Lifeway

The expression lifeway is a fairly new technical term that is not yet in most general dictionaries and for which most textbooks instead still use "way of life". The American Heritage Dictionary defines a lifeway as: "1. A customary manner of living; a way of life. 2. A custom, practice, or art: the traditional lifeways of a tribal society."

In several disciplines, lifeway is used in the sense of the ecological position of human beings within a larger ecosystem - such as a food web. It is studied by cultural ecology, anthropological linguistics, and cultural anthropology. The most basic distinction usually made between lifeways is that between the hunter-gatherer (including fishers) and that of the farmer (including the shepherd, goatherd or rancher) who domesticates wildlife to raise for food and clothing.

Urban lifeways (trading on relationships or information, manufacturing which requires infrastructural capital at hand, etc.) are studied by urban economics but are also technically lifeways in the same sense as that of the hunter-gatherer and farmer.

LifeWay Christian Resources

LifeWay Christian Resources, based in Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the largest providers of religious and Christian resources in the world. LifeWay has been recognized as one of the "Best Employers in Tennessee" by BusinessTN magazine.

Background

In 1891, J. M. Frost, a 43-year-old pastor, started the company that is now known as LifeWay Christian Resources. The business began, after receiving approval from the Southern Baptist Convention, in a small office funded in part by money borrowed from his wife. Later that year, it became the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, with Frost as its first executive secretary (now called president).

Over the next century, the board expanded its activities well beyond Sunday School material. To reflect its broadening focus, the board changed its name to LifeWay Christian Resources in 1998. The LifeWay name had been used in one form or another as a brand name since 1971.

Today, the ministries of LifeWay provide Christian resources throughout the United States and internationally.