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What Is Christianity?  provides a fascinating overview of the world’s largest religion, weaving history, theology, spirituality, denominational divisions, and global growth into a single compelling story. Written in clear and captivating prose that requires no previous knowledge of Christianity, it describes the religion inspired by Jesus as a living faith that is still changing and developing today.  Reader-friendly chapters introduce the major traditions of Christianity (Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, and Pentecostalism), explaining their spiritual appeal and tracing their evolution over the centuries. Christianity’s recent global expansion is highlighted, but Christianity has been a diverse and multicultural movement from the very beginning. Each chapter provides thought-provoking insights into the beliefs, values, practices, achievements, and failures of Christians as they tried to remain faithful to the message and meaning of Jesus in different times and places.  Condenses a vast amount of information into a coherent narrative Explains how and why Christianity has become so incredibly diverse Describes what almost all Christians have always held in common Summarizes the current status of Christianity in each global region Discusses the challenges that Christians worldwide are facing today  What Is Christianity?  is an ideal introduction to Christianity as a world religion for people who are unfamiliar with Christianity as well as for Christians who want to know more about their own faith and the faith practices of fellow believers from other Christian traditions. An engaging text for general readers, this short volume will also be a stimulating choice for book discussion groups and or for the classroom.

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Аннотация

This accessible textbook describes Christianity, the world’s largest religion, in all of its historical and contemporary diversity. No other publication includes so much information or presents it so clearly and winsomely. This volume employs a “religious studies” approach that is neutral in tone yet accommodates the lived experiences of Christians in different traditions and from all regions of the globe. The World’s Christians is a perfect textbook for either public university classrooms or liberal arts campuses.  Divided into three parts, the text first describes the world’s four largest Christian traditions (Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Pentecostal) which together account for roughly 98 percent of all Christians worldwide. A second section focuses on Christian history, explaining the movement’s developing ideas and practices and examining Christianity’s engagement with people and cultures around the world. The third and longest portion of the text details the distinctive experiences, contemporary challenges, and demographics of Christians in nine geographic regions, including the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, Eastern and Western Europe, South Asia, North America, East Asia, and Oceania.  The second edition of this popular text has been thoroughly rewritten to take recent developments into account, and each chapter now includes two primary source readings, highlighting the diversity of voices that exist within the world Christian movement. Like the first edition, the revised text is enhanced with easily understandable maps, charts, tables and illustrative photographs. In summary, this new and improved second edition of The World’s Christians is:  <div style="margin