Diana Butler Bass, popular speaker and the author of several books including Christianity After Religion: The End of the Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening, labeled President Obama's second inaugural speech "the first spiritual-but-not-religious inaugural sermon," while recognizing such is "a twenty-first century expression of American civil spirituality, embedded in but not dependent upon the ancient vision of American Protestant theology of and for God’s Read More …
Diana Butler Bass
Top 10 Books of 2012 (#0961)
Over the course of the past year, I have reviewed nearly 50 books written in 2012. Today, I share my top ten: Bass, Diana Butler Christianity After Religion: The End of the Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening Borg, Marcus J. Evolution of the Word: The New Testament in the Order the Books Were Written Crossan, John Dominic The Power of Parable: How Fiction by Jesus Became Fiction About Jesus Gyatso, Tenzin (the 14th Dalai Lama) Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole Read More …
Most Popular Posts of 2012 (#0950)
In order, the five most popular posts made on sowhatfaith.com this year are Top Church Websites Review of Christianity After Religion The Future Church v.2020: 10 Shifts Football, Jesus, and Ninja Plate or Plate Free? So What? When I first started blogging, I paid a fair amount of attention to statistics related to readership. More recently, I have gone months at a time without looking at any numbers. If you are a regular reader, let me know if any of the posts on the Read More …
Learning from the Unaffiliated (#0908)
Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly recently featured Diana Butler Bass, author of Christianity After Religion (my review), about the religious implications of the rise of the religiously unaffiliated. While there is diversity within the growing group of religiously unaffiliated, Butler Bass claims, " . . . an awful lot of people who are in the unaffiliated categories - people who are spiritual but not religious or people who consider themselves to maybe to be Read More …
Tomorrow’s Church (#0894)
Diana Butler Bass, author of Christianity After Religion (read my review), recently sat down with Chris Yaw (check out my conversation with Yaw on mainline decline) to discuss what the church of tomorrow will look like. This fifty-five minute conversation is a rich resource for those who care about the church, and want to better understand what the church will look beyond an era dominated by conventional religion. She cites research that shows belief in God has fallen from 99% Read More …
Restoring Hope (#0886)
Diana Butler Bass, author of Christianity After Religion (my review), recently wrote a piece about hope in the fall 2012 edition of Reflections, a magazine of theological and ethical inquiry produced by Yale Divinity School. She writes: I wonder if hope and courage will join hands to forge a new sense of the common good. But hope comes not through political campaigns. Rather, lasting hope will spring from a rebirth of courage in faith communities, when God’s people prophetically act Read More …
Review of Living the Questions (#0835)
Meet the Authors David M. Felten (pictured at right in a black shirt) and Jeff Procter-Murphy (pictured at right holding a tablet) are United Methodist pastors who serve theologically progressive congregations. Together they created a video resource that brought together some of the "most provocative and authoritative voices" (p.xiii). Known as Living the Questions, this resource seeks to "help people wrestle with the questions they hear asked in their congregations - Read More …
12 Marks of Convergence Christianity (#0814)
Eric Elnes, Senior Minister of Countryside Community Church (UCC) and host of Darkwood Brew, has recently written several blog posts on Convergence Christianity. His latest post features twelve defining characteristics, which are evenly divided into three categories: Love of God, Love of Neighbor, and Love of Self. Elnes attributes resonate with others, including Brian McLaren, Phyllis Tickle, Frank Schaeffer, and Diana Butler Bass. Love of God They are letting go Read More …
Are You An In Between Christian? (#0800)
In a recent blog post, Rachel Held Evans included a bit of self-disclosure that warrants consideration by all who seek to lead the church into the future. After mentioning the recent article by Ross Douthat and response by Diana Butler Bass (something I have written about recently as well), she shares the disheartening reality that many with differing theological perspectives choose to attack the other's position rather than collaborate to craft a brighter future for Read More …
Saving Liberal Christianity (#0797)
Earlier this week, my post "Can Christianity Be Saved" considered Ross Douthat’s July 14, 2102, New York Times editorial “Can Liberal Christianity Be Saved?,” and Diana Butler Bass's reply later that same day on the Huffington Post. During the course of the week I returned to the topic in online and in person conversations. The most encouraging part of the dialogue was the shared understanding about three interelated matters: There is a real Read More …