For a non-trivial number of self-identified evangelicals, I suspect church pragmatically fills this function. Membership at a church can provide you with a place to belong in a community, a way of interpreting everything from the daily rhythms of life to politics and global events. It can also help you define yourself. At their best, local churches remind us that we are not our own but belong to God, and in so doing, they disrupt contemporary understandings of meaning and identity. It must be said, however, that far too many churches have adopted the contemporary anthropology. They assume that
...more
