Shopping for Faith, with CD-ROM: American Religion in the New Millennium - Hardcover

Cimino, Richard; Lattin, Don

3.29

7 ratings by Goodreads

9780787941703: Shopping for Faith, with CD-ROM: American Religion in the New Millennium

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0787941700 ISBN 13: 9780787941703

Publisher: Jossey-Bass, 1998

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Shopping for Faith is as good as it gets in assessing the U.S. religion scene at millennium's end. Cimino and Lattin present a picture of multiple trends headed in often contradictory directions.
—Robert Ellwood, emeritus professor of religion, University of Southern California

American religion flourishes in a consumer culture, and presents us with a bewildering array of choices as we navigate the shopping mall of faith.

The authors identify dozens of trends which will shape American religion in the next century and bring together the latest research and intimate portraits of Americans describing their beliefs, their religious heritage, and their spiritual search.

With warmth and style the authors document how consumerism shapes religious practice -- from conservative evangelical worship to the most esoteric New Age workshop.

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Review:

Nowadays, United States citizens seek religions in the same way they look for household goods--they go shopping. Speaking to the U.S. consumer-driven culture, the authors demonstrate how the mall mentality affects religious choices throughout the country. For example, consumers like to buy spiritual experiences and ideas instead of buying into doctrine. This is why Buddhism has much more success in the form of books and Zen audio tapes than it does in attracting followers to join an institution. Not surprisingly the baby-boom generation is dominating many U.S. religious trends, especially the evolution of "hybrid religions." For example, disgruntled Catholics may intertwine their childhood roots with the principles of Quakerism, "as seekers separated from their religious heritage search out new expressions of faith."

As for the years ahead? "Two words describe the future of religious denominations--downsized and decentralized." Also, social action and spirituality will probably be more purposefully linked in the new millennium. The authors (one, the editor of Religion Watch newsletter and the other an award-winning religion writer for the San Francisco Chronicle) have assembled what might be the best and certainly the most readable authority on the immediate future of religion in the U.S. --Gail Hudson

From the Back Cover:

The United States is one of the most religious countries in the world and has been for a long time. What has changed is the environment in which we hold and practice our faith. American religion flourishes in a consumer culture and presents us with a bewildering array of choices as we navigate the shopping mall of faith.

In Shopping for Faith: American Religion in the New Millennium, Richard Cimino and Don Lattin identify dozens of trends that will shape American religion in the next century. They bring together the latest research with intimate portraits of Americans describing their beliefs, their religious heritage, and their spiritual search. From this emerges a fascinating landscape of religious life encompassing individual spirituality, the institutions of religious life, and the interaction between religion and society.

With warmth and style the authors document how consumerism shapes religious practice?from conservative evangelical worship to the most esoteric New Age workshop. They show how spiritual experience is replacing religious doctrine as the driving force in the free market of faith, how Baby Boomers and GenXers are rediscovering traditional faith, and how megachurches and small groups are providing new homes for spiritual seekers.

Cimino and Lattin explore how secular spirituality will change the way Americans work, play, and express their sexuality. They examine how science, medicine, and the media find religion; how religious groups are playing a greater role in social service and community development; and how new religious movements and apocalyptic groups will flourish in the new millennium. Shopping for Faith is full of practical information for anyone interested in what influences modern American religious practices.

Shopping for Faith is more than a book. It is an open line. Its companion CD-ROM enables readers to monitor religious trends via the Internet. Containing the book's entire text, fully searchable and keyword hotlinked, the Shopping for Faith CD-ROM connects readers from key terms in the book to resources on the World Wide Web. These web resources--links to related sites and current news stories--are researched and maintained by TheLinkLibrary.com. This innovative feature is sure to keep you apprised of the latest offerings in America's spiritual supermarket well into the next century.

Shopping for Faith
For Thomas, Christianity is serious business. "If all the gospel of Jesus Christ is going to do is change my Sunday schedule, then I?m not interested. I want something that is going to change my finances, my sex life, the way I work, and the way I keep my house."
Claire drifted away from Judaism only to return with a ?pick and choose? approach to her faith. "We have a wonderful mystical tradition. It is up to us to take from it what is wonderful and good."

Cindy, a lapsed Roman Catholic, now celebrates the Techno Cosmic Mass in a warehouse full of video monitors, strobe lights, and cutting-edge music. "I was yearning for community and a place where I could worship with like-minded people."

Examining the full spectrum of American religious experience, Shopping for Faith reveals the surprising ways we will express our religious beliefs in the new millennium.

"Shopping for Faith is as good as it gets in assessing the U.S. religion scene at millennium?s end. Cimino and Lattin, both seasoned observers of American religion, present a picture of multiple trends headed in often contradictory directions." ?Robert Ellwood, emeritus professor of religion, University of Southern California

"Cimino and Lattin are well positioned to give us a broad sounding of the contemporary spiritual scene in America. Once we have seen, via this book, the many different waters of the river of living spirit
� we appreciate the richness of all the ways through which God renews the currents of faith
� we see how often we have been immersed in the eddies?our particular practices
� we look further downstream, across the millennium, and see our differences meld into one ocean." ?Ram Dass, author and spiritual teacher

"A stimulating and challenging book." ?Andrew M. Greeley, professor of social science, The University of Chicago

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