Migration is changing the face of Christianity and Church communities must embrace this change or risk fading away, says visiting Biblical Scholar, Fr vanThanh Nguyen SVD.
Fr vanThanh, who is Professor of New Testament Studies and holds the Bishop Francis Ford Chair of Catholic Missiology at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, was in Australia this month giving a series of lectures for BBI – The Australian Institute of Theological Education.
“The face of Christianity is changing because of migration and over the coming decades that change will increase drastically,” he says.
“It is estimated that by 2050, Christians from the global south will dominate. So, Christianity will no longer be centred in Europe, but in Asia, Africa and Latin America and this will change the face of Christianity.
“We only have to look at the SVD as one example – the face of it is changing dramatically in Europe and North America.”
Fr vanThanh says that as a Biblical Scholar he is deeply interested in the question of how the changing face of Christianity will alter our understanding of theology and the way we read the Bible.
“One thing is already clear,” he says.
“Where the Church is welcoming towards immigrants, that Church is thriving. Any Religious community that embraces members from other cultures, that community is thriving.
“Those who are slow or resistant to that change will fade away. And sadly, we can see that happening already.”
Fr vanThanh says he enjoyed giving three presentations/workshops at BBI-TAITE during his visit to Australia, where he spoke on Interpreting and Preaching Matthew, the Lukan Spirituality of Jesus, and The Hard Sayings of Jesus.
He also gave a presentation to the lay Bible Group at the SVD’s St Arnold Janssen Chapel in Marsfield.
“I enjoy talking with people from all walks of life about the Bible,” he says. “It would be boring only to write and speak for scholars.
“The Bible is an amazing and inspiring book with so many kernels of truth and insights, but people tend to forget it’s there. Certainly in the global north, the Bible is placed on the shelf and it just gathers dust.
“And I think part of the reason for that is due in part to the scholarship that theologians and Biblical Scholars have done. We have not been able to make it as relevant as we should have for ordinary people.
“So, that’s our job now, to ask how to make it more relevant so that more people can find inspiration and comfort and challenge in the pages of the Bible and be transformed by it.”
