Christianity and Other Religions in the Age of Globality

Abstract

This chapter describes, first, the present situation of Christianity within global society in relation to other major religions. Furthermore, it describes the historical process of the globalization of Christianity since its origins and Christianity’s limited awareness of other religions. It is suggested that in Christianity, “global turn” primarily means a change in religious perception in the early twentieth century. Subsequently, in the wake of the ecumenical movement and of the Holocaust, the Western churches and their theologians began thoroughly to reassess their views of foreign peoples and cultures such that in much of Christian theology nowadays a great openness in dealing with other faiths can be found. Finally, this chapter discusses a number of academic challenges which theology and the study of the Christian religion are facing in the age of globality.