LEADER 03285nam 2200565 450 001 9910798317803321 005 20230807211751.0 010 $a1-4982-0025-7 035 $a(CKB)3710000000719198 035 $a(SSID)ssj0001674487 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)16473667 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0001674487 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)14611096 035 $a(PQKB)10753538 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC4534342 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL4534342 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr11215393 035 $a(OCoLC)951223412 035 $a(EXLCZ)993710000000719198 100 $a20160616h20152015 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcnu|||||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aFinding our balance $erepositioning mainstream protestantism /$fRonald P. Byars with a foreword by Thomas W. Currie 210 1$aEugene, Oregon :$cCascade Books,$d2015. 210 4$dİ2015 215 $a1 online resource (138 pages) 300 $aBibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph 311 $a1-4982-0024-9 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references. 327 $aIntroduction: where are we, and how did we get here? -- Question which authority? -- What's the matter with orthodoxy? -- Mid-American generic Protestant worship -- What's at stake on Sunday morning? -- Attentiveness to the poor: revisiting the protestant ethic -- Epilogue -- A sermon preached at First Presbyterian Church, Lexington, Kentucky. 330 $aMainstream American Protestantism is suffering from an identity crisis. We are not fundamentalists, but it is esy to define ourselves in reaction to them. Paralyzed by the shock of a cultural turn toward skepticism, we are tempted to make allies of the skeptics, partly to distance ourselves from the religious right and partly to lay claim to credibility in a milieu in which it is okay to be spiritual but not to be religious. A consequence is that we find ourselves playing in the shallow end of the pool. The historic Protestant principle serves as an enabler when it privileges questioning over affirmation, causing us to lose the necessary balance between the two. American-style generic Protestantism as it has evolved does not have strong enough foundations to withstand cultural pressures. Discovering an identity worth being taken seriously will require revisiting the broad catholic and reforming tradition in order to find an authoritative rather than merely reactive voice. The challenge is theological, but not to academic theology. The challenge rather is to the theology that sustains the local congregation through teaching, certainly, but most pressingly through preaching and worship. The times call for thoughtful and strategic repositioning. From back cover. 606 $aProtestant churches$zUnited States 606 $aProtestant churches$zNorth America 606 $aChristianity$y21st century 615 0$aProtestant churches 615 0$aProtestant churches 615 0$aChristianity 676 $a230 700 $aByars$b Ronald P.$01559470 702 $aCurrie$b Thomas W. 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910798317803321 996 $aFinding our balance$93824612 997 $aUNINA