The Diversity Paradox Seeking Community in an Intercultural Church [Hardcover]

Overall the author was successful in detailing this four-year ethnographic study. A major strength of the book is the amount of relevant research literature used throughout the study. . . Thus, the book would serve as an excellent book in qualitative research and organizational communication research courses.From the very start of this work, J. Jacob Jenkins addresses some of the key issues involved in diversity: what is really meant by the term, and what characterizes the ideally diverse community. Even as he evokes myriad details of the diverse community studied, Jenkins is relentlessly organized, making his points and findings easy for the reader to follow and avoiding losing the reader in mass data exploration. Writing in depth about a compelling case study of a community seeking to build and maintain diversity, Jenkins takes the reader through the triumphs and struggles the community encounters as it maintains diversity through communication.In response to Americas declining sense of community, Central Community Church has prioritized the organizational metaphor of community. Building upon forty-eight months of ethnographic fieldwork, this book explores particular ways in which the community metaphor was co-constructed by Central Communitys racially/ethnically diverse leaders and members as well as limitations and tensions that emerged from those efforts.In recent years, a sense of community has declined throughout the United States. This trend is especially evident among younger generations, whether measured by civic participation, political involvement, or religious affiliation. Central Community Churchan intercultural congregation located in Tampa Bays urban corridorhas responded to this trend by promoting community as an organizational metaphor. The Diversity Paradox: Seeking Community in an Intercultural Church explores the ways in which that metaphor was co-constructed by Central Communitys racially/ethnically diverse leaders and members, as wel37