Hey John - I really, truly wish you'd remembered my book, "Christianity for the Rest of Us." It updated, questioned and analyzed most of these 1970s/80s books with a different eye and enthographic evidence. It made a genuinely new case about all these issues - and was well-received in the aughts when published (and now often forgotten in discussions like this). FWIW, Ryan Burge seems to HATE my work and does everything possible at all times to pretend that it - and I - don't exist.
Second, my purpose in this particular post was to address what my various sociological sources had said about the shifts in mainlines over the years. I was especially interested in critiquing the Zombie-level Dean Kelly argument that just won't go away. The trope of "liberal theology that doesn't believe in anything" survives in spite of all kinds of data to the contrary.
Third, I had written very favorably about "Christianity for the Rest of Us" (also on my religion library shelf) on my previous blog. I think its very important book (and didn't know that an update was available).
It seems that some analysts are so wedded to membership statistics that they fail to look at what is actually going on among people in local congregations, the UMC split notwithstanding.
Hey John - I really, truly wish you'd remembered my book, "Christianity for the Rest of Us." It updated, questioned and analyzed most of these 1970s/80s books with a different eye and enthographic evidence. It made a genuinely new case about all these issues - and was well-received in the aughts when published (and now often forgotten in discussions like this). FWIW, Ryan Burge seems to HATE my work and does everything possible at all times to pretend that it - and I - don't exist.
First, thanks so much for engaging Diana!
Second, my purpose in this particular post was to address what my various sociological sources had said about the shifts in mainlines over the years. I was especially interested in critiquing the Zombie-level Dean Kelly argument that just won't go away. The trope of "liberal theology that doesn't believe in anything" survives in spite of all kinds of data to the contrary.
Third, I had written very favorably about "Christianity for the Rest of Us" (also on my religion library shelf) on my previous blog. I think its very important book (and didn't know that an update was available).
It seems that some analysts are so wedded to membership statistics that they fail to look at what is actually going on among people in local congregations, the UMC split notwithstanding.
General Methodist Church? Never heard of such a thing. Might you mean Global Methodist Church?
Fixed it. Thanks.
You're welcome