Portrait of a People summarizes the findings of the Brethren Member Profile 2006, the most comprehensive and representative survey of Brethren members ever conducted. Sociologist Carl Desportes Bowman, who directed the study, reports on a wide range of new information--Brethren beliefs about God and the afterlife; attitudes about military service, abortion, and politics; practices in the areas of personal Bible study, worship, and love feast; and much more. Readers will find themselves surprised, pleased, and dismayed. All will find themselves better informed about the people who call themselves Brethren. Carl Desportes Bowman is a sociologist and professor at Bridgewater College in Virginia. He is the author of the difinitive history, Brethren Society: The Culture Transformation of a "Peculiar People," and also of A Profile of the Church of the Brethren, based on his 1985 survey of the Church of the Brethren.
