The Newest Embracing series study features Diana Butler Bass as the latest in this best-selling series known for world-class authors and commentators
Best-selling author, speaker, scholar, and "cultural observer" Diana Butler Bass explores what Christianity may look like "beyond religion and beyond the church." In this engaging and provocative study, Diana leads a small group of diverse adults, young adults, and youth in fascinating discussion of how, both culturally and spiritually, we are in the midst of another of history's "great awakenings."
Session Titles:
- Waking Up
- Believing
- Behaving
- Belonging
- Awakening
Learn more about the Small Group DVD which is needed for this study.
"Diana Butler Bass is one of the finest thinkers and educators I've ever met. She combines the insight of a scholar of religious history with the foresight of a keen social analyst. Groups and individuals who care about the future of their churches will find in Embracing Spiritual Awakening a choice and high-quality resource - not only for individual and group study, but also for creating communities of practice who become the change that is needed in our churches."
--Brian D. McLaren, author/speaker
"This is a remarkable innovative program, which provides the perfect introduction to the dynamics operating in religion in modern American. Diana Butler Bass brings her expertise and energy to questions that really matter. Anyone wanting to think differently about connecting the Church to the lives of modern Americans should use this resource."
--Ian Markham, Dean and President of Virginia Theological Seminary
Filled with both hope and very specific and practical observations, Embracing Spiritual Awakening is a tour d’ force by a superb scholar at the top of her game.
--Phyllis Tickle, author, lecturer, and workshop leader
Diana Butler Bass is a great “awakener” among us. She refers to two “awakenings,” a spiritual newness that comes from beyond us, and a sociological recognition of our new social circumstance. More than that, Bass brings her vocation of awakening to concrete practice in ways that make a difference to real people. No more slumbering!
--Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary
Embracing Spiritual Awakening invites participants to examine and understand the changing cultural landscape in North America. Is the oft-heard critique of declining numbers in congregations simply a canard of those who would prefer a world of families with many children and stay-at-home mothers, or is it the consequence of increasing ethnic and cultural and religious diversity around us? Or is it something else? Diana Butler-Bass leads a discussion of what it means to be spiritual, to be religious, and how Christians today might be grace-filled witnesses to the reality they know and experience.
--Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop, The Episcopal Church
Led by one of today’s foremost interpreters of Christianity, Embracing Spiritual Awakening provides a rich and engaging educational and spiritual experience.
--Marcus Borg, popular author, and Canon Theologian, Trinity Episcopal Church, Portland, OR
