The FaithX Project

Strategic Missional Consulting

Volume 1, Issue 1 Is Now Published Online!

Socio-Historical Examination of Religion and Ministry

The FaithX Project, in partnership with Wipf and Stock Publishers, is proud to announce the release of our very first issue of the peer-reviewed academic journal, Socio-Historical Examination of Religion and Ministry (SHERM).

You can view and download the articles by clicking here.

Table of Contents:

ISBN: 978-1-5326-8495-1

SOCIAL-SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

1) “Grenz and Franke’s Post-Foundationalism and the Religion Singularity“

By Jeshua B. Branch

2) “First Century Christian Diversity: Historical Evidence of a Social Phenomenon“

By John F. Lingelbach

INVITED POSITION PAPERS

3) “A Cultural Cognition Perspective on Religion Singularity: How Political Identity Influences Religious Affiliation“

By Kevin S. Seybold

4) “Is the Disintegration of Christianity a Problem—or Even a Surprise?“

By Jack David Eller

MINISTRY RESEARCH

5) “Conditions for the Great Religion Singularity“

By Brian D. McLaren

6) “Responses to the Religion Singularity: A Rejoinder”

By Darren M. Slade and Kenneth W. Howard

BOOK REVIEWS

7) “Crossing Boundaries, Redefining Faith”

By Robert D. Francis

Engaging the New Year

By Ken Howard

At FaithX, we are looking forward to engaging 2019 and we hope you are, too!

Our plans include:

Our FaithXperimental blog will include articles on:

  • Missional Engagement. Best practices for identifying engaging missional opportunities as they arise.
  • Mission Development and Redevelopment. Strategies for redeveloping existing congregations and planting new congregations, and how to know when each is appropriate.
  • Congregational Vitality and Sustainability. Articles on how to assess the health and long-term sustainability of congregations, and what to do about it.
  • Innovative and Experimental Faith Communities. We will be continuing our “Spotlight” articles, shining a light on more innovative and experimental faith communities, strategies, and ministries. If you would like to suggest a Spotlight article on your faith community or ministry, click here.
  • Contributions by Guest Bloggers. To let us know if you would like to be an occasional FaithXperimental contributor, click here.
[Read more…]

FaithXperimental Spotlight: The New Story Festival – March 29-31, 2019

From time to time FaithXperimental features stories about faith communities engaging their communities in innovative and experimental ways.

Today’s FaithXperimental Spotlight features the New Story Festival being held on March 29-31 in Austin, Texas. The New Story Festival is a new annual gathering for community, creativity, and the common good: a bold experiment for a better world, embodying imagination, spirituality, social action, and playful connection – defined above all by the practice of love.

The FaithX Project will be an organizational sponsor of the event, and Ken Howard has been invited to submit several proposals for presentations at the festival. FaithX and our newly launched and independently-governed SHERM Journal (Socio-Historical Examination of Religion and Ministry) are festival sponsors. And because FaithX is a partner organization, those who register through the FaithX portal get a $20 discount.

As the Festival website says, the world runs on stories – the narratives that fuel the ways we live in this world and relate to one another. Our stories can liberate or oppress, encourage reconciliation or further separation, inspire new life or even bring death. But when we become conscious of our stories, we can begin to change them. Believing that “the best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better,” the New Story Festival seeks to lead us into a better story – one that encourages growth and liberation, healing and harmony; a story where the downtrodden are uplifted and everyone is included. [Read more…]

Why would I submit an article to SHERM Journal?

www.shermjournal.org

I am an established scholar, or

I am a tenure-track faculty member, or

I am a graduate student trying to gain an academic position:

Why would I submit an article to SHERM Journal?

It is true, on initial review, a journal dedicated to the socio-historical study of religion or the socio-historical study of ministry appears to be a niche publication with too small of an academic market, possibly making the publication a low-impact journal. There are simply far too many other psychological and sociological journal options out there for academics to submit their qualitative research and quantitative studies. But a socio-historical examination of religion and ministry is almost unheard of as a sub-discipline in religious studies. So, who practices that?

The answer is: just about everybody who studies religion. Let us explain.

[Read more…]

FaithX Launches Peer-Reviewed Journal: Call for Board Members and Papers

After more than a year of planning, FaithX is launching a new peer-reviewed journal entitled Socio-Historical Examination of Religion and Ministry (SHERM) under the leadership of its research director, Darren M. Slade, who will serve as SHERM’s General Editor. The first order of business is a call for Board Members and Papers (more information on this below). But first a little bit of background on SHERM and its purpose.

 

What is SHERM?
SHERM is a biannual, not-for-profit, peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes the latest social scientific, historiographic, and ecclesiastic research on religious institutions and their practices. SHERM is dedicated to the critical and scholarly inquiry of historical and contemporary religious phenomena, both from within particular religious traditions and across cultural boundaries, so as to inform the broader socio-historical analysis of religion and its related fields of study.

 

What is SHERM’s Purpose?
Inspired by Ken’s recently published research paper, The Religion Singularity, the purpose of SHERM is to provide a scholarly medium for specialists to publish advanced studies on religious trends, theologies, rituals, philosophies, and cultural influences in the hopes of generating enthusiasm for the academic and vocational study of religion while fostering collegiality among religious specialists. Its mission is to provide academics, professionals, and nonspecialists with critical reflections and evidence-based insights into religion and ministry.

[Read more…]

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