Religion and the Whole Human Experience
Nancy T. Ammerman
Boston University
Date: April 10, 2019
Location: Boisi Center, 24 Quincy Road
Abstract
Social scientists and commentators are fond of pointing to signs that religion is declining or disappearing, citing everything from membership losses to fewer people who believe in a literal hell and the number of church buildings that are empty. But what if those aren鈥檛 the right measures? Scholars have increasingly been answering that question by pointing to 鈥漧ived religion.鈥� Religion as lived encompasses all the ways we experience life 鈥� through our bodies, emotions, and aesthetic sensibility, by making things and telling stories that remind us of the sacred, and by finding a moral center to live by. All those things happen inside churches and synagogues and mosques, but they also happen in everyday life. They can be very personal, but they are also shaped by communities and traditions.
Speaker Bio
Nancy T. Ammerman聽joined Boston University's School of Theology faculty in 2003 as professor of sociology of religion, after having previously taught at Emory University鈥檚 Candler School of Theology (1984-95) and at Hartford Seminary鈥檚 Hartford Institute for Religion Research (1995-2003).聽 Since coming to Boston University, she has also served the College of Arts and Sciences as associate dean of the faculty for the social sciences (2015-18), as chair of the department of sociology (2007-13), and director of the graduate division of religious studies (2014-15). This spring marked her last semester of teaching before retirement.
Ammerman鈥檚 earliest work explored grassroots Fundamentalists and analyzed the organizational architecture of the 1980s conservative takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention. Her most recent research has focused on everyday lived religion across a wide religious and geographic spectrum, including working with Grace Davie (University of Exeter) to coordinate an international team of scholars to assess 鈥淩eligions and Social Progress鈥� for the聽International Panel on Social Progress.
Event Photos
Nancy Ammerman, professor of sociology of religion at Boston University, begins her April 10, 2019 luncheon colloquium, entitled "Religion and the Whole Human Experience."
Ammerman answers a question from the audience about populations who refer to themselves as "spiritual but not religious."
Boisi Center director Mark Massa, S.J., introduces Professor Ammerman. (Photos by MTS Photography)
Read More
Books
Brown, Callum G.聽Religion and the Demographic Revolution: Women and Secularization in Canada, Ireland, UK, and USA Since the 1960s. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Chaves, Mark.聽American Religion: Contemporary Trends.聽Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2011.
Hummel, Leonard M., James Frances Maynard and Mary Clark Moschella.聽Pastoral Bearings: Lived Religion and Pastoral Theology. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2010.
Peterson, Paul Silas.聽The Decline of Established Christianity in the Western World: Interpretations and Responses.聽New York, NY: Routledge, 2018.聽聽
Santana, Richard W. and Gregory Erickson.聽Religion and Popular Culture: Rescripting the Sacred.聽Second ed. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2016.
Seamon, Erika B.聽Interfaith Marriage in America: the Transformation of Religion and Christianity. New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan, 2012.
Winston, Diane, ed.聽Small Screen, Big Picture: Television and Lived Religion. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2009.聽 聽聽
Articles
Ammerman, Nancy T. 鈥淔inding Religion in Everyday Life.鈥澛�Sociology of Religion聽75, no.2 (2014): 189-207.聽
顿翱滨:听10.1093/蝉辞肠谤别濒/蝉谤耻013.
Brauer, Simon. 鈥淭he Surprising Predictable Decline of Religion in the United States.鈥澛�Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion聽57, no.4 (December 2018): 654-675.聽DOI:聽10.1111/jssr.12551.
Denton, Melinda Lundquist. 鈥淔amily Structure, Family Disruption, and Profiles of Adolescent Religiosity.鈥澛�The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion聽51, no.1 (March 2012): 42 (23).聽DOI:聽10.1111/j.1468-5906.2011.01619.x.
Ellison, Christopher, Amy Burdette, and Terrence Hill. 鈥淏lessed Assurance: Religion, Anxiety, Tranquility Among U.S. Adults.鈥澛�Social Science Research聽38, no.3 (September 2009): 656-667.聽DOI:聽10.1016/j.ssresearch.2009.02.002.
Stuaffer, Dana. 鈥淭ocqueville on the Modern Moral Situation: Democracy and the Decline of Devotion.鈥澛�The American Political Science Review聽108, no.4 (November 2014): 772-782.聽DOI:聽10.1017/S0003055414000458.
Schwadel, Phillip. 鈥淎ge, Period, and Cohort Effects on Religious Activities and Beliefs.鈥澛�Social Science Research聽40. No.1 (2011): 181-192.聽DOI:聽10.1016/j.ssresearch.2010.09.006.
In the News
, Derek Thompson published an article in聽The Atlantic聽titled 鈥淲orkism Is Making Americans Miserable鈥�, where he argues that one鈥檚 identity today revolves around one鈥檚 professional career and not one鈥檚 religious community.