Christianity for the Rest of Us

How the Neighborhood Church Is Transforming the Faith

By: Diana Butler Bass

Narrated by: Karen Saltus

For decades the accepted wisdom has been that America's mainline Protestant churches are in decline, eclipsed by evangelical mega-churches. Church and religion expert Diana Butler Bass wondered if this was true, and this book is the result of her extensive, three-year study of centrist and progressive churches across the country. Her surprising findings reveal just the opposite - that many of the churches are flourishing, and they are doing so without resorting to mimicking the mega-church, evangelical style.

Christianity for the Rest of Us describes this phenomenon and offers a how-to approach for Protestants eager to remain faithful to their tradition while becoming a vital spiritual community. As Butler Bass delved into the rich spiritual life of various Episcopal, United Methodist, Disciples of Christ, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, and Lutheran churches, certain consistent practice - such as hospitality, contemplation, diversity, justice, discernment, and worship - emerged as core expressions of congregations seeking to rediscover authentic Christian faith and witness today.

This hopeful book, which includes a study guide for groups and individuals, reveals the practical steps that leaders and laypeople alike are taking to proclaim an alternative message about an emerging Christianity that strives for greater spiritual depth and proactively engages the needs of the world.

©2006 Diana Butler Bass (P)2011 HarperCollins Publishers

Great Book- Terrible Narration

How did the narrator detract from the book?

So many words and names were mispronounced. So many insulting attempts at accents. So many times the emphasis or a pause was misplaced. The book itself is wonderful. Buy it and read it. This narration is nearly unbearable.

Do you have any narrators for Grown Ups?

I'm about halfway through this book right now and honestly, I'm not sure if it's horribly written or just read that way. The Narrator runs the full range from Barbie to Disney Princess, and when she attempts to do Latino accents I feel like I'm stuck in some horrible fifties film.

Butler Bass's discussion of transformation within mainline Christian churches is at times engaging, facile, enlightening, smug, and rose-colored. I had read a lot of reviews of the print book and many seemed to be from non-Mainline Christians reacting to the implied criticism of fundamentalism. So I expected it to be smart, critical, and pointed. Instead it's bland Americana. So far there is one hopeful moment when she refers to the African American church, but then she veered of on Desmond Tutu. She's doing case studies of different congregation, but it's less like participant-observer scholarship and more like postcards from a road trip. In the diversity section she raves about the diversity of several of the churches only to follow up by saying that the only area in which they are not diverse is racially.

Again, if it weren't for the narrator's tone I could perhaps be more generous, but it's just so spunky it seems totally out of place dealing with serious subjects.

Hope Springs Eternal for Mainliners

This is a terrific study of what mainline churches are doing to confront and promote a deeper and more meaningful approach to Christianity and to increase their relevancy in today's culture and state of social evolution. The true Way of Jesus is much clearer to the churches she writes about than too many of the mainline and fundamentalist churches of today. Religious and social evolution is slow and sometimes painful, but like evolution of the species, we gradually see an improvement in the way things are in spite of the tendency of so many to resist change.

Christianity for a select group

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

This was the fastest I've ever set the narration speed because I just wanted it over, and I kept hoping for something useful.

Would you recommend Christianity for the Rest of Us to your friends? Why or why not?

If you haven't read any other books on congregational re/development, and aren't clergy or in seminary, you might find this helpful, inspiring, or interesting.
Her choice of language and rhetorical devices were often nauseating. For example, she often said "my journey" and related phrases. In addition, her rhetorical devices were of the repetitive type where several consecutive sentences (or sentence fragments) begin with the same word or phrase. "People who .... People who.... "People who...."
Bulter-Bass referenced Pr. Paul Hoffman of Seattle a few times. I've met him. He's good, and the work he does is interesting. If I hadn't had previous knowledge of him and his work, her description and Saltus' performance would have turned me off from ever wanting to know more.

What didn’t you like about Karen Saltus’s performance?

Saccharine voice, and an inability to consistently and do well voices of other speakers.

Did Christianity for the Rest of Us inspire you to do anything?

Nope.

Lack of familiarity with these areas of study.

Too many mispronunciations to count. The reader was not familiar with the fields of theology and religion.

Inspiring, Challenging, Hopeful

What made the experience of listening to Christianity for the Rest of Us the most enjoyable?

For decades the accepted wisdom has been that America's mainline Protestant churches are in decline, eclipsed by evangelical mega-churches. Church and religion expert Diana Butler Bass wondered if this was true, and this book is the result of her extensive, three-year study of centrist and progressive churches across the country. Her surprising findings reveal just the opposite--that many of the churches are flourishing, and they are doing so without resorting to mimicking the mega-church, evangelical style.

"Christianity for the Rest of Us" describes this phenomenon and offers a how-to approach for Protestants eager to remain faithful to their tradition while becoming a vital spiritual community. As Butler Bass delved into the rich spiritual life of various Episcopal, United Methodist, Disciples of Christ, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, and Lutheran churches, certain consistent practices--such as hospitality, contemplation, diversity, justice, discernment, and worship--emerged as core expressions of congregations seeking to rediscover authentic Christian faith and witness today.

This hopeful book, which includes a study guide for groups and individuals, reveals the practical steps that leaders and laypeople alike are taking to proclaim an alternative message about an emerging Christianity that strives for greater spiritual depth and proactively engages the needs of the world.

A word about the Narrator, Karen Saltus. Overall, I enjoyed her voice and reading style. At times I was put off by her pronunciations of certain "church" words, ("theologians comes to mind, where she consistently elongates and emphasizes the "i") and her choice to affect the accents of some of the interviewees.

What did you like best about this story?

Bass does a great job of exploring and dispelling the myths behind the reported demise of the Mainstream Protestants.

If you could give Christianity for the Rest of Us a new subtitle, what would it be?

Ancient Future Christian Spirituality and the Hope for Future

Another good read.

This personal research by Dr. Bass, her journey, is most helpful, encouraging, and insightful. There is much to consider as we live out following Jesus in today context.

I felt the narrator was not good for this content. I almost stopped listening because of this but, continued due to interest. This is the third book I have read of Dr. Bass’s, second listening. Just didn’t connect well with this narrator’s voice.

Repetitive

Narrator does accents that are horrible, unnecessary, and offensive. Story is 2x too long. I occasionally heard ideas that resonated, but I forced myself to finish despite excruciating, childish voicing and redundant conclusions.