Wuthnow, Robert 1946–

(Robert J. Wuthnow)

PERSONAL: Born June 23, 1946, in KS; son of Victor R. (a farmer) and Kathryn (a teacher) Wuthnow; married Sara Wilcox (a professor), June 15, 1968; children: Robyn Elizabeth, Kathryn Brooke. Education: University of Kansas, B.S., 1968; University of Northern Colorado, M.A., 1969; University of California, Berkeley, Ph.D., 1975.

ADDRESSES: Home—Princeton, NJ. Office—Department of Sociology, 2-N-2 Green Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Writer, educator, and scientist. University of Arizona, Tucson, assistant professor, 1975–76; Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, assistant professor, 1976–79, associate professor, 1979–84, professor of sociology, 1984–, Gerhard R. Andlinger professor of social sciences, 1992–, Center for the Study of American Religion (now Center for the Study of Religion), director, 1991–.

MEMBER: American Sociological Association, Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (president-elect, 1999; president), Religious Research Association.

AWARDS, HONORS: Distinguished Book Award, Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, 1990; Critics Choice Book Award in Contemporary Issues, Christianity Today, 1994, for Christianity in the Twenty-first Century: Reflections on the Challenge Ahead; award for Best Feature Article in a General Interest Magazine, Associated Church Press, 1994, for "Pious Materialism" in Christian Century; Book Award from Christianity Today, 1998, for After Heaven: Spirituality in America since the 1950s. Recipient of grants from Mellon Foundation, Lilly Endowment, Pew Charitable Trusts, Kellogg Foundation, Henry Luce Foundation, and Templeton Foundation. Honorary doctorate in humane letters, from Sterling College and Holy Family College, both 1998.

WRITINGS:

(With C.Y. Glock, J.A. Piliavin, and Metta Spencer) Adolescent Prejudice, Harper (New York, NY), 1975.

The Consciousness Reformation, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA), 1976.

Experimentation in American Religion: The New Mysticisms and Their Implications for the Churches, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA), 1978.

(Editor) The Religious Dimension: New Directions in Quantitative Research, Academic Press (New York, NY), 1979.

(Editor, with Robert Liebman) The New Christian Right: Mobilization and Legitimation, Aldine (Hawthorne, NY), 1983.

(With others) Cultural Analysis: The Work of Peter L. Berger, Mary Douglas, Michel Foucault, and Jurgen Habermas, Routledge & Kegan Paul (Boston, MA), 1984.

Meaning and Moral Order: Explorations in Cultural Analysis, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA), 1987.

The Restructuring of American Religion: Society and Faith since World War II, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 1988.

Communities of Discourse: Ideology and Social Structure in the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and European Socialism, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 1989.

The Struggle for America's Soul: Evangelicals, Liberals, and Secularism, Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 1989.

(Editor, with Virginia A. Hodgkinson) Faith and Philanthropy in America: Exploring the Role of Religion in America's Voluntary Sector, Jossey-Bass (San Francisco, CA), 1990.

Acts of Compassion: Caring for Others and Helping Ourselves, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 1991.

(Editor) Between States and Markets: The Voluntary Sector in Comparative Perspective, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 1991.

Rediscovering the Sacred: Perspectives on Religion in Contemporary Society, Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 1992.

(Editor) Vocabularies of Public Life: Empirical Essays in Symbolic Structure, Routledge & Kegan Paul (New York, NY), 1992.

Christianity in the Twenty-first Century: Reflections on the Challenge Ahead, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1993.

God and Mammon in America, Free Press (New York, NY), 1994.

(Editor) "I Come Away Stronger": How Small Groups Are Shaping American Religion, Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 1994.

Sharing the Journey: Support Groups and America's New Quest for Community, Free Press (New York, NY) 1994.

Producing the Sacred: An Essay on Public Religion, University of Illinois Press (Urbana, IL), 1994.

Learning to Care: Elementary Kindness in an Age of Indifference, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1995.

(Editor) Rethinking Materialism: Perspectives on the Spiritual Dimension of Economic Behavior, Eerdmans (Grand Rapids, MI), 1995.

Christianity and Civil Society: The Contemporary Debate, Trinity Press International (Valley Forge, PA), 1996.

Poor Richard's Principle: Recovering the American Dream through the Moral Dimension of Work, Business, and Money, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 1996.

The Crisis in the Churches: Spiritual Malaise, Fiscal Woe, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1997.

After Heaven: Spirituality in America since the 1950s, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA), 1998.

(Editor) The Encyclopedia of Politics and Religion, two volumes, Congressional Quarterly (Washington, DC), 1998.

Loose Connections: Joining Together in America's Fragmented Communities, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 1998.

Growing up Religious: Christians and Jews and Their Journeys of Faith, Beacon Press (Boston, MA), 1999.

Creative Spirituality: The Way of the Artist, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA), 2001.

(Editor, with John H. Evans) The Quiet Hand of God: Faith-Based Activism and the Public Role of Mainline Protestantism, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA), 2002.

All in Sync: How Music and Art Are Revitalizing American Religion, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA), 2003.

Saving America? Faith-Based Services and the Future of Civil Society, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 2004.

America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 2005.

American Mythos: Why Our Best Efforts to Be a Better Nation Fall Short, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 2006.

The Next Wave: How Young Adults Are Shaping the Future of American Religion, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 2007.

Contributor to books, including The Presbyterian Predicament: Six Perspectives, 1990. Contributor to sociology, psychology, education, and theology journals. Member of editorial board, SSSR Monograph Series, 1982–84, 1987; Social Forces, 1987–90; Sociological Forum, 1987–91; Princeton University Press, 1985–89 (and chair, 1988–89); Social Science History, 1991–94; Religion and American Culture, 1993–99; Sociologia Internationalis, 1991–. Member of advisory board, Sociological Quarterly, 1985–90, and Voluntas, 1989–92. Associate editor, Review of Religious Research, 1977–84. Book review editor, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 1982–88. Corresponding editor, Theory and Society, 1985–90. Editor-at-large, Christian Century, 1993–.

SIDELIGHTS: Robert Wuthnow once explained to CA that he has a "long-standing interest in exploring the meaning systems by which people make sense of their lives." He has written extensively on the role of religion in American society, dealing with such topics as the evolution of spirituality, the relationship of religiosity to charitable work, and how people's religious beliefs influence their economic lives.

In Acts of Compassion: Caring for Others and Helping Ourselves, Wuthnow looks at what leads people to help others. He interviewed people who volunteer in a variety of humanitarian endeavors and also those who have performed heroic feats, such as rescuing people from drowning. "He is happy to concede that Americans, regardless of their motivations, are in the main a generous people," related Alan Ryan in the New Republic. Many of his interviewees had trouble defining their motivations; America contributor J. Brian Benestad remarked that "Wuthnow's most compelling explanation of this embarrassing fact is the absence of appropriate language in U.S. public life…. Without a widely accepted agreement on the meaning of good and virtue, individualistic Americans just don't have the categories to explain their behavior except in terms of personal choice." While the author concluded that the motivation is less important than the act itself, Ryan reported that "still, Wuthnow fears that we rely too heavily on people just happening to find it 'fulfilling' to help other people and that we are not socially and institutionally compassionate." Religion, according to Wuthnow, could help solve this problem; he invoked, for instance, the case made for altruism in the Bible story of the Good Samaritan. "The Good Samaritan story implicitly points to higher motives for charitable behavior and even suggests the great importance of effective religious teaching by the churches of America," Benestad observed. "Wuthnow's explicit case for compassion is unfortunately insufficiently developed; he doesn't attempt to explain how Americans can be educated to acquire or maintain an appreciation of the beauty and benefit of compassion, nor does he adequately address the tension between selfishness and generosity." But Wuthnow, in the opinion of William C. Graham in the National Catholic Reporter, made "a compelling case for compassion" in showing the widespread effect of humanitarian acts. Acts of Compassion was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.

In Christianity in the Twenty-first Century: Reflections on the Challenge Ahead, the challenges Wuthnow examined include fundamentalism, economic pressures, changes in family structure, and multiculturalism. He voiced a need for liberal and moderate church leaders to understand fundamentalism and its appeal; he also analyzed what he calls "the division between religious liberals and religious conservatives." America commentator Eleanor Scott Meyers found these sections to be valuable; she also noted that "his discussion of the 'maladies' (work, materialism and stress) of the middle class is instructive for those who are concerned about church membership." But she maintained that he did not pay enough attention to non-white, non-middle-class Christians; "any substantive discussion of 'Christianity and the 21st century' must of necessity deal directly with the issues presented by the increasing mix of races, ethnic groups, languages and cultural adaptations of the traditions of Christianity," she asserted. Thomas E. Helm, writing in Christian Century, allowed that Wuthnow "leaves a good many loose ends along the way" but added that this "is amply compensated for by the light he sheds on his subject at almost every turn." Helm also lauded Wuthnow's "felicity of style, his ability to tell a story, and his skill at discovering in narratives hints of larger patterns of social and cultural significance."

Sharing the Journey: Support Groups and America's New Quest for Community looks at a widespread cultural phenomenon of the late twentieth century. Wuthnow considered a broad spectrum of support groups, encompassing book clubs as well as twelve-step programs, and he suggested that their "prevalence … counters the popular wisdom that Americans are alienated individualists with few authentic relationships," reported Mary Farrell Bednarowski in Christian Century. Wuthnow, she added, found that such groups "motivate members to turn outward as well as inward," but Wuthnow still has mixed feelings about their role in society. As Mary Carroll observed in Booklist, Wuthnow asserted that such groups "will need to provide more than a no-strings sense of community and a no-sweat experience of spirituality if they are to contribute significantly to the health of their participants as well as the larger society."

A "larger society" issue, the relationship between spirituality and economics, is the focus of God and Mammon in America. Based on interviews and responses to questionnaires, Wuthnow reported that religious believers tend to use their faith to justify rather than question their choices about money and work. For example, many of the people he surveyed felt that God influenced their selection of a career because "God wants me to have the kind of job that will make me happy." Wuthnow "correctly views this and other such findings as signs that religious feelings have increasingly been turned into ways to underwrite one's own desires or narrowly utilitarian needs," stated Amitai Etzioni in Business and Society Review. Furthermore, commented Wray Herbert in U.S. News and World Report, "Wuthnow holds the clergy largely to blame for Americans' loss of compass in worldly affairs. Quite simply, he contends, it is 'dangerous to afflict the comfortable' when the church's balanced budget is on the line, and religious leaders have taken the path of least resistance in staying silent on the delicate issues of workplace zealotry and material self-interest." On the question of how to effect change, Etzioni related, "Wuthnow concludes that churches cannot play a heroic role of leading us into the next century, replacing capitalism with Judeo-Christian charity. (He pays no mind to those who argue that capitalism is the Lord's chosen way.) At the same time their role need not be limited to pious statements. He sees a middle way in which churches may help us 'save ourselves from the moral decay that goes with obsessive materialism and excessive secular work.' The way is to join with others to take what he calls a collective and critical stance."

Wuthnow drew on his research for God and Mammon in America again in Poor Richard's Principle: Recovering the American Dream Through the Moral Dimension of Work, Business, and Money, which includes his interviews with a variety of people about their approaches to spiritual and financial concerns. William J. Byron, critiquing for America, called the work "dense but valuable … based as it is on the opinions and experience of people in the sample, the book presents principles that are important to those who articulated them in the interviews; they are not prescriptions by Wuthnow for achieving a better balance between matter and spirit in contemporary life. Readers will have to work that out for themselves."

Learning to Care: Elementary Kindness in an Age of Indifference displays the interest in volunteerism that was evident in Acts of Compassion. Here, Wuthnow deals specifically with the increased popularity of volunteer work among teenagers, and this trend's significance for the overall society. What is remarkable about these young people, he determines, is that they are unremarkable. "Wuthnow emphasizes the mildness of charity," observed Tim Stafford in Christianity Today. "Kindness, he says, is nothing heroic…. Volunteering teaches us how to be kind in an institutional society where we must harness our caring impulses to somebody's program." Similarly, Stewart W. Herman remarked in Christian Century that Wuthnow "notes that kindness is a rather ordinary virtue, capable of being cultivated in simple, unheroic ways" and "argues that volunteering can strengthen the qualities of character required for exercising social kindness within institutions." To Stafford, though, the news is not all positive; the teenage volunteers whom Wuthnow interviewed are "as materialistic as other teenagers … willing to sacrifice their time, but not their lifestyles, to help others." Stafford contended that his fellow Christians "should ask whether the mild morality Wuthnow found among volunteers really is the sort of kindness our society needs. A penchant for volunteering, according to Wuthnow, actually represents peace with the status quo. A thousand points of light do not challenge the system, they illumine it—softly." He added: "Wuthnow's view of history—that earlier, less institutionalized societies needed heroic individuals in a way that ours does not—strikes me as far too simple…. I strongly suspect that when a society believes it has no more need of saints, it has become complacently blind."

The Crisis in the Churches: Spiritual Malaise, Fiscal Woe uses both statistical and anecdotal information to make the case that churches serving the middle class must deal with significant challenges if they are to remain viable. Touching on themes addressed in God and Mammon in America and Poor Richard's Principle, Wuthnow asserted that pastors have failed to address the pressures on church members to earn money and spend it on things other than their churches' spiritual and charitable efforts, and that congregants in turn do not feel they can bring their financial concerns to their clergy. "Since clergy are enjoying the material benefits of our society," explained Donald A. Luidens in Christian Century, "they find it awkward to criticize the economic engine that provides those benefits." Added Carlton Elliott Smith, writing in the National Catholic Reporter, "The Crisis in the Churches is a mirror for clergy and laity to see how self-interest has undermined the financial stability of congregations." Luidens believed that "Wuthnow is most persuasive when he makes prophetic connections between failures of the spirit and flagging church resources. His book is more problematic when he gets down to the priestly task of suggesting remedies." Smith, however, said that "Wuthnow rightly steers clear of a master plan to solve all the spiritual and financial troubles churches face. Instead, he offered a variety of possible approaches…. This evenhanded approach provides a point of entry for any congregation hoping to reconnect its resources to its beliefs."

After Heaven: Spirituality in America since the 1950s details the move away from institutionalized religion and toward individualized modes of belief. The social change movements of the 1960s had much to do with this development; Wuthnow noted that "during the 1960s the nature of freedom itself was contested and redefined." In the ensuing decades, many people who would not describe themselves as traditionally religious have felt free to say they are spiritual, but spirituality, Wuthnow pointed out, also can be part of more traditional religious practice. Society reviewer Claire Wolfreich reported that "Wuthnow offers a broad, inclusive view of spirituality: 'At its core, spirituality consists of all the beliefs and activities by which individuals attempt to relate their lives to God or to a divine being or some other conception of a transcendent reality.'" Wolfreich deemed After Heaven "a thought-provoking book about American culture and the spiritual quest … a very readable account of a complex phenomenon." A Publishers Weekly critic likewise praised the book, stating that "Wuthnow's cogent argument and his accessible narrative make appealing reading."

More traditional religious experience is at the center of Growing Up Religious: Christians and Jews and Their Journeys of Faith. Wuthnow sought to go beyond the stereotype of children as innately spiritual beings and to see how adults were influenced by their childhood religious experiences. Many of the people he interviewed remembered not so much the religious instruction received in childhood, but how their families celebrated religious occasions—the rituals, the foods, the people present. Christian Century reviewers Jackson W. Carroll and Ruth W. and A. Morris Williams, Jr., expressed a desire for "more theory to accompany the stories," but added that the book "again demonstrates [Wuthnow's] capacity to make sense of the current religious ferment in an engaging, provocative and highlight accessible way." Christianity Today contributor Lauren Winner remarked that "the nature of religious upbringings may be changing, with parents and teachers focusing increasingly on doctrinal indoctrination and losing the 1950s-era infusion of religious ethos described by the people Wuthnow interviewed." She concluded: "We would do well to pay attention to Wuthnow's findings…. We should strive for religious infusion as much as for religious indoctrination."

Wuthnow expands his view to examine the intersection of creativity and spiritual experience in Creative Spirituality: The Way of the Artist. The book is based on interviews Wuthnow conducted with 100 artists in various media who pursue ideals of spirituality in their lives and work. Among his subjects are painters, writers, ceramicists, dancers, sculptors, and musicians whose spiritual and professional pursuits often commingle so thoroughly that they become one. The artists "all show a strong conviction that some mysterious being or force exists who (or which) is somehow experienced," noted William A. Berry in America. "Indeed, often they describe their art as collaboration with this mysterious presence," Berry continued. Their work also functions as a dialogue with the public in which spirituality is key, but which the public does not perceive as preaching or dogma. Wuthnow provides insights from such individuals as writers Madeline L'Engle and Tony Kushner; dancer Ann Biddle; and musicians David Dunn and Meredith Monk. "If one sees creation and redemption as ongoing, these artists are co-creators and co-redeemers," remarked Avril M. Makhlouf in Interpretation. "An artist faces the dark or evil side of the world. The true artist does not run from evil but sees the remedy in creativity."

A Publishers Weekly contributor remarked that readers of the book will "discover in these pages a vibrant perspective on spirituality and the meaning of contemporary life." In response to Wuthnow's book, Berry called him "a man of broad empathy and penetrating intelligence." Reviewer Steve Young, writing in the Library Journal, concluded: "This illuminating book is worthy of wide distribution." Wuthnow's "narratives do indeed create a valuable impression of how these subjects approach their lives, their work, and their questions about human life itself—whether these concern God or some other form of spiritual entity," observed John B. Foley in Theological Studies.

The Quiet Hand of God: Faith-Based Activism and the Public Role of Mainline Protestantism, edited by Wuthnow and John H. Evans, presents material that the political activities of mainline and liberal protestants can be easily overlooked in the activities of conservatives and evangelicals, but that protestant efforts are consistently applied and effective even if they are not as visible as those of their more visible counterparts in other faiths. "The book brings together different methodological approaches and disciplinary interests, producing a nuanced, complex, and ultimately fascinating portrait of mainline Protestant churches and their adherents," commented a reviewer in the Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare. The contributors look at the activities of six of the largest mainline churches: the American Baptist, Episcopal, Evangelical Lutheran, Presbyterian USA, United Church of Christ, and United Methodist churches. Membership declines in these churches have reduced the total protestant mainline to about ten percent of the population of the United States, but the influence of these churches remain relevant to American public life, noted William H. Lockhart in Social Forces. John P. Bartkowski, writing in Sociology of Religion, remarked that "careful scholarship and compelling arguments are found throughout this volume."

Wuthnow begins All in Sync: How Music and Art Are Revitalizing American Religion with the supposition that organized religion in America should have suffered serious declines in the last years of the twentieth century; however, evidence indicates that there has been no such decline. Wuthnow wonders why, and "finds at least part of the answer to this puzzle in the close relationship between religion and the arts," noted a Publishers Weekly reviewer. With "increased artistic engagement," the critic noted, a number of religious organizations and communities have been "revitalized." Using data derived from in-depth surveys as well as interviews and focus groups composed of clergy members, churchgoers, arts organizations, and others, Wuthnow draws his conclusions from quantitative data as well as individual responses. He finds both an increasing interest in spirituality and an increasing interest in the arts among Americans, and "where these trends come together—for example, in spiritual practices that employ forms of art (such as writing or music), Wuthnow finds a dynamic, growing source of church vitality and another way to solve the church attendance puzzle," commented Matthew Myer Boulton in the Journal of Religion. The book is a "wealth of information, born of modern research, hemmed in by a traditional framework, and yet it is also a book of passion, opening the heart of creativity, releasing worship out of its small ecclesial bowl and into the ocean of creative possibilities," commented reviewer Andrew Jones in Books & Culture.

In Saving America? Faith-Based Services and the Future of Civil Society, which Library Journal critic Suzanne W. Wood called a "fine book," Wuthnow analyzes the positive effects that American religious institutions have had in helping those in need and in maintaining some social order and cohesiveness. He also looks at the controversies that have erupted over government funding and endorsement of these organizations. "Our faith-based volunteering (or discipleship, which it truly can be)—regardless of government sanction or funding—connects us, as this book shows, with one another in unique ways," observed Paul Wilkes, writing in America. "And this fragile entity called a civil society is in turn woven through with the thin, often imperceptible threads of these networks." Wuthnow also notes that the desire to help and to provide public service is often present in both faith-based and secular organizations in equal measure, and that embracing the credo of service from a religious group does not mean it cannot also be endorsed by a non-religious group. "It is not surprising then—though it is often forgotten during political debates—that faith and religious values inevitably penetrate, sometimes quite subtly, non-faith-based service organizations," noted Commonweal contributor Michelle Dillon. In the end, Dillon concluded, Wuthnow "provides a much needed, thoughtful empirical analysis of the intertwined relations between churches and social-service activities, and in doing so paints a powerful picture of the mutual interdependence of church and state in American society."

Wuthnow considers issues relevant to the acceptance of different religions in the United States, and how that acceptance or lack of it affects the fundamental freedoms of America, in America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity. Wuthnow identifies three main orientations of modern religion: spiritual shopping, in which practitioners take bits and pieces from many religions to assemble a practice that works for them; Christian inclusivism, which includes practicing Christians who are tolerant and accepting of other religions; and Christian exclusivism, which endorses only one religion and espouses only Biblical teachings and ways of thinking. Wuthnow concludes that the United States is certainly becoming more religiously diverse, and spends much of the book describing ways in which Christians in the U.S. deal with the growing numbers of non-Christians around them. Disturbingly, Wuthnow "demonstrates that Christians of all stripes are simply not doing very well with the challenges of religious diversity," noted Fred Kniss in Christian Century. To help alleviate the situation, Wuthnow endorses the application of "reflective pluralism," which will allow Christians to actively engage in the differences and similarities between others' religions, and to develop a deeper sense of respect and compromise on religious issues, particularly those that overlap the public sphere. John A. Coleman, writing in America, concluded: "This is a supple, nuanced and thoughtful book, among Wuthnow's best. Its greatest merit is to challenge us to greater reflectivity and mindfulness about the cultural and religious significance of genuine religious diversity."

In American Mythos: Why Our Best Efforts to Be a Better Nation Fall Short, Wuthnow "says that America too often fails to live up to its ideals in everything from race to corruption to affordable health care," commented Douglas LeBlanc in Christianity Today. Thomas J. Baldino, writing in the Library Journal, called the book both "stimulating" and "disturbing" because it "challenges the reader to confront some unsettling truths about who we are, what we believe, and what we must do if we are truly to become a great nation." Americans take great comfort in the narratives that reflect the opportunity, tolerance, civic pride, and compassion that they believe are inherent in the American dream. Rags-to-riches stories teach that hard work and persistence will eventually pay off, and that anyone has the opportunity to advance and become wealthy in the U.S. if they just work hard enough and diligently enough. Many Americans believe the country to be a tolerant melting pot. Yet Wuthnow finds that these accepted truths and concepts are not always based in fact, and that in actual practice, the tolerance and acceptance level demonstrated in America is shockingly low. What Americans think they believe, Wuthnow notes, is often not what they actually do believe. Wuthnow compares belief systems of more than 200 first and second-generation immigrants with the concepts ingrained in the American mythos and finds that American values in such areas as religion, materialism, ethnicity, and individualism are deficient. To help combat this problem, he encourages Americans to better consider their values through "reflective democracy," assessing their beliefs deeply and developing better ways to live by their values and the concepts of the American mythos. Coleman, in another America review, enthusiastically stated: "I cannot sufficiently praise and recommend American Mythos," commenting favorably on the book's "supple mining of data and its perspicacity about American culture and institutions."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

America, May 22, 1993, J. Brian Benestad, review of Acts of Compassion: Caring for Others and Helping Ourselves, p. 20; April 23, 1994, Eleanor Scott Meyers, review of Christianity in the Twenty-first Century: Reflections on the Challenge Ahead, p. 18; May 31, 1997, William J. Byron, review of Poor Richard's Principle: Recovering the American Dream through the Moral Dimension of Work, Business, and Money, p. 27; November 15, 1997, John A. Coleman, review of The Crisis in the Churches: Spiritual Malaise, Fiscal Woe, p. 32; July 30, 2001, William A. Barry, "Mystery and Meaning," review of Creative Spirituality: The Way of the Artist, p. 24; September 22, 2003, John A. Coleman, "Spiritual Discipline," review of All in Sync: How Music and Art Are Revitalizing American Religion, p. 28; July 19, 2004, Paul Wilkes, "For Those in Need," review of Saving America? Faith-Based Services and the Future of Civil Society, p. 27; October 10, 2005, John A. Coleman, "Reflective Pluralism," review of America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity, p. 31; May 22, 2006, John A. Coleman, "They Dream the Impossible Dream," review of American Mythos: Why Our Best Efforts to Be a Better Nation Fall Short, p. 29.

American Journal of Sociology, January, 2004, R. Stephen Warner, review of All in Sync, p. 990.

Booklist, March 15, 1994, Mary Carroll, review of Sharing the Journey, p. 1306; October 1, 1999, review of The Encyclopedia of Politics and Religion, p. 379; March 1, 2001, Steven Schroeder, review of Creative Spirituality: The Way of the Artist, p. 1210; April 1, 2003, Steven Schroeder, review of All in Sync, p. 1358.

Books & Culture, September-October, 2003, Andrew Jones, "Road-Test," review of All in Sync, p. 30; September-October, 2004, Joseph LoConte, "Churches, Charity, and Civil Society," review of Saving America?, p. 32.

Business and Society Review, summer, 1994, Amitai Etzioni, review of God and Mammon in America, pp. 77-78.

Christian Century, October 27, 1993, Thomas E. Helm, review of Christianity in the Twenty-first Century, p. 1059; July 13, 1994, Mary Farrell Bednarowski, review of Sharing the Journey, p. 691; January 4, 1995, Robert Benne, review of God and Mammon in America, p. 22; March 20, 1996, Stewart W. Herman, review of Learning to Care, p. 349; December 3, 1997, Donald A. Luidens, review of The Crisis in the Churches, p. 1127; September 8, 1999, Jackson W. Carroll, Ruth W. Williams, and A. Morris Williams, Jr., review of Growing up Religious, p. 867; November 17, 1999, William L. Sachs, review of Loose Connections, p. 1126; January 11, 2003, Alan Wolfe, "Let's Argue: Political Activism, Mainline Style," review of The Quiet Hand of God: Faith-Based Activism and the Public Role of Mainline Protestantism, p. 26; December 13, 2005, Fred Kniss, "Faith Claims," review of America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity, p. 46.

Christianity Today, April 29, 1996, Tim Stafford, review of Learning to Cope, p. 20; April 5, 1999, Lauren F. Winner, review of Growing up Religious, p. 74; September, 2006, Douglas LeBlanc, review of American Mythos, p. 124.

Chronicle of Philanthropy, August 5, 2004, Jessica Kronstadt, review of Saving America?

Commonweal, June 4, 1993, Philip J. Murnion, review of Christianity in the Twenty-first Century, p. 23; November 21, 1997, Lawrence S. Cunningham, review of The Crisis in the Churches, p. 26; May 21, 2004, Michele Dillon, "Service Projects," review of Saving America?, p. 26.

First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life, October, 2004, Amy L. Sherman, "True Mercy and Charity," review of Saving America?, p. 53.

Interpretation, April, 2002, Avril M. Makhlouf, review of Creative Spirituality, p. 210.

Journal of Church and State, spring, 2006, Michele Dillon, review of America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity, p. 478.

Journal of Religion, January, 2005, Matthew Myer Boulton, review of All in Sync, p. 182.

Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, review of The Quiet Hand of God, p. 240.

Library Journal, March 15, 2001, Steve Young, review of Creative Spirituality, p. 89; April 15, 2003, C. Robert Nixon, review of All in Sync, p. 94; May 1, 2004, Suzanne W. Wood, review of Saving America?, p. 132; August 1, 2005, L. Kriz, review of America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity, p. 94; April 15, 2006, Thomas J. Baldino, "Across the Great Divide: The State of American Politics," review of American Mythos, p. 95.

National Catholic Reporter, September 10, 1993, Robert E. Obach, review of Christianity in the Twenty-first Century, p. 26; October 22, 1993, William C. Graham, review of Acts of Compassion, p. 15; November 18, 1994, William F. Powers, review of Sharing the Journey, p. 26; September 5, 1997, Michael J. Farrell, review of Sharing the Journey, p. 25; December 26, 1997, Carlton Elliott Smith, review of The Crisis in the Churches, p. 20; February 12, 1999, Judith Bromberg, review of After Heaven: Spirituality in America since the 1950s, p. 17.

New Republic, November 4, 1991, Alan Ryan, review of Acts of Compassion, p. 28.

Publishers Weekly, September 28, 1998, review of After Heaven, p. 92; February 12, 2001, review of Creative Spirituality, p. 201; February 17, 2003, Marcia Z. Nelson, "The Sacred Song Wars," review of All in Sync, p. 38; April 28, 2003, review of All in Sync, p. 67; March 8, 2004, review of Saving America?, p. 68; August 29, 2005, Heather Grennan Gary, "In Profile: Journalists Tackle Religion's Connects and Disconnects," review of America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity, p. S14.

Social Forces, June, 2003, William H. Lockhart, review of The Quiet Hand of God, p. 1514.

Society, November, 1999, Claire Wolfreich, review of After Heaven, p. 108.

Sociology of Religion, summer, 2004, Sally Armstrong Gradle, review of All in Sync, p. 188; winter, 2004, John P. Bartkowski, review of The Quiet Hand of God, p. 426.

Sojourners, September, 2004, Brent Coffin, "Who's Saving Whom?," p. 45.

Theological Studies, December, 2002, John F. Foley, review of Creative Spirituality, p. 874.

Tikkun, July-August, 2006, Roger S. Gottlieb, "Pluralism Ain't as Easy as It Looks," review of America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity, p. 71.

U.S. News and World Report, September 26, 1994, Wray Herbert, "The Coin and the Spirit: Have Americans Lost Touch with the Sacred in Their Workaday Lives?," p. 82.

ONLINE

Common Grounds Online, http://commongroundsonline.typepad.com/ (November 12, 2006), Glenn Lucke, review of America and the Challenges of Religious Diversity.

Princeton University Web site, http://www.princeton.edu/ (November 12, 2006).

Religion & Ethics Web site, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/ (November 12, 2006), Bob Abernathy, interview with Robert Wuthnow.