Focused on the Family? Religious Traditions, Family Discourse, and Pastoral Practice
Year: 2004
Type: article
Abstract: The relationship between religion and the family has recently reemerged as an important object of sociological inquiry. However, research has largely overlooked the ways in which the family discourse produced by specific religious traditions is connected to family‐focused pastoral practices of congregations. Using data from the National Congregations Study, we find that family discourse and pastoral practice are only “loosely coupled” to one another. Ideological differences among mainline Protestant, conservative Protestant, and Roman Catholic congregations do not translate directly into differences in family ministry offerings. These findings help explain why research often finds that religion exercises uniform effects on family life, insofar as most congregations offer a similar package of ministries even though their family discourse is markedly different.
Authors: W. BRADFORD WILCOX, MARK CHAVES, DAVID FRANZ
Institutions: University of Virginia, University of Arizona
Language: English
Subfield: Religious studies
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: Lilly Endowment
OpenAlex ID: W2171019296