Synopsis from Goodreads:According to the media, the church is rapidly shrinking, both in numbers and in effectiveness. But the good news is, much of the bad news is wrong. Sociologist Bradley R. E. Wright uncovers what's really happening in the church: evangelicals are more respected by secular culture now than they were ten years ago; divorce rates of Christians are lower than those of nonbelievers; Christians give more to charity than others do. Wright reveals to readers why and how statistics are distorted, and shows that God is still effectively working through his people today.
My take on this book: A book about statistics is going to be boring right?
Wrong , I figured when I picked up this book that I wasn't going to be able to make it past the first chapter but I was pleasantly surprised. The author gives a true look at alot of negative statistics that are floating around about church and Christians in general, and he does a great job of debunking those statistics. Thru his research he shows us that the numbers are exaggerated and basically not true. The statistics given about any survey are only as good as the people collecting the data and putting out the data, so you soon realize that they can manipulate the numbers to whatever suits their fancy.
Truthfully I am so not into reading graphs and data in general but the authors style of writing which is light and humorous made it much easier to read this book.
If your interested in the true state of Christians and the church then this book may be for you. My rating for this book is a 3 out of 5.
I was provided a copy of this book by Bethany House Publishing in return for an honest review.
Brenda,
ReplyDeleteSo glad that you are reviewing books and this one sounded really interesting. I think you did an outstanding job reviewing the book.
Love and Hugs ~ Kat
Generally stats can be manipulated in the way you described with anything... so always be on guard. Good to know that there's books out there that show people to look before they leap.
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