10AR15-30

( - previous issue - )

Apologia Report 15:30 (1,035)

August 11, 2010

Subject: Church size doesn't make as much difference as thought

In this issue:

AMERICAN RELIGION - the contradictory findings of sociologists Rodney Stark and Robert Wuthnow

BIOETHICS - a new tool for working through a myriad of options

BUDDHISM - "a thematic genealogy" of modern Buddhism

------

AMERICAN RELIGION

What Americans Really Believe: New Findings from the Baylor Survey of Religion, by Rodney Stark [1] -- reviewer James Gorman explains that "The book is similar to Stark's American Piety [2], which recorded the results of the first two major surveys of American religious beliefs and practices. The introduction of Stark's current offering connects the findings of the American Piety surveys with the more recent ones. An epilogue discusses the groundbreaking programs and institutions devoted to religious research that Baylor's ISR [Institute for Studies of Religion] has developed since 2004 [when it began the survey work covered by Stark].

"Stark makes several notable and provocative claims in the introduction. First, he argues (against Robert Wuthnow's claim) that denominationalism continues to be a significant factor among American Protestants. Second, the church is not losing young people. In fact, their current attendance percentages are about the same now as they have been for as long as researchers have been collecting those data. Fourth, Stark argues (once more against Wuthnow) that church membership is increasing, not declining. The percentage of Americans who belong to a local church has steadily increased from 17% in 1776 to 69% in 2005. Stark claims that denominationalism explains not only this membership increase but also many other aspects of religious life in America."

Stark "argues that the American church attendance rate is around 31% or 32%, despite attempts to prove a much lower rate. It explains why the strict denominations have been growing and the liberal denominations shrinking: groups that require more from members get more commitment and involvement out of their members. A fascinating finding of the surveys is that members of megachurches (1000+ members) are just as committed to prayer, attending religious services, tithing, Bible reading, and sharing their faith as members of smaller churches (fewer than 100)."

However, Gorman cautions that statistical data should always be read with skepticism. For example, "Stark used self-designation as the criteria to determine who was 'evangelical.' Only 50% of conservative Protestants described themselves as evangelical, along with 28% of liberal Protestants. No wonder 'evangelicals' came out looking similar to 'non-evangelicals.' ...

"Stark's way of clearly summarizing and interpreting complex data makes What Americans Really Believe a page-turner that is accessible to any reader with interest in the subject but also immensely important for scholars of American religion. This work is a must read for the latter group and anyone interested in current American religion." Restoration Quarterly, 52:2 - 2010, pp125-126.

---

BIOETHICS

Bioethics and the Christian Life: A Guide to Making Difficult

Decisions, by David VanDrunen [3] -- in this review, Mark Vander Pol points out that we increasingly face a myriad of options to "questions concerning the beginning and end of the lives of your children, your parents, or even yourself." And, while "there is no volume that can give an answer to the precise situation one is facing," at least this book "helps Christians build a wise foundation from which bioethical decisions can be made. ...

"What VanDrunen does so well ... is to involve the reader in thinking about the general bioethical options available, grounding the decisions that need to be made on Scripture and Christian doctrine.

...

"Part one [of three] is the 'Foundation of Bioethics,' which includes very useful chapters on 'Theological Doctrines' and another on 'Christian Virtues.' These two chapters alone are worth the price of admission for Christians who want a concise presentation of important doctrines, such as divine providence, the image of God in man, suffering, and Christian virtues including faith, hope, and courage." Modern Reformation, May/Jun '10, pp39, 41.

---

BUDDHISM

The Making of Buddhist Modernism, by David L. McMahan [4] -- Nathaniel David Rich begins his review by explaining that this book is "a thematic genealogy of the ‘forms of Buddhism that have emerged out of an engagement with the dominant cultural and intellectual forces of modernity.’ ... [T]hese emergent forms of Buddhism constitute ‘a novel, historically unique form of Buddhism,’ whose ‘enduring patterns and motifs’ McMahan broadly surveys here." McMahan reports that he is describing "a uniquely modernist form of the dharma." Rich calls it "superb as a general introduction to modern Buddhism and its intellectual and cultural place in the West and modern Asia." McMahan finds that "the confrontation and collaboration between Buddhism and western psychology has been ‘a powerful constituent of later Buddhist modernism.’ In particular, psychologization paved the way for the introduction to the modern West of both Tibetan Buddhism and Zen Buddhism. ...

"Western and Asian modernizers have presented Buddhism as uniquely compatible with a scientific worldview and, in particular, with empiricism and free inquiry. Significant in this regard is what McMahan calls the ‘core-versus-accretions model of Buddhism,’ the view that what the Buddha himself taught was ‘a rationalistic, empirically based, psychological, and ethical doctrine’ that was later occluded by the accretion of ‘superstition,’ which is to say, nonmodern cultural elements. This model has permitted Buddhist modernizers to present Buddhism, by contrast to Christianity, as a rational religion compatible with science and therefore uniquely suited both to the modern world and to the challenge posed by the specter of nihilism believed to haunt scientific materialism. McMahan argues that Romanticism, along with successors such as American Transcendentalism and ‘later forms of spiritual eclecticism,’ has had a ‘considerable influence’ on Buddhist modernism."

McMahan reports that "historically, only a small minority of Buddhists actually practiced it. ... McMahan concludes his thematic survey ... by considering trends in contemporary Buddhism that might signal a shift from modern to postmodern Buddhism, as well as emerging tensions within Buddhist modernism itself...." Sophia: International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, Metaphysical Theology and Ethics, 49 - 2010, pp157-160. <www.tinyurl.com/28awhxl>

-------

SOURCES: Monographs

1 - What Americans Really Believe: New Findings from the Baylor Survey of Religion, by Rodney Stark (Baylor Univ Prs, 2008, paperback, 200 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/23epbap>

2 - American Piety: The Nature of Religious Commitment (Patterns of Religious Commitment), by Rodney Stark (Univ of Calif Prs, 1970, paperback, 246 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/29z7der>

3 - Bioethics and the Christian Life: A Guide to Making Difficult

Decisions, by David VanDrunen (Crossway, 2009, paperback, 256 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/22rdgjr>

4 - The Making of Buddhist Modernism, by David L. McMahan (Oxford Univ Prs, 2008, hardcover, 320 pages) <www.tinyurl.com/2dwqlo4>

------

( - next issue - )