Against All Odds : The Struggle for Racial Integration in Religious Organizations / Brad Christerson, Michael Oluf Emerson, and Korie Little Edwards.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Christerson, Brad, author.

Emerson, Michael O., 1965- author.

Edwards, Korie L., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Race relations--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Race relations.

United States--Race relations--Case studies.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (208 p.)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : New York University Press, [2005]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Religious institutions are among the most segregated organizations in American society. This segregation has long been a troubling issue among scholars and religious leaders alike. Despite attempts to address this racial divide, integrated churches are very difficult to maintain over time. Why is this so? How can organizations incorporate separate racial, ethnic, and cultural groups? Should they? And what are the costs and rewards for people and groups in such organizations? Following up on Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith's award-winning Divided by Faith, Against All Odds breaks new ground by exploring the beliefs, practices, and structures which allow integrated religious organizations to survive and thrive despite their difficulties. Based on six in-depth ethnographies of churches and other Christian organizations, this engaging work draws on numerous interviews, so that readers can hear first-hand the joys and frustrations which arise from actually experiencing racial integration. The book gives an inside, visceral sense of what it is like to be part of a multiracial religious organization as well as a theoretical understanding of these experiences.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Acknowledgments

1. Against All Odds

2. The Need for Belonging

3. A Place to Call Home

4. White Flight or Flux?

5. Embrace and Division

6. Together and Separate

7. Jesus Is Color-Blind

8. What We Learned

Notes

References

Index

About the Authors

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780814772737

0814772730

9780814790267

0814790267

OCLC:

784884511