The Faith Next Door: American Christians and Their New Religious Neighbors - Hardcover

Numrich, Paul D

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195386213 ISBN 13: 9780195386219

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2009

Synopsis

The religious landscape of the United States has changed dramatically in recent decades. How are Christians relating to their Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, and other new religious neighbors? Using local examples, The Faith Next Door covers the gamut of Christian responses to America's multireligious reality. We read about the debate over a new Hindu temple in town, the Episcopal church that has hosted a mosque since 1987, the cooperative efforts between African American pastors and Muslim leaders, immigrant Christians seeking to save their non-Christian fellow immigrants, evangelicals resettling immigrants and refugees through "friendship evangelism," Catholics learning about other religions in the spirit of Vatican II, Greek Orthodox Christians and Turkish Muslims gaining a new appreciation of their shared history, and more. The book also examines how the events of September 11, 2001 have shaped Christian approaches to believers from other faiths, from engaging in dialogue to hoping for conversion. Here Christian theology meets the multireligious real world, with multiple results suggestive of national trends. The Faith Next Door will appeal to Christians from all denominations and perspectives who seek models for relationships in the diverse contemporary context. It will also inform non-Christian readers and general observers of trends in American religion about the variety of local Christian responses to other religions.

About this title

About the Author:

Paul D. Numrich was trained in both Christian theology and the academic study of religion. He frequently advises churches and other religious groups, the media, schools, health care professionals, and community groups on a variety of religious topics. He is the Associate Professor in the Snowden Chair for the Study of Religion and Interreligious Relations at Methodist Theological School in Ohio, the Associate Professor of World Religions and Interreligious Relations at Trinity Lutheran Seminary, and Affiliate Research Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Loyola University Chicago. Dr. Numrich is also an ordained Protestant minister.

Review:

"That the United States has become a religiously plural country is common knowledge. What Paul Numrich illumines is how that plurality is affecting local communities and churches. These case studies give the reader invaluable insights into what religious plurality does, positively and negatively, to religious faith. An important resource."-Dr. Terry C. Muck, Dean and Professor of World Religion, Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Kentucky

"This book is packed with fascinating stories and insights about how actual church communities are relating to their new neighbors from other religions. It tells about churches that are competitive and defensive but also about others that are open, neighborly, and communicative with these new non-Christian communities of worship. This profound and practical book conveys real portraits of how Christians are engaging this new religious presence in traditionally Christian societies."-Don Browning, Alexander Campbell Professor of Religious Ethics and the Social Sciences, University of Chicago, and author of Equality and the Family

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0195386213
• ISBN 13: 9780195386219
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 184