Meet the Author
Mark Chaves is professor of sociology, religion and divinity at Duke University. In addition to teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, Chaves directs the National Congregations Study. He is the author of three books: American Religion: Contemporary Trends (2011), Congregations in America (2004), and Ordaining Women: Culture and Conflict in Religious Organizations (Harvard, 1997). While most of his recent articles and book chapters are not available online, a good number of posts can be read at Call & Response, the blog of Faith & Leadership.
Book Basics
American Religion: Contemporary Trends is a must read for anyone interested in gaining a richer understanding of how American religion has changed since 1972. The book is both so well crafted and so timely that I am naming it as the first book to find its way onto what will become my Top 10 Books of 2011 (the 2010 list can be found here).
The book relies on data from the General Social Survey (GSS) and the National Congregations Study (NCS). The GSS is considered to be the starting point for any research on societal trends, since it has been conducted at least every other year since 1972. The NCS, which Chaves directed, was a national survey of “religious congregations across the religious spectrum” conducted in 1998 and again in 2006-7 (p.5 — the data from this research is available here). The data from this research suggests that religious trends in America over the last four decades can be summarized as follows: “there is much continuity, and there is some decline, but no traditional religious belief or practice has increased in recent decades” (p.14).
Seven topical chapters provide incredible insight into American religion. A quote of interest from each is included below.
- Diversity – “Americans have become more accepting of religious diversity and more appreciative
of religions other than their own” (p.26). - Belief – “When it comes to Americans’ religiosity, the only thing that may be increasing slightly is what we might call diffuse spirituality” (p.37-8).
- Involvement – “. . . the basic story about religious service attendance is that it declined in the several decades leading up to 1990 but probably has been essentially stable thereafter” (p. 49).
- Congregations – ” . . . the number of Protestants attending independent congregations has increased from 14% in 1989 to 19% in 2006. If the unaffiliated congregations were all in one denomination, they would constitute the second largest number of participants (behind only the Roman Catholic Church) and the largest in number of congregations” (p.57-8).
- Leaders – “The average age for ordination for male clergy is now 31; for women it is 38” (p.75).
- Liberal Protestant Decline – “The trend is striking. Since 1972, the percentage of Americans affiliated with theologically more liberal, mainline denominations has steadily declined while the percentage affiliated with more conservative, evangelical denominations increased slightly until the early 1990s and has remained relatively stable since then” (p. 87).
- Polarization – “The tighter connection between religiosity and political and social conservatism does not yet amount to true polarization between religious and secular people in the United States” (p.106).
So What?
Religious leaders should have an understanding of the current nature of American religious belief and practice as well as the shifts that have occurred over the last several decades. Unfortunately, many myths masquerade as truth. Some of these are passed on to other leaders as well as to members of congregations, which continues the cycle.
I have only encountered three other recent books written by sociologists that provide helpful insight, and which together could comprise a reading list for anyone interested in further study.
- Rodney Stark’s What Americans Really Believe (2008). Stark takes a very similar approach in addressing data with a topical approach: congregations, beliefs and practices, atheism and irreligion, and the public square. His book differs from Chaves’ because of its reliance on other data, namely research that was done in 2005, 2006 and 2007 through the Baylor Surveys of Religion. (Read my review here.)
- Bradley R.E. Wright’s Christians are Hate-Filled Hypocrites . . . and Other Lies You’ve Been Told: A Sociologist Shatters Myths From the Secular and Christian Media (2010). Rather than looking at a variety of issues using specific survey data Wright debunks several common myths that often masquerade as truth. (Read my review here.)
- Paul Froese and Christopher Bader’s America’s Four Gods: What We Say About God – & What That Says About Us (2010). Using data from two national phone surveys (2006 and 2008) and more than 200 in-depth interviews, the authors propose that Americans hold one of four views about God. (Read my review here. Read an overview of the common morality their research suggests here.)
Mark Chaves. American Religion: Contemporary Trends (Princeton University Press, 2011). ISBN: 9780691146850.