I am still putting the finishing touches on my American Bible Society book and I thought it might be fun to do a little crowdsourcing with the readers of The Way of Improvement Leads Home.
I have been doing my best to situate the American Bible Society somewhere on the American religious landscape of the last fifty years. I know what I am going to argue in the book (and I am pretty sure I know how the ABS staff would answer), but I wanted to get a feel for how others might perceive the ABS.
I am not really looking for some type of scholarly analysis here. Rather, I would like to know what comes to your mind when you think about the ABS? Is it a mainline Protestant organization? A fundamentalist organization? An arm of the Christian Right? An ecumenical organization? An Evangelical organization? A generically Christian organization? A theologically liberal organization? A Judeo-Christian organization? None of the above? Something else?
Is it a Christian ministry? A religious publisher? A benevolent society? A para-church agency? A business? What come to mind?
While American religious historians are more than welcome to chime in, I would also really like to hear from non-specialists or Christians who know about the ABS through their churches or other religious organizations. It would also be great to hear from members of the clergy.
You can respond in one of four ways:
1. In the comments section below
2. Facebook (I think you may need to ask to be my friend before you can post)
3. Twitter: @johnfea1
4. Send me an e-mail at jfea(at)messiah(dot)edu
I would say a mainline organization and religious publisher. They never seemed to have a particular ax to grind.