USC Dornsife College Of Letters Arts and Sciences

University of Southern California

Archive

Archive

Slimming the Megachurch in Seoul and Los Angeles

Yoido Full Gospel Church is the world’s largest megachurch. When we visited the Seoul church one weekday morning last fall, I was struck by two things: First the church was full, but …

A Religion Dispatches Roundtable Discussion on Religious “Nones”

Religion Dispatches’ Peter Laarman led a roundtable conversation on religious “nones” with Kaya Oakes, The Nones Are Alright: A New Generation of Seekers, Believers and Those in Between, Sikivu Hutchinson, atheist scholar and author, …

What the Fight over Allah Says About the Future of Evangelical Christianity

This post originally appeared on Religion Dispatches. When Professor Larycia Hawkins of Wheaton College publicly announced her solidarity with Muslims by wearing a hijab through the holiday season—and stated that Christians and …

American Christianity Is Changing Fast: Five Stories to Watch in 2016

This post originally appeared on Religion Dispatches. While LGBT evangelicals cheered on the SCOTUS decision on gay marriage, evangelical institutions lobbied for the passage of “religious freedom” laws that would allow them …

What Real Estate Battles Say about Church

This post also appeared on Huffington Post Religion. What makes a church, a church? Is it the buildings? The programs? The members? These questions come to mind with recent real estate transactions …

What’s in a Name? Religious Nones and the American Religious Landscape

This post originally appeared on Religion Dispatches. Over the last several years the term religious “Nones” has become a major topic of discussion and analysis by those who pay attention to religious …

U2, Justin Bieber and the Future of Christianity

What exactly is the shelf life of a headlining rock band and an equally headline-grabbing pastor? When I heard that U2 had summoned megachurch pastor Rick Warren to minister to them in …

U.S. Christianity Is Dead, Long Live U.S. Christianity – The Implications of New Religious Affiliation Data

This post originally appeared at Religion Dispatches. the cluster of comment on the recently released report on the changing American religious landscape from the Pew Research Center, we have seen two basic story lines: the U.S. is …

Will the Real Evangelical Millennials Please Stand Up?

Lately the religion blogosphere has been all a twitter about a new book by Rachel Held Evans, who has documented her spiritual and religious path from being a good evangelical millennial to …

Do Government Regulations Get in the Way of Doing Good After a Disaster?

This post was originally published by Zócalo Public Square. Any time now, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is going to announce whom he has hired to be the city’s chief resilience officer, the …

The (Next) Fire Next Time

As I watched nationwide protests flare after the grand jury’s decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson of Ferguson, MO, I couldn’t help thinking that despite the progress Americans think we’ve made …

Richard Flory Addresses the Los Angeles City Council

This post was a speech delivered to the Los Angeles City Council and a gathering of religious leaders whose communities are working with the City on disaster preparedness. Good morning, it is …

Evangelicalism: Same as it Ever Was–Or Is It?

Nobody ever said religious innovation was easy—either as an undertaking in the context of a religious community or as the subject of a scholarly investigation. For one thing, creative and innovative activity …

Churched Out

I’m churched out. I’ve gone to more church services in the last two months than I have over the past 30 years. Now, I’m not exactly complaining about this development since these …

The Tidal Wave of Indifference: I Don’t Church, I Brunch

A lot has been written recently about the spiritual-but-not-religious crowd, or the “religious nones”–people who have no particular religious affiliation–and how their numbers are rapidly growing in the U.S. Recent reports place …

The Burbs Are All Right: Religion, Sprawl and L.A.’s Urban Logic

As a part of our Religious Competition and Creative Innovation project, our research team meets once each month for “idea lunches” during which we have freewheeling discussions about what we’re seeing in …

Laundry Love

Several years ago—2002 to be exact—I met an incredibly interesting young pastor named Greg Russinger. At the time, Greg was leading the Bridge Communities, an innovative church in Ventura, California. What was …

Competition, Innovation and the Future of Religion

The primary question that underlies the Religious Competition and Creative Innovation (RCCI) project is whether “religious competition” leads to creative innovation in congregations and other religious organizations. This question is rooted at …

Is American Evangelicalism Really Disappearing?

Predicting the demise of American evangelicalism has become a cottage industry. Scholars, journalists, evangelical researchers and the evangelical blogosphere all agree: Whether because of declining numbers of young people or demographic shifts …

Spirit and Power: The Growth and Global Impact of Pentecostalism

Spirit and Power: The Growth and Global Impact of Pentecostalism Donald E. Miller, Kimon Sargeant, and Richard Flory, editors (Oxford University Press: 2013)       From the publisher’s description: Pentecostalism is …