Includes bibliographical references.

pt. 1. Searching for Jesus in local congregations. Emerging model: a visit to Jacob's Well -- The church downtown: strategies for urban ministry -- Africentric church: a visit to Chicago's Trinity UCC -- Synchronized worship: the rise of the multicampus church -- It's simul justus, not the tattoos: a profile of Nadia Bolz-Weber and House for All Sinners and Saints -- pt. 2. Searching for Jesus in popular evangelicalism. The new monastics: alternative Christian communities -- Be happy: the health and wealth gospel of Joel Osteen -- En-raptured: will we be "Left Behind"? -- Dinosaurs in the garden: a visit to the Creation Museum -- Jeremiah Wright, evangelicals' brother in Christ -- The almost formerly important: lessons of the old mainline for the new mainline -- pt. 3. Searching for Jesus in the church in Africa. Perilous presence: Christians in Uganda -- Holy space in Uganda -- How the church grew in South Sudan -- Surprises in Sudan: reading the Bible with Southern Sudanese Christians -- The muse of church revival in Sudan -- Why haven't they left? Stability in the church of Sudan -- University presidents in the Congo: how to stop a war -- Leadership as dancing the dance of all your people -- pt. 4. Searching for Jesus among Roman Catholics. What about Mary? Protestants and Marian devotion -- On the grace-filled life -- Santuary: Mary, Methodists, and immigration -- Joseph: stepfather to God -- Mass appeal? Attending a Latin liturgy -- Dare to discipline? John Kerry and Communion -- Going Catholic: six journeys to Rome -- Fathers and sons at the beach -- pt. 5. Searching for Jesus in popular culture. What you're looking for: worship at the U2charist -- Saint Lebowski -- Messge of light: an interview with Seth Avett -- The banjo lesson: the Carolina Chocolate Drops -- The difficulty and glory of collaboration -- pt. 6. Searching for Jesus in sports. Holy hoops: the quasi-religious basketball rivalry between Duke and North Carolina -- Duke basketball: you are what you do regularly, excellently -- Invisible, sticky leaders -- The last guy on the bench: Casey Peters -- Duke football: how to react to a failure that's not your fault? -- Marathons: straining toward holiness: together -- Marathons as grace or heresy? -- pt. 7. Searching for Jesus in Christian institutions. Hierarchy of holiness -- Outrageous ambition in East Africa -- Campuses of the kingdom -- Cells in the body of Christ -- Luring a campus into the faith -- Academic diversity through church affiliation -- pt. 8. Searching for Jesus amidst the task of writing. Why religious journalism is boring -- Paying attention -- Abounding in hope -- Joining the communion of saints and writing the unwritable word.

Print version record.

Where in the world is the church? These articles, essays, opinion pieces, and blog posts gather around that question. If we quit on the question in despair, we are lost. If we answer it too quickly, we are not digging deeply enough. But if we hunt hard with the help of the Holy Spirit, we'll find Christ's body alive, active, working, growing, and making things new. In ''Discerning the Body'', Jason Byassee goes hunting for the church guided by a singular conviction God has promised there will be a church until Christ s return. So it s out there, it's just slightly hard to find. Where is a batch of Jesus disciples, gathering around his Word and Sacraments, living out his mission in the world? Byassee spends time among Catholics, evangelicals, mainliners, and a few non-Christians looking for signs of Christ's body. He also looks in less likely places: among athletes, in institutions, in popular culture, in the craft of writing. It is very hard to 'expect' to be surprised. Doesn t the expectation ruin the surprise? Yet it's Jesus who surprises us in the church. Every time we find him, we have to expect to be surprised to find him anew in some counterintuitive guise. This book is about the author s learning to expect to be astounded anew by Christ.

English.