Christianity After Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening

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.

Diana Butler Bass is the author of eight books on American religion, including Christianity After Religion, Christianity for the Rest of Us, and A People's History of Christianity. She holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Duke University, has taught at the college and graduate level, and is currently an independent scholar. She was a columnist for the New York Times Syndicate, and blogs for the Huffington Post and the Washington Post on issues of religion, spirituality, and culture. Bass is a popular speaker at conferences, colleges and universities, and churches across North America. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with her husband, daughter, and dog. Her website is dianabutlerbass.com and she can be followed on Twitter at @dianabutlerbass.

"Refreshing, evocative, well informed and original."--Harvey Cox, author of The Future of Faith "Of Bass's many excellent books, this is the most substantive, provocative, and inspiring yet. . . . it leads to a powerful finale of sage guidance for the future."--Brian D. McLaren, author of A New Kind of Christianity "Join Bass in rebuilding religion from the bottom up!"--Richard Rohr, O.F.M., Center for Action and Contemplation and author of Falling Upward "It is one blockbuster of an analysis that is also a delight to read."--Phyllis Tickle, author of The Great Emergence "Interesting, insightful, impressive and important."--Marcus Borg, author of Speaking Christian "Diana reminds us here that, before every great awakening, folks say it is impossible... and after every great awakening, folks say it was inevitable."--Shane Claiborne, author and activist "Bass has done it again! She's spot on-prophetic, compelling, and most importantly, hopeful."--Rob Bell, author of Love Wins "Bass explains how experience, connection, and service are replacing theology as keys to the next Great Awakening. It's a fascinating story."--Bill McKibben, author of Earth and founder of 360.org "Bass ably analyzes the struggle for awareness and change that defines spiritual awakening."--Publishers Weekly Religion Bookline (starred review) "...an important and life-giving book, written by ... one of our finest religious writers."--Parker J. Palmer, author of Let Your Life Speak