Diana Butler Bass\u2019 book, Christianity for the Rest of Us<\/em>, has three parts: description of the collapse of mainline liberalism and the renewal of the \u201cvillage church\u201d in America, a sketch of ten signposts of renewal, and then a section about the shift from pilgrims to tourists in which she focuses on the transformations occurring in the renewal she is finding in mainline churches \u2014 churches that are neither old-fashioned Protestant liberalism nor Protestant evangelicalism. Diana Butler Bass\u2019 book, Christianity for the Rest of Us, has three parts: description of the collapse of mainline liberalism and the renewal of the \u201cvillage church\u201d in America, a sketch of ten signposts of renewal, and then a section about the shift from pilgrims to tourists in which she focuses on the transformations occurring […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[476],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nAre you seeing the rise of these disciplines in your community of faith? in the mainline churches of your community? Are these cross-denominational (both evangelical and liberal) or are these more the focus of the mainline?
\nShe studies in depth 10 churches, and she finds the renewal of these churches can be found in ten disciplines \u2014 and for each she has ample evidence with clear description \u2014 and not a little jabbing by these \u201crest of us\u201d Christians of conservative evangelicals. Tournabout, one must admit, is fair play: if evangelicals routinely jab liberals, the mainlines are entitled to jab back \u2014 unless of course one wants to pave another way.
\nI can\u2019t possibly detail each one, but a few comments are in order for each, and I must emphasize that the chps are highly readable, knitted together with nice vignettes and stories, and gentle to the reader:
\n1. Hospitality: it is about welcoming strangers \u2014 not just tea and cakes \u2014 into the heart of God\u2019s transformative love.
\n2. Discernment: this begins by asking \u201cGod-questions\u201d and not \u201cI-questions.\u201d
\n3. Healing: no kidding. Prayers for healing.
\n4. Contemplation: all the stuff that has been developing throughout the church \u2014 centering prayer, etc.
\n5. Testimony: getting mainliners to tell their spiritual autobiography is not easy, but the practice is growing. These are stories, not of arrival, but of pilgrimage.
\n6. Diversity: \u201cA church full of difference but not a lot of division\u201d (146). This is not secular relativism but a sense of diversity inherent to the transformative power of the gospel. Leading to God\u2019s shalom.
\n7. Justice: though I\u2019d have liked a robust theological definition of justice, this chp clearly worked away from the secular rights-for-all-of-us sense of justice. She says \u201cfairness, equality and human rights \u2026 are primarily secular ideals\u201d (159). \u201cJustice is spirituality.\u201d
\n8. Worship: creative stuff here; but her focus is on practices that lead to encountering God.
\n9. Reflection: a good chp on the rise of theological education among mainliners congregants and not just the clergy. Clearly a statement of generous orthodoxy.
\n10. Beauty: to be expected of mainliners, but the chp showed innovation as well as the importance of beauty in the theology of \u201cthe rest of us.\u201d
\nI don\u2019t agree with plenty of stuff that comes up in these chps, but I know of no better way to see the innovative developments among mainliners when it comes to what might be called a \u201crenewal of spirituality.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"