This book presents a comprehensive, compelling, and most recent account of Christianity in Asia. It contains an evaluation of foreign missionary activities and development of Asian indigenous churches from biblical and historical perspectives with notable attention to Asian cultural elements in Asian churches.

The author, Dr. Bong Rin Ro, is an Asian and an eminent historian of Christianity. He brings his rich experience of teaching the history of Christianity and Missiology for over 50 years in Asian as well as Western seminaries and universities. Dr. Ro’s book is a fresh analysis and reflection on Asia’s powerful Christian heritage.

The book is divided into four parts, each dealing with the history of Christianity in (1) the west and central, (2) the south, (3) the southeast, and (4) the northeast Asia, respectively. Part I begins with a good introduction to Asia as a continent describing its land, people, culture, politics, economy, and Christian missions. The section underlines Asia as a center of unreached people of the world (p. 41). The next two chapters in this section outline the Christian histories of West Asia and Central Asia. Both these regions have Islam as the majority religion and persecution of Christians and others are remarkably high. Over 21 nations, Arab and non-Arab, are part of these regions with complicated political and religious histories.

Part II narrates the histories of Christianities in South Asian countries: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. The omission of the history of Christianity in Bhutan was unexpected since the country is already mentioned in the introduction to the region and does have a unique Christian history. Part III summarizes the Christian history of Southeast Asian countries: Indonesia, Malesia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Each chapter gives a country profile with religious demography and a glimpse of its colonial past. Part IV illustrates the Christian histories of China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Mongolia, South Korea, North Korea, and Japan. Attention has been paid to include Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian stories along with Protestant and independent stories.

An important contribution of this volume is the inclusion of the intellectual dimension of mission history which deals with development in education and science in the country in focus. The book also highlights key issues and challenges Christians facing in each country. It presents a healthy blend of political and religious background and balance of chronological and topical treatment of the subject. However, a few endnote errors and typos (e.g., the chapter on India) could have been fixed before publishing the book. The use of light pink for subheadings and major citations is quite annoying due to its less visibility. Also, increasing use of Wikipedia and some other weblinks (without proper title or access date) by a renowned author and a book of this stature is lamentable.

Beyond minor physical and technical issues, the book will definitely be a boon to the students of Asian Christian history. It will make a good textbook for a full course on Asian Christian history. Scholars with general interest in Asian history, with special reference to Christianity, will also find it a helpful addition to their library.

Shivraj K. Mahendra

Luther W. New Jr. Theological College (India)

Categories: (H) Book Review