Contemporary Authors

1. Introduction to world Christian history https://lccn.loc.gov/2016010690 Cooper, Derek, 1978- author. Introduction to world Christian history / Derek Cooper. Downers Grove, Illinois : IVP Academic, an imprint of InterVarsity Press, [2016] 254 pages ; 23 cm BR145.3 .C66 2016 ISBN: 9780830840885 (pbk. : alk. paper) 2. Exploring church history https://lccn.loc.gov/2014453726 Cooper, Derek, 1978- Exploring church history / Derek Cooper. Minneapolis, MN : Fortress Press, [2014] x, 165 pages ; 23 cm. BR150 .C57 2014 ISBN: 9781451488906 (alk. paper : pbk)1451488904 3. Unfollowers : unlikely lessons of faith from those who doubted Jesus https://lccn.loc.gov/2013033138 Cooper, Derek, 1978- Unfollowers : unlikely lessons of faith from those who doubted Jesus / Derek Cooper, Ed Cyzewski. Indianapolis, Indiana : Wesleyan Publishing House, [2014] 191 pages ; 22 cm BT203 .C6675 2014 ISBN: 9780898277432 4. Christianity & world religions : an introduction to the world's major faiths https://lccn.loc.gov/2012026413 Cooper, Derek, 1978- Christianity & world religions : an introduction to the world's major faiths / Derek Cooper. Phillipsburg, N.J. : P&R Pub., c2013. xxi, 215 p. : ill. (chiefly col.), col. maps ; 26 cm. BR127 .C635 2013 ISBN: 9781596384460 (pbk.)9781596385795 (ePub)9781596385801 (Mobi) 5. Thomas Manton : a guided tour of the life and thought of a Puritan pastor https://lccn.loc.gov/2011031327 Cooper, Derek, 1978- Thomas Manton : a guided tour of the life and thought of a Puritan pastor / Derek Cooper. Phillipsburg, N.J. : P&R Pub., c2011. 240 p. : ill. ; 22 cm. BX9339.M36 C66 2011 ISBN: 9781596382138 (pbk.) 6. So you're thinking about going to seminary : an insider's guide https://lccn.loc.gov/2008020169 Cooper, Derek, 1978- So you're thinking about going to seminary : an insider's guide / Derek Cooper. Grand Rapids, Mich. : Brazos Press, c2008. 231 p. : ill. ; 23 cm. BV4020 .C625 2008 ISBN: 9781587432149 (pbk.) Please note: These brief descriptions do not follow a standard citation format (APA, MLA, etc.). LIBRARY OF CONGRESS ONLINE CATALOG Library of Congress 101 Independence Ave., SE Washington, DC 20540

• Biblical - https://www.biblical.edu/faculty-derek-cooper

  Derek Cooper, PhD
  Associate Professor of World Christian History, Director LEAD MDiv

  BIO

  Dr. Derek Cooper has been teaching at Biblical Seminary since 2007. Before arriving at Biblical, he taught Spanish at Phil-Mont Christian Academy and Eastern University. Derek’s primary teaching areas at Biblical are world Christian history and world religions. Derek is an enthusiastic teacher who seeks to instill his passion for history into the classroom. He delights in asking the big questions of life and in exploring thoughtful and gracious responses to them with students.

  In addition to teaching, Dr. Cooper has served on the pastoral staffs at two churches and he regularly leads students and pastors on international trips. Most recently, he has led groups to such places as Israel, Palestine, Turkey, and Greece. On these trips, students not only experience the lands of the Bible and church history first-hand, but also the complex political and religious dynamics of life in the twenty-first century.

  A native East Texan, Derek enjoys watching the Dallas Cowboys and cooking and eating Southern and Tex-Mex foods. He has been married to Barb, the love of his life, since 2002, and together they have three wonderful children: Gabriela, Mia, and Eli.

  EDUCATION

  BA, University of Texas
  MA, MDiv, Biblical Seminary
  PhD, The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia
  AREAS OF EXPERTISE

  World Christian History
  World Religions
  History of Biblical Interpretation
  SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

  Introduction to World Christian History (IVP, 2016)

  1-2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chronicles (IVP, 2016)

  Twenty Questions That Shaped World Christian History (Fortress, 2015)

  Exploring Church History (Fortress, 2014)

  Thomas Manton: A Guided Tour of the Life and Thought of a Puritan Pastor (P&R, 2011)

  Christianity & World Religions: An Introduction to the World's Major Faiths (P&R, 2012)

• InterVarsity Press - https://www.ivpress.com/cgi-ivpress/author.pl/author_id=6393

  Derek Cooper (PhD, The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia) is associate professor of world Christian history at Biblical Theological Seminary. He is the author of several books, including Exploring Church History and Christianity and World Religions: An Introduction to the World's Major Faiths, and he is the coeditor of the Reformation Commentary on Scripture volume on 1-2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chronicles.

Introduction to World Christian History
Publishers Weekly.
263.19 (May 9, 2016): p64.
COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text: 
Introduction to World Christian History
Derek Cooper. InterVarsity, $18 trade paper (212p) ISBN 978-0-8308-4088-5
Cooper (Twenty Questions That Shaped World Christian History), associate professor of world Christian history at Biblical Theological
Seminary, focuses on place in an effort to shake readers from the habit of thinking about the Christian religion in Eurocentric terms. With
conversions continuing to rise in Asia, Africa, and South America--while American and European churches continue to decline--Cooper believes
an overview of world Christian history is necessary in order to supplant "the archaic word Christendom, which many still associate with Western
colonization and imperialism." With this geographical emphasis, readers will wish for a map in addition to the appendix, which list countries
according to the UN geoscheme for nations. Information foundational to Christian history will be old hat for some readers, but, as promised, there
is more depth and detail about Christian history in areas--particularly in Asia and Africa--that are less well covered by most general resources.
Cooper's writing is engaging, and his chapter overviews and "trail markers" help readers with uncommon terms and concepts. This is a valuable
work for nonspecialists and scholars alike. (July)
Source Citation   (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Introduction to World Christian History." Publishers Weekly, 9 May 2016, p. 64. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA452883381&it=r&asid=0cdf68dd6ed66227a13293cf2c97ec31. Accessed 4 Feb.
2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A452883381

"Introduction to World Christian History." Publishers Weekly, 9 May 2016, p. 64. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do? p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA452883381&it=r. Accessed 4 Feb. 2017.

• George P. Wood
  https://georgepwood.com/2016/08/29/review-of-introduction-to-world-christian-history-by-derek-cooper/
  Word count: 702

  REVIEW OF ‘INTRODUCTION TO WORLD CHRISTIAN HISTORY’ BY DEREK COOPER
  Rate This

  Intro-to-World-Christian-HistoryDerek Cooper, Introduction to World Christian History (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2016).

  Derek Cooper begins his Introduction to World Christian History with a thought-provoking quote:

  In just over 100 years, the map of world Christianity has changed almost out of recognition. In 1900, it is estimated that 70 percent of all Christians were to be found in Europe … whereas … by 2025 Africa and Latin America will be vying with one another to claim the most Christians, having about a quarter each of the world’s Christian population (p. 11, quoting Sebastian Kim and Kirsteen Kim, Christianity as a World Religion).

  Given this monumental demographic shift, Christianity must be understood broadly as a global movement, rather than narrowly as a Western one.

  Unfortunately, too many evangelical histories of Christianity continue to evince a Eurocentric bias in their presentation. (The same can be said of other Christian traditions too, of course.) They trace the Church’s story from first-century Judea (where the Church was born) to fourth-century Rome (where orthodoxy formed a problematic relationship with the State) to medieval Europe (where Catholic Christendom flourished) to early modern Northern Europe (where the Reformation took root) to Enlightenment-era Britain and America (where evangelicalism began) to today—that is to say, they trace the history from “them” to “us.” That story is true, as far as it goes, but it leaves a lot of vital information out, about both past and present realities of the Church.

  The emerging field of “world Christian history” or “global Christian history” seeks to correct this Eurocentric bias and provide a more accurate history of the development of Christianity. “Despite its close connection to the West today, Christianity has always been a global and ethnically diverse religion,” Derek Cooper writes. “The time has come for the church to recognize that its history extends far beyond the Western hemisphere. The church was planted in Asia, nurtured in African and harvested worldwide” (p. 13).

  A thorough history of world Christianity would be a multi-volume affair. See, for example, Dale T. Irvin and Scott W. Sunquist’s projected World Christian Movement, whose first two volumes total 1,000 pages, with a third volume still awaiting publication. Even readers with an interest in the topic do not always have the time or patience to read long books like those. They should begin, instead, with Cooper’s Introduction to World Christian History, which summarizes the main points of world Christian history in less than 250 pages.

  Cooper arranges his narrative chronologically and geographically. Chronologically, he divides his material into “three fluid periods: (1) the first to seventh centuries, (2) the eighth through fourteenth centuries, and (3) the fifteenth to the twenty-first centuries” (p. 16). Geographically, he divides his material using the United Nations Geoscheme for Nations. Part 1 and 2 examine the development of Christianity in Asia, Africa, and Europe during the church’s first fifteen centuries. Part 3 begins in Europe, which is where Christianity had become spiritually and politically dominant, but then traces the Church’s development into new fields in Latin America, North America, Oceania, Southern Africa, and Asia. The Church’s development in this period coincided with European colonialism, which—paradoxically—constituted both an obstacle to the acceptance of Christianity by the indigenous peoples (because it was associated with foreign domination) as well as the catalyst for its growth (because indigenous peoples took the missionaries’ gospel and made it their own).

  Reflecting on this history, Cooper concludes his book with words that are worth quoting:

  Christianity does not belong to Europe or America, or to Asia or Africa or Oceania any more than the wind can be captured, claimed and bottled. The wind [of the Holy Spirit] continues to blow today, just as it did in the past. We can hear the sound of it and witness how it transforms peoples and cultures. But we do not know how long the wind will remain with us and where it will go next (p. 244).

  Wherever the Wind may blow, Christians should pray and work so that the Wind carries them along with it.

• J. W. Wartick
  https://jwwartick.com/2016/08/29/iwch-cooper/
  Word count: 553

  Book Review: “Introduction to World Christian History” by Derek Cooper
  POSTED BY J.W. WARTICK ⋅ AUGUST 29, 2016 ⋅ 3 COMMENTS
  FILED UNDER BOOK REVIEW, CHRISTIAN, CHRISTIANITY, CHURCH HISTORY, DEREK COOPER, HISTORICAL THEOLOGY, INTRODUCTION TO WORLD CHRISTIAN HISTORY, J.W. WARTICK, THEOLOGY
  iwch-cooperDerek Cooper’s Introduction to World Christian History provides a look at the development of Christianity across the world. It is a broad introduction to Christianity around the globe.

  The book is formatted both by space and time. That is, sections on each general area (i.e. Asia) are traced for a specific time period (i.e. First through Seventh Centuries). Thus, readers looking to have a reference to work from need not look much farther than this book. Other readers, who may simply be interested in the broad development of world Christianity will not be disappointed either. Cooper does an excellent job showing the ebb and flow of Christianity’s spread across vast regions of time and place. Individual stories of prominent Christians are told in historical context to highlight specific periods or ideas. These individual stories accompany a broader narrative that is delivered in a readable, engaging style.

  What makes the book particularly excellent is the way it provides all levels of readers with more to explore. It is an introductory text, for sure, but the notes are excellent and the topics explored are so broad that even readers with serious knowledge of Christian history will find more to explore. It is such a vast topic that no one can grasp each area, and Cooper gives glimpses into history that entice, like stained glass windows, much study.

  The only real downside here is unavoidable: with so much material covered, it is impossible to get a complete picture of any one topic. Readers must go beyond this introduction. But again, kudos to Cooper for making readers want to do so with such a rich narrative style.

  Introduction to World Christian History is the kind of book that will broaden readers minds in a number of ways. From those merely interested in a specific region to those who want to know just how we got to where we are, the book has broad appeal. Cooper’s style makes it extremely accessible for any level of reader, with plenty to tantalize more advanced readers as well. I recommend it highly.

  The Good

  +Fantastic overview covering large swathes of time and space
  +Provides readers with broader understanding of Christianity
  +Written in an interesting, readable style

  The Bad

  -Extremely brief on many interesting points

  Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book for review from the publisher. I was not required to provide any specific kind of feedback whatsoever.

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• Ponderings On A Faith Journey
  http://www.bobcornwall.com/2016/09/introduction-to-world-christian-history.html
  Word count: 1672

  WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 07, 2016
  Introduction to World Christian History (Derek Cooper) -- A Review
  INTRODUCTION TO WORLD CHRISTIAN HISTORY. By Derek Cooper. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2016. 254 pages.

  There is a tendency to speak of Christianity as being a "Western" religion, by which most people mean that it is a European-centered religion. The fact is, Christianity, like Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and a number of other major religions, is in fact an Asian-born religion. Its roots are in West Asia and from there it spread south, east, west, and yes, north over the past two millennia. Telling the story of Christianity is not easy for it is a diverse religion, that has been formed by both its origins and its expanding contexts. It has ebbed and flowed through time, so that what was originally a West Asian religion came to dominate Europe and North America and now is in the process of finding its strength in the Global South. In part due to conflicts in the Middle East many have rediscovered the Christian communities that have existed through the centuries in places like Iraq, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. Christianity may have become a minority religion in its homeland, but it has yet to disappear (though due to migration patterns Christianity is disappearing in that place we call “The Holy Land.”

  What we need as Christians is an introduction to the global nature of our faith, one that takes seriously both geography and chronology. One who has done this is Derek Cooper, associate professor of World Christian history at Biblical Theological Seminary. This is an important resource, because as one who is by training a church historian I know how it easy it is to focus on the trajectory that leads from the origin to my current context. Thus, as a Protestant Christian living in North America, my own studies and focus and even teaching has tended toward moving toward my own context, leaving aside or marginalizing other trajectories. In this very readable and accessible book (don’t let the publisher’s imprint scare you away from taking up the book, it’s rooted in scholarship but it’s not overly academic!), we see how the Christian faith moved outward in all directions as early as the first century of the common era. While Christianity would come to dominate Europe, its earliest successes lay elsewhere. One of the things I appreciate most about Cooper’s book is the attention given to Syriac Christianity, especially the Church of the East and the Coptic Church, both of which stand outside the Chalcedonian orbit.

  This is a relatively brief book, that covers ground that a Kenneth Scott Latourette covered in two massive volumes with small print or that Justo Gonzalez covers in two slightly smaller volumes. He does so in part because he largely steers clear of theological disagreements. He acknowledges them but largely leaves them alone. His focus isn’t on theology but global expansion (and decline), and he does so in a matter of 254 pages, including acknowledgments and index. Therefore, he rarely stops in one place for long. Sometimes he chooses to emphasize one particular country to illustrate what is happening in a broader region, or picks a time and place that is critical to movement of the faith in a new direction or new place. For the most part he seems to cover the topics at hand with diligence and forthrightness. He does make an occasional mistake or at least it would seem to me that a mistake had been made (one glaring example concerns the suggestion that explorer Henry Stanley was a disciple of David Livingstone), but these mistakes don’t really affect the overall message of the book, and that is that from the very beginning Christianity has moved in all directions.

  What makes this book intriguing and somewhat unique is the way in which he lays out his study. He organizes the book according to the United Nations Geoscheme, exploring the place of Christianity as it exists in each sub-region. To give an example, the UN Geoscheme organizes Asia according to five sub-regions: Central, Eastern, Southern, Southeastern, and Western. This helps us better place how Christianity has expanded over time (as well as declined). With this geographical scheme in place, Cooper divides the book into three chronological parts.

  Part one covers Christianity from its birth in the first century to the seventh century. During this period Christianity existed in Asia, Africa, and Europe. It was, of course, in the seventh century that Islam began to make its push across Asia and northern Africa, overtaking what had previously been Christian strongholds. So we watch as Christianity moves outward, finding its earliest successes in Asia, including modern Turkey, and moving across northern Africa, with Egypt becoming a major success. While Cooper doesn't focus on theology, he does note that early Christianity was theologically diverse, especially with regard to the nature of Christ.

  Part two continues to focus on the presence of Christianity in Asia, Africa, and Europe, as Christianity had yet to make its presence known in the Americas or Oceania. This period runs from the eighth through the fourteenth centuries, a period in which Christianity makes its greatest inroads into Europe and, largely due to the birth and expansion of Islam, begins its long decline in Asia and Africa. Even as the former centers of Christianity, including the Holy Land, came under Islamic rule, culminating in the fall of the Byzantine Empire in the fifteenth century, Christianity came to dominate Europe. There is no greater example of this than the conversion of the Germanic peoples, especially the Franks, to Catholic Christianity, which culminated in the crowning of Charlemagne as the Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III in 800 CE. Even though the Byzantine Empire pulled back from Asia and Africa during the Middle Ages, Orthodoxy spread north and east, finally taking root in Russia. This is the period in which monasticism emerged as a powerful witness to the Gospel and as preserver of classical learning. It was the age in which universities and great cathedrals emerged. This set the stage for the third movement of Christianity, the focus of part three.

  There is a tendency, especially among Protestants, to divide Christian history into two ages—the age before the Reformation and the age after Reformation. With the 500th anniversary of Luther’s famed nailing of the Ninety-five Theses on the door of Wittenberg Castle at hand, it’s easy to make that delineation. Cooper, however, has chosen a different point in time as the key marker of movement. Acknowledging the theological import of the Reformation (he is after all an evangelical Protestant Christian), he wants us to think in terms of global expansion. Therefore, it is not the 16th century that should be our marker, it’s the fifteenth century. It is during the 15th century that the age of European exploration begins. Spain and Portugal move outward from Europe and find new lands, with special emphasis on the Americas. For good or bad, this land, though inhabited for millennia by indigenous peoples, came to the attention of Christian Europe. With the conquistadors went missionaries and then European settlers. Over time the Americas became Christianized. It was during this era that European Christians connected with sub-Saharan Africa and reconnected with much of Asia, as well as in time discovering the world of Oceania. In part three of the book Cooper helps us understand the expansion of Christianity into these new territories. While Orthodoxy continued to make its presence felt in Eastern Europe, especially Russia and the Balkans, it was originally Roman Catholic missionaries that expanded the Christian world. Protestants were pretty late to the game, with Protestant missions only coming into existence in the late 18th century.

  For the most part Cooper, who appears to be an evangelical, remains true to his promise not to "arbitrate among rival articulations of what it means to be a Christian" (p. 19). He doesn't place a grid of orthodoxy on the various claimants to Christianity, so if you make the claim to be Christian, he counts you. In doing so, he allows for us to explore the global expansion of Christianity in all its forms. For many Christians reading this book will introduce them to forms of Christianity that have great ancient lineages, and have existed in places like Iraq and India and Ethiopia from almost the beginnings of the Church. It will also be helpful in letting go of the idea that Christianity is a European/American religion.

  This last recognition is important because it is becoming clear that even as Christianity is in decline in Western Europe and North America, it is booming in the Global South and in Asia. Failure to recognize these changes diminish our own sense of who we are as a Christian community. Due to these changes, we can say that in many ways, the Christian community is returning to its roots.

  Of course a book this brief cannot cover every region in the same way. I wish more had been said about the spread of Christianity in Oceania, for instance. In regards to Southeastern Asia, while the Philippines is certainly in need of exploration, I was hoping for something to be said about the Christian presence in Vietnam. At the same time, as noted earlier, it is good to hear how far and wide Syriac Christianity spread.

  All in all, I believe this book will serve nicely as an introduction to world Christianity, as its title indicates! I recommend it to the Christian community at large so that we can re-envision our place in the world. This is an especially acute need for American Christians who sometimes forget the global nature of our faith. After all, how many American Christians know that the second largest missionary sending nation of our day is South Korea?

• Thoughts, Prayers, & Songs
  https://thoughtsprayersandsongs.com/2016/11/15/introduction-to-world-christian-history-a-book-review/
  Word count: 870

  November 15, 2016 Book Review, Books, IVP Academic, Reviews, Uncategorized 1

  Derek Cooper

  Introduction to World Christian History: a book review

  My grad school prided itself on its global Christian impact; yet the church history I learned there was a largely Western story. Certainly there was an acknowledgement that Christendom’s origins weren’t in the West, and the church in Africa and Asia; yet more time and energy was spent unearthing the European story as the dominant narrative running through Christian history. This made a certain amount of sense. It was a school in the West and the West has pride of place in medieval and modern Christianity; however there was a richer story than the one I was, in large part, told.

  4088In Introduction to World Christian History, Derek Cooper explores the global development ‘across time and continents.’ Cooper is the associate professor of world Christian history at Biblical Theological Seminary in Hatfield, Pennsylvania. As such, he is used to introducing students to the diversity of the world Christian movement. For this book, he utilizes the United Nations Geo-scheme for Nations as a template for exploring Christian history in three periods: the first to the seventh , the eighth to the fourteenth, and the fifteenth to the twentieth centuries. These division departs between the seventh and eighth centuries in his periods, de-centers the European story. Traditional church history treats the conversion of Constantine and the first Council (both fourth century) as a “watershed moment” in the Christian story (16). However Cooper observes these events may be overstated in global importance, particularly when you consider that the church was never coterminous with the Roman empire and the “councils never represented the whole church” (16-17).

  In part one, Cooper explores Christianity in the first to seventh centuries. He begins, in chapter one, with Asia as the birthplace and cradle of the Christian faith, describing the growth of the Christian movement in western Asia (i.e. president day Saudi Arabia and Turkey), central Asia (India and China) and Southern Asia (Iran). Chapter two describes the deep roots of the African church (Northern Africa like Alexandria, Algeria and Tunisia, and the Eastern African church of Ethiopia. Chapter three examines the European story (in Eastern, Southern, Northern and Western Europe). In the early part of the Christian story Asian and African Christianity loom large.

  Part two examines again the regions of Asia, Africa and Europe, this time from the eighth to the fourteenth centuries. While Asian and African Christians were dominant in earlier times, this was a difficult period for both of them (i.e. the spread of Islam and other faiths, the Crusades, isolation of Asian Christian communities). Cooper writes, “Although it is not accurate to state that Christianity died in Asia at this time, it certainly diminished—and fairly rapidly and extensively so” (87). This is true of Africa as well. African Christians suffered severe persecution with the spread of Islam. In some areas the Christian faith was stamped out though a Christian witness remained in both Asia and Africa, though a chastened one. It is in this era the European story becomes the dominant narrative of Christian history (chapter six).

  Part three describes Christianity from the Fifteenth to the Twenty-First Centuries. In this period global diversity explodes in the Christian movement. Cooper lays aside his tripartite division of Asia, Africa and Europe, adding region and scope. He begins with Europe (chapter seven) and traces the growth of global Christianity through evangelization. He devotes a chapter each to Christianity in Latin America, Northern America, Oceania (Australia and New Zealand, Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia), Africa and Asia.

  This is a short book. about 250 pages for all of Christian history. As the title suggests this is an introduction to World Christian history, not the definitive word. By necessity Cooper gives us a bird’s-eye-view of Christianity than a detailed analysis of every region; nevertheless he does give us a more robust sense of the global Christian movement through the ages. Theologians like Thomas Oden and historians like Phillip Jenkins have noted that the center of Christianity has shifted, in recent history, east and south. This is true, and Cooper would concur. However his ‘at-a-glance’ romp through church history reveals that the global character of Christianity is not a recent phenomenon, but one of its persistent features.

  This would be a good supplementary text for a Church history class, though it is an accessible read for anyone interested in Christian history. As a student, I would have used this book as a jumping-off-point for deeper research. Cooper uses contemporary names for regions and countries throughout makes this approachable for the non-scholar and ordinary reader. I give this four stars.

  Note I received this book from IVP Academic in exchange for my honest review.

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• Patheos
  http://www.patheos.com/blogs/euangelion/2016/12/book-notice-introduction-world-christian-history/
  Word count: 490

  Derek Cooper
  Introduction to World Christian History
  Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2016.
  Available at Amazon.com

  Reviewed by Felicity Clift

  It is difficult to think of Christianity aside from that which is set immediately before us historically, culturally, socially and personally, and it is into this circumscribe spiritual mentality that Derek Cooper’s book, Introduction to World Christian History (InterVarsity Press, 2016), brings a wind that stirs what is settled in refreshing and stretching ways. Following the suit of Philip Jenkins, Cooper chooses to write about Christianity, where ‘Christian’ is defined as ‘anyone who calls themselves so,’ without arbitration (p.19). His key purpose, which he states clearly, is to set out a global, geographical history of Christianity, tracking its growth from its birthplace in Asia to its current presence (patchy or robust) around the world. The many divisions within the Church – Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant divisions amongst them – are identified and put in their historical place without bias. The consequence is that while this does, at times, seem to paint the spread of Christianity as a purely human (and too frequent a political or mercenary) endeavor, devoid of Godly providence, Cooper’s approach also allows the reader to see the diversity of Christianity in the world, and prompts reconsideration of how God chooses to reveal himself.

  Where such a venture, to map the progress of Christianity across space and time, could lead to a confusion of historical names and boundaries, Cooper’s choice to use the UN Geoscheme for Nations aids the visualization of this progression. So too does his inclusion of chapter and section overviews. Derek Cooper focuses on the spread of Christianity but simultaneously acknowledges the influence of other major world religions such as Islam and Buddhism, making this a book that is helpful for any reader who desires a greater understanding of how there came to be such diversity within the Christian Church across the globe. The relevance of this book to a wide audience is further expanded by the consideration of Christianity in every geographic region. I sit in Oceania, and my understanding of my religious climate has been helpfully expanded through this reading. It seems reasonable to assume the same benefit to readers around the world given Cooper’s attention to each global region. Introduction to World Christian History testifies to the truth that God ‘made all the nations… and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands… so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us’ (Acts 17:26-27). So, while Cooper is content to state that his book offers a purely historical geography of Christianity, it also prompts thinking about what implications this global vision of Christianity might have for our understanding God, for mission, and for the Church in the world.

• Occasional Thought
  https://jacksonrl527.wordpress.com/2016/06/25/review-of-derek-coopers-introduction-to-world-christian-history/
  Word count: 0

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