1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910790162903321

Autore

Christerson Brad

Titolo

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

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York : , : New York University Press, , [2005]

©2005

ISBN

0-8147-7273-0

0-8147-9026-7

Edizione

[First edition.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (208 p.)

Disciplina

277.3083089

Soggetti

Race relations - Religious aspects - Christianity

United States Race relations Case studies

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

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

Sommario/riassunto

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.