Books

“In High on God,Emile Durkheim meets Joel Osteen. Authors Wellman, Corcoran, and Stockly integrate social science theory with contemporary data to explain the emotional draw of America’s largest Protestant churches. They argue that megachurches and their charismatic pastors help fulfill deep human needs. A fascinating topic, well researched, and engagingly written. I highly recommend it.”
– Kevin D. Dougherty, Associate Professor of Sociology Baylor University

Endorsements for Rob Bell and a New American Christianity

“As evangelicalism of the twenty-first century continues its centuries-long quest for speaking the cultural idiom, Rob Bell’s voice has emerged as one of the most significant – and controversial. James Wellman’s prodigious research and astute analysis helps us understand why.”
—Randall Balmer, Dartmouth College,  Author of The Making of Evangelicalism

“Twenty years from now we may look back on Rob Bell as the man who forever changed the face of American evangelical Christianity. Thank God, then, for James Wellman’s profile of this complex, controversial, and utterly compelling religious leader. This is a book that should be read by all Americans regardless of their religious affiliation.”
—Reza Aslan, author of No god but God and Beyond Fundamentalism

“Rob Bell is a phenomenon. The emotional outpouring evidenced in both his critics and supporters demonstrate that his work has isolated and exposed a crisis that exists within the Evangelical community. A crisis that, once brought to the surface, has the potential of short circuiting fundamentalist strains within the movement and clearing the path for a theological reformation. This book is among the first to provide an insight into the development of Bell’s thought and chart the significance of his intervention in the rocky landscape of Christian culture.”
–Peter Rollins, author of How (Not) to Speak of God, Insurrection: To Believe Is Human To Doubt is Divine

Endorsements for Religion and Human Security

“Religion and Human Security links two critical factors in international affairs-religion and human security-in important and novel ways, providing insight for both scholars and policymakers on how religion impacts human security. This collection of essays should be required reading for government officials who are increasingly confronted with the challenges of safeguarding human security around the world.”
–Steven A. Cook, Hasib J. Sabbagh Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies, Council on Foreign Relations

“This thoughtful book explores the multifaceted role of religion in the human security of contemporary global societies. Through arresting case studies and riveting theoretical reflections, it shows that the religious dimension of social welfare around the world is complex and interrelated. These well-honed essays reveal that while religious ideas and actors can cause much harm, they can also bring moments of healing and hope. It is a book that will be widely discussed in the fields of religion and society, public policy and global affairs.”
–Mark Juergensmeyer, author of Global Rebellion: Religious Challenges to the Secular State

Evangelical vs. Liberal: The Clash of Christian Cultures in the Pacific Northwest

This book examines the cultural conflict that increasingly divides American society, particularly evident within Protestant Christianity, as it is played out in the American Northwest. Drawing on an in-depth study of twenty-four of the area’s fastest growing evangelical churches and ten vital liberal Protestant congregations, Wellman captures the leading trends of each group and their interaction with the wider American culture. He finds a remarkable depth of disagreement between the two groups on almost every front. Wellman is able to provide new insights into the convenient categories of “liberal” and “evangelical,” the nature of the conflict, and the myriad ways both groups affect and are affected by American culture.

Belief and Bloodshed: Religion and Violence Across Time and Tradition

This edited volume discusses how the relationship between religion and violence is not unique to a post-9/11 world–it has existed throughout all of recorded history and culture. Belief and Bloodshed makes clear the complex interactions between religion, violence, and politics to show that religion as always innocent or always evil is misguided, and that rationalizations by religion for political power and violence are not new.

The Gold Coast Church and the Ghetto: Christ and Culture in Mainline Protestantism

This book surveys the church’s history of balancing its theological aims and its social boundaries and sheds light on the strengths and weaknesses of liberal Protestantism as a modern religious institution. It shows how Fourth Presbyterian has moved from an establishment congregation to a lay liberal church working to overcome class and race inequality in its urban context while carving out its institutional identity in an increasingly pluralistic environment.

Religion and Public Life in the Pacific Northwest: The None Zone

When asked their religious identification, more people answer none in the Pacific Northwest than in any other region of the United States. But this does not mean that the region’s religious institutions are without power or that Northwesterners who do attend no place of worship are without spiritual commitments. With no dominant denomination, Evangelicals, Mainline Protestants, Catholics, Jews, adherents of Pacific Rim religious traditions, indigenous groups, spiritual environmentalists, and secularists must vie or sometimes must cooperate with each other to address the regions’ pressing economic, environmental, and social issues.

The Power of Religious Publics: Staking Claims in American Society

This edited volume reflects on the changing tone and form of the public voice of religion, on its function in American society, and on its relationship to the private world of religion. It proposes that public religion, when exercised in a civil and accountable way, can be a responsible and prophetic voice in public life and enrich the American experiment in liberal democracy. The contributors–first-rate scholars including Martin Marty and Robert Belah–focus on public religion’s influence on controversial issues such as multiculturalism, economic inequality, abortion, and homosexuality.