Awaking Sleeping Giants
Awaking Sleeping Giants
The aim of this chapter is to describe the institutional context of the two megachurches where a significant portion of author's fieldwork was based and to situate it in relation to the larger cultural context of the church-growth movement as a whole. A megachurch is typically defined as a Protestant congregation with an average of two thousand or more worshippers attending weekly services. The author refers to Marble Valley Presbyterian Church, which is one of the oldest and most venerated churches in Knoxville. The physical complex of the megachurch is located near a busy intersection on the edge of the county. It features a central facility composed of two adjoining red-brick buildings with white church spires and neoclassical facades. The self-conscious fusing of modern and traditional elements at Marble Valley Presbyterian Church is a common feature among North American megachurches. The urgency of the moral ambitions pertaining to various issues has an air of millennialist anticipation, fueled by the belief that the very existence of megachurches in Knoxville, and the fact that a few churches were growing and expanding at unprecedented rates, heralded a new period of religious awakening in the region.
Keywords: Protestant congregation, megachurches, Knoxville, modern instruments, Presbyterian Church
California Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
