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Sacred Subdivisions

The Postsuburban Transformation of American Evangelicalism
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In an era where church attendance has reached an all-time low, recent polling has shown that Americans are becoming less formally religious and more promiscuous in their religious commitments. Within both mainline and evangelical Christianity in America, it is common to hear of secularizing pressures and increasing competition from nonreligious sources. Yet there is a kind of religious institution that has enjoyed great popularity over the past thirty years: the evangelical megachurch. Evangelical megachurches not only continue to grow in number, but also in cultural, political, and economic influence. To appreciate their appeal is to understand not only how they are innovating, but more crucially, where their innovation is taking place. In this groundbreaking and interdisciplinary study, Justin G. Wilford argues that the success of the megachurch is hinged upon its use of space: its location on the postsuburban fringe of large cities, its fragmented, dispersed structure, and its focus on individualized spaces of intimacy such as small group meetings in homes, which help to interpret suburban life as religiously meaningful and create a sense of belonging. Based on original fieldwork at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church, one of the largest and most influential megachurches in America, Sacred Subdivisions explains how evangelical megachurches thrive by transforming mundane secular spaces into arenas of religious significance.
Introduction2. Sacred Archipelagos: Spaces of Secularization 3. Sacred Scenes: Postsuburbia and Evangelical Performance 4. Purpose Driven Pluralities: Variety, Consumption, and Choice in Postdenominational Evangelicalism 5. Purpose Driven Places: Small Performances in Big Churches 6. Purpose Driven Planet: The Globalization of Evangelical Postsuburbia7. Purpose Driven Politics: The Saddleback Civil Forum and the New Civility of Evangelism 8. Conclusion: Assembling Spaces of Fusion, De-fusion, and Diffusion in the Postsuburban Landscape
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