The headlines are clear: religion is on the decline in America as many people leave behind traditional religious practices. Diana Butler Bass, leading commentator on religion, politics, and culture, follows up her acclaimed book Christianity After Religion by arguing that what appears to be a decline actually signals a major transformation in how people understand and experience God. The distant God of conventional religion has given way to a more intimate sense of the sacred that is with us in the world. This shift, from a vertical understanding of God to a God found on the horizons of nature and human community, is at the heart of a spiritual revolution that surrounds us – and that is challenging not only religious institutions but political and social ones as well.
Grounded explores this cultural turn as Bass unpacks how people are finding new spiritual ground by discovering and embracing God everywhere in the world around us—in the soil, the water, the sky, in our homes and neighborhoods, and in the global commons. Faith is no longer a matter of mountaintop experience or institutional practice; instead, people are connecting with God through the environment in which we live. Grounded guides readers through our contemporary spiritual habitat as it points out and pays attention to the ways in which people experience a God who animates creation and community.
Bass brings her understanding of the latest research and studies and her deep knowledge of history and theology to Grounded. She cites news, trends, data, and pop culture, weaves in spiritual texts and ancient traditions, and pulls it all together through stories of her own and others' spiritual journeys. Grounded observes and reports a radical change in the way many people understand God and how they practice faith. In doing so, Bass invites readers to join this emerging spiritual revolution, find a revitalized expression of faith, and change the world.
How can we join this revolution and find God not in a distant heaven, but right here on Earth?
- A Grounded Faith: Move beyond a distant, vertical God and discover a more intimate faith connected to the soil, our homes, and our communities.
- Finding God in Nature: Explore a spirituality that is not confined to mountaintops or church buildings, but is present in the water, the dirt, and the sky around us.
- Ecology and Faith: Weaving together research, theology, and personal stories, Bass reveals how caring for the planet is a core spiritual practice for our time.
- The Future of Faith: An essential guide for the “spiritual but not religious,” lapsed believers, and anyone seeking a revitalized faith in a post-religious age.