Philip Jenkins (born April 3, 1952) 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. 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
American studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinary field of scholarship that examines American literature, history, society, and culture. It traditionally incorporates literary criticism, historiography and critical theory.
Schol ...
at PSU, 1980–93.
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
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
''.
Early life and work
Jenkins was born in
Port Talbot
Port Talbot (, ) is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately from Swansea. The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which dominates the south ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
, in 1952, and studied at
Clare College, Cambridge, taking double first–class honours in both History and
Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic Studies. Jenkins then studied for his PhD under the supervision of Sir
John Plumb
John Plumb (6 February 1927 – 6 April 2008) was an English abstract painter who emerged in Britain after World War II.*
Plumb was born in Luton, England and he attended the Byam Shaw School of Art in London at the age of 20. He also studied ...
among others. Between 1977 and 1980, Jenkins worked as a researcher for Sir
Leon Radzinowicz
Sir Leon Radzinowicz, (15 August 1906 – 29 December 1999) was a criminologist and academic. He was the founding director of the Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge.
Early life
Radzinowicz was born on ...
, the pioneer of criminology studies at Cambridge.
In 1979, Jenkins won the BBC quiz show ''
Mastermind''.
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
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...
.
He conducted a study of the
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...
and the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...
in the light of the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
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." (See also
Violence in the Bible
The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament both contain narratives, poems, and instructions which describe, encourage, command, condemn, reward, punish and regulate violent actions by God, individuals, groups, governments, and nation-states. Among th ...
and
Violence in the Quran
The Quran contains verses believed by Muslims to be revealed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad at different times and under different circumstances – some exhorting violence against enemies and others urging restraint and conciliation. Because s ...
).
Public intellectual
In 2002 Jenkins, a
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
-turned-
Episcopalian, discussed the
Catholic sex abuse cases
There have been many cases of sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests, nuns, Popes and other members of religious life. In the 20th and 21st centuries, the cases have involved many allegations, investigations, trials, convictions, a ...
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."
In a 2010 interview with
National Public Radio
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
, 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
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...
" and cites explicit instructions in the
Old Testament calling for
genocide
Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Lat ...
while the Quran calls for primarily defensive war. Jenkins went on to state that
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
,
Islam, and
Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...
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.
Bibliography
* 353 pp.
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* 270 pp. (translated into many languages, including Chinese in Taiwan).
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* 353 pp.
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* 328 pp.
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* 448 pp.
* ''The Many Faces of Christ: The Thousand Year Story of the Survival and Influence of the Lost Gospels''. New York: Basic Books, 2015. . 336 pp.
* 336 pp.
References
External links
*
Personal websiteon "The Lost History of Christianity"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, Philip
1952 births
Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge
American Episcopalians
Living people
Pennsylvania State University faculty
Welsh emigrants to the United States
20th-century Welsh historians
Converts to Anglicanism from Roman Catholicism
Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs
Baylor University faculty