Academic Minute
1:46 pm
Fri April 15, 2011
Dr. Dyron Daughrity, Pepperdine University - World Christianity
Albany, NY – In today's Academic Minute, Dr. Dyron Daughrity of Pepperdine University examines the cultural diversity of Christians around the world.
Dr. Dyron Daughrity is an assistant professor of religion at Pepperdine University where he teaches courses on the history of Christianity and the history of theology. In 2010 he published The Changing World of Christianity: The Global History of a Borderless Religion.
Dr. Dyron Daughrity - World Christianity
Christianity is easily the largest religion in the world right now, a fact that's often overlooked. The world population is around 7 billion; about 0ne-third of those people are Christian.
Christianity is also very culturally diverse. Of the world's eight cultural blocks, Christianity is the largest religion in six of them.
Perhaps now, more than at any other time in history, humans need to understand each other's beliefs, and learn from each other. Christians in America need to understand other religions, but they also need to understand the world's Christians. Christians living abroad can be important reservoirs of knowledge if North Americans just talked with them.
For example, Nigerian Christians understand Islam. About half of that country is Christian and about half is Islamic. And they coexist peacefully most of the time. North American Christians should learn from Nigerian Christians about how to understand Islam, how to relate, how to live peaceably with one another, how to be neighborly.
North American Christians have a wonderful opportunity to understand other cultures by using faith as an interface. And the Christian religion is a global institution that transcends borders.
By looking at Christianity as a borderless religion, we begin to understand our interconnectedness to other people. We see political boundaries as limited. We realize our common humanity. And once a person begins to think of himself as a member of a global community, he will begin to see his neighbors his fellow citizens as friends.