What might one expect to learn from a probability sample study of the Archdiocese of Chicago? Can one form a national portrait of Catholics in the United States from data about Chicago? Certainly, Chicago is unique in its judgments about its clergy. As the eminent Catholic sociologist Andrew M. Greeley argues, it is this very difference that makes rigorous comparisons between Chicago Catholics and other Catholic subpopulations possible. He suggests that history and geography provide a basis for understanding the development of the Catholic Church not just in this specific area, but also in the entire United States. The Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago it composed of two counties, Lake and Cook. At the same time the Catholic population has been pushed up against the boundary of DuPage County by racial change in the city, so that much of the west and south side Catholic population of the city has moved into the southern and western suburbs. In this research area, half of the Catholics have attended college and half of those have attended graduate school. Thus, the conventional image of Chicago as a mix of ethnic immigrant neighborhoods has to be modified-although there are still many new immigrants attending special immigrant parishes. Greeley argues that the official church in Chicago, and by inference elsewhere, has not recognized the community structures that permeate the neighborhoods, that it does not grasp the religious stories that shape its peoples' identity, and it does not understand the intense, if selective, loyalty of the archdiocese to its leadership. As part of this argument, Greeley includes transcriptions of in-depth interviews with former Catholics. This study provides a fascinating window into the world of Catholicism in twenty-first century urban America.

Catholics in Contemporary Britain showcases findings from a wide-ranging, empirical study of Catholics living in Britain. It offers a sociologically-informed study, placing the contemporary Catholic community in the wider contexts of their society and the global faith of which they are a part. The book has been animated by a set of compelling broader questions : Who are the Catholics in Britain? How do they engage with their faith and with the Church? What do they think about issue within, and the leadership of, their Church? What are their views on wider social issues and of the party-political landscape? The study is thematically broad in scope, focusing on demography, religiosity (addressing the three 'Bs' of 'believing', 'belonging', and 'behaving'), social-moral issues, church leadership and schooling, and party support and voting behaviour. The book presents a rich and fascinating demographic, religious, and attitudinal profile of Britain's Catholics in the 21st Century.

The SAGE Encyclopedia of the Sociology of Religion takes a look at the role of religion in society; unpacking and evaluating the significance of religion in and on human history; and tracing and outlining the social forces and influences that shape religion.

While Church attendance in the West is often cited as being in decline, it is argued that this applies primarily to the older established forms of Christianity. Other expressions of the faith are, in fact, stable or even growing. This volume provides multidisciplinary interpretations of and responses to one of the most complicated and controversial issues regarding the global transformation of Christianity today: the decline of "established Christianity" in the Western world. It also addresses the future of Christianity in the West after the decline. Drawing upon historical research, sociology, religious studies, philosophy and theology, an international panel of contributors provide new theoretical frameworks for understanding this decline and offer creative suggestions for responding to it. "Established Christianity" is conceptualized as historically, culturally, socially and politically embedded religion (with or without official established status). This is a dynamic volume that gives fresh perspective on one of the great social changes taking place in the West today. As such, it will be of great interest to scholars of religious sociology, history and anthropology, as well as theologians.

Why are so many Americans leaving church? Half no longer belong to a congregation. A quarter now say they are unchurched, up from one in six a decade ago and one in twelve a generation ago, led by more than a third of young adults. Where have they gone, and what are they doing instead? What moves them? What should we make of it? What can we learn as well from those who have stayed or returned, and from congregations that have sparked their continuing commitment or renewed participation?After decades of drift and several long years of grievous pandemic that shut church doors and crowded the internet, the time has come to weigh these questions more closely and answer them more carefully. We need to open a keener moral inquiry into the arc of spiritual change in America. We need to probe a thicker cultural account of intergenerational religious influence and inspiration that we practice today in forms of ritual action, sacred expression, and moral community that reach far beyond the pews. In and Out of Church tackles these tasks. It’s a book voiced by spiritually attuned, morally articulate young adults adrift from the churches and temples of their childhood yet immersed in currents of spiritual practice and imagination now shifting the shape and course of American religion. In heartfelt dialogue with their baby-boom parents these Millennials ponder how and why they got here in terms that open up and deepen the “spiritual but not religious” story sketched by surveys of “religious nones.” This book brings these numbers to life and makes moral sense of this story of individuals leaving church by setting it within the larger cultural drama of modern multiplex society and quicksilver selfhood in search of authentic fulfillment in caring community. It takes the reader inside a mushrooming megachurch in Silicon Valley and three thriving mainline congregations in Atlanta to see how they reach out to unchurched young adults and hold onto their own as they come of age by “putting belonging before believing and behaving.” They lift up spiritual experience above creed and code, and they challenge conventions of “organized religion” in ways that many “spiritual and religious” churchgoers have now come to embrace.

Almost all of America's private colleges and universities started out as denominational schools, but connections with sponsoring churches gradually attenuated over the last century. Only fundamentalist Protestant denominations and the Roman Catholic Church still maintain colleges and universities closely tied to the spirit of their denominations. Catholic higher education is the largest of these systems, producing a significant proportion of America's college graduates, trained professionals, and doctorates. Andrew M. Greeley argues that Catholic schools are no better and no worse than the vast majority of American higher educational institutions. He chooses a sample of schools varying in the degree to which changes are evident, without revealing this key to his investigator team. Greeley and his field team then visit the schools, interviewing significant segments of each, and characterize each in terms of recent growth and elements which are critical in fostering and supporting such changes. Greeley briefly summarizes information on the history of Catholic higher education. He then furnishes descriptions of three rapid-improvement, three medium-improvement, and three low-improvement schools. In a summary, he provides evidence that the quality of administrative leadership predicts academic improvement in a Catholic college or university. In the final sections, Greeley reviews the administrations, faculties, and student bodies at Catholic colleges and universities, and offers general observations about the outlook for Catholic higher education in the United States.

Christian churches in recent decades have taken some steps in their practices of liturgy and worship toward acknowledging the graced dignity of human variety. But who is still excluded? What pernicious norms still govern below the surface, and how might they be revealed? How do texts, gestures, and space abet and enforce such norms? How might Christian assemblies gather multiple expressions of human difference to propose through Christian liturgy patterns of graced interaction in the world around them? Liturgy with a Difference gathers a broad range of international theologians and scholars to interrogate current practices of liturgy and worship in order to unmask ways in which dehumanizing majoritarianisms and presumed norms of gender, culture, ethnicity, and body, among others, remain at work in congregations. Together, the chapters in this collection call for a liturgical practice that recognizes and rehearses the vivid richness of God’s image found in the human community and glimpsed, if only for a moment, in liturgical celebration. They point a way beyond mere inclusion toward a generous embrace of the many differences that make up the Christian community. With contributions from Rachel Mann, Teresa Berger, Susannah Cornwall, Miguel A. DeLa Torre, Edward Foley, W. Scott Haldeman, Michael Jagessar, Bruce T. Morrill, Kristine Suna-Koro and Frank Senn. Foreword by Ann Loades.

A Latin American critical sociology perspective on religion -- Historical context -- Respondents' religious and social landscape -- Latin Americans' god -- Latin Americans' ways of praying -- Religion in Latin America's public sphere.

The Midwest has produced a robust literary heritage. Its authors have won half of the nation's Nobel Prizes for Literature plus a significant number of Pulitzer Prizes. This volume explores the rich racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity of the region. It also contains entries on 35 pivotal Midwestern literary works, literary genres, literary, cultural, historical, and social movements, state and city literatures, literary journals and magazines, as well as entries on science fiction, film, comic strips, graphic novels, and environmental writing. Prepared by a team of scholars, this second volume of the Dictionary of Midwestern Literature is a comprehensive resource that demonstrates the Midwest's continuing cultural vitality and the stature and distinctiveness of its literature.