Christianity at the Crossroads: The Global Church from the Print Revolution to the Digital Era

Historian Hempton (Evangelical Disenchantment) provides an intricate and expansive history of 500 centuries of religious change resulting from clashes between Christianity and various “transnational networks.” He begins with how printing networks helped Protestantism proliferate across Europe in the 1500s as Martin Luther’s accessible writing and Lutheran hymn books brought German Reformation ideals to a “wider public consciousness.” Later sections analyze how digital media networks have fostered the rise of pastors with online platforms and consumer-based church networks that appeal directly to believers. (The effects of such changes are less clear because the digital revolution is ongoing, the author notes, but seem to suggest a weakening of traditional denominational Christianity, and a religion that may lack the “distinctive ritual” and historic continuity to maintain its appeal.) Along the way, Hepworth highlights how the Roman Catholic Jesuit Order established “the first great network” of colleges and schools across early modern Europe, women’s roles in shaping the Methodist missionary movement in the 20th century, and the international spread of “networked churches” like the Redeemed Christian Church of God. Drawing on fine-grained research and thorough analysis, the author insightfully details what’s lost and gained when tradition meets modernity, and unspools a vivid narrative of how modern Christianity has taken shape. Religious scholars will be edified. (Sept.)