"In this book, Philip Jenkins takes a close look at Christianity in the global South, revealing what it is like, and what it means for the future." "The faith of the South, Jenkins finds, is first and foremost a biblical faith. Indeed, in the global South, many Christians identify powerfully with the world portrayed in the New Testament - an agricultural world very much like their own, marked by famine and plague, poverty and exile, until very recently a society of peasants, farmers, and small craftsmen. In the global South, as in the biblical world, belief in spirits and witchcraft are commonplace, and in many places - such as Nigeria, Indonesia, and Sudan - Christians are persecuted just as early Christians were. Thus the Bible speaks to the global South with a vividness and authenticity simply not available to most believers in the industrialized North." "More important, Jenkins shows that throughout the global South, believers are reading the Bible with fresh eyes, and coming away with new and sometimes startling interpretations."--BOOK JACKET.