Religious Research

• Linda A. Mercadante, Belief Without Borders: Inside the Minds of the Spiritual But Not Religious

  2015-09-10 03:00:00 AM

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• Mark T. Mulder: Shades of White Flight: Evangelical Congregations and Urban Departure

  2015-09-07 03:00:00 AM

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• The Attitudes Toward Gender Roles in Conservative Christian Contexts Scale: A Psychometric Assessment

  2015-09-03 03:00:00 AM

  Abstract

  Prior research measures gender-role attitudes among Christians. However, these measures are generally limited to societal and familial contexts. Little prior research has examined gender-role attitudes in conservative Christian religious contexts. Research that has focused on religious contexts is qualitative or uses simple measures that are not validated. Therefore, the present paper presents data from two national samples describing the psychometric properties of the attitudes toward gender roles in conservative Christian contexts scale. Ways in which this scale can be used to measure adherents’ gender-role attitudes in congregational settings are addressed.
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• Kent R. Kerley: Religious Faith in Correctional Contexts

  2015-09-01 03:00:00 AM

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• Work–Family Demands and Subjective Well-being among Female Academicians: The Role of Muslim Religiosity

  2015-09-01 03:00:00 AM

  Abstract

  The current study examines the relationship between work–family demands and the subjective well-being of female academicians. It analyses the role of religiosity as a moderator of work–family demands and well-being. The determinants of work–family demands included in this research are workload, log working hours, irregular work schedule, number of children and their ages, and time spent on family activities. The researcher sampled 300 female academic staff employed in research universities in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Their ages ranged from 30 to 60 years. The findings show that there is a negative and significant relationship of work–family demands with well-being. There is also a positive and significant relationship between religiosity and female well-being, where religiosity increases employee well-being. Thus, religiosity has a moderating effect on work–family demands and Muslim women’s well-being.
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• Richard Cimino, Nadia A. Mian, and Weishan Huang, Editors, Ecologies of Faith in New York City: The Evolution of Religious Institutions in New York City

  2015-09-01 03:00:00 AM

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• Janel Kragt Bakker: Sister Churches: American Congregations and Their Partners Abroad

  2015-09-01 03:00:00 AM

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• Revisiting Gender and Religion

  2015-09-01 03:00:00 AM

  Abstract

  In this presidential address delivered at the 2014 annual meeting of the Religious Research Association, the topic of religion and gender is revisited by focusing on parallel histories of American Protestant ordained clergywomen and social science scholarship on religion, noting that in both cases we have witnessed extraordinary change, but not transformation.
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• Paul A. Djupe and Brian R. Calfano: God Talk: Experimenting with the Religious Causes of Public Opinion

  2015-09-01 03:00:00 AM

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• Christian Smith and Hilary Davidson, The Paradox of Generosity: Giving We Receive, Grasping We Lose

  2015-09-01 03:00:00 AM

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• Interrogating and Constructing the ‘Authentic’ Roman Catholic Church: Feminist Perspectives Among Canadian Women Religious

  2015-09-01 03:00:00 AM

  Abstract

  Based on qualitative interview and questionnaire data among 32 current and former women religious, this article explores the alternative constructions of the church by Canadian women religious and the corresponding practices they have engendered. It reviews the insights of feminist women religious with respect to their understandings and experiences of patriarchal structures and practices within the Roman Catholic Church, their resistance to, and dismissal of these structures and practices, and the construction of understandings and practices which, for the women religious in our study, more closely correspond to their vision of the ‘authentic’ church than to the hierarchical and patriarchal practices with which they are institutionally familiar. In so doing, we highlight examples of the sisters’ divergence from the patriarchal church, including their promotion and practice of feminist spirituality and activism. Our theoretical discussion of the constructions of the ‘authentic’ church within and alongside the hierarchical Catholic Church, as well as of the significance and challenges of these, are integrated throughout the recounting of the experiences of feminist women religious as they navigate the spaces they create in their relationship to the Church.
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• Complementarianism as Doctrine and Governance: Narratives on Women’s Leadership Among Second-Generation Asian Americans

  2015-09-01 03:00:00 AM

  Abstract

  The role of women in evangelical churches remains contested as different groups attempt to shape the gender subculture. Included is a growing population of second-generation immigrants who have the potential to influence future debates. I explore how 23 second-generation Asian American congregants in a multi-lingual Taiwanese evangelical church that experienced a schism over women in pastoral leadership discuss the complementarian belief as it relates to doctrine and governance. Further, I examine narratives used to describe the schism and find that doctrinal narratives predominated over narratives of inter-generational conflict. Last, I find that the complementarian belief also informed understandings and participation in lay leadership. Findings suggest patterns for how doctrine and governance may interact and have implications for the relationship among ethnicity, gender, and religion. I propose further research interrogating the relationship between doctrine and governance and the way religious, gender, ethnic, and immigrant identities may or may not interact.
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• Catholic Religious Sisters’ Identity Dilemmas as Committed and Subjugated Workers: A Narrative Approach

  2015-09-01 03:00:00 AM

  Abstract

  Catholic religious sisters in their construction of identity position themselves as happy and committed workers for God. In addition, their narratives revealed that they are positioned by authority figures of religious life as subjugated workers, who are required to sacrifice professional skills, self-care and even their very commitment as religious to become subservient workers. Based on a doctoral thesis which sampled 18 participants from two religious congregations in Nigeria and using the lens of dialogical self-theory I-positions, this paper portrays the dilemmas of identity construction whereby the religious sisters integrate mutual and opposing positions to constructing a coherent sense of ‘who they are’ and ‘are becoming.’ Analyzing these findings, this paper presents the tensions and contradictions the participants encounter within the context of living religious life in reference to work. Consequently, this paper calls for further research toward exploring the impact of work on Catholic religious sisters’ identity construction.
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• Failing to Master Divinity: How Institutional Type, Financial Debt, Community Acceptance, and Gender Affect Seminary Graduates’ Career Choices

  2015-09-01 03:00:00 AM

  Abstract

  Seminaries, as both educational and religious organizations, have the goal of training religious leaders. In this article, I analyze the factors associated with the breakdown of this process, i.e. when a seminarian does not want to be in a religious career. I offer four reasons for this breakdown: institutional type, financial strain, community acceptance, and gender. Drawing on recent survey data of 3015 American and Canadian seminarians graduating with the Master of Divinity degree from 136 seminaries from the Association of Theological Schools, I interpret results from multilevel logistic regressions testing five hypotheses. I find that Master of Divinity graduates who attend a university-affiliated seminary are less likely to want to be in a religious career, while those who feel more accepted within the seminary community are more likely. Educational debt has no effect. Most importantly, gender has profound effects on the choice to enter a religious career.
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• The Political Attitudes and Activities of Missouri Synod Lutheran (LCMS) Clergy in 2001 and 2009: A Research Note

  2015-08-13 03:00:00 AM

  Abstract

  Research has explored Lutheran clergy and politics at various time points, though few studies have focused longitudinally on this significant religious tradition. Using Cooperative Clergy Survey data, this research note examines the theological and the political attitudes, beliefs, and activities of pastors in one branch of American Lutheranism, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS), in 2001 and 2009. The results suggest that LCMS clergy became more conservative, both theologically and politically, during this time. Moreover, LCMS clergy indicated higher levels of approval for a variety of political actions in 2009 than in 2001, as well as reporting higher levels of actual political involvement in 2008 than in 2000. A new breed of LCMS clergy may be emerging that is more comfortable engaging with the public square.
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• Bridging Alone: Religious Conservatism, Marital Homogamy, and Voluntary Association Membership

  2015-07-02 03:00:00 AM

  Abstract

  This study characterizes social insularity of religiously conservative American married couples by examining patterns of voluntary association membership. Constructing a dataset of 3938 marital dyads from the second wave of the National Survey of Families and Households, the author investigates whether conservative religious homogamy encourages membership in religious voluntary groups and discourages membership in secular voluntary groups. Results indicate that couples’ shared affiliation with conservative denominations, paired with beliefs in biblical authority and inerrancy, increases the likelihood of religious group membership for husbands and wives and reduces the likelihood of secular group membership for wives, but not for husbands. The social insularity of conservative religious groups appears to be reinforced by homogamy—particularly by wives who share faith with husbands.
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• Creating Shorter Scales to Measure Congregational Vitality

  2015-07-01 03:00:00 AM

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• Peter Gardella: American Civil Religion: What Americans Hold Sacred

  2015-06-01 03:00:00 AM

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• Isaac Weiner: Religion Out Loud: Religious Sound, Public Space, and American Pluralism

  2015-06-01 03:00:00 AM

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• Perceived Competition, Leadership Effort, and Organizational Outreach in Religious Nonprofit Organizations

  2015-06-01 03:00:00 AM

  Abstract

  The religious economies literature argues that religious leaders are motivated by the existence of competition. This motivation is said to lead to more effort and outreach on the part of leaders and their organizations. Previous research examining this hypothesis has focused on the presence of religious or organizational diversity at an ecological level. This study shifts the focus to leaders’ perception of competition as the central mechanism of interest. Utilizing data produced from a survey of founders of religious nonprofit organizations, I analyze how perceived competition shapes the number of hours the leader puts into the organization and the number of outreach strategies the organization pursues. The analysis finds no support for the competition-effort hypothesis.
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