Page 133 - History of Christianity - Student Textbook

Study Section 25: Explosion of Christianity in Africa, 1950-60

25.1 Connect

As we conclude our study of church history, we see the Western church on the decline, especially in
Europe. Church buildings once declared the Gospel are now printing offices. Dozens of churches are
closing every day. But we also see God moving in other parts of the world. Christianity is exploding
in China, in Latin America, in Asia, and especially in Africa. God is busy bringing new people into His
kingdom. So as we close our study, we want to see what God is doing today in the world, especially
in these areas of evangelism and discipleship.

Again, we will see Satan busy at work to counter God’s grace displayed. But we have to remember that “greater
is He that is in us, then he that is in the world!” We also know that in the final battle, God wins! If you stand
with the Lord, you will win!

25.2 Objectives

1. The student will see how Satan used John Hick to mislead thousands.

2. The student will be able to describe the amazing movement of God in Africa and other parts of
the world.

3. The student will be able to see how modernism has moved to a new level as Satan battles God for the minds
of men.

25.3 John Hick, 1922-2012

John Hick was a philosopher of religion and theologian born in England who
taught in the United States for the larger part of his career.

He argued for a pluralist approach to other religions in his book God and the
Universe of Faiths (1973) by which one focuses on God and sees the
similarities between these other religions as valid ways to reach God.

In the late 1960s, Hick had another set of experiences that dramatically affected his life
and work. While working on civil rights issues in Birmingham, he found himself working
and worshiping alongside people of other faiths. During this time he began to believe
that sincere adherents of other faiths experience the Transcendent just as Christians do, though with variances
due to cultural, historical, and doctrinal factors. These experiences led him to develop his pluralistic hypothesis,
which, relying heavily on Kant’s phenomenal/noumenal distinction, states that adherents of the major religious
faiths experience the ineffable Real through their varying culturally shaped lenses. Hick’s pluralistic
considerations then led him to adjust his theological positions, and he subsequently developed interpretations
of Christian doctrines, such as the incarnation, atonement, and trinity, not as metaphysical claims but as
metaphorical or mythological ones. (https://www.iep.utm.edu/hick/)

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