The churching of America, 1776-1990 : winners and losers in our religious economy

In this provocative book, Roger Finke and Rodney Stark challenge popular perceptions about American religion. They view the religious environment as a free market economy, where churches compete for souls. The story they tell is one of gains for upstart sects and losses for mainline denominations. Although many Americans assume that religious participation has declined in America, Finke and Stark present a different picture. In 1776, fewer than 1 in 5 Americans were active in church affairs. Today, church membership includes about 6 out of 10 people. But, as Finke and Stark show, not all denominations benefited from this growth. They explain how and why the leading eighteenth-century churches began their descent, while two newcomer sects, the Baptists and the Methodists, gained ground. They also analyze why the Methodists then began a long, downward slide, why the Baptists continued to succeed, how the Catholic Church met the competition of ardent Protestant missionaries, and why the Catholic commitment has declined since Vatican II. The authors also explain why ecumenical movements always fail. In short, Americans are not abandoning religion; they have been moving away from established denominations. A "sect-church process" is always under way, Finke and Stark argue, as successful churches lose their organizational vigor and are replaced by less worldly groups. Some observers assert that the rise in church membership rates indicates increased participation, not increased belief. Finke and Stark challenge this as well. They find that those groups that have gained the greatest numbers have demanded that their followers accept traditional doctrines and otherworldliness. They argue thatreligious organizations can thrive only when they comfort souls and demand sacrifice. When theology becomes too logical, or too secular, it loses people.

評論 (2)

Kirkus 評論

A major reevaluation of American religious history. Finke and Stark (both Sociology/Purdue) rewrite the script by considering churches as ``firms'' competing for members in free-market America, and by unearthing long-buried surveys that provide eye-opening information about why and how different denominations corner the market. The authors begin by puncturing the convention of colonial America as a hotbed of religiosity. In fact, only 18% of colonists were ``churched,'' while today 62% of Americans claim membership in a congregation (in other words, America is an ever-more bullish religious market). In 1776, Congregationalists held sway, but as ossification set in (through elite clergy, large congregations, and liberalization), they were surpassed by Methodists, who offered dynamic itinerant preachers and a down-home teaching that stressed personal conversion. Eventually, the traditionalist Baptists overtook the Methodists. Finke and Stark discern the same pattern throughout the centuries: As a church grows wealthier, larger, and more liberal, it loses its fervor and, in time, its adherents. Roman Catholicism, America's largest denomination, remains a special case because of its international base and hierarchical structure. But here, too, success comes from an ``intense faith with a vivid sense of otherworldliness,'' complemented by home-grown parishes and parochial school systems. The same reasoning leads to the authors' revolutionary conclusion that religious ecumenism is doomed. Growing, vibrant churches, they find, inevitably oppose ecumenism: Witness American Protestantism today, where the National Council of Churches steadily loses influence while the mainstream relocates itself in the fundamentalist Southern congregations. ``The primary feature of our religious history,'' Finke and Stark conclude, is that ``the mainline bodies are always headed for the sideline''--a knockout punch, backed by scholarly dispassion and reams of statistics, sure to raise howls of protest from religious liberals and smug smiles from traditionalists. For both species, essential reading.

Choice 評論

The authors claim that "sloppy scholarship" and "systematic biases" have perpetuated "chronic errors" in our understanding of the history of religions in America. They offer two correctives: better data on church growth patterns, and a better analytical approach. Data are improved by getting closer to original sources and using measures of "adherents" instead of "membership"; their research procedures are clearly described and appropriate caveats are given. In analysis, they use a model of "religious economies," an approach developed in Stark's earlier work. Religious economies is more than a metaphor; it is a model of relationships between basic components of churches: organizational structures, leadership, doctrines, and evangelization techniques. The American religious economy is a free market; religious organizations compete for adherents by offering attractive cost/benefit (sacrifice/reward) ratios. In this market, churches rise and fall as they go through the church-sect cycle: sect-formation, transformation of sect into church, schism/revival, and new sect-formation. This book hones a good edge of controversy, but is very readable as history and sociology. Highly recommended. Advanced undergraduate through professional. R. L. Herrick; Teikyo Westmar University

可選:*

連結這些題名

已訂購

摘要

摘要

評論 (2)

Kirkus 評論

Choice 評論