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Article: Europe: Christendom graveyard or Christian laboratory?
- Article from:
- International Bulletin of Missionary Research
- Article date:
- July 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Overseas Ministries Study Center. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Shortly before his election as Pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger published a pithy little volume in Italian, Europa: I suoi fondamenti oggi e domani (Edizioni San Paolo, 2004). Recently translated into English under the title Europe Today and Tomorrow (Ignatius Press, 2007), the book wistfully recalls the continent's Christendom heritage and argues that, without a return to its spiritual foundations, Europe's moral and political disintegration is inevitable.
In his lead article Philip Jenkins argues that while the collapse of mainstream European religion may well mark the death of Christendom, closer scrutiny suggests that instead we may be witnessing a ...