Christianity in the Twenty-First Century: Reflections on the Challenges Ahead

by Robert Wuthnow

Book Overview

In the year 2000--and beyond--what will the church be like? What challenges will it face? Will the church be able to provide a strong sense of community? Will it be an ethical force in the lives of Americans? And what role will religion play in politics and in the marketplace?
In Christianity in the 21st Century Robert Wuthnow reflects on these provocative questions as he seeks to identify changes that are taking place now in American society...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195096517
• ISBN13: 9780195096514
• Release Date: April 1995
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Professional, appreciative, and far-seeing

Wuthnow gives an unbiased study of where Christian churches are moving, or not, across the world. He studies where organizational and personal growth are happening, or not. His work compares with Tariq Ramadan's thought on the future of Islam, but Wuthnow is more social science and less philosophy. I like the highly professional approach. The future Wuthnow sees is driven more by lay initiative. It involves spreading informal networks for learning, spiritual practice or social action, which increasingly reach across denominational, national, or ethnic lines. These as "webs of inclusion" are growing more independent in means and aims. The element of popular experimentation, less controlled by any central authority, seems on the rise. It is all quite fascinating. -author of Correcting Jesus

Professional, appreciative, and far-seeing

Wuthnow gives an unbiased study of where Christian churches are moving, or not, across the world. He studies where organizational and personal growth are happening, or not. His work compares with Tariq Ramadan's thought on the future of Islam, but Wuthnow is more social science and less philosophy. I like the highly professional approach. The future Wuthnow sees is driven more by lay initiative. It involves spreading informal networks for learning, spiritual practice or social action, which increasingly reach across denominational, national, or ethnic lines. These as "webs of inclusion" are growing more independent in means and aims. The element of popular experimentation, less controlled by any central authority, seems on the rise. It is all quite fascinating.