The Churching Of America 1776-1990 Reprint Edition

by Roger Finke (Editor), Rodney Stark (Editor)

3 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0813518381

ISBN-10: 0813518385

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Product details

Paperback: 344 pages
Publisher: Rutgers University Press; Reprint edition (October 1, 1992)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0813518385
ISBN-13: 978-0813518381
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
Average Customer Review: 3 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,147,728 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #261 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Agnosticism
- #1689 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Religious Studies > Sociology
- #3519 in Books > Textbooks > Humanities > Religious Studies > Christianity

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Sociological study on the Inevitability of Temptation

July 5, 2001

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This easy to read work intrigues. It does this by carefully challenging the previous conclusions of the churching of America, i.e. Ahlstrom et al.
Starting with Colonial times, it reviews the quantitative analysis and the qualitative conclusions as well. It determined that much beginning from these times on has been distorted by bias and not using the best census material available.
They deduce that successful church movements base their focus on otherworldliness, starting out thus as sects which grow. The tendency however is to eventually make minor concessions to the culture, thus shifting the emphasis away from what gave them success, high tension with their culture towards lowered levels. This cyclical pattern they have found repeated over and over, the sects becoming churches thereby giving birth to new sects that revitalize the church and grow.
The pattern begins with the upstart Baptists and Methodists outgrowing the established Congregationalists, etc. Then themselves, especially the Methodists losing their dominant position to new groups.
Their conclusions are fascinating, disputing much of the established findings of scholarly American Christian history. Rather than finding the changes in churched American as attributable to sudden cultural/societal glitches, rather the authors find "a long, slow and consistent increase in religious participation form 1776 to 1926--with the rate inching up slightly after 1926 and then hovering near 60 percent. Second, they conclude that the primary factor is what they term "the sect-church process" (roughly sketched out above) in supporting the progress in America.
The future? They place confidence in humans as "rational beings, not puppets enslaved to the strings of history and always have the capacity to choose." Their surveys and literature they use suggest that American will continue to want and find or start movements which maximize otherworld rewards sufficient to inspire sacrifice.
One must remember this is sociology speaking, not theology. Theology of the best kind tells of God's unfolding plan of salvation (heilsgesitche) which will occur exactly as God has planned. True faith, belief and membership in this salvation is His doing through His church, where His Word and Sacraments are truly spoken and distributed.

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May 17, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Great book of Church history.

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George Bullard

Winning in the Midst of a Free Market Religious Economy!

September 3, 2000

Format: Hardcover

Even though this book was published eight years ago, it still ought to be on the book shelf of any serious student of American Christianity, and be a part of the strategic knowledge base of any denominational executive who pretends to know what it will take for his or her denominational organization to be a viable force for societal and spiritual transformation in the twenty-first century.
The 214 years of American religious history covered by this book represents the transformation from a time when as a nation most people took no part in organized religion, to a time when nearly two-thirds do. The continual founding of new religious movements during this two-century period has allowed for a freshness that could not be controlled by institutionalized religion.
The control exercised by established churchlike religious organizations in the past actually led to their decline. They could not survive in a free market religious economy. Methods of establishing control included identifying a state-endorsed church, controlling who could be ordained and serve as pastors, and having a non-congregational polity or form of governance.
While it may seem to be a contradiction, it the high expectations that religious organizations--particularly congregations--place on individual believers that results in a tenacious and growing church movement. What was true in 1776 is still true in 2000 and beyond. To discover the secrets of past and future success and vitality, purchase and read this book.

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