Part one. 1454-1600: two major transfigurations. Christian beginnings in America
(The preconquest era
The conquest begins
Subduing the Aztecs
Conquering the Incas
Colonization of Brazil
Requirements, encomienda, and conquistadors
Defending the rights of indigenous peoples
Characteristics of Christian life in sixteenth-century America
Women in Catholic America
Beginnings of the transformation of Christianity in America)
African Christianity in the sixteenth century
(Ancient roots of Christianity in Africa
West African culture and Portuguese incursions
Africa, Christianity, and the slave trade
Ethiopian Christianity)
Christianity re-encounters Asia
(Western Christianity comes to Asia
St. Thomas Churches and Indian Christianity
Arrival of the Portuguese
Francis Xavier and the Jesuits
Christian beginnings in Japan
Christianity reaches the Philippines
Europeans in the East Indies and Indochina)
Europe in an age of reform
(A changing Europe steps onto a global stage
The humanists and European cultural transformation
Francisco Ximénes de Cisneros and reforms in Spain
Erasmus of Rotterdam and the broad current of humanist learning
Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation in Germany
Spread of the Lutheran reform beyond Saxony
Ulrich Zwingli and the city of Zürich
The first Anabaptists, the Swiss Brethren
Wide diffusion of the Anabaptists
John Calvin and the Geneva Reformation
Spread of the Reformed faith
Separation of the Church of England from Rome under Henry VIII
Reform in Scotland
Early Unitarians
Catholic reforms led by religious orders
Ignatius of Loyola and the Jesuits
The Council of Trent and Catholic institutional reform
The legacy of a turbulent century)
Orthodoxy amid the empires
(Islamic empires
Christians under Ottoman rule
The Coptic Church in Egypt
Christians under Safavid Persian rule
The Russian Orthodox Church
The Ukrainian Church on the borderlands)
World Christianity at the end of the sixteenth century
(Protestant confessional formations in Europe
Roman Catholic reform and development
Orthodoxy and the Ottoman empire
Conflicts in world Christianity beyond Europe). Part two. The seventeenth century: global religious and secular encounters. Eastern Asia in the seventeenth century
(The doors of China swing open ... and shut
Jesuits enter the Middle Kingdom
Controversy over adaptation of Christianity to Chinese culture
Korean beginnings
Christian twilight in Japan
Vietnam
Siam and Cambodia
Catholics and reformed in the East Indies
Spain and Catholic religion in the Philippines)
South Asia in the seventeenth century
(Disputes over Roman Catholic and St. Thomas rites
Christian witness in the Mughul empire
Roberto de Nobili and Christian adaptation in Hindu Madurai)
African Christian kingdoms
(Africa in the emerging global slave trade
Central Africa
Ethiopia
East and southeast Africa)
The Caribbean and South America
(The Caribbean
Slavery
Brazil
Spanish America
Religious practices in America)
North America
(Spanish and French Catholic beginnings in North America
The Franciscan century in New Mexico
The English in North America
Colonies of Virginia, New Amsterdam, Maryland, and Pennsylvania
Africans in North America)
Europe in the seventeenth century
(Rationalism and science
Wars of religion and European realignment
Roman Catholic reforms amid internal tensions
Three important movements within Protestantism
Developments in German Lutheranism
Developments in Reformed Churches in continental Europe
Anabaptists
Reformed ferment and civil war in England
The Quakers
Baptists and the emergence of the Free Church ideal
Religious toleration in England) Orthodox churches and Christian identity in the seventeenth century
(Churches among empires
Orthodox communities in the Balkans
The Maronite Church in Lebanon
Theological conflicts in the ecumenical patriarchate
The Coptic Church and the Ottomans
Armenian Christians between Russia and the Ottomans
Kurds between Christians and Muslims
The East Syrian Church continues to decline
Orthodoxy in Russia and the Ukraine). Part three. The eighteenth century: independence, liberation, awakenings. Africa in the eighteenth century
(Strengthening within Islam
West Africa
Abolitionism begins
Southern Africa
Ethiopia and East Africa)
The eighteenth century in Europe
(The European Enlightenment
Renewal of Catholic life and worship
The Jansenist controversy
Developments in Protestant intellectual and spiritual life
Pietism and the religion of the heart
Wesleyan movement and evangelical revivalism
Expansion of "Free" Churches
Development in church music
Impact of the Industrial Revolution on European religious life
The French Revolution creates a new world for Christianity)
The Orthodox world in the eighteenth century
(The Russian Orthodox Church and the tsars
Orthodoxy under the Ottomans in the Balkans and west Asia
Coptic Church in the eighteenth century
Armenian Christianity in the eighteenth century
Syrian Orthodoxy in Persia
Islam and Christianity)
Christianity in East and Southeast Asia amid colonial conflicts
(China and self-inflicted Christian wounds
Korea
Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand
The Philippines
The Dutch East Indies
South Asia)
South America and the Caribbean in an age of revolution
(The Caribbean
South America
Social upheavals)
North America undergoes awakening and revolution
(Revivals and awakening in the North American context
Africans develop a distinct form of Christianity
Missions to Native Americans in the eastern colonies
Missions to Native Americans in the West
The War of Independence
Freedom of religion in the new nation
The varieties of religion in the early United States
Forming new churches
African American churches emerge
Developments in Canada
Russian Orthodox missions in the Northwest)

The first volume of this ground-breaking history traced the development of Christianity from its origins up to the midfifteenth century. It won immediate acclaim as a landmark of the unfolding understanding of World Christianity. In place of conventional Eurocentric treatments, this work assigned a rightful place to the peoples of Africa, Asia, and the near East in the unfolding of Christianity, a religion constantly evolving in dialogue with new cultures, new questions, and new historical influences.
Volume II continues the story up to the dawn of the modern era. Beginning with the missionary expansion of the fifteenth century, the story goes on to trace the fracturing of the Christian movement among Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant versions; the impact of modern colonialism and the emergence of a new global reality; the wars of religion, the impact of the Enlightenment, the rise of Christianity in North america, and the modern missionary movement. Throughout, the authors emphasize the expression of local forms of Christianity in diverse cultures, and the role of Christianity in helping to shape distinct national identities.