fails to give recognize some Eastern (Byzantine) contributions as non-white. Byzantium and Rome and too often conflated.

Still, the overall argument is important and necessary for success of future missions.

[S.C. Gilliam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow

I am floored as I read this book. So much historical context has been researched here and so much context has been left out of our American churches. It was almost as if antiquity tried to erase this history. Thank God that his church has this kind of information now and we can begin to strip away some of the unnecessary cultural aspects of our faith and get to the heart of God for his church. To the Glory of God Alone every tribe, tongue, and nation will come.

[Kayla Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very academic book, with all the knitty-gritty details. However, while it was tough to read, it was so worthwhile. It completed changed my understanding of Church history to include all the critical, non-western elements I had been lacking. The only the other thing I wanted of it was an account of more recent church history of indigenous peoples in the Americas. But other than that, so, so good.

[Greg Grunau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vince Bantu offers clear historical evidence for Christianity being "global" from the beginning, and well established on several continents for hundreds of years before the era of European colonization. He provides strong encouragement for followers of Jesus today to communicate and live out the gospel of Jesus in ways that connect with the great variety of people and cultural contexts throughout the world. I look forward to more books from him on this topic in the future.

[116 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly engages with spread of Christianity in non-Western contexts

Thorough assessment of early church history and the spread of Christianity in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Well researched, well annotated. It is great in application for missiological contexts, and helpful in challenging notions of a solely Western/Eurocentric origin to Christianity.

[Rob O'Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent ethnographic and culturally-contextual introduction to the history of Christianity! While most introductions take a Roman (white, Western) approach, Bantu roots much of his discussion in African, Asian and Middle Eastern contexts, demonstrating that the Christian faith is one for and of all peoples.

[Matthew Lynch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vince breaks open entire new fields of history for readers trained too see only the Western sliver of early Christianity. This book was deeply illuminating and informed, engaging with sources that most cannot (or do not) access. I especially appreciated his attentiveness to the political and ethnic/racial dynamics of the Chalcedonian / Miaphisite divide.

[Lee Bertsch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unfortunately I accessed this as an audible book. As it was dense with historical data, I was often left overwhelmed by the barrage of names and places that were new to me. But his main argument came through in convincing fashion, that Christianity is wrongly presented as a western religion when in fact it spread south and east forming distinctive indigenized forms of the faith as it did.

[Emma Hughes]

dnf @ 50%

I didn’t realize this book was basically a tome! I feel confident that Bantu has some excellent things to say about Ancient, non-Western Christianity. unfortunately, most of it went over my head, as I didn’t truly understand the historical/theological context. I still love the concept of this book, and would be curious about a more laymen-friendly alternative.

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. Bantu's book was definitely a workout for my brain, but to be expected going in (it's published by IVP Academic). He got to the heart of the history of the Christian church around the world, and in many ways how we got to the idea of Christianity being labelled as the white man's religion.

[John Pannebaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the kind of book that makes you want to buy all the books it quotes. Not always a bad thing, but that gets expensive! A refreshing sprint through the history of the global church that is far too often ignored.

[Cyndia · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like reading church history, this is a good book. Just some warnings - it assumes you already have a base knowledge of certain theological controversies in church history. I would say it’s not a starter church history book, but extremely important to read anyway.