The FaithX Project

Strategic Missional Consulting

Book Review – Trump and Political Theology: Unmaking Truth and Democracy

Trump and Political Theology

Title: Trump and Political Theology
Author: Jack David Eller, PhD
Publisher: GCRR Press (2020)
Reviewer: Ken Howard

This post is part of our occasional series, FaithX Book Reviews.

If you know a book you’d like us to review on our blog (or if you’d like to review one for us), please let us know by contacting Ken Howard at ken@faithx.net

Trump and Political Theology is unique, in that it reflects on the presidency of Donald Trump not simply from the standpoint of politics, but rather through the lens of theology (political theology, to be exact). Political theology has been around since the beginnings of institutional Christianity, but in the last century has focused on determining the theological legitimacy of political powers and institutions. Dr. Eller uses this theopolitical lens to understand the relationship of this particular president to norms, traditions, and institutions. 

With a foreword from FaithX’s very own Research Directory, Dr. Slade, the book’s main author, Dr. Jack David Eller, is a professor emeritus of anthropology, as well as the author of a number of books, including Cultural Anthropology: Global Forces, Local Lives, Inventing American Tradition, and Introducing Anthropology of Religion: Culture to the Ultimate.  He is also a film editor for the Anthropology Review Database. 

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Adapting to the Covid New Normal: A Research-Based Blog Series

Introduction by Ken Howard

In some ways, it seems like we’ve spent an eternity of waiting since Covid-19 forced our congregations to close. Yet in other ways, it seems like too many things to change in too little time. Regardless of denomination or religion, it seems like a tsunami swept away all our normal ways of congregational life in a second, leaving us all to re-think, re-engineer, and rapidly iterate almost everything. It almost seems like God is making use of these “Covid Times” through which we are navigating to re-shape us as congregations, cutting off all our talking about all the ways our faith communities needed to change if they were to survive (let alone thrive), and telling us to get on with it.

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Looking Back on 2019

by Ken Howard

2019 was a good year for FaithX. It had its ups and downs – a rollercoaster ride, for sure, at times – but all-in-all, both despite and because of it all, we came through 2019 much stronger, with a clearer vision of who we are and where we are going, and with many successes to energize us. 

We’ve come a long way since we launched in December of 2016. Back then it was just me as FaithX’s executive director/principal (and only) consultant, a 4-person volunteer board of directors, and one client, the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland and its two newest congregations. 

Over the next two years, we would establish our affiliation with Datastory, collaborate with them to prototype, develop, beta test, and launch the next-generation demographic analysis and missional planning platform, which would become known as MapDash for Faith Communities, added about a dozen clients, two associate consultants, a blog coordinator, a volunteer research director, and publish a ground-breaking research paper entitled “The Religion Singularity.” 

In 2019 we broadened our reach even further. We expanded our work not only into more Episcopal dioceses, congregations, and organizations, but more importantly, branching out into more than five additional “denominations” (i.e., including the non-denominational movement), and have begun discussions with interfaith and non-Christian faith traditions. We launched a new peer-reviewed journal about religion and ministry. We worked with Datastory to develop and launch the new Neighborhood Missional Intelligence Report, and we designed the consultative Neighborhood Missional Assessment program to help congregations identify emerging missional opportunities and challenges in the neighborhoods they serve. 

And so I’d like to offer my appreciation to all of those who have joined FaithX on our experimental missional journey through the end of religion as we know it into the future of faith in whatever form God is calling it into being…

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Correlation is Not Causation: Why Theology is Not What Makes Churches Grow

by Darren Slade

In this article, I will seek to answer whether theological conservatism and strictness play a vital role in denominational switching, as well as what factors cause churches to grow numerically. In the end, the idea that liberal theologies cause a deterioration in mainline Protestantism, while conservative theologies produce growth, is an oversimplification of the relevant factors that account for congregational development. Though theological conservatism tends to correlate with numerical expansion, it does not do so consistently and in all cases. Nonetheless, correlation does not equate to causation. Conservatism and strictness are merely two among a myriad of other influences that are present among growing churches, including (most notably) higher birth rates, higher youth retention, and a focus on evangelistic efforts.

Click Here to Read the Article
Correlation is Not Causation:
Why Theology is Not What Makes Churches Grow

Announcing a New Publication by Our Research Director

Have you ever wondered if there are certain psychological variables that could potentially influence or distort someone’s observation of a “miracle”?

With all the claims of people having witnessed a bona fide miracle today, from both Christians and non-Christians alike, it seems incumbent for critical thinkers and spiritual discerners to evaluate each miracle eyewitness and the potential for psychological misrepresentation.

The 3rdedition of the Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religionhas just announced the publication of an article by FaithX Co-Founder and Research Director, Darren M. Slade, entitled “Miracle Eyewitness Reports.” 

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