Reinventing American Protestantism: Christianity in the New Millennium

by Donald E. Miller

During the past thirty years the American religious landscape has undergone a dramatic change. More and more churches meet in converted warehouses, many have ministers who've never attended a seminary, and congregations are singing songs whose melodies might be heard in bars or nightclubs. Donald E. Miller's provocative examination of these "new paradigm churches"―sometimes called megachurches or postdenominational churches shows how they are reinventing the way Christianity is experienced in the United States today.

Drawing on over five years of research and hundreds of interviews, Miller explores three of the movements that have created new paradigm churches: Calvary Chapel, Vineyard Christian Fellowship, and Hope Chapel. Together, these groups have over one thousand congregations and are growing rapidly, attracting large numbers of worshipers who have felt alienated from institutional religion. While attempting to reconnect with first-century Christianity, these churches meet in nonreligious structures and use the medium of contemporary twentieth-century America to spread their message through contemporary forms of worship, Christian rock music, and a variety of support and interest groups.

In the first book to examine postdenominational churches in depth, Miller argues that these churches are involved in a second Reformation, one that challenges the bureaucracy and rigidity of mainstream Christianity. The religion of the new millennium, says Miller, will connect people to the sacred by reinventing traditional worship and redefining the institutional forms associated with denominational Christian churches. Nothing less than a transformation of religion in the United States may be taking place, and Miller convincingly demonstrates how "postmodern traditionalists" are at the forefront of this change.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, Sociology, Christianity, Cultural

264 pages, Paperback

First published August 30, 1997

About the author

Donald E. Miller is the Leonard K. Firestone Professor of Religion at the University of Southern California and Director of Strategic Initiatives at USC’s Center for Religion and Civic Culture. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of ten books, including Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement and Reinventing American Protestantism: Christianity in the New Millennium.

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really interesting book, despite the boring title and cover. Though Miller is an academic, he takes a kind of "immersion journalism" approach to the subject, relating his own and his assistants' experiences anecdotally along with facts, survey results, and other research. I also appreciated that although Miller is an admitted liberal Episcopalian (as I am--in fact, he attends the same church as some of my friends), he went in with an open mind and avoids, for the most part, condemning the churchmembers' viewpoints that clash with his own.

The book was written before John Wimber died and the Vineyard movement underwent some struggles to find their direction again, but it's still quite relevant.

[Anna]

Miller examines three “new paradigm churches” (NPCs) and what their distinctive features are. An accessible, interesting read, with some great information and analysis of this religious trend. Ultimately, Miller casts a less critical eye toward NPCs than I would have--and perhaps a less critical eye than he should have.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

An analysis and historical review of the 3 non-denomitional movements that came out of Cali in the 60s and 70s. Specifically, Calvary Chapel, Vineyard, and a division of Foursquare Gospel.

[Cimuchowski]

Suggested by Roy Terry.