Theology: Historical Theology: Parachurch movements

The different facets of American religious life are more thoroughly understood with an awareness of the Evangelical heritage that intersects the different denominational boundaries. Since Evangelicalism is not confined to one religious denomination or group, it has associations with a number of American religious movements such as Fundamentalism, Pentecostalism, the Charismatic Movement, and Revivalism. This study, modeled after the popular Greenwood Denominations in America series, analyzes the people, institutions, and the religious culture of modern American Evangelicals. Divided into three sections the book presents a history of American Evangelicalism, discusses themes and issues in modern American Evangelicalism, and provides a biographical dictionary of modern American Evangelical leaders. The combination of critical narrative and reference will appeal to religion scholars and American culture scholars alike. Separate bibliographies unique to the history section and to the themes and issues section provide valuable resources for further research. Equally helpful is the bibliographic material that completes each entry in the biographical dictionary section of the book. The three part organization makes this an accessible research tool, clearly organized for easy cross referencing.

With the attention to appropriate and telling details for which he is famous, Lyle Schaller begins this book by pointing out an overlapping set of changes that have taken place in American society and American churches in recent years. First, to the traditional economic activities of gathering commodities and producing and selling goods and services, the economy has added the production and distribution of knowledge and the creation and sale of experiences. Second has been the rise of consumerism: an increase in the power of consumers at the expense of producers of goods and services. Third is the extraordinary number of individuals in North American society with considerable amounts of discretionary income. What does this mean to you and your church? Simply this, says Schaller: old patterns of fund-raising and old assumptions about stewardship will no longer work. Charitable giving today is based on a complex set of factors, including the growing opinion that it is the giver--rather than the receiving institution--that should have full and final control of how the gift is appropriated. In this informative guide to fund-raising in the new economy, Schaller helps the reader navigate through the difficulties and opportunities for churches in this new age of charitable giving.