Pastors and Public Life: The Changing Face of American Protestant Clergy

America's clergy are not just religious leaders. Their influence extends far beyond church doors. Houses of worship stand at the center of American civic life-one of the few spheres in which relatively diverse individuals gather together regularly. And the moral authority granted to pastors means that they are uniquely positioned to play a role in public debates.Based on data gathered through national surveys of clergy across four mainline Protestant (the Disciples of Christ; the Presbyterian Church, USA; the Reformed Church in America; and the United Methodist Church) and three evangelical Protestant denominations (the Assemblies of God; the Christian Reformed Church; and, the Southern Baptist Convention), Pastors and Public Life examines the changing sociological, theological, and political characteristics of American Protestant clergy over the past twenty-plus years. Smidt focuses on the relationship between clergy and politics-clergy positions on issues of American public policy, norms on what is appropriate for clergy to do politically, as well as the clergy's political cue-giving, their pronouncements on public policy, and political activism-and the impact these changes have on congregations and on American society as a whole.Pastors and Public Life is the first book to systematically examine such changes and continuity over time. It will be invaluable to scholars, students, pastors, and churchgoers.

History

Smidt, Corwin E.

World

Oxford University Press

The Bully Pulpit: The Politics of Protestant Clergy (Studies in Government and Public Policy)

When Democrats lost control of Congress in 1994, the Christian Right claimed a major role in their defeat and House Speaker Newt Gingrich credited the "organized Christian vote" with the Republican victory. Ministers from many political persuasions have long been active in American politics, but in the 1980s and 1990s it has seemed impossible to find any political controversy that did not involve the clergy-often on both sides of the issue.The Bully Pulpit is the first major study of clergy politics in more than twenty years. Drawing on two decades of survey research involving thousands of ministers nationwide, five social scientists explore the political lives of clergy in eight evangelical and mainline Protestant denominations, including the Assemblies of God, Southern Baptist Convention, United Methodist Church, and Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. They find that the competing theological perspectives of orthodoxy and modernism are increasingly tied to ideological and partisan divisions in American politics. In addressing the nature and extent of clerical participation, The Bully Pulpit asks the following questions: How do different groups of ministers see their role in politics? What activities do they approve or disapprove? How active are Protestant clergy in politics? What factors account for the level and kinds of participation? Do the patterns of clerical activism discovered in the 1960s and 1970s persist today?The authors discover that theological traditionalists emphasize moral reform and tend to specialize in making pronouncements in religious settings, while modernists stress social justice issues and engage in a wider range of political activities, inside and outside the church. They find that "New Breed" liberals have continued the mainline Protestant activism of the 1960s and '70s, but that Christian Right activists have become just as numerous, drawn from the ranks of previously inactive evangelical clergy. Their book offers a balanced assessment of political activity among both clergy at the end of the century and helps us understand the current relationship between church and state in America.

Green, John C.

Guth, James L.

Kellstedt, Lyman A.

University Press of Kansas

When Democrats lost control of Congress in 1994, the Christian Right claimed a major role in their defeat and House Speaker Newt Gingrich credited the "organized Christian vote" with the Republican victory. Ministers from many political persuasions have long been active in American politics, but in the 1980s and 1990s it has seemed impossible to find any political controversy that did not involve the clergy-often on both sides of the issue. The Bully Pulpit is the first major study of clergy politics in more than twenty years. Drawing on two decades of survey research involving thousands of ministers nationwide, five social scientists explore the political lives of clergy in eight evangelical and mainline Protestant denominations, including the Assemblies of God, Southern Baptist Convention, United Methodist Church, and Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. They find that the competing theological perspectives of orthodoxy and modernism are increasingly tied to ideological and partisan divisions in American politics. In addressing the nature and extent of clerical participation, The Bully Pulpit asks the following questions: How do different groups of ministers see their role in politics? What activities do they approve or disapprove? How active are Protestant clergy in politics? What factors account for the level and kinds of participation? Do the patterns of clerical activism discovered in the 1960s and 1970s persist today? The authors discover that theological traditionalists emphasize moral reform and tend to specialize in making pronouncements in religious settings, while modernists stress social justice issues and engage in a wider range of political activities, inside and outside the church. They find that "New Breed" liberals have continued the mainline Protestant activism of the 1960s and '70s, but that Christian Right activists have become just as numerous, drawn from the ranks of previously inactive evangelical clergy. Their book offers a balanced assessment of political activity among both clergy at the end of the century and helps us understand the current relationship between church and state in America.

Does conservative protestantism have a future? For much of the twentieth century religious analysts and observers predicted that American evangelicalism would crack under the pressure of secularization and modernity. Responding to such forecasts, this study by Smidt and Penning is set within the broad framework of secularization theory and attempts to ascertain whether religious subcultures are and will be able to sustain and maintain distinctive identities and beliefs within modern social life. 
Replicating the classic study conducted in James Davison Hunter¹s Evangelicalism: The Coming Generation, this book examines if the next generation of evangelicals will continue to exhibit or deviate from the characteristics of students of the early 1980s by thoroughly examining the religious beliefs, moral values, political attitudes, and social tolerance of students today. The book critiques Hunter¹s contention that the coming generation of evangelicals will exhibit greater accommodation to American culture, be less religiously distinctive, and be more tolerant than previous generations of evangelicals. Further, this study explores whether the future generation of evangelicals is unique or is simply one that reflects continuity with the past and full integration within the larger evangelical subculture of today. 
As opposed to Hunter¹s pessimism concerning the role of evangelical higher education, Smidt and Penning believe that such colleges and universities serve a vital and robust role in passing on the faith. And thus subsequently the future of conservative Protestantism, while impacted by secularization and modernity, may indeed be brighter than that which Hunter forecasted twenty years ago. This scholarly yet accessible book will be of particular interest to scholars and students of sociology and religion and will also appeal to those interested in the coming generation of evangelicals and the colleges that train them.

Evangelicalism: The Next Generation

Religion & Spirituality

Penning, James M.

Christian Books & Bibles

Baker Pub Group

Pews, Prayers, and Participation: Religion and Civic Responsibility in America (Religion and Politics)

Is the "private" experience of religion counterproductive to engagement in public life? Does the "public" experience of religion contribute anything distinctive to civic engagement? Pews, Prayers, and Participation offers a fresh approach to key questions about what role religion plays in fostering civic responsibility in contemporary American society. Written by five prominent scholars of religion and politics, led by Calvin College's Corwin Smidt, the book brilliantly articulates how religion shapes participation in a range of civic activities―from behaviors (such as membership in voluntary associations, volunteering, and charitable contributions) to capacities (such as civic skills and knowledge), to virtues (such as law-abidingness, tolerance, and work ethic). In the course of their study the authors examine whether an individual exhibits a diminished, a privatized, a public, or an integrated form of religious expression, based on the individual's level of participation in both the public (worship) or private (prayer) dimensions of religious life. They question whether the privatization of religious life is counterproductive to engagement in public life, and they show that religion does indeed play a significant role in fostering civic responsibility across each of its particular facets. Pews, Prayers, and Participation is a bold and provocative clarion call to the continuing importance and changing nature of religion in American public life. It will be of particular interest to students and scholars of religion and politics, and culture and politics, as well as general readers with an interest in the impact of religion in the public sphere.

Georgetown University Press

Is the "private" experience of religion counterproductive to engagement in public life? Does the "public" experience of religion contribute anything distinctive to civic engagement? Pews, Prayers, and Participation offers a fresh approach to key questions about what role religion plays in fostering civic responsibility in contemporary American society. Written by five prominent scholars of religion and politics, led by Calvin College's Corwin Smidt, the book brilliantly articulates how religion shapes participation in a range of civic activities―from behaviors (such as membership in voluntary associations, volunteering, and charitable contributions) to capacities (such as civic skills and knowledge), to virtues (such as law-abidingness, tolerance, and work ethic).In the course of their study the authors examine whether an individual exhibits a diminished, a privatized, a public, or an integrated form of religious expression, based on the individual's level of participation in both the public (worship) or private (prayer) dimensions of religious life. They question whether the privatization of religious life is counterproductive to engagement in public life, and they show that religion does indeed play a significant role in fostering civic responsibility across each of its particular facets.Pews, Prayers, and Participation is a bold and provocative clarion call to the continuing importance and changing nature of religion in American public life. It will be of particular interest to students and scholars of religion and politics, and culture and politics, as well as general readers with an interest in the impact of religion in the public sphere.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Smidt, Corwin E.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Smidt, Corwin E.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Smidt, Corwin E.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Pastors and Public Life: The Changing Face of American Protestant Clergy

Pastors and Public Life: The Changing Face of American Protestant Clergy

The Bully Pulpit: The Politics of Protestant Clergy (Studies in Government and Public Policy)

The Bully Pulpit: The Politics of Protestant Clergy (Studies in Government and Public Policy)

Evangelicalism: The Next Generation

Pews, Prayers, and Participation: Religion and Civic Responsibility in America (Religion and Politics)

Pews, Prayers, and Participation: Religion and Civic Responsibility in America (Religion and Politics)