Diana Butler Bass

Butler Bass is the author of four books on American Protestantism, including Strength for the Journey and The Practicing Congregation, and a former New York Times syndicated columnist. A popular retreat and workshop leader, consultant, and speaker, she lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

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Christian Living

Christianity for the Rest of Us

How the Neighborhood Church is Transforming the Faith

Talking Points

Butler Bass is the author of four books on American Protestantism, including Strength for the Journey and The Practicing Congregation, and a former NewYork Times syndicated columnist. A popular retreat and workshop leader, consultant, and speaker, she lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

Description

For decades the accepted wisdom has been that America’s mainline Protestant churches are in decline, eclipsed by evangelical mega-
churches. But is this really the case?

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Spirituality

Christianity After Religion

The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening

Talking Points

Diana Butler Bass, a leading trend spotter in contemporary Christianity, exposes the current failings of the church and how this is giving rise to a new “spiritual but not religious” vitality evidenced in the latest national polls and her own fresh research.

Description

Religious affiliation continues to plummet across the breadth of Christian denominations. Atheist, agnostic, and “none of the above” responses to national polling questions are at the highest levels in this country’s history. And there is a growing religious disillusionment spreading across America. Amidst denominational hand-wringing about this trend, churches that once boasted amazing growth are now flat lining or in decline. And yet, interest in “spirituality” is on the rise. What is behind the sea change in American religion?

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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Christian Living

Spirituality

A People’s History of Christianity

The Other Side of the Story

Talking Points

Bass is a former New York Times syndicate religion writer. Her work frequently appears in major Christian periodicals such as Sojourner’s and The Christian Century magazines while also a go-to resource for TIME and the New York Times on religion and culture topics. Butler Bass is a frequent lecturer at churches across the country reaching both people in the pews and church leaders. She is on the road almost every weekend and is a key source about the church today and liberal Christians.

Description

Diana Butler Bass reveals the movements, personalities, and spiritual practices that continue to inform and ignite contemporary Christian activism and social justice reforms in the name of Jesus. The book will offer up a much-needed “other side of the story” for liberal and progressive Christians drawing from examples of alternative practices evidenced in every period of Christian history:

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