Before you leave...
Take 20% off your first order
20% off
Enter the code below at checkout to get 20% off your first order
Who Shall Lead Them?: The Future of Ministry in America (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780195166972)
Vendor:
Larry A. Witham
Product type:
Books
- $29.99
$29.99- $29.99
- Unit price
- per
Subtotal:
$29.99
Description
xThe clergy today faces mounting challenges in an increasingly secular world, where declining prestige makes it more difficult to attract the best and the brightest young Americans to the ministry. As Christian churches dramatically adapt to modern changes, some are asking whether there is a clergy crisis as well. Whatever the future of the clergy, the fate of millions of churchgoers also will be at stake.
In Who Shall Lead Them?, prizewinning journalist Larry Witham takes the pulse of both the Protestant and Catholic ministry in America and provides a mixed diagnosis of the calling's health. Drawing on dozens of interviews with clergy, seminarians and laity, and using newly available survey data including the 2000 Census, Witham reveals the trends in a variety of traditions. While evangelicals are finding innovative paths to ministry, the Catholic priesthood faces a severe shortage. In mainline Protestantism, ministry as a second career has become a prominent feature. Ordination ages in the Episcopal and United Methodist churches average in the 40s today. The quest by female clergy to lead from the pulpit, meanwhile, has hit a "stained glass ceiling" as churches still prefer a man as the principal minister. While deeply motivated by the mystery of their "call" to ministry, America's priests, pastors, and ministers are reassessing their roles in a world of new debates on leadership, morality, and the powers of the mass media.
Who Shall Lead Them? offers a valuable snapshot of this contemporary clergy drama. It will be required reading for everyone concerned about the rapidly shifting ground of our churches and the health of religion in America.
Author: Larry A. Witham
ISBN-10: 0195166973
ISBN-13: 9780195166972
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Language: English
Published: 07/01/2005
Pages: 256
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 9.52h x 6.44w x 0.94d
Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 06/01/2005 pg. 140
Ingram Advance 07/01/2005 pg. 85
Publishers Weekly 05/02/2005 pg. 192
Christian Century 10/04/2005 pg. 34
Books & Culture 05/01/2006 pg. 40
In Who Shall Lead Them?, prizewinning journalist Larry Witham takes the pulse of both the Protestant and Catholic ministry in America and provides a mixed diagnosis of the calling's health. Drawing on dozens of interviews with clergy, seminarians and laity, and using newly available survey data including the 2000 Census, Witham reveals the trends in a variety of traditions. While evangelicals are finding innovative paths to ministry, the Catholic priesthood faces a severe shortage. In mainline Protestantism, ministry as a second career has become a prominent feature. Ordination ages in the Episcopal and United Methodist churches average in the 40s today. The quest by female clergy to lead from the pulpit, meanwhile, has hit a "stained glass ceiling" as churches still prefer a man as the principal minister. While deeply motivated by the mystery of their "call" to ministry, America's priests, pastors, and ministers are reassessing their roles in a world of new debates on leadership, morality, and the powers of the mass media.
Who Shall Lead Them? offers a valuable snapshot of this contemporary clergy drama. It will be required reading for everyone concerned about the rapidly shifting ground of our churches and the health of religion in America.
Author: Larry A. Witham
ISBN-10: 0195166973
ISBN-13: 9780195166972
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Language: English
Published: 07/01/2005
Pages: 256
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 9.52h x 6.44w x 0.94d
Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 06/01/2005 pg. 140
Ingram Advance 07/01/2005 pg. 85
Publishers Weekly 05/02/2005 pg. 192
Christian Century 10/04/2005 pg. 34
Books & Culture 05/01/2006 pg. 40
By Larry A. Witham
xLarry A. Witham is a veteran Washington D.C. journalist who has won national awards for his coverage of religion and society. A former reporter for The Washington Times, he is a three-time winner of the Religion Communications Council's Wilbur Award and a recipient of the Religion Newswriters Association's Cornell Award. He is the author of numerous books, including Where Darwin Meets the Bible: Creationists and Evolutionists in America. He lives in Burtonsville, Maryland.
Recently Viewed Products
- Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.