Religious Choice and the Meaning of Church in the Lives of Evangelical Seekers
This study presents a description of the church life of American evangelicals that is centered in the lives of individual believers. A sample of evangelical Christians were asked to discuss their experiences in moving from church to church. The interview data reveal a general process by which people...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2005
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| In: |
Research in the social scientific study of religion
Year: 2005, Volume: 15, Pages: 137-165 |
| Further subjects: | B
Social sciences
B Religion & Gesellschaft |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This study presents a description of the church life of American evangelicals that is centered in the lives of individual believers. A sample of evangelical Christians were asked to discuss their experiences in moving from church to church. The interview data reveal a general process by which people leave churches and seek new affiliations. The process involves (1) separation from their childhood faith and inherited religion; (2) the subsequent search for an "authentic" church; and (3) the accommodation strategies employed to fit into the new church. The analysis centers on the tension between the evangelicals’ well developed sense of spiritual individualism and the institutionalized authority of congregations and denominations. Their decisions about church involve multiple "dimensions of religious identification" (Hervieu-Léger, 1998, p. 218). Respondents interpret the meaning of their church lives in terms of their personal experiences with the sacred and their identification with universal Christian values. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Research in the social scientific study of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/9789047406563_012 |