Work, Family and Religion in Contemporary Society

Until recently, religious institutions have been organized to suit the traditional American family, where the wife stayed at home, caring for children. "Work, Family and Religion in Contemporary Society discusses how churches and synagogues today are beginning to adapt to the reality of the American family: dual-career marriages, high levels of divorce, interfaith marriages, partnerships that may not be marriages. Religious organizations must serve families that don't fall into the "Ozzie and Harriet" mold.
The first group of papers in this edited volume documents changing trends in the connection between religion, work, and the family. As families change, as more women enter the paid work force, and as more people advocate individualism and feminist principles, a barrier grows between families and organized religion. Traditional families still feel tied to conventional religious participation, but people committed to new patterns of family and work are looking for alternatives.
In the second part of the book, we see how changing families and flexible congregations are experimenting with new forms of religious life. Many religious organizations have started day care centers, are hospitable to women clergy, have changed to inclusive language, and alter their weekly schedules. African-American churches are tying work and family to religion, while dealing with both the "truly disadvantaged" and the black middle class which may feel alienated from the church. Other examples of special efforts include groups at the margins of institutional religious life: Catholics who meet without a priest, house church groups, and even further outside organized religion, Limina, a group offormer Catholic women who draw on ancient rituals to celebrate women. In this book, we see how non-traditional families are turning away from religion as they have known it, but are creating new spiritual patterns.

1. Introduction: Old Patterns, New Trends, Fragile Experiments Nancy Tatom Ammerman and Wade Clark Roof; Part I: Assessing the Trends: 2. Lost in the Fifties: The Changing Family and the Nostalgic Church Penny Long Marler; 3. Boomers and the Culture of Choice: Changing Patterns of Work, Family, and Religion Wade Clark Roof and Lyn Gesch; 4. Work, Family, and Faith: Recent Trends Bradley R. Hertel; 5. Responses to Changing Lifestyles: Feminists and Traditionalists in Mainstream Religion Lyn Gesch; 6. Entering the Labor Force: Ideals and Realities among Evangelical Women Charles Hall; Part II: Exploring New Patterns: 7. Religion and Family Ethics: A New Strategy for the Church Don S. Browning; 8. The Storm and the Light: Church, Family, Work, and Social Crisis in the African-American Experience Cheryl Townsend Gilkes; 9. Nurturing and Equipping Children in the Public Church Joseph T. Reiff; 10. Defense Workers: A Challenge to Family and Faith Mary Johnson, SND; 11. Small Faith Communities in the Roman Catholic Church: New Approaches to Religion, Work, and Family William V. D'Antonio; 12. Religious Innovation in the Mainline Church: House Churches, Home Cells, and Small Groups Stuart A. Wright; 13. Constructing Women's Rituals: Roman Catholic Women and 'Limina' Mary Jo Neitz; 14. Couples at Work: A Study of Patterns of Work, Family, and Faith William Johnson Everett with Sylvia Johnson Everett.