Description
Book SynopsisThe 1950s religious boom was organized around the male-breadwinner lifestyle in the burgeoning postwar suburbs. But since the 1950s, family life has been fundamentally reconfigured in the United States. How do religion and family fit together today?
This book examines how religious congregations in America have responded to changes in family structure, and how families participate in local religious life. Based on a study of congregations and community residents in upstate New York, sociologist Penny Edgell argues that while some religious groups may be nostalgic for the Ozzie and Harriet days, others are changing, knowing that fewer and fewer families fit this traditional pattern. In order to keep members with nontraditional family arrangements within the congregation, these innovators have sought to emphasize individual freedom and personal spirituality and actively to welcome single adults and those from nontraditional families.
Edgell shows that mothers a
Trade Review
Winner of the 2006 Distinguished Book Award, Section on Sociology of Religion, American Sociological Association "Penny Edgell's new monograph provides a much-needed analysis of the intersections of religion and family life... Edgell's work reaches beyond sociology of religion and sociology of family in an effort to speak to broader questions about culture, meaning, social engagement, and social change."--Sally K. Gallagher, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion "Religion and Family in a Changing Society should be the starting point for anyone interested in understanding contemporary family-religion dynamics."--Scott M. Myers, American Journal of Sociology
Table of Contents
List of Tables ix Acknowledgments xi Chapter One: Contested Changes "Family Values" in Local Religious Life 1 Chapter Two: Religious Involvement and Religious Institutional Change 27 Chapter Three: Religion, Family, and Work 45 Chapter Four: Styles of Religious Involvement 67 Chapter Five: "The Problem with Families Today ..." 94 Chapter Six: The Practice of Family Ministry 125 Chapter Seven: Religious Familism and Social Change 146 Appendix: Choices 167 Notes 175 References 195 Index 207
