Sacred Assemblies and Civic Engagement
Sacred Assemblies and Civic Engagement
How Religion Matters for America's Newest Immigrants
Immigration to the United States has been a major source of population growth and cultural change throughout much of America’s history. Currently, about 40 percent of the nation’s annual population growth comes from the influx of foreign-born individuals and their children. As these new voices enter America’s public conversations, they bring with them a new understanding of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity to a society that has been marked by religious variety.
Sacred Assemblies and Civic Engagement takes an in-depth look at one particular urban area—the Chicago metropolitan region—and examines how religion affects the civic engagement of the nation’s newest residents. Chapters focus on important religious factors, including sectarianism, moral authority, and moral projects; on several areas of social life, including economics, education, marriage, and language, where religion impacts civic engagement; and on how notions of citizenship and community are influenced by sacred assemblies.
The authors have managed to produce a book that is a model of rigorous scholarship, but is at the same time capable of attracting an audience not deeply grounded in that scholarship. It takes the sociological study of immigrant religion to a new state of development.
In their examination of the effects of religious ideas, identities, and practices on immigrant life and civic engagement patterns, the authors take up where traditional social science studies leave off. This book will make significant contributions to its field.
This book is an important reminder of the 'religious' aspects of immigrant congregations and how variations in religious doctrines, practices and identities influence civic engagement.
There is a lot to learn here about immigrant religion and about congregational life generally. This is not a how-to book for interfaith relations, nor does it offer sound bite-style conclusions. But it is worth a careful reading. I found it to be generally optimistic- Kniss and Numrich show that there are several roads to adaptation to a new society and that religious organizations can be relevant in a variety of ways. Many people worry that increasing diversity is damaging the fabric of U.S. society. Carefully researched books such as this one provide plenty of reason to think otherwise.
Sacred Assemblies and Civic Engagement is part of an emerging body of scholarship that counterbalances this trend. Kniss and Numrich examine immigrant congregations not simply as religious versions of ethnic enclaves, but as internally diverse, complex, and dynamic organizations that are civically engaged.
Paul D. Numrich is the chair of the program in world religions and inter-religious dialogue at the Theological Consortium of Greater Columbus in Ohio and an affiliate research associate professor in the sociology department at Loyola University Chicago.
1. Introduction
Part One - Religion Matters
2. Purity and Protest: Sectarianism and Immigrant Civic Engagement
3. Locating the Moral Authority of Immigrant Congregations
4. The Moral Projects of Immigrant Congregations
Part Two - Sacred Assemblies in Social Contexts
5. "Making It in America": Occupational and Economic Adaptation in Immigrant Congregations
6. Religion, Education, and Civic Tensions in Immigrant Congregations
7. Marriage Patterns in Immigrant Congregations: Implications for Social Distance and Group Identity
8. Language in Immigrant Congregations: Religious and Civic Considerations
Part Three - Civic Engagement
9. Individual Engagement: Citizenship in Immigrant Religions
10. Organizational Engagement: The Ecology of Immigrant Congregations
11. When and How Religion Matters for Immigrant Civic Engagement
Appendix A: Research Sites
Appendix B: Sectarianism Coding for Research Sites
Notes
References
Index
