Roots: Uncovering Why We Do What We Do in Church

by Dyron B. Daughrity

By uncovering why we do what we do in church, Christians can make more informed decisions about where they should take their churches in the future. Why do we do what we do in church? Roots answers that question. Readers will discover for themselves the history of seven important topics that are at the very heart of what it means to be a Christian. Every Christian needs to know these things . . . and decide what they believe.

272 pages, Paperback

Published October 11, 2016

About the author

Dyron Daughrity, PhD, is a Professor of Religion at Pepperdine University. He teaches comparative religion, global Christianity, and church history. He has authored numerous books and articles, including Roots and To Whom Does Christianity Belong? He has spent twenty-two years in professional ministry with the Churches of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Reviews

[Ben Fike · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very helpful little book about “why we do what we do.” Daughrity covers a lot of ground here, and those who interpret history always have a lot of power to shape the narrative. However, Daughrity’s tone is confessional, he owns his biases, and I believe he accomplishes his task of providing a clear and concise history across a complicated landscape. He organizes his book around 7 practices in most modern churches and then sketches the roots of these through the biblical witness and 2,000 years of church history. These practices are biblical interpretation, baptism, the Eucharist, church buildings, church leadership, preaching, and church music.

It’s an ambitious task, but I think as a primer for Christians who are interested in knowing more about how we got where we are - from an historical perspective - this is a very helpful book.