A People's History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story
From HarperOne, Winter 2009
A People's History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story
A History of the Grassroots Movements in Christianity that Preserved Jesus's Message of Social Justice for 2,000 Years and Their Impact on the Church Today
In the same spirit as Howard Zinn's groundbreaking work The People's History of the United States, Diana Butler Bass reveals the under-reported movements, personalities, and spiritual practices that continue to inform and ignite contemporary Christian worship, activism, and social justice reforms in the name of Jesus. The book will offer up a much-needed “other side of the story” for progressive Christians, drawing from examples of alternative practices in every period of Christian history, including:
Please consider checking your local bookstore first.
- Care for the environment and celebrating God in nature
- Defining compassion, hospitality, and social justice as the primary function of the church
- Pacifism as the dominant Christian response to war
- Highlighting the female attributes of God
- Celebrating human sexuality as a gift from God
Read more: A People's History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story
Christianity for the Rest of Us
Please consider checking your local bookstore first.
Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church is Transforming the Faith. Harper San Francisco, September 2006.
Christianity for the Rest of Us tells the story of moderate and progressive mainline Protestant congregations - and how they found new vitality through spiritual practices and deeper meaning by pursuing God's hope for transformation in the world.
The Practicing Congregation: Imagining a New Old Church
Please consider checking your local bookstore first.
The Practicing Congregation: Imagining a New Old Church. Alban Publishing, 2004.Geared toward congregational leaders, both ordained and lay, The Practicing Congregation lays out a hopeful vision for change in mainline churches by exploring postmodern culture, the concept of “re-traditioning,” and the role of Christian practices in fostering vitality. Since its publication, this has been the Alban Institute’s best-selling book. The Christian Century chose Practicing as one of the best books in pastoral theology in 2005.
Read more: The Practicing Congregation: Imagining a New Old Church
From Nomads to Pilgrims
Please consider checking your local bookstore first.
From Nomads to Pilgrims: Stories from Practicing Congregations. Edited with Joseph Stewart-Sicking, Alban Publishing, 2006.A follow-up to The Practicing Congregation, this book tells the stories of twelve mainline churches and how they changed by engaging a particular Christian practice. Each chapter is written by a pastor who led a church through change—and the unexpected things that happened along the way. Nomads offers church leaders dozens of ideas to implement in their own congregations. The book includes two essays by Diana Butler Bass.
Strength for the Journey
Please consider checking your local bookstore first.
Strength for the Journey: A Pilgrimage of Faith in Community. Jossey-Bass Publishers, 2002.
Diana’s memoir of her experiences in eight different Episcopal congregations over a twenty-year period—and in her move away from conservative evangelical religion toward a broader, more open understanding of Christian faith. Quirky, funny, honest, and sad, Strength was named one of the best religion books of 2002 by Publishers Weekly.
Broken We Kneel
Please consider checking your local bookstore first.
Broken We Kneel: Reflections on Faith and Citizenship. Jossey-Bass, 2004. Also memoir-oriented, Broken traces Diana’s experiences in one Episcopal parish following the events of September 11, 2001. As a lament, it mixes personal experience, political reflection, biblical scholarship and theology to create a unique account of the church’s missed opportunity to witness to God’s love for the whole world. Named by Christian Century as one of the best books in pastoral theology in 2004.
Standing Against the Whirlwind
Please consider checking your local bookstore first.
Standing Against the Whirlwind: Evangelical Episcopalians in 19th Century America. Oxford University Press, 1995. Diana’s dissertation won the Frank S. and Elizabeth D. Brewer Prize of the American Society of Church History for the best first book in church history written by a young scholar. A well-researched historical account of a little known religious movement, Standing tells the story of Bishop Charles Pettit McIlvaine and his fellow evangelicals in the Episcopal Church. Published under “Diana Hochstedt Butler.”