James Wellman Jr.'s Books

Rob Bell and a New American Christianity

By: James K. Wellman

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Rob Bell and a New American Christianity

By: James K. Wellman

Is Rob Bell the most important leader in the new American religious landscape?

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169

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Abingdon Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1426748442

ISBN 13

9781426748448

High on God

How Megachurches Won the Heart of America

By: James Wellman Jr.,Katie Corcoran,Kate Stockly

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High on God

How Megachurches Won the Heart of America

By: James Wellman Jr.,Katie Corcoran,Kate Stockly

God is like a drug, a high, [I] can't wait for the next hit." This direct quote from a megachurch member speaking about his experience of God might be dismissed as some sort of spiritually-induced drug riff. However, according to the research in this book, it was not only sincere, but a deeply felt, and sought-after sensibility. Megachurch attendees desire this first-hand experience of God, and many report finding it in their congregations. The book focuses on the emotional, social and religious dynamics that pull thousands of people into megachurches and how those churches make some feel like they are "high on God" and can't wait to get their next spiritual "hit." High on God gives the first robust and plausible explanation for why megachurches have conquered the churchgoing market of America. Without condescension or exaggeration, the authors show the genius of megachurches: the power of charisma, the design of facilities, the training of leaders, the emotional dynamics, and the strategies that bring people together and lead them to serve and help others. Using Emile Durkheim's concept of homo duplex, the authors plot the strategies that megachurches employ to satisfy the core human craving for personal meaning and social integration, as well as personal identity and communal solidarity. The authors also show how these churches can go wrong, sometimes tragically so. But they argue that, for the most part, megachurches help their attendees find themselves through bonding with and serving others.

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353

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0199827729

ISBN 13

9780199827725

Rob Bell and a New American Christianity

By: James K. Wellman JR.

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Rob Bell and a New American Christianity

By: James K. Wellman JR.

The Christian message needs a new interpreter: one that is particular enough to know and interpret the tradition but broad enough to evoke thought and feeling from broader groups of people, including evangelicals, liberals, and those who are disenchanted with churched religion and who describe themselves as spiritual but not religious, yet are fond of the Jesus tradition. This book helps readers to understand the new landscape and its key figure, Rob Bell, by bringing a reasoned voice to the conversation and shedding light on the story, directions, and emotional power of the figure who Andy Crouch claims will be the main influence on Christians in this generation. While his theology is seen as a theo-political stage by church leaders, when Rob Bell tours and speaks, it is the unchurched, the people in the pew, the people who want to be in the pew, who are listening—by the thousands. His recent placement on the cover of Time magazine sealed his import on the American landscape for anyone interested in religion. Jonathan Nathan, a bookbuyer for the Harvard COOP, the largest booksellers in New England with a significant religion section says that no book has ever sold like Rob Bell’s to an audience that is young, thoughtful, and college-educated. Bell’s church has 10k members, and his influence has affected every sector of the American protestant church. Why? Because Rob Bell has caused the whole evangelical world to rethink the scope of SALVATION with one single question: who gets to be saved? With that short sentence Bell has initiated a whole new movement in rethinking what it means to be an evangelical. A movement that has only begun. Not only are heaven and hell at stake, but salvation itself. Is it meant for all or for only a small elect group—and if so, who gets to decide the parameters of that small group? If heaven and hell are not ultimate identifiers for a life of faith, can the passion to evangelize be maintained? If salvation is not either/or, but both/and, does the whole idea of world evangelism simply disappear? Rob Bell has created another question for Evangelicals: Will you decide to live in a closed world of your own making or an open world? Those most influenced by Rob Bell are younger Evangelicals who are dying to open up their worlds. Rob Bell just gave them permission. According to Andy Crouch, his is the voice that will most influence this current generation. For Liberals, Rob Bell gives them reason to be passionate about their faith and to think in big terms about it without giving up their minds and their questions. For the conservatives, he’s the voice that young Christians are looking to and admiring, and even if they disagree, they are trying to observe and imitate his approach and appeal. Rob Bell doesn’t have the personality to sink into some religious subculture: He is a new super religious brand, the Apple or Pixar of his generation. Evangelicals will buy it because they want to damn him, imitate him, or do both. Liberal religionists will buy it because they know that he is a Schleiermachian figure, making a case for faith to its cultured despisers with passion and a new aesthetic. Spiritual but not religious folks will buy it because Rob Bell has an invitation and appeal that is rare, and appeals well beyond holy huddles. As an authorized biography, that will allow for extensive interviews with Bell and his some of his congregants. This will include interviews with outside informed supporters and those that reject him and his theology. The book will reveal what makes him “tick,” how his Wheaton College background affected his work, and how he is dealing with accusations of being on the border of evangelical heresy. This book will be researched and written over the next two month, with a finish date of December 1. Half or more will be available by the fall AAR/SBL annual meeting, with the plan to have Rob Bell and the author presenting. The book will show how is he challenging orthodoxy and why theologians are upset. It will outline the key players in the debate. It will also argue that no matter what the theologians say, people are still attending Bell’s church, listening to him speak. This is in large part because the man has a pastor’s heart. He cares about his people. The theologians aren’t reclaiming the conversation; they are making themselves irrelevant as the people who want genuine faith and are coming to Rob Bell’s books and talks because, as Bell said, “when the woman coming to church tells me she has stopped cutting herself and that a life of faith makes a difference”--that’s where the real things are happening. Finally, people like him, he is a charismatic speaker that young people are listening to: He has something to say, and he is pastorally living the heart of what he is saying.

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169

Publisher

Abingdon Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

142674935X

ISBN 13

9781426749353

The Gold Coast Church and the Ghetto

Christ and Culture in Mainline Protestantism

By: James K. Wellman

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The Gold Coast Church and the Ghetto

Christ and Culture in Mainline Protestantism

By: James K. Wellman

One of the nation's best known churches, Fourth Presbyterian is a thriving mainline church housed in an elegant Gothic building in Chicago's wealthy Gold Coast neighborhood. Less than a mile to the west is another world: the Cabrini-Green low- income housing projects. In this evenhanded account, James Wellman 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. Wellman shows how Fourth Presbyterian has moved from an establishment congregation to what he calls 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. By examining the church's four main leaders over the course of the century, Wellman tracks Fourth Presbyterian's gradual shift away from an evangelical role and toward the current focus on service, epitomized in the church's main outreach program, an extensive volunteer tutoring program that serves hundreds of Cabrini-Green residents each week. In documenting Fourth Presbyterian's struggle to meet the needs of its privileged congregants while challenging them to move beyond exclusive boundaries of race and class, The Gold Coast Church and the Ghetto opens a window into the past, present, and future of the Protestant mainline.

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294

Publisher

University of Illinois Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0252068041

ISBN 13

9780252068041

They Made the Movies

Conversations with Great Filmmakers

By: James Bawden,Ron Miller

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They Made the Movies

Conversations with Great Filmmakers

By: James Bawden,Ron Miller

For decades, James Bawden and Ron Miller have established themselves as maestros of provocative interviews, giving fans unmatched insights into the lives of Hollywood A-listers. In their fourth collection, the authors pay tribute to film pioneers who lit up Tinseltown from the 1930s through the 1960s. They Made the Movies features conversations with legendary directors who created many of film's all-time classics, including Frank Capra (It's A Wonderful Life, 1946), Richard Fleischer (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, 1954), Alfred Hitchcock (Psycho, 1960), Ralph Nelson (Lilies of the Field, 1963), Robert Wise (The Sound of Music, 1965), and Chuck Jones (How the Grinch Stole Christmas! 1966). Tantalizing firsthand details about many acclaimed films are revealed, such as the revelation of Mervyn LeRoy's first-choice of lead actress for The Wizard of Oz ("Shirley Temple... but Shirley couldn't sing like Judy [Garland]"), Billy Wilder's insights on directing ("You have to be a sycophant, a sadist, a nurse, a philosopher"), and how megaproducer Hal B. Wallis purchased an unproduced play titled Everybody Comes to Rick's and transformed it into Casablanca ("The part [of Sam] almost went to Lena Horne, but I thought she was too beautiful"). The authors also celebrate the contributions of marginalized filmmakers such as Ida Lupino, James Wong Howe, Oscar Micheaux, and Luis Valdez, who prevailed in Hollywood despite the discrimination they faced throughout their careers. They Made the Movies appeals to film and television enthusiasts of all ages.

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389

Publisher

University Press of Kentucky

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813197546

ISBN 13

9780813197548

The Bob Hope Films

By: James L. Neibaur

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The Bob Hope Films

By: James L. Neibaur

Bob Hope got his start in show business when he was in his twenties, remained active past the age of 90, and lived to be 100. His longevity was remarkable, especially when one considers that he was active in vaudeville, radio, motion pictures and television. He excelled in each of these popular forms of entertainment, but his films are the most genuine testaments to his timeless comedy. His smart quips, fast pace, and breezy manner were perfect ingredients for the brand of comedy that was popular during World War II and the years immediately following the war. This book begins with a discussion of Bob Hope's early career and the short films that he starred in, and then covers each of the Hope films beginning with The Big Broadcast of 1938. The Hope films, the author says, do not have deep subtexts or clever cinematic innovations, but provide clever, uplifting entertainment that continues to inspire laughter and offer solid examples of the humor that made Americans smile during and after World War II. Cast and credit information is provided for each film.

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Page Count

209

Publisher

McFarland

Published Date

ISBN 10

0786410507

ISBN 13

9780786410507

Church Planting in Post-Christian Soil

Theology and Practice

By: Christopher B. James

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Church Planting in Post-Christian Soil

Theology and Practice

By: Christopher B. James

Defying predictions of the inevitable decline of Christianity in the US, Church Planting in Post-Christian Soil presents the untold story of new churches springing up in Seattle, one of the most post-Christian cities in the nation.

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369

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0190673648

ISBN 13

9780190673642

The Power of Religious Publics

Staking Claims in American Society

By: William H. Swatos Jr.,James K. Wellman

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The Power of Religious Publics

Staking Claims in American Society

By: William H. Swatos Jr.,James K. Wellman

Currently, public religion is in a time of flux and the notion of the common good—once associated with the Protestant voice in America—is openly contested by new religious coalitions seeking to communicate their version of the truth and plant their stake in the public domain. 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.

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246

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

0313371326

ISBN 13

9780313371325

Evangelical vs. Liberal

By: James K. Wellman

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Evangelical vs. Liberal

By: James K. Wellman

The cultural conflict that increasingly divides American society is particularly evident within Protestant Christianity. Liberals and evangelicals clash in bitter competition for the future of their respective subcultures. In this book, James Wellman examines this conflict 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. Where evangelicals are willing to draw sharp lines on gay marriage and abortion, liberals complain about evangelical self-righteousness and disregard for personal freedoms. Liberals prefer the moral power of inclusiveness, while evangelicals frame their moral stances as part of a metaphysical struggle between good and evil. The entrepreneurial nature of evangelicalism translates into support of laissez-faire capitalism and democratic political advocacy. Liberals view both policies with varying degrees of apprehension. Such differences are significant on a national scale, with implications for the future of American Protestantism in particular and American culture in general. Both groups act in good faith and with good intentions, and each maintains a moral core that furthers its own identity, ideology, ritual, mission, and politics. In some situations, they share similar attitudes despite having different beliefs. Attending church services and interviewing senior pastors, lay leaders and new members, 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.

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Page Count

328

Publisher

Oxford University Press, USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

0199885192

ISBN 13

9780199885190

The Great Science Fiction Pictures II

By: James Robert Parish,Michael R. Pitts

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The Great Science Fiction Pictures II

By: James Robert Parish,Michael R. Pitts

This belated sequel is even more important than the same author's first volume ( LJ 9/15/77), which predated Star Wars/ET/Close Encounters and the films they inspired. This book also fills in that volume's omissions. Information on some 400 films (and updated TV and radio listings) yields credits, detailed cast lists, synopses, quotes from contemporary reviews and genre encyclopedias, brief critical evaluations, and entertaining film buff-y tidbits. There are a few nitpicky errors, and the quality of the entries unavoidably varies somewhat, but generally the level of scholarship is high, as it usually is for all the products emanating from the veteran Parish/Pitts reference book ``factory,'' in part because they are, and utilize other, crackerjack researchers. Highly recommended.-- Da vid Bartholomew, NYPL -Library Journal.

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516

Published Date

ISBN 10

0810822474

ISBN 13

9780810822474

The Jean Harlow Films

By: James L. Neibaur

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The Jean Harlow Films

By: James L. Neibaur

One of the powerful icons of 1930s Hollywood film, Jean Harlow died a tragically early death in 1937 at age 26. During her brief career, she delivered memorable performances in such MGM classics as Red Dust (1932), Bombshell (1933), Dinner at Eight (1933) and Libeled Lady (1936), among others. Taking a film-by-film look at Harlow's work and her own impressions of her costars and directors, this retrospective traces her growth as an actress--from tentative supporting player to top star at a prestigious studio--and how her often tumultuous life informed her performances.

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Page Count

222

Publisher

McFarland

Published Date

ISBN 10

1476674841

ISBN 13

9781476674841

Book's by James Wellman Jr.

Rob Bell and a New American Christianity

Rob Bell and a New American Christianity

High on God

High on God

Rob Bell and a New American Christianity

Rob Bell and a New American Christianity

The Gold Coast Church and the Ghetto

The Gold Coast Church and the Ghetto

They Made the Movies

They Made the Movies

The Bob Hope Films

The Bob Hope Films

Church Planting in Post-Christian Soil

Church Planting in Post-Christian Soil

The Power of Religious Publics

The Power of Religious Publics

Evangelical vs. Liberal

Evangelical vs. Liberal

The Great Science Fiction Pictures II

The Great Science Fiction Pictures II

The Jean Harlow Films

The Jean Harlow Films

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