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When Down Is Up: Complexities in Adolescent Religious Change

Lisa D. Pearce and Melinda Lundquist Denton

in A Faith of Their Own: Stability and Change in the Religiosity of America's Adolescents

Narratives of religious change in adolescence are the focus of this chapter. Included is an exploration of what youth mean when they say they have become more or less religious or stayed the same. ... More

Narratives of religious change in adolescence are the focus of this chapter. Included is an exploration of what youth mean when they say they have become more or less religious or stayed the same. Few youth describe dynamics in their religiosity by referencing the content of their religious beliefs. A greater proportion discuss their religiosity in terms of religious conduct such as religious service attendance or prayer, but these are usually youth who are describing a decrease in religiosity during adolescence. Youth who rely on the centrality of religion in their life to describe stability or an increase in religiosity are (1) often the Abiders or Adapters who started with a very high level of religious salience and (2) at times report stability or increase in religiosity’s centrality despite decreasing religious conduct. In this period of life called adolescence, as autonomy grows and brain development continues, youth find increasing meaning and confidence in personally refining their religiosity.Less

Slightly Moving Parts of the Whole

Lisa D. Pearce and Melinda Lundquist Denton

in A Faith of Their Own: Stability and Change in the Religiosity of America's Adolescents

Following the same youth over about three years of their adolescence, this chapter examines various dynamics in religiosity during adolescence. First, it looks at average change as well as individual ... More

Following the same youth over about three years of their adolescence, this chapter examines various dynamics in religiosity during adolescence. First, it looks at average change as well as individual trajectories in multiple measures of three dimensions of religiosity: conduct, content, and centrality. Then, combining these measures to consider religiosity more holistically, the chapter considers the likelihood of an adolescent’s changing religious profiles over time. Quotes from youth who typify the five most common types of religious change in adolescence are provided to illustrate these dynamics. This chapter reveals a reasonable degree of stability in adolescent religiosity, but describes the moderate refinements that often take place usually involving decreases, but sometimes increases, in certain dimensions of religiosity.Less

The Decline of Christendom

Hugh McLeod

in The Religious Crisis of the 1960s

This chapter begins by discussing some of the main theories advanced by historians and sociologists to explain the religious crisis of the 1960s. It then suggests a historical framework within which ... More

This chapter begins by discussing some of the main theories advanced by historians and sociologists to explain the religious crisis of the 1960s. It then suggests a historical framework within which the dramatic developments in that decade can be understood. It argues that to understand the unique atmosphere of the 1960s one also has to take account of specific events and movements. In particular, three stand out as being of pivotal significance in the political and religious radicalization and polarization during that decade, namely the US Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and the Second Vatican Council.Less

Pilgrims and Pilgrimage in a Changing World

James G. Lochtefeld

in God's Gateway: Identity and Meaning in a Hindu Pilgrimage Place

The concluding chapter examines how Hindu pilgrimage—and ideas about pilgrimage—have been affected by social change. One such change is the promotion of tourism, which has brought significant ... More

The concluding chapter examines how Hindu pilgrimage—and ideas about pilgrimage—have been affected by social change. One such change is the promotion of tourism, which has brought significant economic benefits and pernicious social effects, among them attracting a clientele seeking ease and entertainment. Another is greater literacy and scientific education, which have generated greater skepticism about the literal reality of religious merit (punya). A final factor has been the rise of Hindu nationalism (Hindutva), in which pilgrim crowds can send a political message. These changes have prompted a variety of Hindu responses. Some simply lament how such changes have disrupted traditional religious patterns, and others completely reject these patterns. The most sophisticated and productive responses have sought to reinterpret traditional ideas into a religious paradigm appropriate for contemporary times.Less

Introduction

Hugh McLeod

in The Religious Crisis of the 1960s

This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of the changes that occurred in the religions history of the Western world during the ‘long 1960s’, a period which lasted from 1958 to 1974. Four ... More

This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of the changes that occurred in the religions history of the Western world during the ‘long 1960s’, a period which lasted from 1958 to 1974. Four major themes are highlighted. First, from the 1950s to the 1970s there was an enormous increase in the range of beliefs and world-views accessible to the majority of the population. Second, there was a change in the way that people in most Western countries understood the religious identity of their own society. Third, there was a serious weakening of the process by which the great majority of children were socialized into membership of a Christian society and in particular were given a confessional identity and a basic knowledge of Christian beliefs and practices. Fourth, in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, Catholics and Protestants moved closer together. But as the divisions between the Christian churches were narrowing, the divisions within each of the churches were deepening. The main objectives of the books are then described.Less

One God, No Ancestors, in a World Renewed

Mary Douglas

in Jacob's Tears: The Priestly Work of Reconciliation

Focuses on the absence of ancestor cults in the Bible, and notes that the ground already covered in the book indicates that the priestly editors of the Pentateuch in the sixth and fifth centuries ... More

Focuses on the absence of ancestor cults in the Bible, and notes that the ground already covered in the book indicates that the priestly editors of the Pentateuch in the sixth and fifth centuries bce, and their interpretation of monotheism, make it unlikely that there would have been room for such an idea. Considers the limited role of the dead in biblical Israel in the context of the major advance that was monotheism, and asks whether Leviticus represents a Utopian religion or a real one that was actually practiced in the past, emphasizing the intellectual consistency of the Pentateuch in its uncompromising monotheism. The question is asked as to whether Israel ever had an ancestral cult, and the biblical evidence against such a cult is reviewed. The possible benefits of an ancestor cult in taking the blame are discussed, along with some alternative views to this (notably, the horror of death), and the possibility of the forcible suppression of ancestor cults as part of a centralizing government programme (here certain parallels are drawn with other cultures, and the cult of purgatory is discussed). Other ways in which cults of the dead can fade are discussed in the last part of the chapter; these include the secularizing effect of modernization, intergenerational tension, the character of the resource base in relation to the fate of ancestor cults (as illustrated by religious dynamism in the Calabari Delta of Nigeria), religious change instigated by changing regimes in which either the old or the young may become ascendant, and the position of eighth‐century Israel as having everything that would favour a revolt by the young – thus setting a trail for the priestly editors that had been laid centuries before, and embodied the central doctrine of monotheism.Less

Effects of AIDS on Religion

Jenny Trinitapoli and Alexander Weinreb

in Religion and AIDS in Africa

Chapters 1 through 9 focus on how religion in Africa shapes the popular understanding of the AIDS epidemic, modes of prevention, and mitigation of effects. This chapter flips the direction of the ... More

Chapters 1 through 9 focus on how religion in Africa shapes the popular understanding of the AIDS epidemic, modes of prevention, and mitigation of effects. This chapter flips the direction of the relationship and asks how, if at all, AIDS is changing religious belief and practice in sub-Saharan Africa over and above broader determinants of religious change. Historical precedents of epidemics effecting religious change are reviewed. Contrasts between those cases and AIDS are clarified. Using data from sermons and from religious life histories collected in Malawi, the chapter then points to signs of AIDS’s role in increasing religiosity, encouraging denominational shifts to congregations with stricter moral codes and more extensive social support, and more generally affecting patterns of religious expression—in particular through the infusion of more and sharper messages about sexual morality and caregiving in religious teachings.Less

Conflict, Compromise, and Consensus

in The Megachurch and the Mainline: Remaking Religious Tradition in the Twenty-first Century

Existing work on religious change suggests that the degree to which attempts to change a congregation's tradition will be successful depends on how the changes fit or articulate with the external ... More

Existing work on religious change suggests that the degree to which attempts to change a congregation's tradition will be successful depends on how the changes fit or articulate with the external environment (for example, market conditions or demographic shifts) and/or internal context (for example, existing congregational culture). Relying on a series of case studies and direct comparisons between Lutheran congregations, this chapter explores when, why, and how change succeeds and fails. One way in which explanations based on the concept of articulation may be made more robust is to attend to the ongoing processes by which cultural change is produced and received. This chapter looks at the conflict and schism at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, as well as rearticulation and compromise at Grace Lutheran Church. It shows that there are multiple pathways to consensus, compromise, and conflict when congregations attempt to change the religious tradition that governs their collective lives.Less

The First Modern Jew: Berthold Auerbach’s (1837) and the Beginnings of an Image

Daniel B. Schwartz

in The First Modern Jew: Spinoza and the History of an Image

This chapter skips ahead fifty years from the previous chapter to find the roots of the heroic and prototypical image of Spinoza in the historical fiction of the young Berthold Auerbach (1812–1882), ... More

This chapter skips ahead fifty years from the previous chapter to find the roots of the heroic and prototypical image of Spinoza in the historical fiction of the young Berthold Auerbach (1812–1882), using his engagement with the Amsterdam heretic in the 1830s as a lens for exploring tensions in early Reform Judaism between organic and revolutionary visions of religious change. It contends that his 1837 historical novel, Spinoza, ein historischer Roman (Spinoza, a Historical Novel), when studied against the backdrop of his previous Jewish writings, evinces a very personal—but also very contemporary—tug-of-war between two different visions of Jewish modernity: one more reformist and accommodating of a religious framework for change, the other more uncompromisingly radical.Less

Tradition and Change in the American Religious Landscape

in The Megachurch and the Mainline: Remaking Religious Tradition in the Twenty-first Century

Scholarly and popular accounts of the restructuring of American religion suggest that the culture of religious choice, seeker spirituality, and the move away from denominationalism have weakened the ... More

Scholarly and popular accounts of the restructuring of American religion suggest that the culture of religious choice, seeker spirituality, and the move away from denominationalism have weakened the relevancy and authority of specific religious traditions. This book has provided a window onto the ongoing process of religious change at the onset of the twenty-first century and suggests that the familiar story of restructuring needs to be amended. This chapter explains how this study of Lutheran congregations contributes to the larger account of religious change in America. It begins by examining how the colonization of Lutheranism by evangelical and non-denominational religious forces has altered the historic tradition. It then shows how these changes have affected the nature of community at several of the congregations. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how this study contributes to our understanding of the more general processes of religious and cultural change.Less

Religious Switching and Religious Change

Darren E. Sherkat

in Changing Faith: The Dynamics and Consequences of Americans' Shifting Religious Identities

This chapter examines the influence of voluntary shifts in religious identifications on the dynamics of religious affiliation over time. Using data from the 1973–2012 General Social Survey, it ... More

This chapter examines the influence of voluntary shifts in religious identifications on the dynamics of religious affiliation over time. Using data from the 1973–2012 General Social Survey, it analyzes the predictors of religious switching and apostasy to highlight people's tendency to shift their religious identifications. It also considers trends in religious switching and patterns of mobility across religious groups and how these trends and patterns vary across generations and across ethnic groups. Finally, it explores the impact of ethnicity, gender, social status, and geographic mobility on religious switching, apostasy, and which religious changes are most and least likely. It shows that the observed changes in religious identification over the past four decades and across many generations are a function of the ethnic milieu created by patterns of immigration.Less

Reframing the Tradition

in The Megachurch and the Mainline: Remaking Religious Tradition in the Twenty-first Century

One of the strategies of change used at one of the congregations documented in this book is tied to the Lutheran Church's religious tradition and is akin to the so-called retraditioning—a way of ... More

One of the strategies of change used at one of the congregations documented in this book is tied to the Lutheran Church's religious tradition and is akin to the so-called retraditioning—a way of “creating new cultural formations that provide alternative visions of spiritual and ethical life.” This chapter explores the strategies of change and draws on existing cultural, ecological, and market theories of religious change to explain the patterns of change. It looks at the organizational conditions under which congregations will use specific strategies of cultural resignification or market adaptation. It demonstrates how larger religious trends, especially the growing dominance of evangelicalism (that is, the pietist tradition) in American Protestantism and the new spirituality, shape the strategies of change used by the congregations. It also shows how the solutions presented in congregations' causal stories influence the change strategies they employ. Furthermore, the chapter examines how cultural theories understand the process of change and how leaders of the congregations use different strategies of resignification to push their congregations toward a liberal form of sectarianism.Less

Religious Trajectories from the Teenage Years into Emerging Adulthood

Christian Smith, Kyle Longest, Jonathan Hill, and Kari Christoffersen

in Young Catholic America: Emerging Adults In, Out of, and Gone from the Church

This chapter traces the different religious-lifecourse trajectories that difference Catholic teenagers travel from their adolescent into their emerging-adult years, between the important five year ... More

This chapter traces the different religious-lifecourse trajectories that difference Catholic teenagers travel from their adolescent into their emerging-adult years, between the important five year period from ages 13–17 to 18–23. The analysis uses the sophisticated method of growth-curve modeling to group respondents into different common or typical trajectories of religious change over these five years. Having identified the major trajectories, the chapter then focuses on which teenage-era factors (five years earlier) most influence how emerging adult respondents end up religiously five years later. The important potential of the longitudinal nature of the panel survey data is here exploited to demonstrate the influence of forces operating during the teenage years on emerging adults years laterLess