The Future of Catholicism in America
Mark Silk editor Patricia O'Connell Killen editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Columbia University Press
Published:12th Apr '19
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Catholics constitute the largest religious community in the United States. Yet most American Catholics have never known a time when their church was not embroiled in controversies over liturgy, religious authority, cultural change, and gender and sexuality. Today, these arguments are taking place against the backdrop of Pope Francis’s progressive agenda and the resurgence of the clergy sexual abuse crisis. What is the future of Catholicism in America?
This volume considers the prospects at a pivotal moment. Contributors—scholars from sociology, theology, religious studies, and history—look at the church’s evolving institutional structure, its increasing ethnic diversity, and its changing public presence. They explore the tensions among members of the hierarchy, between clergy and laity, and along lines of ethnicity, immigration status, class, generation, political affiliation, and degree of religious commitment. They conclude that American Catholicism’s future will be pluriform—reflecting the variety of cultural, political, ideological, and spiritual points of view that typify the multicultural, democratic society of which Catholics constitute so large a part.
The book provides an excellent and also sobering view of Catholicism in America and its future. * Sociology of Religion *
For anyone in the field of Religions in America, including new religions studies, this is a must read. * Nova Religio *
Well-conceived. This is a must-read. * Nova Religio *
These essays are accompanied by a full complement of annotation, giving graduate students and their professors ample reference material to search out further. A useful index rounds out the book. -- Patrick J. Hayes * Catholic Library World *
In the past fifty years Catholicism has undergone a series of twists and turns. This sensitive and clear-eyed analysis looks to the past as well as the present to anticipate the future of a constantly changing religion. The authors peel away the multiple layers that make up the contemporary church with thoroughness and honesty. While unsettling, this is a mandatory read. -- Colleen McDannell, author of The Spirit of Vatican II: A History of Catholic Reform in America
This volume offers indispensable resources for re-imagining a post-subcultural future for Catholics and their political and religious presence in the voluntary and diverse religious culture of the United States. -- William L. Portier, author of Divided Friends: Portraits of the Roman Catholic Modernist Crisis in the United States
ISBN: 9780231191487
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
384 pages