Philip Jenkins has written some remarkably timely pieces before, but perhaps never one as painfully so as his latest essay for TAC, “Third World War,” which looks at the struggle between Islam and Christianity in the Global South and begins with an anecdote about bloody riots in Jos, Nigeria — which this weekend saw more interfaith violence that left up to 500 people dead. (Jenkins notes in his article that the Western media prefer to elide the religious context of the mayhem, and sure enough the New York Times headline on the fighting refers to “ethnic violence.”) The situation in Jos is mirrored by tensions across Africa and Asia, where a rapidly growing Christianity intrudes into territories that many Muslims believe to be their own. Jenkins’s essay is vital reading for understanding this complex struggle.