Sacred subdivisions
Subtitle: the postsuburban transformation of American evangelicalism
By: Justin G. Wilford
Publisher: New York University Press
Published: 2012
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 220
ISBN-13: 9780814725351; 9780814770931; 9780814708309; 9780814708392
Subjects: Church history; Evangelicalism; Church growth; Saddleback Valley Community Church (Mission Viejo, Calif.); History
Description: "In an era where church attendance has reached an all-time low, recent polling has shown that Americans are becoming less formally religious and more promiscuous in their religious commitments. Within both mainline and evangelical Christianity in America, it is common to hear of secularizing pressures and increasing competition from nonreligious sources. Yet there is a kind of religious institution that has enjoyed great popularity over the past thirty years: the evangelical megachurch. Evangelical megachurches not only continue to grow in number, but also in cultural, political, and economic influence. To appreciate their appeal is to understand not only how they are innovating, but more crucially, where their innovation is taking place."--Book cover.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p.         ) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: Sacred archipelgaos: spaces of secularization; title: Sacred scenes: postsuburbia and evangelical performance; title: Purpose driven pluralities: variety, consumption and choice in postdenominational evangelicalism; title: Purpose driven places: small performances in big churches; title: Purpose driven planet: the globalization of evangelical postsuburbia; title: Purpose driven politics: the saddleback civil forum and the new civility of evangelism; title: Conclusion: assembling spaces of fusion, de-fusion, and diffusion in the postsuburban landscape.