Public Religion and Urban Transformation

American cities are in the midst of fundamental changes. De-industrialization of large, aging cities has been enormously disruptive for urban communities, which are being increasingly fragmented. Though often overlooked, religious organizations are important actors, both culturally and politically in the restructuring metropolis.
Public Religion and Urban Transformation provides a sweeping view of urban religion in response to these transformations. Drawing on a massive study of over seventy-five congregations in urban neighborhoods, this volume provides the most comprehensive picture available of urban places of worship-from mosques and gurdwaras to churches and synagogues-within one city.
Revisiting the primary site of research for the early members of the Chicago School of urban sociology, the volume focuses on Chicago, which provides an exceptionally clear lens on the ways in which religious organizations both reflect and contribute to changes in American pluralism.
From the churches of a Mexican American neighborhood and of the Black middle class to communities shared by Jews, Christians, Hindus, and Muslims and the rise of "megachurches," Public Religion and Urban Transformation illuminates the complex interactions among religion, urban structure, and social change at this extraordinary episode in the history of urban America.

Lowell W. Livezey has been the Director and Principal Investigator of the Religion and Urban America Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago from its inception.

Robert Michael Franklin,President, Interdenominational Theological Center, Atlanta, Georgia:
Rich in cultural analysis, thick description, maps, photographs, and anecdotes, this book should be read by scholars, policy makers, religious leaders, and anyone who wishes to better understand one of the most exciting stories on the American urban landscape at the turn of a new century.

Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad,Professor of Islamic History, Georgetown University:
An interesting example of the challenge immigrants face as they attempt to emulate established American institutions while retaining those elements that allow them to function as cohesive communities of ethnic and religious identity.

It will alter - or perhaps confirm - your thinking about 'public religion' and how traditional and immigrant congregations address (or don't) member and community needs and attitudes and actions towards larger social issuesan obvious choice for religious and congregational studies and urban sociology programs. It is also valuable reading for any cleric or layperson interested in how contemporary urban religious collectives are shaped by and help shape the lives of their own members, surrounding communities, and the larger society.

This book presents the initial results of a team-based ethnographic study aimed at understanding better the richness of religious life in the multiplicity of communities that make up modern Chicago.