Synopses & Reviews
The last twenty years have seen a dramatic increase in "nones": people who do not claim any religious affiliation. These "nones" now outnumber even the largest Protestant denominations in America. They are not to be confused with secularists, however, for many of them identify themselves as "spiritual but not religious" (SBNR). The response to this dramatic change in American religion has been amazingly mixed. While social scientists have been busy counting and categorizing them, the public has swung between derision and adulation. Some complain "nones" are simply shallow dilettantes, narcissistically concerned with their own inner world. Others hail them as spiritual giants, and ground-breaking pioneers. Rarely, however, have these "nones" been asked to explain their own views, beliefs, and experiences. In
Belief without Borders, theologian and one-time SBNR Linda Mercadante finally gives these individuals a chance to speak for themselves.
This volume is the result of extensive observation and nearly 100 in-depth interviews with SBNRs across the United States. Mercadante presents SBNRs' stories, shows how they analyze their spiritual journeys, and explains why they reject the claims of organized religion. Surprisingly, however, Mercadante finds these SBNRs within as well as outside the church. She reveals the unexpected, emerging latent theology within this group, including the interviewees' creative concepts of divine transcendence, life after death, human nature, and community. The conclusions she draws are startling: despite the fact that SBNRs routinely discount the creeds and doctrines of organized religion, many have devised a structured set of beliefs, often purposefully in opposition to doctrines associated with Christianity.
Belief without Borders is a captivating exploration of a growing belief system certain to transform the spiritual character of America.
Review
"For those who think that being 'spiritual but not religious' is intellectually vague, it is time to think again. In Belief 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 of Christianity After Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening
"In the tradition of Robert Bellah's Habits 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 Borders is 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 of The Great Emergence: How Christianity Is Changing and Why
"Belief without Borders breaks 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
Synopsis
Named A Best Spiritual Book of the Year by Spirituality & Practice
The last twenty years have seen a dramatic increase in -nones-: people who do not claim any religious affiliation. These -nones- now outnumber even the largest Protestant denominations in America. They are not to be confused with secularists, however, for many of them identify themselves as -spiritual but not religious- (SBNR). The response to this dramatic change in American religion has been amazingly mixed. While social scientists have been busy counting and categorizing them, the public has swung between derision and adulation. Some complain -nones- are simply shallow dilettantes, narcissistically concerned with their own inner world. Others hail them as spiritual giants, and ground-breaking pioneers. Rarely, however, have these -nones- been asked to explain their own views, beliefs, and experiences. In Belief without Borders, theologian and one-time SBNR Linda Mercadante finally gives these individuals a chance to speak for themselves.
This volume is the result of extensive observation and nearly 100 in-depth interviews with SBNRs across the United States. Mercadante presents SBNRs' stories, shows how they analyze their spiritual journeys, and explains why they reject the claims of organized religion. Surprisingly, however, Mercadante finds these SBNRs within as well as outside the church. She reveals the unexpected, emerging latent theology within this group, including the interviewees' creative concepts of divine transcendence, life after death, human nature, and community. The conclusions she draws are startling: despite the fact that SBNRs routinely discount the creeds and doctrines of organized religion, many have devised a structured set of beliefs, often purposefully in opposition to doctrines associated with Christianity.
Belief without Borders is a captivating exploration of a growing belief system certain to transform the spiritual character of America.
Synopsis
Named A Best Spiritual Book of the Year by
Spirituality & Practice The last twenty years have seen a dramatic increase in "nones" people who do not claim any religious affiliation. These "nones" now outnumber even the largest Protestant denominations in America. They are not to be confused with secularists, however, for many of them identify themselves as "spiritual but not religious" (SBNR). The response to this dramatic change in American religion has been amazingly mixed. While social scientists have been busy counting and categorizing them, the public has swung between derision and adulation. Some complain "nones" are simply shallow dilettantes, narcissistically concerned with their own inner world. Others hail them as spiritual giants, and ground-breaking pioneers. Rarely, however, have these "nones" been asked to explain their own views, beliefs, and experiences. In Belief without Borders, theologian and one-time SBNR Linda Mercadante finally gives these individuals a chance to speak for themselves.
This volume is the result of extensive observation and nearly 100 in-depth interviews with SBNRs across the United States. Mercadante presents SBNRs' stories, shows how they analyze their spiritual journeys, and explains why they reject the claims of organized religion. Surprisingly, however, Mercadante finds these SBNRs within as well as outside the church. She reveals the unexpected, emerging latent theology within this group, including the interviewees' creative concepts of divine transcendence, life after death, human nature, and community. The conclusions she draws are startling: despite the fact that SBNRs routinely discount the creeds and doctrines of organized religion, many have devised a structured set of beliefs, often purposefully in opposition to doctrines associated with Christianity.
Belief without Borders is a captivating exploration of a growing belief system certain to transform the spiritual character of America.
About the Author
Linda Mercadante is the B. Robert Straker Professor of Historical Theology at The Methodist Theological School in Ohio and is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Table of Contents
A Personal Prelude: Confessions of a Former SBNR
Chapter One -- Introduction
Chapter Two -- Waking from the Dream
Chapter Three -- The Interviewees
Chapter Four -- Common Themes
Chapter Five -- Transcendence
Chapter Six -- Human Nature
Chapter Seven -- Community
Chapter Eight -- Afterlife
Chapter Nine -- Conclusions and Implications
Afterword - Rita Rodriquez and the Resiliency of Religion
Appendix - Research Methodology