Easter, a time for Christians to reflect and celebrate Christ's burial and resurrection, this year fell almost exactly on the anniversary of the arrival of my first advance copy of The Mainline, and that prompted me to do some reflecting of my own.
First, a big thank you to those of you who have read this blog (always feel free to comment), come out to presentations/book signings, and of course, purchased a copy. As an author, all of those things mean a good deal to me.
But secondly, and more importantly for this post, the one year anniversary of the book being out amongst the reading public has also led to some reviews (which I've talked some about on the blog as they arrive). Several of those reviewers (most recently Prof. Wade Clark Roof, in the Journal of American History) have raised the issue of what my work says about the future of denominational Christianity in America. One could read the The Mainline as an affirmation of denominations, and if you do, then that seems to fly in the face of evidence of denominational decline, contraction, and the potential for extinction. In short, rather than talking about a "new Mainline for the twenty-first century" as I do in the final chapter, these reviewers seem to be arguing that organized religion in the United States, as expressed by Christian denominations, is edging ever closer to European style irreverence. Another reviewer, while enjoying the book, went so far as to opine that by the time a second edition of it was needed, there might not be any denominations left to appreciate or understand it!
Let me start my response by saying that yes, in the main, I agree with the notion of denominational decline (in some respects, my entire book is about that phenomenon). But let me also caution those of a more pessimistic persuasion that we really don't know what that means. To begin with, as scholars such as Mark Chaves has noted, while there has indeed been an across the board decline in American religiosity, it has also been very slow and the numbers themselves have remained remarkably stable and speak of a good deal of continuity in how Americans view matters of faith. Chaves also, rightly I believe, points out that while the numbers tell us what has happened, they do not out of hand show us what will happen (they are descriptive, not prescriptive). We do not know the future, we can only safely comment on the past. A First or Second Great Awakening style revival could change things overnight. And to those who say such an event couldn't happen now, I would simply remind you that that is exactly what many said at the time that both of those events occurred.
Which means that for the foreseeable future, we will have denominations among us. The real issue, I believe for scholars (and this is a point I admit I did not make clear enough in The Mainline) was that despite specific and broad denominational decline, denominations remain the best and easiest means for scholars to categorize, count and study religious belief. So, in a very real sense, they aren't going anywhere anytime soon! And with that in mind, while I think it behooves scholars of religion to not neglect denominations, I also think we must not rest on what is (and has been) easiest and best when it comes to thinking about religious faith. We need more work on what individuals, not just aggregate composites (via denominations) actually believe, and how that belief translates their faith into their daily life (here, I think Art Farnsley's Flea Market Jesus, is a great step in the right direction). We need more study on non-denominationalism (both as a phenomenon and the congregations that it has created, many of which are similar to the old Mainline -- and many of which put the old Mainline to shame). We might also look for ways to not only explore the sacred/secularization paradiam, but also resurrect the concept of irreligion (the idea that religious belief is just fine for you, but maybe not for me)--which, is more indifferent to faith than it is hostile.
So, rather than being pessimestic, I am optimistic. Not only for the work that remains to be done, but that denominations are going to play a role in it.
