Belief without Borders: Inside the Minds of the Spiritual but not Religious
"For those who think that being 'spiritual but not religious' is intellectually vague, it is time to think again.  InBelief without Borders, Linda Mercadante explores the beliefs of the religiously unaffiliated regarding God, sin, community, the afterlife, and ethics and finds people living 'between' the worlds of secularism and traditional faith.  By taking the new spiritual impulse seriously as theology, she affirms the power of spiritual experience as a force remaking the patterns of contemporary faith." --Diana Butler Bass, author ofChristianity After Religion: The End of Churchand the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening"In the tradition of Robert Bellah'sHabits of the Heart, Mercadante here offers us a brilliant narrative introduction to the theology and belief systems of the 'Spiritual but not Religious' among us. Highly accessible and rife with insightful commentary,Belief without Bordersis far and away the richest study I have seen to date of the SBNR and is destined to become a classic in the field." --Phyllis Tickle, author ofThe Great Emergence: How Christianity Is Changing and Why"Belief without Bordersbreaks new ground by describing the growing 'spiritual but not religious' population in the United States. Drawing on in-depth interviews, Mercadante finds that the 'spiritual but not religious' are critical of both organized religion and the secular world. The book offers an analysis of the role of belief in contemporary America. It is a welcome and much needed contribution." --John C. Green, Professor, Political Science, University of Akron