The resurgence and persistent appeal of conservative religion, not just in the United States, but around the world in the past few decades presents a great challenge to sociologists and to modernization theory. The recent growth and popularity of conservative churches contradicts the idea that late-modern societies - with their emphases on the individual, and separation of church and state, and the cultural fragmentation and secularization that they foster - have outgrown the need for such relics of the past as traditionalist religions. In this book Joseph Tamney offers an explanation for this apparent incongruity by looking at the case of growing, popular, conservative Protestant congregations in the United States. His findings represent a synthesis of ideas from supporters of secularization theory and from those who stress the competitive market of churches in America as a factor in church growth.
The resurgence and persistent appeal of conservative religion, not just in the United States, but around the world in the past few decades presents a great challenge to sociologists and to modernization theory. The recent growth and popularity of conservative churches contradicts the idea that late-modern societies - with their emphases on the individual, and separation of church and state, and the cultural fragmentation and secularization that they foster - have outgrown the need for such relics of the past as traditionalist religions. In this book Joseph Tamney offers an explanation for this apparent incongruity by looking at the case of growing, popular, conservative Protestant congregations in the United States. His findings represent a synthesis of ideas from supporters of secularization theory and from those who stress the competitive market of churches in America as a factor in church growth.
Nine essays, most presented at the 2004 annual meeting either of the Association for the Study of Religion or of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, describe some of the religious change
Two basic themes inform Tamney (sociology, Ball State U.) and Chiang's (education, Anderson U.) study: it is a good idea to learn about the Chinese as they become increasingly important in the world,
