Living Faith

by Sullivan, Susan Crawford

• ISBN13: 9780226781617
• ISBN10: 0226781615
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-02-13
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

Scholars have made urban mothers living in poverty a focus of their research for decades. These women's lives can be difficult as they struggle to care for their children while surviving on welfare or working at low-wage jobs and sometimes facing physical or mental health problems. But until now little attention has been paid to an important force in these women's lives: religion. Through interviews with women from a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds and with a sophisticated analysis of how faith both motivates and constrains their actions, Living Faith reveals the many ways that belief serves as a lens through which many view and interpret their worlds. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Susan Crawford Sullivan is assistant professor of sociology and an Edward Bennett Williams Fellow at the College of the Holy Cross. She has also been a visiting assistant professor and research associate at Harvard Divinity School.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction: Listening to Poor Mothers about Religion	p. 1
Building Blocks: Theory, Religious Practices, and Churches	p. 27
"God Made Somebody Think of Welfare Reform": Religion, Welfare, and Work	p. 66
"I Send Him to Church with My Mother": Religion and Parenting	p. 108
"God Has a Plan": Making Meaning	p. 133
"I Don't Get to Church Anymore": Capacity, Stigma and Exit, and Religious Individualism	p. 156
The Church in the City: Impressions from Urban Pastors	p. 178
Conclusion: Everyday Religion and Mothers in Poverty	p. 202
Background Information for Study Participants Interviewed	p. 227
Methodology	p. 230
Notes	p. 235
References	p. 255
Index	p. 271
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