Philip Jenkins

Last updated

Philip Jenkins
Born (1952-04-03) April 3, 1952 (age 71)
Alma mater Clare College, Cambridge
Scientific career
FieldsHumanities, history, religious studies, criminal justice, American studies
Institutions Pennsylvania State University, Baylor University

Philip Jenkins (born April 3, 1952 [1] ) is a professor of history at Baylor University in the United States, and co-director for Baylor's Program on Historical Studies of Religion in the Institute for Studies of Religion. [2] He is also the Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Humanities Emeritus at Pennsylvania State University (PSU). He was professor (from 1993) and a distinguished professor (from 1997) of history and religious studies at the same institution; and also assistant, associate and then full professor of criminal justice and American studies at PSU, 1980–93. [3]

Contents

Jenkins is a contributing editor for The American Conservative and writes a monthly column for The Christian Century . He has also written articles for Christianity Today , First Things , and The Atlantic . [4]

Early life and work

Jenkins was born in Port Talbot, Wales, in 1952, and studied at Clare College, Cambridge, taking double first–class honours in both History[ citation needed ] and, in 1974, Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic. [5] Jenkins then studied for his PhD under the supervision of Sir John Plumb among others. Between 1977 and 1980, Jenkins worked as a researcher for Sir Leon Radzinowicz, the pioneer of criminology studies at Cambridge.

In 1979, Jenkins won the BBC quiz show Mastermind . [6]

Academic career

In 1980, Jenkins was appointed Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at Pennsylvania State University, which marked a change in his research focus. Jenkins has forged a reputation based on his work on global Christianity as well as on emerging religious movements. Other research interests include post-1970 American history and crime. [7]

He conducted a study of the Quran and the Bible in the light of the September 11 attacks and accusations that the Quran incites violence. However, he found that "the Bible contains far more verses praising or urging bloodshed than does the Quran." [8] (See also Violence in the Bible and Violence in the Quran).

Public intellectual

In 2002 Jenkins, a Catholic-turned-Episcopalian, [9] discussed the Catholic sex abuse cases by asserting that his "research of cases over the past 20 years indicates no evidence whatever that Catholic or other celibate clergy are any more likely to be involved in misconduct or abuse than clergy of any other denomination—or indeed, than non-clergy. However determined news media may be to see this affair as a crisis of celibacy, the charge is just unsupported." [10]

In a 2010 interview with National Public Radio, Jenkins stated that he believes that "the Islamic scriptures in the Quran were actually far less bloody and less violent than those in the Bible" and cites explicit instructions in the Old Testament calling for genocide while the Quran calls for primarily defensive war. Jenkins went on to state that Christianity, Islam, and Judaism had undergone a process that he refers to as "holy amnesia" in which violence in sacred texts became symbolic action against one's sins. Islam had until recently also undergone the same process in which jihad became an internal struggle rather than war. [11]

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of religion</span> Historical development of religion

The history of religion refers to the written record of human religious feelings, thoughts, and ideas. This period of religious history begins with the invention of writing about 5,200 years ago. The prehistory of religion involves the study of religious beliefs that existed prior to the advent of written records. One can also study comparative religious chronology through a timeline of religion. Writing played a major role in standardizing religious texts regardless of time or location, and making easier the memorization of prayers and divine rules. A small part of the Bible involves the collation of oral texts handed down over the centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prophet</span> Person claimed to speak for a divine being

In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the supernatural source to other people. The message that the prophet conveys is called a prophecy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Schaff</span> Swiss-born, American theologian and ecclesiastical historian (1819–1893)

Philip Schaff was a Swiss-born, German-educated Protestant theologian and ecclesiastical historian, who spent most of his adult life living and teaching in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christianity and Islam</span> Relationship between Christianity and Islam

Christianity and Islam are the two largest religions in the world, with 2.8 billion and 1.9 billion adherents, respectively. Both religions are considered as Abrahamic, and are monotheistic, originating in the Middle East.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comparative religion</span> Systematic comparison of the worlds religions

Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices, themes and impacts of the world's religions. In general the comparative study of religion yields a deeper understanding of the fundamental philosophical concerns of religion such as ethics, metaphysics and the nature and forms of salvation. It also considers and compares the origins and similarities shared between the various religions of the world. Studying such material facilitates a broadened and more sophisticated understanding of human beliefs and practices regarding the sacred, numinous, spiritual and divine.

Christian terrorism, a form of religious terrorism, comprises terrorist acts which are committed by groups or individuals who profess Christian motivations or goals. Christian terrorists justify their violent tactics through their interpretation of the Bible and Christianity, in accordance with their own objectives and worldview.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavery and religion</span> Religious views on slavery

Historically, slavery has been regulated, supported, or opposed on religious grounds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hiberno-Scottish mission</span> Medieval Irish and Scottish Christian mission

The Hiberno-Scottish mission was a series of expeditions in the 6th and 7th centuries by Gaelic missionaries originating from Ireland that spread Celtic Christianity in Scotland, Wales, England and Merovingian France. Celtic Christianity spread first within the Kingdom of Dál Riata, within Ireland and the western coast of Scotland. Since the 8th and 9th centuries, these early missions were called 'Celtic Christianity'.

The concept of God in Abrahamic religions is centred on monotheism. The three major monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, alongside the Baháʼí Faith, Samaritanism, Druze, and Rastafari, are all regarded as Abrahamic religions due to their shared worship of the God that these traditions claim revealed himself to Abraham. Abrahamic religions share the same distinguishing features:

Sarah Rosamund Irvine Foot is an English Anglican priest and early medieval historian, previously serving as Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Oxford. On 1 July 2023 she became the first woman to serve as Dean of Christ Church, Oxford.

The Abrahamic religions are a group of religions centered around the worship of the God of Abraham. Abraham, a Hebrew patriarch, is extensively mentioned throughout the Abrahamic religious scriptures of the Quran, and the Hebrew and Christian Bibles.

Rodney William Stark was an American sociologist of religion who was a longtime professor of sociology and of comparative religion at the University of Washington. At the time of his death he was the Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences at Baylor University, co-director of the university's Institute for Studies of Religion, and founding editor of the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion.

Bruce D. Chilton is an American scholar of early Christianity and Judaism, and an Episcopalian priest. He is Bernard Iddings Bell Professor of Religion at Bard College, formerly Lillian Claus Professor of New Testament at Yale University, and Rector of the Church of St John the Evangelist He holds a PhD in New Testament from Cambridge University. He has previously held academic positions at the Universities of Cambridge, Sheffield, and Münster.

Edwin Scott Gaustad was a professor of history at the University of California, Riverside. He achieved fame with his study of the genealogy of religion in the United States, Historical atlas of religion in America. The 1972 edition of this work has been used in secular histories of Mainline Protestantism and the Emergent church movement (denominationalism) for decades, and his a Religious History of America was a standard text for college students. A graduate of Baylor University and Brown University, Gaustad dedicated his career to sharing his expansive research on religious history. Gaustad was president of the American Society of Church History. Gaustad died March 25, 2011, in Santa Fe, New Mexico at the age of 87.

Richard Sharpe,, Hon. was a British historian and academic, who was Professor of Diplomatic at the University of Oxford and a fellow of Wadham College, Oxford. His broad interests were the history of medieval England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. He had a special concern with first-hand work on the primary sources of medieval history, including the practices of palaeography, diplomatic and the editorial process, as well as the historical and legal contexts of medieval documents. He was the general editor of the Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, and editor of a forthcoming edition of the charters of King Henry I of England.

Christopher Charles Rowland is an English Anglican priest and theologian. He was Dean Ireland's Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford from 1991 to 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Aaron Barton</span> Canadian writer, academic and clergyman (1859 – 1942)

George Aaron Barton was a Canadian author, Episcopal clergyman, and professor of Semitic languages and the history of religion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, University of Cambridge</span>

The Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic is one of the constituent departments of the University of Cambridge, and focuses on the history, material culture, languages and literatures of the various peoples who inhabited Britain, Ireland and the extended Scandinavian world in the early Middle Ages. It is based on the second floor of the Faculty of English at 9 West Road. In Cambridge University jargon, its students are called ASNaCs.

World Christianity or global Christianity has been defined both as a term that attempts to convey the global nature of the Christian religion and an academic field of study that encompasses analysis of the histories, practices, and discourses of Christianity as a world religion and its various forms as they are found on the six continents. However, the term often focuses on "non-Western Christianity" which "comprises instances of Christian faith in 'the global South', in Asia, Africa, and Latin America." It also includes Indigenous or diasporic forms of Christianity in the Caribbean, South America, Western Europe, and North America.

References

  1. Date information sourced from Library of Congress Authorities data, via corresponding WorldCat Identities  linked authority file (LAF) . Retrieved on May 22, 2008.
  2. "Distinguished Professor of History". Faculty: Philip Jenkins. Baylor University. June 6, 2022.
  3. "Curriculum Vitae". Department of History & Religious Studies Program, Penn State University (PSU). Archived from the original on March 17, 2008. Retrieved May 22, 2008.
  4. PSU resume
  5. 'Appendix V. Candidates who Took the Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic Tripos between 1900 and 1999', in H. M. Chadwick and the Study of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic in Cambridge, ed. by Michael Lapidge [=Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies, 69–70] (Aberystwyth: Department of Welsh, Abersytwyth University, 2015), pp. 257–66 (p. 262).
  6. Jenkins 1983.
  7. "Philip Jenkins — History and Religious Studies". Department Faculty. Pennsylvania State University. Archived from the original on March 17, 2008.
  8. Al Jazeera, March 26, 2010
  9. Jenkins, Philip (2003), "Preface", The New Anti-Catholicism: The Last Acceptable Prejudice (Look Inside), Amazon, p. vii.
  10. Jenkins, P (March 3, 2002). "Forum: The myth of the 'pedophile priest'". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Retrieved May 16, 2010.
  11. Hagerty, BB (March 18, 2010). "Is The Bible More Violent than The Quran?". National Public Radio . Retrieved May 16, 2010.