The Second Time Around Adds Great Value

Ryan Burge's The Nones: Second Edition -- A Book Review

In This Edition:

• The Nones (Second Edition) a book review

• Teach-In for The Nones Tuesday, May 23rd at Noon EDT. Sign up HERE

The Nones: Where They Came From, Who They Are, and Where They Are Going (Second Edition)

I ordered this second edition of The Nones as soon as I saw it would be coming out. An insufficient amount of research is being done that shows a way forward for Christian strategies. Most of what is out there are opinions or promotions of a given strategy.

This second edition – like the first – is real, solid research and analysis. It is much needed. It adds great value. The fact that Ryan is not only a social scientist teaching at a university but is also the pastor of a smaller membership church increases the credibility of this book.

As I was reading this second edition, I got out my first edition copy of The Nones and compared it page-for-page to the new second edition. It took a lot of ink from my pen to mark all the sections that were expanded, revised, or added. In addition to a new chapter on the impact of the pandemic, numerous revisions and enlargements in other chapters make buying a copy of the second edition well worthwhile.

(This page-for-page comparison is one of those things I can do in retirement that I would not have taken time to do while still working full-time. You are welcome!)

I posted that I had done this on one of my social media sites. Ryan Burge is connected with me there. He saw my post and responded as follows:

“Thanks for this, George. I wanted to be sure that this wasn't just a money grab. I had a lot more thoughts about the Nones from doing so many interviews and speaking engagements related to the first book. I could have easily added another 30-40 pages of content, but I don't want this to turn into a textbook. That's not the goal of this project.”

I responded to him – “I knew that. I just wanted to verify to potential buyers that it is a value added second edition. Few people have time to go through the book page-for-page and they may wonder.”

The research and analysis in this second edition are more in-depth, up-to-date with research in the last half-decade, and clearly updates the 2021 edition of this book.

The new chapter on the pandemic acknowledges that we may still be too close to the pandemic to know the mid-term and long-term implications. I agree.

Over my life various interruptions in the forward progress of Christian ministry have not always revealed their impact in a year or two. We are still figuring out the pandemics impact, and our friends at Hartford Institute for Religion Research are still trying to figure it out as they engage in Lilly Endowment funded research on this issue.

Take something as simple as Sunday night activities in congregations. I contend that Sunday night church activities – especially an all-church worship service – started dying on February 9, 1964. The was the night the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. Millions of Christians did not go to church that night. Especially when their children discovered the Wonderful World of Disney program that was on the hour before.

However, churches stubbornly hung on to a full Sunday night program until for thousands of churches it finally ended during the oil crisis of the late 1970s when there was a gas shortage. Fewer people any longer attended a neighborhood church close enough to their home that they could walk to it.

Ryan Burge’s final chapter on what we can change and what we cannot was one place where revision and expansion took place. My only less than stellar assessment of the book is that this or another chapter needs to provide more in-depth strategy and tactical suggestions for connecting with the various categories of Nones.

Perhaps that is a later book by Ryan or a team of people working with him to provide action avenues for Christian congregations and ministries.