Wade Clark Roof – författare

Until recently, religious institutions have been organized to suit the traditional American family, where the wife stayed at home, caring for children. Today, churches and synagogues are beginning to adapt to the reality of the American family: dual-career marriages, high levels of divorce, interfaith marriages, partnerships that may not be marriages. Religious organizations must serve families that don''t fall into the Ozzie and Harriet mold. The first group of papers in this edited volume documents changing trends in the connection between religion, work, and the family. In the second part of the book, we see how changing families and flexible congregations are experimenting with new forms of religious life.

Until recently, religious institutions have been organized to suit the traditional American family, where the wife stayed at home, caring for children. Today, churches and synagogues are beginning to adapt to the reality of the American family: dual-career marriages, high levels of divorce, interfaith marriages, partnerships that may not be marriages. Religious organizations must serve families that don''t fall into the Ozzie and Harriet mold. The first group of papers in this edited volume documents changing trends in the connection between religion, work, and the family. In the second part of the book, we see how changing families and flexible congregations are experimenting with new forms of religious life.

In large chain bookstores the "religion" section is gone and in its place is an expanding number of topics including angels, Sufism, journey, recovery, meditation, magic, inspiration, Judaica, astrology, gurus, Bible, prophesy, evangelicalism, Mary, Buddhism, Catholicism, and esoterica. As Wade Clark Roof notes, such changes over the last two decades reflect a shift away from religion as traditionally understood to more diverse and creative approaches. But what does this splintering of the religious perspective say about Americans? Have we become more interested in spiritual concerns or have we become lost among trends? Do we value personal spirituality over traditional religion and no longer see ourselves united in a larger community of faith? Roof first credited this religious diversity to the baby boomers in his bestselling A Generation of Seekers (1993). He returns to interview many of these people, now in mid-life, to reveal a generation with a unique set of spiritual values--a generation that has altered our historic interpretations of religious beliefs, practices, and symbols, and perhaps even our understanding of the sacred itself. The quest culture created by the baby boomers has generated a "marketplace" of new spiritual beliefs and practices and of revisited traditions. As Roof shows, some Americans are exploring faiths and spiritual disciplines for the first time; others are rediscovering their lost traditions; others are drawn to small groups and alternative communities; and still others create their own mix of values and metaphysical beliefs. Spiritual Marketplace charts the emergence of five subcultures: dogmatists, born-again Christians, mainstream believers, metaphysical believers and seekers, and secularists. Drawing on surveys and in-depth interviews for over a decade, Roof reports on the religious and spiritual styles, family patterns, and moral vision and values for each of these subcultures. The result is an innovative, engaging approach to understanding how religious life is being reshaped as we move into the next century.

"Religious outsiders" as seen through the eyes of Euro-American Christians are nothing new, but the growing range of religious diversity in the United States has reached new heights of visibility as well as deeper intensities of tension. As U.S. communities of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and Sikhs strengthen, evangelical and fundamentalist Christians wrestle for America's soul and control of the country's religious identity.

In this tumultuous environment, can Americans truly embrace a more widespread religious pluralism, which can be incorporated into the nation's civil religious symbolism and genuinely affirmed in public rituals? Religiously, can we as Americans rethink our identity and view ourselves as a "multireligious nation" and not simply as Christian or Judeo-Christian? And how does religious pluralism dovetail with the idea of multiculturalism?

The articles in this volume of The ANNALS explore these and other key questions by examining the contemporary religious climate in the United States. Specifically, readers will gain a better understanding of how faith communities are pulled into networks and niches that bond them with some traditions while dividing them from others. Organized into three major topics, the articles in this volume delve into this urgent topic of our day and offer valuable insights in the following areas:

I. Broad Perspectives – Providing a solid foundation, this opening section lays the groundwork for clarifying this complex issue. The articles in this section examine religious pluralism through historical, social, and cultural lenses while exploring the persuasive power of rhetoric and symbol, in both the religious and civic realms.

II. Region and Religion – The papers in this section point to the importance of regional history and culture in shaping differing styles of pluralism within America.

III. Minority & Immigrant Experiences – Focusing on contemporary immigrant and minority groups in the United States, these articles reflect on the experiences of Muslims, Orthodox Jews, and Latino religions as well as the role of interfaith leaders in the 2005/2006 immigration reform debate.

IV. Institutional Patterns – Examining creative ways that pluralism is flourishing within the United States, these articles provide a framework for future interfaith dialog.

Social scientists, religious scholars, policy makers, and the informed public will find this volume of The ANNALS to be a valuable resource that distills this complex and sometimes cloudy issue of religious pluralism.