Description
Book SynopsisThis text offers a sweeping view of urban religion in response to the transformations of de-industrialized large cities. Focusing on Chicago, it explores the ways in which religious organizations both reflect and contribute to changes in American pluralism.
Trade ReviewThis book presents the initial results of a team-based ethnographic study aimed at understanding better the richness of religious life in the multiplicity of communities that make up modern Chicago. * Journal of Contemporary Religion *
It will alter - or perhaps confirm - your thinking about 'public religion' and how traditional and immigrant congregations address (or don't) member and community needs and attitudes and actions towards larger social issuesan obvious choice for religious and congregational studies and urban sociology programs. It is also valuable reading for any cleric or layperson interested in how contemporary urban religious collectives are shaped by and help shape the lives of their own members, surrounding communities, and the larger society. * Congregations *
An interesting example of the challenge immigrants face as they attempt to emulate established American institutions while retaining those elements that allow them to function as cohesive communities of ethnic and religious identity. -- Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad,Professor of Islamic History, Georgetown University
Rich in cultural analysis, thick description, maps, photographs, and anecdotes, this book should be read by scholars, policy makers, religious leaders, and anyone who wishes to better understand one of the most exciting stories on the American urban landscape at the turn of a new century. -- Robert Michael Franklin,President, Interdenominational Theological Center, Atlanta, Georgia
The highly successful result of a team-based, ethnographic approach to understanding the diversity-racial, ethnic, cultural, economic-of Chicago's religious communities, exploring important questions about religion's public role in the metropolis. A must read for those interested in the religious diversity and pluralism of American society or contemporary urban restructuring. -- Penny Edgell Becker,Department of Sociology, Cornell University, and author of Congregations in Conflict
