Sociology of Religion

Sociology of Religion - current issue

• Editorial Board

  2015-09-09 10:33:03 AM

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• Cover Page

  2015-09-09 10:33:03 AM

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• Subscription Page

  2015-09-09 10:33:03 AM

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• Contents Page

  2015-09-09 10:33:03 AM

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• Latino Protestants and Their Congregations: Establishing an Agenda for Sociological Research

  Marti, G., 2015-09-09 10:33:03 AM

  Due to immigration and high birth rates, Latinos (or "Hispanics") are rapidly growing as a proportion of American society—faster than any other racial-ethnic group—and are widely dispersed throughout the United States. Moreover, a growing number of U.S. Latinos are not Catholic but Protestant. Beyond their individual religious devotion, Latino Protestant churches (LPCs) capture and channel Latino Protestant religiosity to a greater extent than Roman Catholic churches. While the study of LPCs should be methodologically open and theoretically diffuse, it is likely that researchers will recognize each other only by coalescing around a common set of questions, specifically around worship and liturgy, ethnicity and identity, and civic and community engagement. These three focal points are described as a starting point to foster cooperative dialogue and stimulate further scholarship as LPCs grow in numbers and significance in America.
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• When Heterodoxy Becomes Heresy: Using Bourdieu's Concept of Doxa to Describe State-Sanctioned Exclusion in Pakistan

  Qadir, A., 2015-09-09 10:33:03 AM

  This paper employs and adapts Bourdieu's concept of doxa to describe the declaration of heresy against the Ahmadiyya in Pakistan. The Ahmadiyya, avowedly Muslim, were declared heretics by constitutional amendment in 1974, leading to their widespread persecution and bans on their use of Islamic symbols. Most analyses of this event—from a statehood and authority/"Othering" perspective—tend to overlook why the Ahmadi were singled out for this unusual exclusion and why emphasis was placed on symbolic violence. It discursively analyzes the recently declassified transcript of parliamentary proceedings to reveal three interlinked theological and political elements of Ahmadi heterodoxy that challenged the sociopolitical order. The analysis also shows how orthodoxy emerged and was institutionalized in a dialectical relationship with that heterodoxy. Further, the discussion focuses on the continuity of symbolic capital inherent in institutionalization and the implications of this for Ahmadis and other religious "heretics" in Pakistan. By exploring how heterodoxy becomes heresy, this case highlights the utility of Bourdieu's schema and proposes some adjustments to it to better understand modern religious heresy and then export lessons into other analytical domains.
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• United by Faith? Race/Ethnicity, Congregational Diversity, and Explanations of Racial Inequality

  Cobb, R. J., Perry, S. L., Dougherty, K. D., 2015-09-09 10:33:03 AM

  This study examines the extent to which the racial composition of a congregation moderates explanations for Black/White inequality among White, Black, and Hispanic congregants. Using nationally representative data from General Social Surveys and National Congregations Studies, we find that religiously affiliated Blacks and Hispanics tend to hold different racial attitudes than religiously affiliated Whites, but these differences largely disappear inside multiracial congregations. Importantly, we find that attending a multiracial congregation is unassociated with Whites' explanations for racial inequality, and Blacks who attend multiracial congregations are actually less likely to affirm structural explanations for Black/White inequality than Blacks in nonmultiracial congregations or Whites in multiracial congregations. We find little evidence that multiracial congregations promote progressive racial views among attendees of any race or ethnicity. Rather, our findings suggest that multiracial congregations (1) leave dominant White racial frames unchallenged, potentially influencing minority attendees to embrace such frames and/or (2) attract racial minorities who are more likely to embrace those frames in the first place.
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• Rationalizing Judgment Day: A Content Analysis of Harold Camping's Open Forum Program

  Sarno, C., Shestakofsky, B., Shoemaker, H., Aponte, R., 2015-09-09 10:33:03 AM

  This study presents a content analysis of Harold Camping's Open Forum radio program in the three weeks immediately following his failed prediction that May 21, 2011, would be Judgment Day. Following Dawson (1999),we examine the adaptive strategies Camping employed to manage the cognitive dissonance he and his followers experienced during this period. Forty-two percent of the time, Camping reaffirmed the essential truth of the original prediction by pointing to other, nonfalsifiable components of his prophetic timeline. Nearly one-quarter of the time, Camping rationalized the failed prophecy by attributing responsibility to God. In particular, Camping emphasized God's "Sovereignty" and "Mercy" in explaining why the end did not come. While confirming the results of previous studies, this case adds nuance to our understanding of the organizational conditions, social processes, and charismatic labor by which apocalyptic groups manage dissonance.
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• Family Disruption and Racial Variation in Adolescent and Emerging Adult Religiosity

  Denton, M. L., Culver, J., 2015-09-09 10:33:03 AM

  This article examines racial differences in religious change and stability in the lives of adolescents and emerging adults following family disruption. Previous research suggests that highly religious youth are more likely to experience declines in religiosity following a parental breakup or divorce. This study finds that while this pattern holds true for white youth, African-American youth are not as prone to religious decline in the wake of family disruption. The study highlights the need to understand religious and family processes within their specific social contexts.
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• Homespun Gospel: The Triumph of Sentimentality in Contemporary American Evangelicalism

  Carwana, B., 2015-09-09 10:33:03 AM

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• The Deconstructed Church: Understanding Emerging Christianity

  Packard, J., 2015-09-09 10:33:03 AM

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• The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion

  Jindra, I. W., 2015-09-09 10:33:03 AM

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• Growing Up Muslim: Muslim College Students in America Tell Their Life Stories

  Kabir, N. A., 2015-09-09 10:33:03 AM

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• The Divided Mind of the Black Church: Theology, Piety, and Public Witness

  Fields, B. L., 2015-09-09 10:33:03 AM

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• Religion and Organization Theory

  Ambrosius, J. D., 2015-09-09 10:33:03 AM

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• Religion and Regimes: Support, Separation, and Opposition

  Akbaba, Y., 2015-09-09 10:33:03 AM

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• Faith, Family, and Filipino American Community Life

  Suarez, T. C., 2015-09-09 10:33:03 AM

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• ASR News & Announcements

  Cavendish, J., 2015-09-09 10:33:03 AM

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