Winner of the RNA Book Award, Nautilus Award, and Wilbur Award.

This special paperback edition includes a 40-day devotional that pairs passages from Grounded with prayers and reflections, ideal for use during the Lenten season or any season of reflection.

The headlines are clear: religion is on the decline in America as many people leave behind traditional religious practices. Diana Butler Bass, leading commentator on religion, politics, and culture, follows up her acclaimed book Christianity After Religion by arguing that what appears to be a decline actually signals a major transformation in how people understand and experience God. The distant God of conventional religion has given way to a more intimate sense of the sacred that is with us in the world. This shift, from a vertical understanding of God to a God found on the horizons of nature and human community, is at the heart of a spiritual revolution that surrounds us – and that is challenging not only religious institutions but political and social ones as well.

Grounded explores this cultural turn as Bass unpacks how people are finding new spiritual ground by discovering and embracing God everywhere in the world around us—in the soil, the water, the sky, in our homes and neighborhoods, and in the global commons. Faith is no longer a matter of mountaintop experience or institutional practice; instead, people are connecting with God through the environment in which we live. Grounded guides readers through our contemporary spiritual habitat as it points out and pays attention to the ways in which people experience a God who animates creation and community.

Bass brings her understanding of the latest research and studies and her deep knowledge of history and theology to Grounded. She cites news, trends, data, and pop culture, weaves in spiritual texts and ancient traditions, and pulls it all together through stories of her own and others’ spiritual journeys.Grounded observes and reports a radical change in the way many people understand God and how they practice faith. In doing so, Bass invites readers to join this emerging spiritual revolution, find a revitalized expression of faith, and change the world.

“A profound and literary book.”
—Christian Century

“What makes Bass an unusual voice among commentators in American religion right now is that she’s a proponent of hopeful religion.”
—Religion News Service

“I have forever been grateful for Bass’s razor sharp mind but now find myself in love with her mystical heart and gorgeous storytelling. God is definitely in this book.”
—GLENNON DOYLE MELTON, author of Love Warrior

“Provocative and well researched, Grounded is an admirable contribution to the understanding of contemporary American Christianity.”
—National Catholic Reporter

“In her excellent treatise, [Bass] declares the current state of religion as not dying but transforming.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Bass brings theology back down to earth. A stunning book that will open up new conversations in the church and beyond.”
—SHANE CLAIBORNE, author of The Irresistible Revolution

“Grounded made me love this beautiful world more deeply and made God’s presence more visible everywhere I looked.”
—SHAUNA NIEQUIST, author of Present Over Perfect