Gerardo Marti

""""This book will surprise many readers." -- From the Introduction


Church leaders believe worship is key to congregational diversity, and the demand for music that appeals across racial and ethnic cultures has prompted great speculation. But misguided worship practices based on faulty racial assumptions accentuate rather than relieve the pervasive racial tensions.

Through stories and vignettes from a wide variety of Protestant multiracial churches and interviews with over 170 of their members – including church leaders, church musicians, and regular attendees – Marti's book moves away from assumption and speculation to examine how music and worship actually ‘works’ in diverse congregations.

The book provides an intriguing lens for how race continues to affect religion, even when religion attempts to overcome it.

Reviews

"This is a brave book that dares to challenge conventional wisdom regarding the intersections of race, worship and music. It is a model of engaged scholarship and will be essential reading for pastors, worship leaders, and students of congregations. Gerardo Marti is emerging as one of the leading sociologists of religion in the United States with a distinctive methodological approach in the field of Congregational Studies." --William McKinney, President Emeritus, Pacific School of Religion

"Dr. Marti makes a unique and important contribution to our understanding of multi-racial churches as worshiping communities. His central focus on the worship ritual helps us to understand the meaning and lived experience of multiculturalism for participants. For social scientists and other scholars, he helps us to understand the social processes which forge commitment and identification across the most divisive of social barriers. A smart, interesting, and humane book." --Penny Edgell, author of Congregations in Conflict: Cultural Models of Local Religious Life

"Marti is a master at unpacking the culture of a congregation. Music, he shows us, is never just about sound. It's about who and how, feelings and bodies and ethnic identities. What he tells us about how music works is far more interesting and complicated than the how-to books would have us think." --Nancy Ammerman, author of Pillars of Faith: American Congregations and Their Partners

"Gerardo Marti adds another valuable volume to his works as an accomplished researcher and sociologist about multiethnic churches in America. What is most valuable about the book is the large collection of quotes sprinkled throughout from a plurality of voices that illustrates the diversity, complexity, and richness of worship in multiracial congregations."--DJ Chuang, Worship Leader Magazine

"A thoughtful and provocative read...Gerardo Marti has produced an interesting book focused on music as a key variable in the life of multiracial churches, and how music may help promote particular religious and social outcomes. For this, he is to be commended, and I believe others should follow his example and pay more serious attention to the role of music in the life of multiethnic, or other, religious congregations."--Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion

"Gerardo Marti has produced an interesting book focused on music as a key variable in the life of multiracial churches, and how music may help promote particular religious and social outcomes. For this, he is to be commended, and I believe others should follow his example and pay more serious attention to the role of music in the life of multiethnic, or other, religious congregations."--Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion

"This book is a paradigm shifter. To me, it represents an advance to the next stage of multiracial/ethnic/cultural ministry. Focus on people as people, bonding them together, helping to create the unity Christ prayed we'd have. Go ahead and seek musical forms that speak to many people simultaneously, and feel free to play different types of music. But you need not be in bondage to either. And the truth shall set you free."--Michael O. Emerson, Christianity Today

"What actually brings diversity is what Marti calls "racialized ritual inclusion," a strategy with problematic moral implications...Marti shows that these are fluid cultural constructs that "racialize" differences."--Church Times

"One cannot underestimate the importance of this topic and Marti's study...this is a watershed work that should be read by anyone interested in works about race, identity, and music."--Religion

"This book is more scientifically grounded in research and study than the title suggests...A scholarly, thought-provoking examination of this topic. Highly recommended."--CHOICE

"A valuable contribution to the literature...I find Gerardo Marti's sociological analysis to be most helpful and complementary to the theological and liturgical analysis explored by others."--Worship

"I have been teaching the foundational course in Christian worship at my school, North Park Theological Seminary, for the last two years. Since this is a new course for me I have been doing a good deal of reading, observing and reflecting on this most important aspect of Christian faith. By far the most provocative book I have read is Gerardo Marti's Worship Across the Racial Divide."--John E. Phelan, Jr., Senior Professor of Theological Studies and former President of North Park Theological Seminary

"Worship across the Racial Divide is necessary reading for anyone interested in the study of race, religion, and worship music."--Sociology of Religion"""""

""Reviews

"This cutting-edge analysis of where religion may be heading is theoretically sophisticated and yet highly readable." -- Donald E. Miller, Executive Director of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture, University of Southern California

"... Addressing the perspectives of students of religion, media and the film industry, and ethnic differences, the book speaks to all three subjects, combining them in a novel, interesting fashion. Summing Up: Highly recommended." -- Choice

In Christianity, as with most religions, attaining holiness and a higher spirituality while simultaneously pursuing worldly ideals such as fame and fortune is nearly impossible. So, how do people pursuing careers in Hollywood's entertainment industry maintain their religious devotion without sacrificing their career goals? For some, the answer lies just two miles south of the historic center of Hollywood, California, at the Oasis Christian Center.In "Hollywood Faith", Gerardo Marti shows how a multiracial evangelical congregation of 2,000 people accommodates itself to the entertainment industry and draws in many striving to succeed in this harsh and irreverent business. Oasis strategically sanctifies ambition and negotiates social change by promoting a new religious identity as "champion of life" - an identity that provides people who face difficult career choices and failed opportunities a sense of empowerment and endurance.The first book to provide an in-depth look at religion among the "creative class." "Hollywood Faith" will fascinate those interested in the modern evangelical movement and anyone who wants to understand how religion adapts to social change.""

""Reviews
"... Engagingly and accessibly written... deserves wide readership among everyone interested in US religion, ethnicity, organizations and urban culture." -- Choice

"...fascinating...offers valuable insights...This book will be of great interest to scholars of religion in America..." -- Sociology of Religion Fall 2006

"...highly readable... easily used in an undergraduate course...engaging...useful for a graduate course...I look forward to reading Marti's future work." -- Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion

"...of methodological value to students of new religious movements...will help observers of other groups as well." -- Novo Religio, 10, 3 Feb. 2007

"Marti's argument seems to be that such a complex project can succeed..." -- Contemporary Sociology, 36, 1 Jan. 2007

"Anyone wishing to gain a deeper understanding of American evangelical diversity, of the emergent church movement, and of intriguing congregational efforts to bridge ethnic divides, will want to read this book." --Christian Scholar's Review

Mosaic in Southern California is one of the largest multiethnic congregations in America, and also one of the most innovative. This book takes us inside this unusual church. It shows how the church has achieved multiethnicity, not by targeting ethnic groups, but by providing multiple havens of inclusion and commonality that render ethnic differences moot. These havens are arenas for multiethnic companionship, cooperation, and camaraderie that arise out of a union of creative volunteer resources and the ambitious global mission of the church. A Mosaic of Believers examines the structure of the church and the innovative aspects of its mission. It reveals a congregation aiming to reconstruct evangelical theology, personal identity, member involvement, and church governance in an attempt to create an institution with greater relevance to the social reality of a new generation. Based on interviews and participation with the congregation and grounded in contemporary sociological theory, the book presents a rich portrait of an emerging religious community.""

By now, most political observers have absorbed the pervasiveness of white Evangelical support for Donald J. Trump not only in the 2016 presidential election results but also in the poll numbers showing continued approval since then. Nevertheless, many social scientists-even those who are Evangelical themselves-remain puzzled regarding Evangelical enthusiasm for Trump, a man who has frequently demonstrated seemingly "un-Christian" speech and behavior. Drawing on Brophy's outstanding analysis of orthodoxy as project and the notion that behavioral standards are both variable and subordinate to the defense of orthodox identity, Trump can be understood as fully orthodox within an Evangelical framework insofar as he occupies a pivotal role in forcefully affirming their feeling of being threatened and working to maintain their interests into the future. Thus, despite Trump's apparently non-Christian actions, his public support and political enactment of Evangelical priorities through federal appointments and policies reveal him to be unexpectedly orthodox after all.

Pentecostalism, found over the past century in the dramatic surge of “Spirit-filled Christians” across the globe, is an astounding phenomenon of religious innovation. Pentecostal believers across categories of race, class, and education congregate in passionate communities (small and large, independent and fully networked) to worship in churches often characterized as promoting emotionalism, informality, absence of historically rooted liturgical traditions, visible interaction with invisible spirits, and full-bodied participation. Certainly, there are multiple Pentecostalisms. Nevertheless, amid the variety of Pentecostal expressions, a consistently distinctive feature of their experience of worship is what I label the power–surrender dynamic.

In a short time, Hillsong has become a powerful congregational presence across the world and deserves more focused scholarly attention. Hillsong Church is part of an ongoing elaboration of evangelicalism, much of which has recently merged with a softer form of Pentecostalism (often called Charismatic Christianity), encouraging sermons and songs to be more conversational, and embracing a more therapeutic emphasis on emotional well-being with the promise of immediacy to an intimate God whose Spirit-filling empowerment energizes even the most mundane activities of work and family in everyday life. Arising out of Australia, Hillsong has become a worldwide commercial enterprise, distributing music and related products to Christian consumers who are entrained to a particular rhythm of religious sounds. Hillsong is also a philosophy of ministry that represents a set of theological convictions, an approach to pastoral leadership, and a type of networked ecclesial organization. In the end, Hillsong is more than just a church, a collection of music, a style of worship, an approach to ministry, or a set of corporate entities—it is an impressive ecclesial force, a global phenomenon that builds on a set of historical developments that comprise a wave of understandings and practices zooming into our religious future.

Protestantism has been considered particularly weak for sustaining ethnic boundariesamong immigrants. Recognizing the global adaptability and indigenization of Pentecostalism, however, we expect that immigrants from more pentecostal nations will likely retain their Protestantism in ways that affirm their ethnic identity. Using ethno-graphic data, our research demonstrates how a Guatemalan pentecostal church in Oregon successfully preserves its homeland culture, revealing how the structure of Pentecostalism at La Iglesia de Restauración (affiliated with Elim churches) sustains ethnic continuity with its native indigenous culture. This Latino Protestant church affirms Pentecostalism’s capacity to encourage transnational relationships through a varietyof social mechanisms, including provision of ethnic symbols and a space to use them, use of homeland languages (both Ki’ché and Spanish), and promotion of a homegrown leadership. Moreover, the doctrinal division between “world” and “church” discourages assimilation into American culture while simultaneously reinforcing maintenance of “godly” indigenous practices that are legitimated as appropriately religious.

The Emerging Church movement (ECM) is sociologically interesting—not due to the size of its membership or the centrality of its congregations. Rather, the ECM is significant because it provides an opportunity to generate new concepts for the study religious innovation and social change. Using theoretical language, the ECM consists of institutional entrepreneurs who drive their religiously concerned movement by continually deconstructing and reframing beliefs, practices, and identities from " mainstream " Christianity while at the same time promoting newly formulated and broadly resonant religious imperatives. As Emerging Christians cultivate new or altered religious practices, these must be continually legitimized. Furthermore, their renegotiated beliefs (heterodoxies) require new forms of organization (alternative congregations). Such action is not the work of isolated individuals, nor is it independent of societal conditions. Ultimately, the ECM consists of Emerging Christians who creatively operate through diffuse network structures across wide geographic spaces and among disparate social groups to enact a collective institutional entrepreneurship that seeks to reimagine the assumptions of conventional Christian congregational life.

Some theologians have adopted ethnographic methods in their theological work. This innovation brings exciting possibilities to theological work for grasping local social situations and structures, although it also brings significant new challenges. As a sociologist who uses ethnographic methods and pays attention to theological orien-tations and their effects, I view the work of ethnography as a powerful methodology filled with both possibilities and perils. The newfound enthusiasm for ethnography among theologians may not yet adequately recognize the hazards involved in the use of qualitative research methods for generating valid empirical observations. Insights generated by participant observation are constantly at risk of imposition of personal presumptions and asserted " truths, " especially when researchers enter the field with strongly held convictions and compelling worldviews. In this paper, a distinction between " found theologies " and " imposed theologies " is offered as a heuristic for conversation in the hope of further substantiating a sound basis for future scholarship.

Established in 2005, " Life " is a suburban, nondenominational, evangelical church in Charlotte, North Carolina, with an almost entirely white membership, yet the lead pastor is an immigrant from the Middle East. As an ex-Muslim ethnic Pakistani who was born and raised in Kuwait, Pastor Sameer Khalid does not " fit " into southern culture, and he did not convert to Christianity until he was enrolled in college in the United States. Ethnographic data from 14 months of fieldwork reveal how Pastor Sameer uses weekly sermons to negotiate racialized stigmas, emphasize his common religious identity with the congregation, and make his immigrant background a distinctive religious resource for the church. More specifically, while all pastors require legitimation of their charismatic authority, this research focuses on the dynamics of performance through preaching within the Sunday morning services of this congregation, a performance that negotiates this lead pastor's ethnic and religious identities and accentuates his strategic use of institutionalized evangelical narratives to subvert Islamophobic threats and buttress legitimation of his pastoral identity.

One of the surprising oversights of existing research on racially/ethnically diverse congregations is the inattention to how racial composition relates to patterns of attendance. Is diversity associated with attendance growth, stability, or decline? A popular assumption from the Church Growth Movement is that cultural homogeneity is a foundation for growth, but recent research challenges this long-standing belief. We test these competing views with longitudinal data from over 10,000 congregations in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). We examine the relationship between changes in racial/ethnic diversity and changes in average weekly attendance over a 19-year time period (1993–2012). In spite of the ELCA's denominational push for racial diversity in its local churches, our analysis finds increasing racial diversity associated with decreasing average attendance, most notably during the 1990s. To conclude, we discuss the implications of our findings for congregations and denominations.

Using sociological approaches, including participant observation and interviews in the United States, Northern Ireland, and the United Kingdom, we assess the significance of the Emerging Church Movement (ECM).  We identify the ECM as a response to the crisis of modernity, not only in religion but across all spheres of life. We provide distinctive markers of the ECM as a religious orientation and argue that religious individualism, the formation of pluralist congregations, and the desire to construct a personal faith within a cooperative setting will be widely practiced elements of modern religiosity – not just in the ECM but in traditional denominations.

The concept of ethnic transcendence—defined as the process of co-formulating a shared religious identity among diverse members that supersedes their racial and ethnic differences through congregational involvement—captures a critical aspect of successfully integrating different racial and ethnic groups into a single, commonly shared, multi-ethnic congregation. Drawing on classic theoretical resources from Max Weber and Emile Durkheim, this paper expands on previous scholarship by conceptually articulating two different paths for the achievement of ethnic transcendence in multiracial congregations. In the first path, ethnic transcendence supports and encourages congregational diversification by inspiring members and mobilizing them to contribute their efforts to accomplish a common religious mission. In the second path, the achievement of ethnic transcendence involves the sublimation of congregational members’ religious selves to an overarching moral collective. Both paths involve privileging religious identities in favor of a particularistic ethnic or racial identity. Moreover, through both paths, the development of congregationally specific religious identities results in joining with co-members of different ethno-racial ancestries as a type of spiritually-derived kinship. Due to the fact that ethnic transcendence is an interactive process, congregational diversity is a bi-directional phenomenon representing the extent to which members allow for the integration of separate ethnicities/races into a common congregation through idealized and richly-symbolic notions of connection and belonging to a congregation. Overall, this paper suggests a heuristic framework that productively expands the concept of ethnic transcendence, allows an approach for observing cross-ethnic/inter-racial organizational processes, and ultimately contributes toward understanding how congregations (whether church, temple, or mosque) pursue alternative identity reconstruction projects to sustain cohesive collective identities.

Due to immigration and high birth rates, Latinos (or “Hispanics”) are rapidly growing as a proportion of American society—faster than any other racial-ethnic group—and are widely dispersed throughout the United States.Moreover, a growing number of U.S. Latinos are not Catholic but Protestant. Beyond their individual religious devotion, Latino Protestant churches (LPCs) capture and channel Latino Protestant religiosity to a greater extent than Roman Catholic churches.While the study of LPCs should be methodologically open and theoretically diffuse, it is likely that researchers will recognize each other only by coalescing
around a common set of questions, specifically around worship and liturgy, ethnicity and identity, and civic and community engagement. These three focal points are described as a starting point to foster cooperative dialogue and stimulate further scholarship as LPCs grow in numbers and significance in America.

Drawing on recent scholarship by Margaret Archer, Ulrich Beck, and Peter Berger, I summarize a core dynamic of modern experience through the concept of “religious reflexivity.” Religious reflexivity points to a deliberative and problem-solving dynamic that is a distinctive and unavoidable element of contemporary religious selves. Rather than rely on conventional processes of socialization, Archer, Beck, and Berger argue that we must acknowledge that segmented and pluralistic societies contain new sources for self-formation, self-promotion, and legitimization for new forms of self-construction. Religiously, there arise new religiosities, new imperatives for proper or desired religiosity, and new ways of legitimizing religious thoughts, practices, and even larger orientations. Religious reflexivity is so constant and inevitable that a crucial quality of future religious virtuosi will be this: Those who are most able to accommodate the varied pressures of modern society and craft a sustained—even elegant—capacity for consistent, legitimated, and reflexively responsive religious behavior will most readily attain the highest levels of religious prestige and influence.

Recent scholarship asserts that members of racial groups can transcend their ethnic differences, but other research asserts that ethnoracial identities must be reinforced in order to participate in multiracial churches. Analysis of field notes and interview data from a large, black-white Protestant congregation shows that while the core membership of African Americans come specifically for its ethnic and racial diversity, they also look for markers that affirm a distinctive African-American experience. Ethnic reinforcement attracts highly race-conscious participants who eventually move toward processes of ethnic transcendence and congregational integration. The value for researchers is that distinguishing ethnically transcendent and ethnically reinforcing processes encourages the discovery of subtle, racially specific, and continually reinforced affinities that would otherwise remain hidden in seemingly ethnically transcendent settings.

If the particular demographics of attenders, their storied backgrounds, and the peculiar aspects of their social and economic circumstances fail to conform to an “ideal scenario” of “ultimate” diversity, we might find ourselves disappointed. This appears to be one of the most important aspects of Richard Pitt's critique. Pitt desires a different “ideal” case for analysis, a church with black leadership and a clear black dominance that successfully integrates whites. Such an analysis is sorely needed, but this does not reflect the dynamics of Oasis nor does it address what has been one of the most pressing questions among scholars of diversity over the past decade. Given that any black-white integration is rare, I would not so easily dismiss the specifics of this case. Indeed, rather than merely reverse the case, I want to radicalize the critique. It is time to more purposefully examine diversity beyond the “racial divide,” and I suggest here several ways we can expand the research agenda on diverse congregations.

How do members of disparate ethnic and racial heritages come to identify and achieve stable affiliation with multiracial congregations? This article specifies an approach to understanding member experiences of corporate belonging in diverse congregations using ethnic identity theory. Synthesizing ethnographic data drawn from two extensive case studies, the article provides a heuristic model for understanding the process by which members of disparate ethnic and racial heritages come to identify and achieve stable affiliation with multiethnic/multiracial congregations. Three “moments” (affinity with the congregation, identity reorientation, and ethnic transcendence) represent key phases in the lived religious experience of members as they co-construct common bonds of spiritual kinship. Cautions and suggestions are provided for future research.

Assumptions of racial essentialism lead to inadequate analysis of multiracial churches. Instead, acknowledging ethnic identity as a negotiated phenomenon encourages a richer investigation of how congregational participation stimulates and redefines a person's racial and ethnic identity. The malleability of ethnic identity is such that it is often obscured in favor of other aspects of self. Ethnographic analysis of two multiracial churches, Mosaic and Oasis, indicates that particularistic ethnic affiliations recede when otherworldly, value-rational interests are emphasized. Ethnic transcendence occurs when members adopt a shared identity based on a uniquely congregational understanding of what it means to be a properly religious person (a proper “Christian,”“Jew,”“Muslim,”“Buddhist,” etc.). In short, the distinctive accomplishment of multiracial congregations is the cultivation of an inclusive religious identity that overrides divisive aspects of ethnic identity. Moreover, recognizing the varying salience of racial and ethnic identity evokes greater caution regarding what can be assumed when researchers apply the label “multiracial” to congregations.

Religion will remain a vital arena of research among sociologists not only because religious dynamics are ubiquitous, but also—as revealed in essays in this special issue—because our research findings are so often distorted if religion is ignored. Noting the many ways scholars find their way to their research subjects, the future of published scholarship in the sociology of religion must depend less on faithful adherence to established concepts and debates, and more on welcoming and extending new questions and approaches to religion. Finally, editors and reviewers of developing and forthcoming scholarship should continue to affirm religion as a highly flexible arena of investigation, regardless of whether it fits a tight framing of whatever seems to constitute the “sociology of religion.”

A main theme in the study of global Pentecostalism is its adaptability to the modern world system; yet, the way in which adaptability “works” is not well theorized. Hannah Arendt’s analysis of “the private and public realm” and Ulrich Beck’s description of “individualization and selfculture” offer heuristic frameworks for understanding how prosperity theology is well-suited to macro-historical patterns that address the growing individualization of everyday life, especially in relation to uncertain career paths and risk-oriented work structures. Arendt’s and Beck’s theoretical conceptualizations move away from sect-like notions of Pentecostals cultivating a bounded system among the non-Spirit-filled natives. Instead, their theoretical conceptualizations reveal Pentecostalism — especially in its prosperity orientation — to be fully compatible with individualization processes experienced by and demanded from today’s workers. A case study of the ministry of Oasis Christian Center to Hollywood entertainment industry workers illustrates connections between the Prosperity/Word of Faith orientation of the congregation and overarching processes of individualization.

In a youth-oriented evangelical congregation where being perceived as “old” might marginalize member involvement and participation, a Hollywood, California congregation's women's ministry, God Chicks, presents aging women as possessing “godly wisdom,” endowing older women with spiritually charged energy, authority, and responsibility for training younger women to live “godly” lives. Ethnographic research and in depth media analysis of the God Chicks ministry reveals a particularly energizing evangelical postfeminist orientation that applies prosperity theology to contemporary challenges of changing women's roles. Specifically, the God Chicks ministry provides “women over forty” with consumer and caretaking strategies for maintaining youthful selves and motivating younger women. A “God Chick” emerges as a compelling, youthful gendered religious identity that expects congregationally committed women to be strong, healthy, and active warriors who fight multiple relational and global humanitarian battles. Overall, this study demonstrates the construction of an innovative postfeminist evangelical identity through the tactical, opportunistic use of theological doctrine by ministry leaders within a particularistic geographic location.

The “creative class” is a growing stratum of American labor consisting of nomadic workers who master self-promotion for economic survival. Using ethnographic and interview data from a Los Angeles church with a majority of attenders working in the entertainment industry, the paper demonstrates how a congregation oriented around a softer form of Word of Faith/Prosperity theology provides moral guidance for creative class believers. Their personal pursuit of fame and fortune is viewed as a veneer for the real self who not only lives by God's standards but also interacts with broader society in solidarity with others in their moral community with the goal of fulfilling religious aspirations. The resulting ego-affirming evangelicalism suggests that congregations that accommodate individual “greatness” within a cohesive community will be embraced by creative class workers who seek both inspiration for daily work and consolation for the isolation and fatigue experienced through their occupational challenges.

The Management of Religion is an Inevitable Part of Modern Government

Despite previous predictions from sociologists, religion not only occupies an important place for many in our modern world, but remains even more accessible through increased levels of literacy and access to mass media. Religion and the State argues that it is the duty of modern states to intervene in religious affairs to minimise inter-faith conflict. Gerardo Marti finds that the book gives the subject of secularisation the analytical depth that it deserves.

About 365,000 Protestant and Catholic pastors work—full or part time—in over 90% of churches in the United States. God's Potters is a unique study of them. Phone surveys, focus groups, and data from the US Congregational Life Survey provide information from a variety of denominations and faith traditions. Comparative data are broken down among Catholic, mainline Protestant, conservative Protestant, and historic Black churches.

In this welcome study, sociologists Mulder (Calvin College), Ramos (George Fox University), and Marti (Davidson College) summarize recent survey research on Latinos in the US with special attention to ethnographic findings from the Latino Protestant Congregation (LPC) Project funded by the Lilly Foundation. It is estimated that by 2030, one-third of the US population will be Latino and that half of all Latinos in the US will be Protestants. Chapter 1 documents the growth and dispersion of Latinos in the US, and chapter 2 examines the decline of foreign-born Latinos and the rise of US-born Latinos. Chapter 2 also provides valuable information on Latino living arrangements, language, socioeconomic status, and health care. Chapters 4 and 5 address religious conversion. Though a majority of Latinos in the US are Catholics, the longer Latino families reside in the US, the more likely they are to become Protestant. Chapter 4 focuses on issues of identity among Protestant Latinos. What does being a non-Catholic Latino mean? Chapter 6 addresses social issues. The authors found that Protestant Latinos are overwhelmingly conservative and opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage. This well-researched book contributes greatly to the understanding of the changing face of Latino Protestantism in the US.


Summing Up: Highly recommended. General Readers, Upper-division Undergraduates, Graduate Students, Researchers/Faculty, Professionals/Practitioners.

-- S. D. Glazier, Yale University

"... a thoroughly engaging read and a highly impressive sociological analysis, persistently astute, careful, and well-evidenced. This is by no means the last word on the Emerging Church, but it is the best book available on the topic. It should be the first point of call for all students and academics serious about understanding the ECM in all its complexity." -- Matthew Guest, Durham University (UK)

Marti and Ganiel have written a richly detailed and compelling account of the Emerging Church that empirically situates the movement in the broader social landscape. They make a convincing case for the Emerging Church Movement (ECM) as an orientation which will influence the religious landscape for years to come. Grounded in ethnographic and interview accounts from both the UK and the United States, they set out to articulate the forces that lead people to this distinctly modern expression of religion while simultaneously demonstrating the broad reach of these impulses as they extend beyond the ECM and even the field of religion.

While the Emergent Church Movement (ECM) has existed in some form for over 15 years, there have been few social scientists who have taken up the task of understanding the movement in earnest. The Deconstructed Church stands as a thorough and comprehensive execution of this difficult task. This work does a masterful of job of describing coherently a religious phenomenon that denies a common theology, goes out of its way in resisting definition, and consistently affirms that it has no leadership structure.

“Through a masterful blend of survey data, interviews, and on-site observations, Marti and
Ganiel offer a meaningful description and explanation of the ECM… Perhaps more importantly than the skilled presentation, Marti and Ganiel introduce the theoretical framework of religious individualization as a means of understanding the Emerging Church.” — Religion

The “emerging church” phenomenon is coming under increasing scrutiny by scholars for the way it challenges traditional church structures and relates Christianity to different cultural contexts through its stress on inclusiveness. Sociologists Marti (Davidson College) and Ganiel (Trinity College Dublin at Belfast) provide a thorough examination of this diffuse movement, stressing its anti-institutional nature. Through case studies of congregations in the UK and the US and the use of surveys, the authors find that emerging communities encourage a particular religious orientation marked by strong internal pluralism. There are few requirements of belief and little concept of membership; even non-Christians are allowed to participate (in fact, the rate of participation in these groups is quite high). Marti and Ganiel provide a convincing argument that, in one form or another, the emerging movement will persist and even thrive, moving beyond its evangelical origins because it is such a close fit with the dominant religious individualism and pluralism in Western societies.

Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries.

Review of Worship across the Racial Divide

There has been a great deal of attention given over the past decade to the dynamics of multiracial congregations: why and how diversification of a community of faithhappens (or not). In this book, Gerardo Marti focuses on the role that worship, andparticularly music plays in stimulating and nurturing racial and ethnic diversity insocial structures that famously gravitate toward homogeneity (despite the moral andtheological ideals of congregations which transcend social boundaries). Heparticularly engages the plethora of how-to books and the cottage industry of workshops and conferences with formulaic approaches to creating diversity withinreligious (especially Christian) communities. In his survey of this literature, musictakes on primary strategic importance; that is, by inclusion of music from differentracial and ethnic groups in worship, a church is likely to attract members from adiversity of backgrounds—a kind of liturgical ‘‘build it and they will come.’’"

Review of Worship across the Racial Divide To what extent does music contribute to the formation of an interracial congrega-tion? Is one musical style or approach better than another? To answer these ques-tions Gerardo Marti conducted a sociological study on the role of music in twelveinterracial congregations, many of whom were majority white congregations whosuccessfully integrated over time. He arrives at a conclusion contrary to manypopularly held beliefs: there is not a particular style of music that is most effectivein building interracial congregations. Rather, the practice of musical performanceitself serves as an avenue to diverse interracial and interethnic relations, which arethemselves essential to forming a diverse congregation.

Review of Worship across the Racial Divide Bringing the lens of sociology to bear on this topic is a valuable contribution. Employing a participant-observer methodology, Marti's ethnographic observations included the collection of data from "twelve successfully integrated churches in Southern CAlifornia from 2005 through 2006." Though not identified specifically, the congregations were chosen first on the basis of ethnic diversity, and second on denominational affiliation, the latter criterion attempting to bring denominational variety to the study.

This book is more scientifically grounded in research and study than the title suggests. Marti (sociology, Davidson College) spent more than two years studying the hypothesis that music and worship play an essential role in stimulating diversity in congregations. He found that the hypothesis is incorrect, and that though music and worship are important in multiethnic/multiracial congregations, what is important is not the performance of the service but rather the practices that surround the congregation in the absorption and production of the music. The author devotes a great deal of space to examining the sociological perspective of worship from a practice-based application. He tears down preconceived notions in contemporary worship scholarship about achieving racial diversity and a universal worship experience and about how churches need to focus on their structural practices if they wish to achieve diversity and ethnicity in their congregations. A scholarly, thought-provoking examination of this topic.

Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals.

-- B. L. Eden, Valparaiso University

Review of Worship across the Racial Divide Worship across the Racial Divide: Religious Music and the MultiracialCongregation
by Gerardo Marti will surprise scholars and church practitionerswho have focused on the acoustics of worship music and overlooked the underlying practices of interaction that stimulate successfully diverse congregations.Marti concisely articulates the guidingresearch question in the introductorychapter, “How do music and worship‘work’ in successfully diverse congregations” (16). Based on observations of 12 racially diverse Protestant churches inSouthern California and over a 170 in-depth interviews with worship leadersand regular attenders, Marti finds the fas-cinating paradox that churches promoteracial and ethnic diversity, perhaps inad-vertently, through worship music.Although many church leaders, musicdirectors, and church musicians arelooking for a distinctive musical style thatis the secret to diversification, Marti’s surprising finding is that there is no single worship style associated with accomplish-ing cross-racial unity."

Review of Hollywood Faith Gerardo Marti's Hollywood Faith is a work about faith and culture--where they intertwine and where they part ways. Specifically, Marti investigates Oasis Christian Center in Los Angeles, a racially diverse church whose members hold two characteristics in common: 1) they worship the Christian God; and 2) they all believe this God called them to work in the film industry. The problem here, of course, is that Christianity and Hollywood are not underpinned by the same moral principles. Much of the text's allure revolves around this tension. Perhaps the most important issue that Marti addresses pertains to the manner in which conservative, optimistic Christian groups deal with the regularity of spiritual disappointment. Hopes are not just dashed in Hollywood; they are often buried and forgotten. Thus, believers at Oasis Christian Center find their faith tested again and again as they meander from audition to audition in search of the American dream, only to find disillusionment waiting for them at each turn. Did their loving God call them to mere disappointment then? This question and the commonality of experience not only create a unique atmosphere at Oasis, but Marti's text shows that such experiences create a healthy resilience in people given the right social context. Believers at Oasis may suffer rejection, but they are taught never to lose hope.

Review of Hollywood Faith Scholars of popular culture have long noted theways that Christians struggle to reconcile secular ac-tivities and technologies with their religious convic-tions. For some, involvement in “worldly” endeavorsis taboo, with secular culture shunned as anathemato purity and Christian living. This is not the casefor the subjects of Gerardo Marti’s book
Hollywood Faith. Like the majority of Christian conservatives in America, the members of Oasis Christian Center believe that Christians should transform technologies,entertainment, and other elements of popular cultureinto vehicles for evangelization. In a congregationconsisting primarily of Hollywood hopefuls, actors,filmmakers, writers, and other entertainment indus-try workers, Marti draws our attention to the way that a newer form of Christian Pentecostalism, often coined Word of Faith or neo-Pentecostalism, fits well among the Hollywood working class. Word of Faith churches are marked by a belief that true Christians are entitled to financial prosperity and success.In Word of Faith communities, wealth and conspic-uous consumption are considered to be markers of divine blessing. Though the Word of Faith movement is global in scale, Marti offers scholars a case study that connects the teachings of Word of Faithto the success of Oasis Christian Center and helps usunderstand why the church appeals to members whoare working to fulfill dreams of fame and fortune.

Review of Hollywood Faith Hollywood Faith
is an engaging ethnog-raphy that makes multiple contributions to thesociology of contemporary U.S. religion. Gerardo Marti’s analysis of Oasis, a fast-growingmultiracial church in Hollywood, CA, contributes much to our understanding of multiracial churches in a nation whose religiouslandscape has long been divided by race andethnicity. His social history of Hollywood and evangelicalism speaks to the growing literature on media and religion.Perhaps the book’s most significant contribution is Marti’s illustrationand analysis of how a contemporary religious institution negotiates cultural contradictions,in particular, the resolution of occupational identities that demand egoistic individualism with a more community-oriented Christian perspective and identity."

Review of Hollywood Faith Gerardo Marti’s Hollywood Faith
examines how a Pentecostal church brings together two worlds that are often seen atodds with one another: conservative Christianity and the Hollywood entertainment industry. In a very readable style, Marti substantiates his narrative through ayear’s worth of ethnographic fieldwork and 50 in-depth interviews, employing a Durkheimian lens of analysis to his findings."

Review of Hollywood Faith Hollywood Faith
is on the one hand a book about Oasis, a Los Angeles congregation thathas confgured itself as a church serving members of the Hollywood movie industry, and on the other, a book about Post-Boomers, and how their demands, needs, and desires are serving to re-shape expressions of Christianity in America. Gerardo Marti provides us with an insightful portrait of this 2000 plus member, multiracial “nondenominational charismatic church distinguished by a particular blend of Holiness/Word of Faith theology that mixesa charismatic emphasis on the Holy Spirit with a practical emphasis on relational and financial well-being” (3).""

Review of Hollywood Faith Marti (Davidson College) follows up his 2005 book on multiethniccongregations in Los Angeles (A Mosaic of Believers, CH, Jan'06, 43-2867) with this study of the contrast between Christianity and the often-perceived amorality of the media industry in Hollywood. Oasis Christian Center providesthe setting for this study in contrasts. Symbolically housed in an old movietheater with an ersatz Hollywood star on the sidewalk in front of the buildingdedicated to "Jesus Christ, the Son of God," Oasis unexpectedly combines twostreams of members--a diverse collection of people seeking solace from the stress and frustrations of careers in the increasingly fragmented and transitory world of the film industry, and a substantial African American group of worshipers. Marti uses Oasis as a starting point to review Hollywood's social archaeology, tracing its early history as a quiet, decidedly religious haven to itstransformation into Tinseltown and beyond. He finds an explanation for thecombination of movie people and African Americans at Oasis in their sharedlives of ongoing marginality, stress, and uncertainty in US society. Addressing the perspectives of students of religion, media and the film industry, and ethnic differences, the book speaks to all three subjects, combining them in a novel,interesting fashion. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries.

Review of A Mosaic of Believers In A Mosaic of Believers,
Gerardo Marti asks what factors create and sustain a truly multiracial congregation. To answer this question, Marti spenta year-and-a-half doing in-depth study of Mosaic, an over-2,000-member multiethnic church locatedin Los Angeles, California. Mosaic is, in part,significant as a case because it has inspired other churches to adopt innovations that increase the eth-nic diversity of their membership. Although Marti had previously served on the pastoral staff of the congregation, he approached the study of Mosaic as a sociologist, completing, in addition to extensive participant-observation, interviews with 60 congregation members, an exhaustive review of congregational literature and publications by church leaders, as well as a church-wide survey."

Review of A Mosaic of Believers Multiethnic congregations are from the norm in American religious life, but the growing interest in forming such churches focuses attention on those few that have successfully crossed historically entrenched racial boundaries. In A Mosaic of Believers Gerardo Marti introduces readers to Mosaic, a Southern California church identified in the Multiracial Congregations Project as one of the most diverse churches in the country. In evangelical, Mosaic is admired not only for its ethnic diversity, but also for its innovative worship services and missional focus, which attract a weekly attendance of 1400 with an average age of 26. While Mosaic makes a fascinating case study of the multiethnic church phenomenon, it is all the more worthy of in-depth study in light of its impact, particularly through charismatic pastor Erwin McManus, on other evangelical churches across the country.

Review of A Mosaic of Believers Mosaic is a Southern Baptist church in Los Angeles which hardly fits the stereotype of that denomination. Spiritual home (or sometimes waystation) to coteries of urban seekers, many of them young professionals in the arts and music in some kind of relationship to the Hollywood entertainment industry, Mosaic presents traditional Christianity with a contemporary, innovative beat. It is also as multiethnic as the great melting-pot city itself. Finally, this parish is hardly a church at all in the usual building-and-grounds sense. While Mosaic possesses a center for office and educational space, Sunday morning worship services--or celebrations--are held at several sites across the sprawling city: an artists loft, various school auditoriums, or even a nightclub.

Through careful ethnography and masterful application of sociological theory, Marti (sociology, Davidson College) provides a rewarding and insightful study of one of the nation's largest multiethnic churches, Los Angeles's Mosaic. This enormous congregation is broadly classified as about 30 percent each Asian, Caucasian, and Hispanic, plus other groups. Principally, Marti attributes Mosaic's remarkable success to five "havens" of inclusion/involvement within the church that allow transcendence of ethnic separateness in favor of spiritual commonalty. The "theological" haven offers a purposeful ideology of evangelical mission that animates other havens, while the haven of "artistic creativity" harnesses a wealth of Hollywood talent and integrates myriad artistic forms into worship. Analyzing the "innovator" haven, Marti explains how congregants viewed as deviant in organizationally conservative churches frequently become "catalytic leadership" within Mosaic. The "age" haven attracts and empowers young people, especially those fleeing "entrapment" in their parents' monoethnic subcultures. A superb chapter explores "ethnic" haven in terms of the fluidity, subjectivity, and situational construction of ethnic identity, allowing emphasis, reconfiguration or muting of ethnicity within Mosaic's context and missiology. Engagingly and accessibly written, this excellent book deserves wide readership among everyone interested in US religion, ethnicity, organizations and urban culture.

Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries.
-- K. D. Lyon, Jones County Junior College

Review of A Mosaic of Believers Ethnic particularism, in the official form of admissions procedures and ethnic studies programs and the unofficial form of students' seating choices in the cafeteria and the library, is a powerful force in American universities. It's also a powerful force in American Christianity. I've spent a lot of time recently studying the manifestations of that particularism as it takes shape in congregations that serve Mexican Americans, Korean Americans, Indian Americans or some other immigrant group. That's what makes the church Gerardo Marti writes about a precious anomaly: it has no racial majority but has roughly equal numbers of Hispanics, Asians and whites, along with a few African Americans.

Review of A Mosaic of Believers Mega-church "Mosaic," located in the heart of "happenin'" Los Angeles, is one of the largest mutliethnic congregations in the United States, and is the case study of pastor/sociologist/professor Gerardo Marti's book. Marti, a Cuban-American who readily admits he can 'pass' as white, is a youthful and enthusiastic former pastor of this continually evolving emergent church. He provides a unique insider's view on this creative, evangelistically-oriented congregation with its multiple temporary satellite locations, downtown bar and large artist's loft. With worship visitors predominantly in the twenty-something range (55) and one-third of the membership involved in the entertainment industry (89), this Baptist church in U.S. society. For scholars of U.S. religion, this case is worth examining, since Sunday morning is still the segregated hour in America.

Course Description & Student Outcomes: Religion exists in a social context, and always is shaped by and shapes its social context. Furthermore, religion itself is always (at least in part) a socially constituted reality-that is, its content and structure are always formed, at least partially, out of the "stuff" of the socio-cultural world (language, symbols, groups, norms, interactions, resources, organizations, etc.). The sociology of religion pursues an understanding of both the "social-ness'" of religion itself and the mutually influencing interactions between religion and its social environment. We will analyze religious beliefs, practices, and organizations from a sociological perspective, with a primary focus on religion in contemporary American society. Specifically, this course is designed to: 1. Cultivate in students an understanding of the distinctively sociological approach to studying religion. There are many approaches to studying religion-historical, psychological, theological, sociological, anthropological, etc. Since in this class we take a distinctively sociological approach, our most basic goal is to develop an understanding of and appreciation for the kinds of questions sociologists ask and the kind of explanations they offer when they analyze religion. 2. Familiarize students with some of the major issues, problems, and findings in the sociology of religion. Students will have the opportunity to learn some of the theoretical and substantive content of the sociology of religion, to deepen their sociological knowledge of such things as religious conversion, shifting church attendance rates, religiously inspired political activism, the emergence of new religions, and secularization. 3. Introduce students to basic skills of field research. Sociology is an empirical discipline that constructs theories and draws conclusions based on evidence that can be observed. Students in this class will go beyond merely reading about religion, to actually doing simple participant-observation through field trips at local religious groups, involving first-hand observation, analysis, and brief written reports. 4. Improve cognitive & communication skills. Finally, this course aims generally, through its exercises and requirements, to enhance students' abilities to read, analyze, discuss, and write skillfully.

Course Description & Student Outcomes: The purpose of this course is to gain appreciation for sociological analysis at the intersection of race-ethnicity and religion through the phenomenon of Donald J. Trump's election as the 45 th president of the United States. Let me be clear: the course is not an opportunity for the professor and students to air their opinions, and we will not be focused on Trump's personality. Instead, the class constitutes a careful exploration centering on racial and religions dynamics as they touch on the historical context of the Trump presidency—including our discernment of significance in his positions, policies, political appointments, and particular public statements (and those of his surrogates/supporters/representatives). The course is analytical, historical, and empirically grounded in observable patterns. As such, the class will discuss distinctively sociological issues at a macro-level of analysis that includes dynamics of continuing relevance: the perpetuation of systemic/institutionalized racism over the past 200+ years (whether encoded into official law or not), various racially and religiously motivated political movements, debates over macroeconomic theory, business and corporate strategies regarding profitability, patterns of financial inequality and concentrations of elite wealth, and processes of globalization, immigration, and transnationalism. Although current events as they touch on Trump's tenure will likely occur, our class begins with establishing a historical context for understanding racial dynamics in American history, moving to the development of an " American " national identity, and then conservative Christian notions of wealth, poverty, and economic theory. The class moves on to more contemporary analysis of the political orientation of the " Tea Party, " patterns of racial discrimination and prejudice, the positioning of religious notions to civic concerns, and observations of the wealthiest families and corporations in America. Over the course of the semester, our discussions will weave together broader considerations of race-ethnicity, religion, politics, and economics and culminate in an examination of the interrelations between race-ethnicity, religion, and broader civic society today. The course ends with students' presentation of an aspect of course content that goes in more depth on a significant aspect of this course. Overall, the course is intended to encourage and stimulate critical thinking beyond "common sense," knee-jerk opinions and interpretations. Throughout the class, we will read on a number of topics including the broader and complex processes of identity and race, politics and nationalism, faith and community, economics and financial pressures, citizenship and public life, prejudice and discrimination, media and technology, as well as celebrity and symbolic leadership. The tone of this course will be analytical with a conscientious use of sociological concepts with an eye toward discerning patterns of macro-change. For example, race-ethnicity is not a biological, physiological, or genetic characteristic; it is a social characteristic, one that always involves particular religious beliefs and practices and an international network of people who continually reproduce religious frameworks and religious structures. And religion is not merely a set of dogmatic beliefs or static church membership but also a set of " lived practices " that touch on non-religious activity in unanticipated ways. The development of our knowledge of the relations between race-ethnicity and religious faith and practice in relation to politics and economics will be historically informed and empirically grounded. Your questions and interests are welcome as they emerge.