Abstract
In 2006, Dr Dana Robert asked: “What would the study of Christianity in Africa, Asia, and Latin America look like if scholars put women into the center of their research?” Dr Gina Zurlo sought to answer that question with the Women in World Christianity Project (2019–21) funded by the Louisville Institute and Religious Research Association. A result of that work, this textbook presents a paradigm shift that centers church and missional history around the contributions of women as essential, holistic, and complex.
Zurlo’s work is data-driven and contextually sensitive. It not only illuminates the powerful evangelistic agency of more than half of the global church in its myriad ethnocultural iterations. New categories of missional advancement that demonstrate women’s transcultural restorative work for justice are also introduced. Women of faith are ardent activists spanning sociopolitical and economic dimensions to secure this-earthly flourishing, battling gender-based violence and furthering environmental justice. They are shown to be peacebuilding activists skilled in grassroots organization and cross-conflict resolution. Presenting raw facts rather than mere theoretical discourse, the book advocates for a championing of women as those already in the trenches, engaging in integral mission.
Women in World Christianity builds upon historiographical shifts pioneered by female historians and theologians who have come before her, such as Dana Robert, Rosemary Seton, and Kwok Pui-lan among others. The book is structured in three parts: women in World Christianity by continent, ecclesial tradition, and selected topics. Each continent and tradition chapter is further sub-divided into sections on history, quantitative data, results from surveys on gender and congregational life, descriptions of Christian women’s activities in the past and present, and a theology section featuring female theologians from the continent. Reflection questions provided are wonderfully praxis-based.
Zurlo shows that women have long been “subversive apostles” leading and pulling the weight of the Church despite deprivation of credit and recognition. Just as the shift of Christianity to the Global South challenged dominant western theological and missional methodologies, Zurlo’s work brings forth another seismic shift attesting to the female presence.