Diana Butler Bass

"Christianity for the Rest of Us," one of the many books published by Diana Butler Bass.

Shes a voice for theological sanity in an uncertain world. Religious historian Diana Butler Bass is coming to Naples for a two-day lecture series, The Romance of Faith: Exploring New Ways of Thinking about Love, Faith, Spirituality and Theology.

Butler Bass will discuss how Christians can take the central teachings of the bible namely love of God, neighbor and self and use it to navigate a world where love has alternate meanings.

If we truly believe that God is with us, that his presence is behind all life, then we must trust that the spirit is working amidst all these changes and learn to open our lives to this love and not live in fear of the transformation, says Butler Bass.

The best-selling author is working on her ninth book and says dialog and insight she gains from fellow Christians during her lectures inspires much of what she writes about in her work.

One in four marriages is interreligious, says Butler Bass. People I meet around the country want to know where the spirit of God is in all the changes happening around us. They want to know how they should practice their faith given this new dynamic.

Because her first lecture at Naples United Church of Christ falls on Valentines Day at 8 p.m., Butler Bass says shell be focusing on what she calls are the fourfold ethics of love. This will become the basis of a framework wherein attendees can begin to understand how love of God, neighbor and self influence decisions about courtship, sexuality and marriage. Examining trends in Christian communities is the topic of many of Butler Bass writings. When she set out to write The Peoples History of Christianity: The Other Side of the Story, Butler Bass said there was so much attention on fallen Christian leaders that she felt a calling and decided her book needed to highlight the lives of people in church history who actually achieved a life that emulated the teachings.

My favorite Christian leader in history is Rev. Samuel Green, an African American born into slavery in the early 1800s that became a gifted preacher, said Butler Bass. He was freed by his owner in exchange for staying on the plantation to preach and amassed a 300-member congregation. He was able to buy his wifes freedom and was in the process of buying his childrens when he was arrested.

Butler Bass explained that Greens son, a slave, had become a fugitive and when the authorities searched the preachers home, they found a copy of Harriet Beecher Stowes Uncle Toms Cabin. Because Green was also a friend of Harriet Tubman and was suspected of having ties to the Underground Railroad, he was arrested and ordered to do 10 years of hard labor.

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The Romance of Faith: Best-selling author to discuss combining spirituality and love