Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This book is a must-read for any person who wants to take an intellectual look at modern American religions. I happen to be a "believer" in one of the analyzed faiths (Protestantism--both mainline and evangelical, Catholicism, and Judiasm) and I found his analysis to be insightful, occasionallly disturbing, amd very thought-provoking. Although Wolfe calls himself an agnostic, of sorts, he is respectful to the people and views he analyzes and uses an even handed tone to both praise and critique the current state of religious belief in the US.
As a person interested in theology I found his discussion of modern doctrine, sin, and worship to be completely fascinating. This book does not set out to change anyone's core beliefs about God, but it very well may change your view about how the church approaches God, worship, and evangelism.
Although I am a lay reader, I have read quite a bit of theology and was comfortable with some terms that Wolfe takes a bit for granted. A person who has trouble distinguishing between the terms "evangelical" and "mainline", or thinks that a church using rock music might be called "liberal" could have difficulty with the text. Wolfe could have included a short glossary at the end of his book; this may have made this important text more accessible to lay readers.
I strongly recommend this book to any person studying religion or theology, or to any intellectually-minded believer in Christianity or Judaism.
Click Here to see more reviews about: The Transformation of American Religion: How We Actually Live Our Faith
0 comments:
Post a Comment