Sacred Circles, Public Squares: The Multicentering of American Religion [Hardcover]

This study of the religious landscape of Indianapolisthe summative volume of the Lilly Endowment's Project on Religion and Urban Culture conducted by the Polis Center at IUPUIaims to understand religion's changing role in public life. The book examines the shaping of religious traditions by the changing city. It sheds light on issues such as social capital and faith-based welfare reform and explores the countervailing pressures of decentering the creation of multiple (sub)urban centersand civil religion's role in binding these centers into one metropolis.

Polis Center Series on Religion and Urban CultureDavid J. Bodenhamer and Arthur E. Farnsley II, editors

Read achapterfrom the book.

The shaping of Indianapolis's religious traditions.

Arthur E. Farnsley II is an independent researcher and consultant, as well as adjunct professor of Sociology and Religion at IUPUC. He is author of Southern Baptist Politics: Authority and Power in the Restructuring of an American Denomination and Rising Expectations: Urban Congregations, Welfare Reform, and Civic Life (Indiana University Press, 2003).

N. J. Demerath III is Professor of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His books include Crossing the Gods: World Religions and Worldly Politics; Sacred Companies: Organizational Aspects of Religion and Religious Aspects of Organizations (edited with Peter Hall, Terry Schmitt and Rhys Williams); and A Bridging of Faiths: Religion and Politics in a New England City.

Etan Diamond is a social historian whose research interests lie at the intersection of urban history and the history of religion. He is author of And I Will Dwell in Their Midst: Orthodox Jews in Suburbia and Souls of the City: Religion and the Search for Community in Postwar America (Indiana University Press, 2003).

Mary L. Mapes is Adjunct Professol“¬