(March 1, 2000) The "dispersion" of Christianity to non-Western homelands commonplace in decades gone by is in sharp reverse these days. The reversal is prompted in part by the pronounced migration of believers, leading to a profound transformation and globalization of the faith in the West through non-Western influences, theologian Fernando Segovia told an audience this week at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP).

The result is producing "massive changes in the character of Christian practices and beliefs, changes in academic life," said Segovia, professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Vanderbilt University. "It is a shift that is only just beginning. What result the effects will have will not be grasped for a century or two." The reality that the "dominance of the West is clearly yielding" to a decentralizing and diversity of faith perspectives will "fundamentally alter" all disciplines, including Biblical studies and criticism and our collective understanding of ancient texts, believes Segovia, who was the second presenter in the Seminary's Spring Biblical Lecture Series.

"The dispersion of non-Westerners from their homelands to settle in the West" has led to a "geographical translation that has come full circle," he said. "The children of the (Western) Empire have come home to roost, and they are not always well-liked." He noted, for example, that Mosques now outnumber Episcopal churches in the United States and cited statistics that point to decline in the percentage of Western Christians in comparison to their non-Western counterparts in places like Latin America, Asia and Africa.

The perspective by believers who struggle for liberation and justice will "stand all well," Segovia noted. In such a climate, readings from the local church and through such cultural avenues as books, film and media will have more influence and deserve more attention from the scholarly academy. But all such readings "deserve the same critical scrutiny," Segovia warned. The enterprise of Biblical criticism will become "more difficult and demanding," he said. "The amount of reading involved is enormous." And the challenge of interpreting the Gospel through so many sets of eyes will likewise be demanding.

An example of the challenge, he said, is in worship. Segovia said it is important for people to hear their own language in worship. But in order to survive, worship "needs to be integrated." He warned against worship practices that become a kind of apartheid.

Segovia, who has also taught at Marquette University and the University of Notre Dame, has been honored for his contributions to Hispanic American religion and Theology with the Virgilio Elizondo Award from the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States. He is the author of What is John?, the second volume in Literary and Social Readings of the Fourth Gospel.