My church history Prof from Wake Div, Bill Leonard, is back on the podcast. We have a wide-ranging conversation about the changing shape of religion in America. It is always a joy to reconnect with a mentor to pick some more wisdom and get feedback about some of the ideas you are working through.

Dr. Bill Leonard is Founding Dean and Professor of Divinity Emeritus at Wake Forest University’s SChool of Divinity. Leonard’s research focuses on Church History with particular attention to American religion, Baptist studies, and Appalachian religion. He is the author or editor of some 25 books including Christianity in Appalachia (1999); Baptist Ways: A History (2003); The Challenge of Being Baptist (2010); Can I Get a Witness?: Essays, Sermons and Reflections (2013); and  A Sense of the Heart: Christian Religious Experience in the U.S., (2014). In March 2015 he delivered the William James Lecture on Religious Experience at Harvard Divinity School and in February 2017 he gave the William Self Lectures on Preaching at McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University. His newest book, The Homebrewed Christianity Guide to Church History: Flaming Heretics and Heavy Drinkers, was  published by Fortress Press in July 2017. Leonard is on the board of the Journal of Disability and Religion, The Baptist Quarterly (England), the Day1 Preaching Network, the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, and the Governing Board of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. His sabbatical research focuses on a new book, tentatively entitled: “Security or Idolatry?: A History of Religion and Firearms in the U.S.”  Leonard writes a twice-monthly column for Baptist News Global, is an ordained Baptist minister, and a member of First Baptist Church, Highland Avenue (American Baptist Churches, USA) in Winston-Salem.

• the church’s loss of cultural privilege

the changing sociology of Sunday

the rapid rise of the religiously unaffiliated

living through a period of institutional permanent transition

changing shape of religious pluralism

the changing center of faith from the congregation

the rise of Christian Nationalism

the history of race and religion in America

fear of critical race theory

Christian formation in a Biblically illiterate age

how American evangelical identity got so ugly

the Fundamentalization of American Religion and the move from experience to transaction

from the Scopes Monkey Trial to Critical Race Theory

how inerrancy migrated to natural law

“you can be right about scripture and wrong about the Gospel”

an account of American brokenness

how big tech is ruining religion

the Pornification of Religion

how individualism is destroying us individually

the growing lack of community for many is a judgment on the church

why the West needs the church

Check out these books by Dr. Leonard:

• A Sense of the Heart: Christian Religious Experience in the United States
• Baptist Ways: A History
• The Challenge of Being Baptist: Owning a Scandalous Past and an Uncertain Future
• Word of God Across the Ages: Using Christian History in Preaching
• The Homebrewed Christianity Guide to Church History: Flaming Heretics and Heavy Drinkers

Previous Podcasts w/ Dr. Leonard

• Listening Beyond the Times
• The History and Transformation of American Christianity
• Faith and Politics Through Church History

Don’t forget to join Tripp & Diana this Lent for an open online class – Jesus De/constructed! Details here.  Follow the podcast, drop a review, or become a member of the HBC Community.

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