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 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.
What others say about Christianity for the Rest of Us:
“Church renewal isn’t only about the dramatic and large-scale. It’s about transformations quietly maturing in local communities nourished by profound prayer, pastoral commitment and imagination, and readiness to learn from a wide spectrum of Christian wisdom. This excellent and timely book celebrates a vastly important phenomenon that has been too little noticed.”
Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury
“This is Diana Butler Bass at her very best--a warm, candid, totally engaging scholar taking a look at main-line Christianity in this country and telling us with gusto why she likes what she sees. Bravo!”
Phyllis Tickle, religion editor, Publishers Weekly (retired)
“This energizing book reminds us that the gospels don’t belong to any political party or any cultural style--that Jesus’ subversive love belongs to us all.”
Bill McKibben, author, The End of Nature
“The most important book of the decade about emerging Christianity and the renewal of mainline congregations. Exciting and encouraging, hopeful and helpful, and filled with examples of vital Christian practices from which all interested in the future of the church can learn.”
Marcus Borg, author of The Heart of Christianity
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 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.
What others say about The Practicing Congregation:
“To the story of mainline transformation, Bass brings her scholarly authority, her pilgrim’s passion, and her lively prose. This is an eye-opening book, a buoyant book. It tells a new story, and anyone interested in the present or future of the Christian church should read it.”
Lauren Winner, author of Mudhouse Sabbath
“In The Practicing Congregation, Diana Butler Bass offers a compelling alternative to the flat and one-sided depictions of mainline Protestant decline to which we have become accustomed. Drawing on insights from recent studies of tradition, practice, narrative, and congregational history, she is able to identify emerging forms of congregational life that display an unexpected vitality, adaptability, and faithfulness.”
E. Brooks Holifield, Candler School of Theology, Emory University
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 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.
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 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.
“A compelling intertwining of a personal spiritual journey and the recent history of Protestantism. Diana Butler Bass makes the case that baby boom seekers are drawing the church into a new, more authentic Christianity.”
Nora Gallagher, author, Things Seen and Unseen: A Year Lived in Faith
“With the insights of a mystic, Diana Butler Bass recounts her spiritual pilgrimage from Methodism to evangelicalism to the benumbing diversity of the Episcopal Church, where she found a spiritual home. Along the way, she offers a guided tour of the crises and controversies afflicting mainline Protestantism over the past several decades. For anyone looking for evidence that the glass of mainline Protestantism is half full rather than half empty, Strength for the Journey offers a persuasive case.”
Randall Balmer, author, Thy Kingdom Come
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 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.
“The reader will find here a sane, grounded invitation to humanness that is broken, but not driven to despair.”
Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary
“Diana Butler Bass educates, inspires, corrects, and stimulates. I wish every Democrat in American would read this book, and then quickly pass it on to a Republican—including our President.”
Brian McLaren, author, A Generous Orthodoxy
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 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.”
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