Diana Butler Bass
Diana Butler Bass, Ph.D., is an award-winning author, popular speaker, inspiring preacher, and one of America’s most trusted commentators on religion and contemporary spirituality.
Diana’s passion is sharing great ideas to change lives and the world – a passion that ranges from informing the public about spiritual trends, challenging conventional narratives about religious practice, entering the fray of social media with spiritual wisdom and smart theology, and writing books to help readers see themselves, their place in history, and God differently. She does this with intelligence, joy, and a good dose of humor, leading well-known comedian John Fugelsang to dub her “iconic,” the late Marcus Borg to call her “spontaneous and always surprising,” and Glennon Doyle to praise her “razor-sharp mind” and “mystical heart.”
She holds a doctorate in religious studies from Duke University and is the author of eleven books. Her bylines include The New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN.com, Atlantic.com, USA Today, Huffington Post, Spirituality and Health, Reader's Digest, Christian Century, and Sojourners. She has commented on religion, politics, and culture in the media widely including on CBS, CNN, PBS, NPR, CBC, FOX, Sirius XM, TIME, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, and in multiple global news outlets. In the 1990s, she wrote a weekly column on religion and culture for the Santa Barbara News-Press, which was distributed nationally by the New York Times Syndicate.
Her work has received two Wilbur Awards for best nonfiction book of the year, awards from Religion News Association for individual commentary and for Book of the Year, Nautilus Awards Silver and Gold medals, the Illumination Book Award Silver medal, Books for a Better Life Award, Book of the Year of the Academy of Parish Clergy, the Frank S. and Elizabeth D. Brewer Prize for Church History, Substack Fellowship for Independent Writers, multiple nominations for the Library of Virginia Literary Awards, and Publishers Weekly’s Best Religion Book of the Year.
She and her husband live in Alexandria, Virginia, with their dog and their sometimes-successful backyard garden.
TOPICS
Diana formats these topics to meet your event's specific schedule and goals. Her lectures and keynote addresses are regularly presented to leadership and congregational retreats, conferences, corporate events, book and writing festivals, academic occasions at universities and seminaries, fundraisers, and stewardship campaigns.
Gratitude
Based on her award-winning book Grateful, Diana explores the transformative, subversive power of gratitude for each of us personally and in community. Using her trademark blend of historical research, spiritual insight, and timely cultural observation, Diana shows how to overcome ingratitude to change our own lives and impact the world.
This material is exceptionally well suited for retreats, fund-raising events, stewardship campaigns, women's conferences, and during the autumn in Canadian and American Thanksgiving holidays.
Freeing Jesus
In Freeing Jesus, Bass challenges the idea that Jesus can only be understood in static, one-dimensional ways and instead leads her audience to consider a life where Jesus grows with us through our challenges and can be framed in multiple images: such as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence.
The lectures and workshops help Christians think more richly about how they have experienced Jesus, engage historical and theological questions about Jesus, and develop more confidence in sharing their stories of Jesus in open, generative, and generous ways.
This topic is geared toward book groups, congregational events, preaching conferences, writers' conferences and workshops, spiritual growth groups, and seasonal reflections on Jesus (such as Advent, Lent, and Easter) – with particular attention toward groups interested in spiritual memoir and storytelling.
The Intersection of Faith and the News
With more than two decades of experience and scores of bylines in media outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN.com, Atlantic.com, USA Today, Huffington Post, Spirituality and Health, Reader's Digest, Christian Century, and Sojourners, Diana Butler Bass is well respected internationally for her nuanced analyses and interpretation of religion in contemporary events. Diana enables audiences to better understand timely topics and trends by exploring the intersection of Christianity, cultural change, and politics.
Religion in the news lectures are developed based on timely subjects and group requests. This topic area is helpful to groups interested in contemporary issues, concerns of faith and justice, trends for the future of religion – most especially business and non-profit leaders, journalists, writers, academics, and policymakers.
History, Memoir, and Us
As a trained Christian historian, Diana sees the importance of the past and how it shapes our lives. Her historical work introduces her audience to faith contexts, including people and stories too often forgotten, and explores spiritual practices related to memory and tradition. She's always been interested in what makes for lively faith, renewal in the church, and the human complexity of spiritual journeys. Her fresh approaches and applications of history enable us to discern a more faithful way of life and offer insights into contemporary religious institutions' problems.
Lectures on historical topics and issues are ideal for keynote addresses in academic settings, denominational conferences, seminary and divinity school alumni events, and clergy and leadership gatherings.
CHURCH HISTORY LECTURES PADDOCK LECTURES 2022
Books by Diana Butler Bass (selected):
Freeing Jesus: Rediscovering Jesus as Friend, Teacher, Savior, Lord, Way, and Presence (HarperOne, March 31, 2021)
Grateful: The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks (HarperOne, 2018)
Grounded: Finding God in the World—A Spiritual Revolution (HarperOne, 2015)
Christianity After Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening (HarperOne, 2012).
A People’s History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story (HarperOne, 2009)
Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church is Transforming the Faith (HarperOne, 2006)
Broken We Kneel: Reflections on Faith and Politics (Jossey-Bass, 2004; Church Publishing, second edition, 2019)
Strength for the Journey: A Pilgrimage of Faith in Community (Jossey-Bass, 2002; Church Publishing, second edition, 2017)
VIDEOS OF DIANA BUTLER BASS
