Christianity for the Rest of Us

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A poem to begin your Lenten observance from one of my favorite Anglican poets.  May you hunger and thirst this season for a closer connection with God and a deeper love of neighbor.   “Lent” by Christina Rossetti (c. 1886) It is good to be last not first,    Pending the present distress; It is…

As the stand off between workers and Governor Scott Walker continues in Wisconsin, religious leaders have weighed in on the dispute.  Roman Catholic bishops came out on the side of the unions, urging the governor to protect worker’s rights.  Many mainline pastors, including Lutherans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists, Congregationalists, and American Baptists have written letters, issued statements,…

Glenn Beck met with Billy Graham on February 19.   Beck is a Mormon, and a self-made leader in the re-emergent Religious Right and Tea Party movements, and Graham is a Baptist evangelist, long-time esteemed leader of American evangelicalism.  An unlikely pair.  Yet, in the last Gallup poll for “most admired man” Beck and Graham tied…

February 1 is St Brigid Day, Ireland’s female patron saint.  Brigid (d. 525) was an abbess and founder of the great monastic communities at Kildare, a leader in early Celtic Christianity, and is venerated in both the western and eastern churches.   Birgid is also the patron saint of beer makers.  The reason?  The following…

In April 1967, a year before he was killed, Martin Luther King, Jr. preached on the “fierce urgency of now” in a sermon entitled, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence.”  Of all his speeches, it remains the least remembered because it summoned Christians to protest Vietnam. Despite the specific historical references, however, King’s argument that…

“Gabby opened her eyes.” When President Obama uttered these simple words, the crowd at the Tucson memorial service cheered wildly.  “Gabby opened her eyes.” Four simple words.  Four very spiritual words. Congresswoman Giffords was shot at the beginning of the Christian season called Epiphany.  This year, Epiphany lasts until March 8, the day before Ash…

The Sunday after Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968, my husband’s family attended their Presbyterian church.  They went with heavy hearts, expecting the pastor to help make sense of the tragedy.  The minister rose to preach.  The congregation held its breath.  But he said nothing of the events in Memphis.  He preached as if…

As a working mother who lives in the Washington-metro area, I admit that I’m dreading Bravo’s new program The Real Housewives of D.C. (begins 8/05).  I took some comfort in the Washington Post’s scathing advance review of it: Every word of the title is wrong, except “the” and “of.” Real:  What can that even mean anymore? Housewives: Remember…

This week, best-selling author Anne Rice renounced Christianity on her Facebook page, “For those who care, and I understand if you don’t: Today I quit being a Christian. I’m out.”  She continued: “I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being ‘Christian’ or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me…

Diana Butler Bass
about

Diana Bass

Diana Butler Bass is an author, speaker, and independent scholar specializing in American religion and culture. She holds a Ph.D. in religious studies from Duke University and is the author of seven books including A People’s History of Christianity: the Other Side of the Story (HarperOne, 2009) Her best-selling Christianity for the Rest of Us (2006) was named as one of the best religion books of the year by Publishers Weekly and Christian Century, won the Book of the Year Award from the Academy of Parish Clergy, and was featured in a cover story in USA TODAY.

Diana regularly consults with religious organizations, leads conferences for religious leaders, and teaches and preaches in a variety of venues. She regularly comments on religion, politics, and culture in the media including USA TODAY, Time, Newsweek, The Washington Post, CNN, FOX, PBS, and NPR. From 1995-2000, she wrote a weekly column on American religion for the New York Times Syndicate. She has written widely in the religious press, including Sojourners, Christian Century, Clergy Journal, and Congregations.

From 2002 to 2006, she was the Project Director of a national Lilly Endowment funded study of mainline Protestant vitality—a project featured in Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. Diana also serves on the board of directors of the Beatitudes Society.

Diana has taught at Westmont College, the University of California at Santa Barbara, Macalester College, Rhodes College, and the Virginia Theological Seminary. She has taught church history, American religious history, history of Christian thought, religion and politics, and congregational studies.

She lives in Alexandria, Virginia. She is a member of the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany in downtown Washington, D.C.

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