USC Dornsife College Of Letters Arts and Sciences

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Archive

Archive

Evangelical Atheisms: Sunday Assemblies and Ryan Bell’s “Year Without God”

“Isms” have a special place in the Western heart, and with good reason. Critiques of Neoliberalism help us make sense of the market-driven ethos, and explorations of postmodernism yield diagnoses of our …

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 …

New Oxygen reality show “Preachers of LA” sparks controversy

A new reality TV show featuring pastors “living the God life” in Los Angeles has sparked a wave of controversy. Will Oxygen’s “Preachers of LA,” encourage exhibitionism and open the church to …

Redeeming Dallas

Though North Texas is hardly unchurched territory, metro Dallas has become a beachhead in the global missionary movement of Nigeria’s Redeemed Christian Church of God. About half a mile from Fellowship Church, …

Election 2012: What Happened to Political Evangelicalism?

Many observers on both the right and the left see the 2012 national and state elections as the death knell of evangelical political power. Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological …

Where are Evangelicals in the 2012 U.S. Presidential Campaign?

Four years ago this week, Rick Warren and Saddleback Valley Community Church in Orange County, California hosted the first campaign meeting of presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain. Warren called it …

Religion in the News: What Does it All Mean?

This post originally appeared on Patheos’ Black, White and Gray blog. Several news stories about religion in the U.S. have caught my attention over the last couple of weeks, and they each …

Megachurch and Microscoop: Beyond the Crystal Cathedral

This post originally appeared at Trans/Missions, the USC Knight Chair in Media and Religion site. The Crystal Cathedral has finally met its demise. After bankruptcy, the sale of the landmark sanctuary to …

What Does the Demise of the Crystal Cathedral Mean For Our Megachurches?

This post originally appeared in Zócalo Public Square. If this year were like years past, the Crystal Cathedral, the Philip Johnson-designed Protestant megachurch in Garden Grove, would be abuzz with the “The …

The Megachurches of Orange County

Richard Flory, CRCC director of research, spoke about rise of megachurches in Orange County on the Cal State Fullterton-produced program OC Insight, which aired June 11, 2011 on KCET. He taped the …

Mega Crystal Cathedral Meltdown Redux

This post originally appeared at Trans/Missions, the USC Knight Chair in Media and Religion site. The past tumultuous few years for the Crystal Cathedral have included the retirement (and un-retirement, then subsequent …

Dynasty? Passing the Ministry to the Next Generation of Schullers

This post originally appeared at Trans-Missions, the USC Knight Chair in Media and Religion site. The recent retirement, then non-retirement, of famed Crystal Cathedral and “possibility thinking” pastor Robert Schuller, was reported …

Touring with L.A. Gang Tours

Our ongoing project on the Los Angeles Dream Center has introduced us to many memorable people, among them, Alfred Lomas. Alfred is the director of the Food Truck ministry at the Dream …

Religion and the New Economic Realities

There seems to be some concern among both religious leaders and the faithful, that our recent economic woes will cause significant change in the religious landscape of America.

Reinventing American Protestantism: Christianity in the New Millennium

Reinventing American Protestantism Christianity in the New Millennium Donald E. Miller, Author (University of California Press: 1999)           During the past thirty years the American religious landscape has undergone …