Bad Religion

How We Became a Nation of Heretics

De: Ross Douthat

Narrado por: Lloyd James

As the youngest-ever op-ed columnist for the New York Times and the author of the critically acclaimed books Privilege and Grand New Party, Ross Douthat has emerged as one of the most provocative and influential voices of his generation. Now he offers a masterful and hard-hitting account of how American Christianity has gone off the rails - and why it threatens to take American society with it.

In a story that moves from the 1950s to the age of Obama, Douthat brilliantly charts traditional Christianity's decline from a vigorous, mainstream, and bipartisan faith - which acted as a "vital center" and the moral force behind the Civil Rights movement - through the culture wars of the 1960s and 1970s and down to the polarizing debates of the present day. He argues that Christianity's place in American life has increasingly been taken over, not by atheism, but by heresy: debased versions of Christian faith that breed hubris, greed, and self-absorption.

Ranging from Glenn Beck to Eat Pray Love, Joel Osteen to The Da Vinci Code, Oprah Winfrey to Sarah Palin, Douthat explores how the prosperity gospel's mantra of "pray and grow rich", a cult of self-esteem that reduces God to a life coach, and the warring political religions of left and right have crippled the country's ability to confront our most pressing challenges and accelerated American decline. His urgent call for a revival of traditional Christianity is sure to generate controversy, and it will be vital listening for all those concerned about the imperiled American future.

©2012 Ross Douthat (P)2012 Tantor

A Clear Indictment...

of the postmodern "church," more self-help group or vague, self-satisfied social mission than body of Christ embracing the doctrine of the Bible. PCism, selfishness and spiritual laziness are what have given us the easy, breezy Joel Olsteen and Oprah takes on Christianity (washed clean of anything unpleasant and nearly of scripture itself), and Douthat makes a great argument against such a mistaken approach in this book, encouraging us to get back to the faith that has truly been the backbone of Christianity from the beginning.

Most Christian book of our time

Ross does two things that most 21st Century Christians fail to do in our present era.

1. He goes beyond the common denominator of mere Christianity to objectively call out what is and is not Christianity.

2. He conveys his argument in a gentle and fatherly way that is respectful of the reader and their particular creed, yet assertive in delivering the radical challenge of Christ, which the orthodox Christian Faith's have preserved over the millennia.

This is an academic and scholarly read, so if you are like me, it may get dull at times. Nonetheless, I applaud Ross for the way he so delicately, yet strongly, challenges American culture to see the great value of authentic Christian culture, and the universal danger of watering it down to an unorthodox relative dogma to be used for one's own personal justification.

Eye-opening

An even-handed treatment of how the Christian church in America has fallen to the sorry state it is in.
What impressed me is the author states there may be some bias in his work. And while there may be, I thought he dealt fairly with the issues he brought up.

Thought Reverberating on 2 Levels

Profound on both the broadest levels: history, culture, politics, sociology, &, of course, religion & on the more personal ones: psychology, morality, the family, & human yearning.

Food for thought

Would you try another book from Ross Douthat and/or Lloyd James?

Lloyd James is a compelling narrator as he seems to understand the material and reads the more academic sections in understandable prose. He is by far my favourite non-fiction narrator.

I think that Mr Douthat gives huge food for thought, especially to a non-American trying to understand the political landscape. Although, I do not necessarily agree with all his conclusions he certainly made me think about how I view the institutional Catholic Church, the Pentecostal movement as it is working itself through Africa and the new religion of "self". I would have liked more systematic theological depth as I thought that this could have strengthened some of his arguments. I also would have liked him to make more connections between the history of Church development in the US with the political situation now. However this is my particular bias as Church history in general and the historical development of systematic theology is a bit of a passion.

All in all a compelling "read" and I will definitely be following his views throughout the election period. Not necessarily in agreement but as an interesting point of clarification for my own thoughts.

I wanted to like this! But it was just too dull.

I love non-fiction books about faith, and our Bible study group has had some recent discussions about heresy -- so I thought I'd really love this book. The knowledge and information is outstanding, however the book reads like a very stuffy thesis paper (using words like "thus" and "henceforth" in the narrative). I consider myself to be an above average reader/listener with regard to reading level, but I just couldn't stick with it. I only got a few chapters in. I would've loved it had it been written for a casual Christian reader, but from what I heard, it's more for high-level seminary classes.

Informative and challenging

Douthat spares no church in discussing heresy in the modern church. He stands between political lines and denominational lines and rips apart a the accommodations made (and still being made) by churches who find relevancy to culture more important than orthodox faith. I'm a better informed Christian and observer of cultural patterns (modern and much older) because of listening.

Very well-written and thought-provoking

Ross Douthat’s “Bad Religion” is, in my opinion, an excellent book. I am certainly not a conservative Catholic like Douthat is (and I’m not especially a fan of his more puritanical ideas regarding sexuality). However, among today’s conservative writers, Douthat stands out as a nuanced and complex thinker, whose writings are clearly driven by a love of history and tradition rather than a hatred of liberalism. Although I don’t like all of Douthat’s conclusions in “Bad Religion”, I respect the depth of his reasoning and his highbrow and interesting approach. I highly recommend this book.

Balanced, open minded, yet pointed.

In this phenomenal book Douthat speaks about the necessity of the older branches of Christianity, especially the Orthodox variants and the tradition they've upheld in the western world until very recently. He makes the case that certain heresies have worked their way into the fabric of modern American Christian life, which are whittling away at the soul of faith in this country. Be it "the Church of the God within" taught by Oprah-types, or "The cult of Mammon" evangelized by prosperity Gospel preachers, or American nationalistic worship preached by the Michelle Bachman's and Glenn Beck's of America, Douthat makes the case that the fundamentals of Christianity shared between Catholics, Baptists, Pentecostals, evangelicals, and mainline Protestants are being undermined by these more radically heretical and short-sighted strains of vaguely Christian belief.

It is one part a book to raise awareness of these heresies and how they undermine the Orthodox establishment which has helped sustain Christianity it's two millennia long history, one part a book on the history of the relationship between Orthodoxy and heresy in the Christian faith particularly in America, and one part a book on ways we might reconcile the faults within Orthodoxy which gave rise to these heresies and how they have been reconciled in the past.

Well read it is a compelling listen for all interested in the topic whether of an Orthodox persuasion, some brand of protestant, more heretical brand Christianity, or even an atheist/non-Christian.

Pretty good book

Ended on a good note. Author has a great understanding of chronological 20th century. Can be a bit dry and exclusive at times but stick with it.