Philip Jenkins

Philip Jenkins obtained his doctorate in history from Cambridge University. Since 1980, he has taught at Penn State University and currently holds the rank of Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of the Humanities in History and Religious Studies. His book The Next Christendom was named one of the top religion books of 2002 by USA Today. He has published articles and op-ed pieces in the Wall Street Journal, New Republic, Atlantic Monthly, Washington Post, Boston Globe, and other top media outlets.

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Biography/History

Catholicism

The Lost History of Christianity

The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia--and How It Died

Talking Points

Jenkins provided this first controversial study that looks at Christian history through the lens of when, how, and why churches die. As a professor at Penn State University, Philip Jenkins has impeccable credentials and is highly regarded as a leading scholar of religious history. Jenkins’ work has been a featured cover story of The Atlantic, he writes and blogs regularly for The New Republic, has been reviewed in all the major daily newspapers, and is a frequent guest on top national NPR shows.

Description

The Lost History of Christianity is a paradigm-shifting history that reveals how the largest and most influential churches lay to the east of Rome, covered the world from China to North Africa, ruled the Middle East for centuries, and became the chief administrators and academics in the new Muslim empire, only expiring after a thousand-year reign after Constantine. Many people will find the very concept of vast Christian extinction controversial and unsettling. This is the first book to tell the story of Christianity’s decline in major parts of the world.

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Bible/Jesus Experts

The Jesus Wars

How Four Patriarchs, Three Queens, and Two Emperors Decided What Christians Would Believe for the Next 1,500 Years

Talking Points

A professor at Penn State University, Philip Jenkins has impeccable credentials and is highly regarded as a leading scholar of religious history. His work has been featured cover story of The Atlantic, he writes and blogs regularly for The Boston Globe, The New Republic, is a sought-after religion expert by the Wall Street Journal, and regularly covered in key Christian publications such as Christianity Today. Battles over right belief in the early centuries of Christianity, and the Roman Empire’s involvement in the shaping of orthodoxy, are of perennial interest. Jenkins’ reveals how all sides of the theological battles in the 5th century had blood on their hands.

Description

Over the last two thousand years, Christians have repeatedly struggled to resolve the tension between two seemingly rival claims: Jesus was fully human and yet fully divine. Never was it more central to Christianity than during the Church Councils of the fifth century, when for a few years it seemed very likely-almost inevitable, in fact-that the Church might formally abandon its belief in the humanity of Jesus and describe him solely as a being fully divine.

The struggles within the Roman Empire over these issues are breathtaking, and involve a galaxy of incredible characters, both in the imperial family and the church: backstairs conspiracies and court factions abound, as do riots and rebellions. The story culminates in a full-scale civil war that tears the empire apart for decades over the core question of the nature of Jesus Christ.

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Laying Down the Sword

Why We Can't Ignore the Bible's Violent Verses

Talking Points

Philip Jenkins, the author of The Lost History of Christianity, Jesus Wars, and The Next Christendom, has a joint appointment as the Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of the Humanities in history and religious studies at Penn State University and as Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University. Identified by The Economist as “one of America’s best scholars of religion,” Philip Jenkins examines the dark and violent verses of the Bible, unafraid of reminding Jews and Christians that their holiest texts, too, are complex and often violent—at a time when the Qur’an is too often cited as the root of terrorism. Jenkins’s work has been featured in a cover story of The Atlantic (1st serial). He is a sought-after religion expert by the Wall Street Journal, and his books are regularly covered in key Christian publications such as Christianity Today. He has been interviewed for and published pieces in USA Today, the Washington Post, NPR’s All Things Considered, and U.S. Catholic, among others.

Description

Laying Down the Sword brings to light biblical texts that have been hidden from view and overturns popular stereotypes that continue to generate more heat than light. In many eras, Christianity has initiated more violence and bloodshed than any other religious tradition-and could again, under the right conditions. However, fanaticism is no more hardwired in Christianity than in Islam. And, as Philip Jenkins demonstrates with stunning historical and sociological evidence, the mere existence of bloody sacred texts does not lead to violence. So what does motivate religious adherents to seize upon violent verses?

Jesus said, “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Jenkins offers a way to read these troubling passages. Laying Down the Sword presents a vital framework for understanding the Bible and calls believers in every tradition to create a more honest and deeper-rooted faith.

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