Books authored, co-authored, or edited by James Wellman
Evangelical vs. Liberal:The Clash of Christian Cultures in the Pacific Northwest
This book examines the cultural conflict that increasingly divides American society, particularly evident within Protestant Christianity, as it is played out in the American Northwest. Drawing on an in-depth study of twenty-four of the area's fastest growing evangelical churches and ten vital liberal Protestant congregations, Wellman captures the leading trends of each group and their interaction with the wider American culture. He finds a remarkable depth of disagreement between the two groups on almost every front. Wellman is able to provide new insights into the convenient categories of "liberal" and "evangelical," the nature of the conflict, and the myriad ways both groups affect and are affected by American culture.
Belief
and Bloodshed: Religion and Violence Across Time and Tradition
This edited volume discusses how the relationship between religion and
violence is not unique to a post-9/11 world--it has existed throughout
all of recorded history and culture. Belief and Bloodshed
makes clear the complex interactions between religion, violence, and
politics to show that religion as always innocent or always evil is
misguided, and that rationalizations by religion for political power
and violence are not new.
The
Gold Coast Church and the
Ghetto: Christ and Culture in Mainline Protestantism
This book surveys the church's history of balancing its
theological aims and its
social boundaries and sheds light on the strengths and weaknesses of
liberal Protestantism as a modern religious institution. It shows
how Fourth Presbyterian has moved from an establishment congregation to
a lay liberal church working to overcome class and race
inequality in its urban context while carving out its institutional
identity in an increasingly pluralistic environment.
Religion
and Public Life in the Pacific Northwest: The None Zone
When asked their religious identification, more people
answer none in
the Pacific Northwest than in any other region of the United States.
But this does not mean that the region's religious institutions are
without power or that Northwesterners who do attend no place of worship
are without spiritual commitments. With no dominant denomination,
Evangelicals, Mainline Protestants, Catholics, Jews, adherents of
Pacific Rim religious traditions, indigenous groups, spiritual
environmentalists, and secularists must vie or sometimes must cooperate
with each other to address the regions' pressing economic,
environmental, and social issues.
The Power of Religious Publics: Staking Claims in American Society
This edited volume reflects on the changing tone and form of the
public voice of religion, on its function in American society, and on
its relationship to the private world of religion. It proposes that
public religion, when exercised in a civil and accountable way, can be
a responsible and prophetic voice in public life and enrich the
American experiment in liberal democracy. The contributors--first-rate
scholars including Martin Marty and Robert Belah--focus on public
religion's influence on controversial issues such as multiculturalism,
economic inequality, abortion, and homosexuality.