The Transformation of American Religion: How We Actually Live Our Faith

by Alan Wolfe

A sociological study of religion in America challenges conceptions that the United States is the most religious western nation, citing a rise in religious sentiments and institutions in recent history while identifying key differences in current and traditional belief systems. 25,000 first printing.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, Sociology

320 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2003

About the author

Alan Wolfe is professor of political science and director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College. The author and editor of more than twenty books, he is a frequent contributor to the New York Times, Harper's, and the Atlantic. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Reviews

[Anson Cassel Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

The nineteenth-century Scots divine Horatius Bonar sighed, “I looked for the world and found it in the church. I looked for the church and found it in the world.” Alan Wolfe’s Transformation of American Religion puts a modern, secular, and upbeat spin on Bonar’s lament. In this lucidly written book—something of a collection of sociological and ethnographic examples pointed by authorial direction—Wolfe attempts to calm the fears of agnostic liberals who worry about religious oppression. Fear not, Wolfe counters, American believers of every sort have been so thoroughly compromised by North American individualism, democracy, and popular culture that they are hardly a threat to anyone, let alone worth the trouble of setting undemocratic courts on. And if current religious folks are still too counter-cultural for one’s secular taste, Wolfe counsels patience; in future decades they will probably be even less so. (It’s certainly symbolic of the current degree of American secularization that no one involved in the production of the book noticed the typographical error in Wolfe’s reference to John 3: 16.) (205)

Wolfe is often a shrewd commentator about contemporary American religion. Evangelicals may wince at Wolfe’s beamish declarations that their religious practices have been “transformed by the very popular entertainment they were seeking to emulate.” (211). Many fundamentalists may likewise nod in rueful agreement with Wolfe that although they may be “doctrinaire,…interested in doctrine they are not.” (69) My only caveat is that Wolfe’s observations about Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism—about which I have no personal knowledge—seem spot on, whereas I frequently came up with exceptions to his comments about evangelicalism, fundamentalism, and Mormonism—about which I am much better acquainted.

[Simcha York · Rating 4 out of 5]

As expressed in its subtitle, The Transformation of American Religion sets out to explore "how we actually live our faith." This project is carried out in a respectably thorough manner through an analysis of both statistical and anecdotal evidence, all of which Alan Wolfe argues leads us toward a picture of American religion as something that has become "more personalized and individualistic, less doctrinal and devotional, more practical and purposeful, and increasingly at home with the culture surrounding it...." Wolfe makes a compelling case that, even in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and the Catholic pedophilia scandal, faith in America is, as Douglas Adams might put it, "mostly harmless."

This is a book that will have appeal to believers and non-believers alike. Wolfe avoids the polemics that often fuel the culture war debates, though some might find disturbing his picture of a modern American religion where the easy ethos of the self-help movement has replaced any substantial grappling with theology.

[Gabi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Skimmed the whole thing on a flight. The basic idea is pretty clear from the start — American individualism shapes faiths, rather than vice versa, and thus homogenizes them. This is an idea with which I’m well familiar, but there were some interesting tidbits in here too, including about how suburbanization has impeded efforts to evagelize. Wolfe does the sort of work I want to do!

[Joel Zartman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of interesting observations.

[Christian Salyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

As this book continually exposed myself to the fact that Religion in America has been changing in drastic ways due to the culture it is immersed in, I found myself asking “are these changes good, bad, or a mix of both?”. Wolfe gives his answer here-and-there throughout the book and challenges the reader to consider these analytical and difficult questions as well.

[Christa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wolfe, an unbeliever at the time of authorship, gives chilling insights to the way Americans practice religion (broad evangelicalism and beyond). It is amazing how one from outside the fray can so astutely critique broad issues that we fail to see. He calls the mega church the servant of pop culture, the "conservative" church narcissistic and he delves into the trends that have led churches here among many other intriguing things.

Let's pray for Wolfe's salvation in spite of our failure to live out the reality of the Gospel before him. Let's humbly accept the appropriate criticisms so we could more consistently live for Jesus.

This is a good read.

[Chuck Bonadies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wolfe gives the perspective of American religion (mainly, though not exclusively Christianity) from the eyes of an unbeliever. The author's best insight is on individualism in American religion, something that we take for granted and rarely challenge.

CB

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

An empirical, sociological approach to what church-going Americans actually practice and believe.

[Marc]

well done but depressing. will relieve any concerns you have about true believers, just true self deluders