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David R. Bains

@DavidRBains

Professor @SamfordU, US relg history, liturgy, religious space, Washington DC & Birmingham AL; ed @BHMReligion, cyclist, photographer alum @UVA @harvard

 Birmingham, Alabama
chasingchurches.com
Joined October 2013
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Photo by David R. Bains (@DavidRBains)Photo by David R. Bains (@DavidRBains)Photo by David R. Bains (@DavidRBains)Photo by David R. Bains (@DavidRBains)Photo by David R. Bains (@DavidRBains)Photo by David R. Bains (@DavidRBains)Photo by David R. Bains (@DavidRBains)Photo by David R. Bains (@DavidRBains)Photo by David R. Bains (@DavidRBains)Photo by David R. Bains (@DavidRBains)
Today's the first anniversary of the publication of Spaces for Worship. Check it out! magiccityreligion.org/spaces…
Spaces for Worship: A Birmingham-Based Introduction

Spaces for Worship: A Birmingham-Based Introduction

Click here for Resources from Animate 2024 By David R. Bains Welcome! Spaces for Worship explores the varities of ways Christians organize and decorate their worship spaces using examples in and ar…

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The new pope is announced: Cardinal Robert F. Prevost takes the name Leo XIV.
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Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on his planned meeting with Pope Francis in Nicaea: “I believe that his successor will come, & we will go together to Nicaea to send a message of unity, love, brotherhood, and shared path toward the future of Christianity.” archons-of-the-ecumenical-pa…
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Today at Duke Divinity’s chapel, we sang all 150 psalms in a day! Using Ellen Davis’s translation, it took from 8 am to 7 pm!
Image from Andrew Loran Raines (@Make_it_Raines)
Image from Andrew Loran Raines (@Make_it_Raines)
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The official schedule has the Carter family boarding the plane for Georgia in 13 minutes, but President Biden just started his eulogy. Clearly the schedule underestimated the length of this funeral. #carter jtfncr.mdw.army.mil/News/Art…
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Suggestions for this weekend from 5 years ago. chasingchurches.org/2019/01/…
Epiphany Proclamation of the Date of Easter: History, Texts, and Suggestions

Epiphany Proclamation of the Date of Easter: History, Texts, and Suggestions

In recent decades the proclamation on Epiphany of the date of Easter has been revived in some Roman Catholic and other churches as a way of linking the observance of Christ’s birth to his res…

chasingchurches.org
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A note on the official explanation for why Carter’s funeral is an Episcopal cathedral and for First Baptist. chasingchurches.org/2025/01/…
Why President Carter’s Funeral is at Washington National Cathedral

Why President Carter’s Funeral is at Washington National Cathedral

In a brief essay posted last week I noted some of the reasons why Washington’s Episcopal cathedral had become the accustomed place for presidential funerals, even for those, like Jimmy Carter…

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David R. Bains retweeted
David R. Bains (@DavidRBains) profile picture
David R. Bains@DavidRBains30 Dec 2024
100 years ago Woodrow Wilson was buried in Washington National Cathedral. There hasn’t been another funeral of a Democratic president there since. (But reports are that Carter’s will be.) more background here chasingchurches.org/2024/12/…
The Burial of Presidents and Washington National Cathedral

The Burial of Presidents and Washington National Cathedral

The burial of presidents helped build Washington National Cathedral, but Carter’s will be the first funeral of a Democratic president there in 100 years.

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100 years ago Woodrow Wilson was buried in Washington National Cathedral. There hasn’t been another funeral of a Democratic president there since. (But reports are that Carter’s will be.) more background here chasingchurches.org/2024/12/…
The Burial of Presidents and Washington National Cathedral

The Burial of Presidents and Washington National Cathedral

The burial of presidents helped build Washington National Cathedral, but Carter’s will be the first funeral of a Democratic president there in 100 years.

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chasingchurches.org/2024/12/…
Jimmy Carter at Samford University

Jimmy Carter at Samford University

Jimmy Carter spoken on Samford University’s campus twice. Once in 1975 when he was governor of Georgia and again after his presidency in 1984 when he was hosted by Cumberland School of Law.

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David R. Bains retweeted
Ryan Burge 📊 (@ryanburge) profile picture
Ryan Burge 📊
@ryanburge28 Nov 2024
More and more folks report that they have no religious affiliation. But are those Nones less religious on other metrics, too? In terms of religious attendance, yes - they clearly are. 57% never attended in 1972. It's 71% today.
Image from Ryan Burge 📊 (@ryanburge)
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Grateful for the hospitality of Fr. Bratso at St George Serbian Orthodox Church yesterday during the tour I co-lead at #AARSBL2024 #SBLAAR24
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The dome over the nave at St George’s.
Image from David R. Bains (@DavidRBains)
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St. George.
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LBJ's notes for his first Cabinet meeting as President, yesterday 1963:
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My 126th post in this series on my blog is off the beaten path in Bessemer, AL. chasingchurches.org/2024/11/…
New Salem Missionary Baptist Church, Bessemer

New Salem Missionary Baptist Church, Bessemer

Birmingham Churches and their Cornerstones 126 New Salem Missionary Baptist Church is located in the Mobile Junction neighborhood of Bessemer, Alabama, at 101 Pine Street Southwest in Bessemer, Ala…

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Thanks to @SamfordCWA for promoting this new resource I wrote! magiccityreligion.org/spaces… #worship #architecture
Image from David R. Bains (@DavidRBains)
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The inaugural worship service of the academic year for faculty and staff of Samford University @samfordu was held today in Hodges Chapel. Here is my discussion of the spaces as part of my "Spaces for Worship" resource composed with support from @SamfordCWA magiccityreligion.org/spaces…
Hodges Chapel: Central Pulpit

Hodges Chapel: Central Pulpit

By David R. Bains Hodges Chapel at Beeson Divinity School on the campus of Samfod University is one of the few Birmingham churches with a true pulpit as the centering focus of the church. By “…

magiccityreligion.org
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Just learned that "thing" comes into English through the Scandinavian "Þing" meaning "meeting" or "assembly". Things were already always assemblages, people! 🤘 #ant
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I've been there, Timothy Dudley-Smith. Been. There.
Image from Daniel Silliman (@danielsilliman)
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