Strength for the journey : a pilgrimage of faith in community / Diana Butler Bass ; foreword by Phyllis Tickle.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bass, Diana Butler, 1959-

Contributor:

Charlton Yarnall Fund.

Yarnall Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bass, Diana Butler, 1959-.

Episcopal Church.

Episcopalians--United States--Biography.

Episcopalians.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

Autobiographies.

Physical Description:

xix, 293 pages ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

San Francisco : Jossey-Bass, [2002]

Summary:

At a time when many mainline churches were losing members, Diana Butler Bass chose to stay and discover the vibrancy at the very heart of her faith. She was not alone. There has been a quiet resurrection in the mainline tradition, energized by a new generation of churchgoers and a host of new members. The reemerging Protestant mainline churches possess an unexpected and underestimated vitality. And in recent decades, mainline churchgoing has been anything but dull, as congregations have struggled to understand their identity and vocation in a changed world.

In Strength for the Journey, Diana Butler Bass illustrates the dynamic strength and persistence of mainline Protestantism. While many baby boomers left the church, only to come back later in life, Bass was a "stayer" who witnessed the struggles and changes and found much there that was meaningful. Offering thought-provoking portraits of eight parishes she attended over two decades, she explores the major issues that have confronted mainline denominations, congregations, and parishioners during those years -- from debates over women clergy to conflicts about diversity and community to scrimmages between tradition and innovation.

Diana Butler Bass's story reveals the church's history among us. She uses her life as the focal point to tell the larger story of contemporary mainline church life, with all of its ups and downs. During the last two decades, she says, "the church was being quietly transformed by the experiences of stayers like myself who demanded different visions and practices of churchgoing than the institution had traditionally offered." And out of the turbulence, a new kind of mainline congregation has been emerging, and a new period of American Protestantism is being born.

Contents:

Coming home : All Saints-by-the-Sea, Santa Barbara, CA, 1980-1981

Competing authorities : Christ Church, South Hamilton, Massachusetts, 1982-1987

The establishment : St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Durham, North Carolina, 1987-1989

Practicing faith : Church of the Holy Family, Chapel Hill, NC, 1989-1991

Interim : Santa Barbara, California, 1991-1994

The open door : Trinity Church, Santa Barbara, California, 1995-1997

The household of God : Grace-St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Memphis, Tennessee, 1997-2000

Pentecost : Christ Church, Alexandria, Virginia, 2001.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 285-289).

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Charlton Yarnall Fund.

ISBN:

0787955787

OCLC:

47216744