Description
Diana Butler Bass, one of contemporary Christianity’s leading trend-spotters, exposes how the failings of the church today are giving rise to a new “spiritual but not religious” movement. Using evidence from the latest national polls and from her own cutting-edge research, Bass, the visionary author of A People’s History of Christianity, continues the conversation began in books like Brian D. McLaren’s A New Kind of Christianity and Harvey Cox’s The Future of Faith, examining the connections—and the divisions—between theology, practice, and community that Christians experience today. Bass’s clearly worded, powerful, and probing Christianity After Religion is required reading for anyone invested in the future of Christianity.
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"In her latest book, religion expert Diana Butler Bass offers a fresh interpretation of this transformation and identifies a new spiritual awakening taking place inside and outside the church. Based on new research and a careful reading of history, CHRISTIANITY AFTER RELIGION argues that traditional Christianity has focused on three prescriptions, in this order: - This is what to believe (theology) - This is how to behave (practice) - This is who you are (experience and community) However, as modern people began to increasingly question their basic beliefs about their faith, disillusionment ensued and Christians began leaving the church as national studies reveal. Spirituality, by contrast, works in the reverse: people experience a connection to the divine directly and through community, are moved to change and serve others, and eventually discover what they believe. CHRISTIANITY AFTER RELIGION shows how this new bottom-up approach represents the real mission and message of Jesus and explains the dramatic spiritual awakening we are witnessing today. Replete with both statistical analysis and the testimonies of grassroots movements around the country, Bass's latest book shows us how to approach our own faith with a newfound freedom that is both life-giving and service driven. CHRISTIANITY AFTER RELIGION will appeal to both the news media and the large audience that made her first Harper book, Christianity For the Rest of Us, a success"--
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