Pillars Of Faith

by Ammerman, Nancy Tatom

• ISBN13: 9780520243125
• ISBN10: 0520243129
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-04-01
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr

Summary

At the close of the twentieth century the United States was, by all accounts, among the most religious of modern Western nations.Pillars of Faithdescribes the diversity of tradition and the commonality of organizational strategy that characterize the more than 300,000 congregations in the United States, arguing that they provide the social bonds, spiritual traditions, and community connections that are vital to an increasingly diverse society. Nancy Tatom Ammerman follows several traditions--Mainline Protestant, Conservative Protestant, African American Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox, Jewish, Sectarian, and other religions--as they establish discernible patterns of congregational life that fit their own history, tradition, and relationship to American society. Her methodologically sophisticated study balances survey research with interviews conducted with people from ninety-one different religious traditions and ethnographic observations that yield new information on many dimensions of American congregational life. Her book is the first to depict the complex resource base supporting American congregations, the enormous web of partners with whom congregations work, and the range of institutional patterns they exhibit. Contrary to many gloomy forecasts,Pillars of Faith: American Congregations and Their Partnersargues that organized religion in the United States is robust and vigorous--and that it can handle the increasing demands of escalating diversity and mobility the future is sure to bring.

Author Biography

Nancy Tatom Ammerman, Professor of Sociology of Religion at Boston University

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
1. Common Patterns and Diverse Streams: America's Communities of Faith	1	(22)
2. Building Traditions: Worshiping and Learning Together	23	(28)
3. Building Communities: Food, Fun, and Fellowship	51	(18)
4. Building Networks of Faith: Partners and Producers	69	(46)
5. Extending the Community: Serving the Needy, Saving Souls	115	(43)
6. Doing Good Together: Networks of Work in the World	158	(48)
7. Nurturing Traditions: Stories and Practices for Religious Pilgrims	206	(48)
8. Voluntary and Diverse Communities of Faith: American Congregations and American Society	254	(25)
Appendices	279	(8)
1. Sampling and Measurement	279	(4)
2. Denominations Classified by Religious Tradition, Polity, and Denominational Structure	283	(4)
Notes	287	(22)
References	309	(30)
Index	339