Empty Churches

Non-Affiliation in America

Jan E Stets editor James L Heft editor

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Oxford University Press Inc

Published:31st Mar '21

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Empty Churches cover

Based in the idea that social phenomena are best studied through the lens of different disciplinary perspectives, Empty Churches studies the growing number of individuals who no longer affiliate with a religious tradition. Co-editors Jan Stets, a social psychologist, and James Heft, a historian of theology, bring together leading scholars in the fields of sociology, developmental psychology, gerontology, political science, history, philosophy, and pastoral theology. The scholars in this volume explore the phenomenon by drawing from each other's work to understand better the multi-faceted nature of non-affiliation today. They explore the complex impact that non-affiliation has on individuals and the wider society, and what the future looks like for religion in America. The book also features insightful perspectives from parents of young adults and interviews with pastors struggling with this issue who address how we might address this trend. Empty Churches provides a rich and thoughtful analysis on non- affiliation in American society from multiple scholarly perspectives. The increasing growth of non-affiliation threatens the vitality and long-term stability of religious institutions, and this book offers guidance on maintaining the commitment and community at the heart of these institutions.

Prefaced by the Bishop of San Diego, this important interdisciplinary study co-directed by a theologian (James L. Heft) and a sociologist (Jan E. Stets) attempts to understand the phenomenon of religious disaffiliation which, after having affected European countries, manifests itself today in the United States, more or less spared on this point until now. * Jean Louis Ormières, Archives de sciences sociales des religions *
I highly recommend this book, both for the extensive answers it provides to its guiding research questions, and for the avenues it charts for future research. * James C Cavendish, Sociology of Religion *

ISBN: 9780197529317

Dimensions: 159mm x 241mm x 25mm

Weight: 671g

384 pages