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Postsecular Catholicism
Relevance and Renewal
By (author)
Michele Dillon
Genres:
Religious issues & debates, Religion & politics, Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholic Church, Sociology & anthropology
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Synopsis
The Catholic Church faces the challenge of maintaining its relevance in an increasingly secularized society. On issues ranging from sexuality and gender equality to economic policy and social welfare, the church hierarchy is frequently out-of-step with Catholics and non-Catholics alike. In Postsecular Catholicism, Michele Dillon argues that the Church's relevance is increasingly contingent on its ability to incorporate secular experiences and expectations
into the articulation of the Church's teachings.
Informed by the postsecular notion that religious and secular actors should recognize their mutual relevance in contemporary society, Dillon examines how secular realities and church doctrine intersect in American Catholicism. She shows that the Church's 21st-century commitment to institutional renewal has been amplified by Pope Francis's vision of public Catholicism and his accessible language and intellectual humility. Combining wide-ranging survey data with a rigorous examination of
Francis's statements on economic inequality, climate change, LGBT rights, and women's ordination, the highly consequential Vatican Synod on the Family, and the US Bishops' religious freedom campaign, Postsecular Catholicism assesses the initiatives and strategies impacting the Church's relevance in the
contemporary world. New & Used
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What Reviewers Are Saying
A revelatory, insightful and challenging perspective on American Catholicism ... it is an important contribution to the life of the Church and of the society in which the Church lives. * Ray Temmerman, Marriage, Families & Spirituality * A much needed contribution to the understanding not only of contemporary Catholicism in postsecularity in the United States but also of the Western world more generally and of the modern papacy - Pope Francis and his two predecessors - in particular. * Journal of Religion * Dillon provides a rich account of contemporary American Catholicism, formulating profound arguments based on extensive quantitative and qualitative data. This work can thus be considered an important contribution to the body of scholarly literature on religion, secularism, and postsecularism... * Eline Huygens, Ghent University, Religion and Gender * I hope others will read and learn from this excellent book and join her in directly tackling these thorny issues. * Brian Starks, Review of Religious Research * An ambitious consideration of how religion - and Catholicism in particular - maintains relevance amidst 'secularization.' ... Postsecular Catholicism presents a rich theoretical engagement with extant quantitative data on Catholics (American Catholics, in particular) ... Postsecular Catholicism is an important and well-executed book that makes a strong case for seeing intrachurch and extrachurch processes not as separate but as intertwined. * Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion * Academic activism can take a variety of forms. In Postsecular Catholicism, Michele Dillon articulates her vision for the future of Roman Catholicism via an intriguing dialectic between sociological theories, papal statements, and surveys of Catholic life in the United States. * Brian Clites, Reading Religion * Postsecular Catholicism is a masterwork. Michele Dillon asks if Catholicism has the 'human, doctrinal, and institutional resources' to forge a more inclusive church and contribute to a more inclusive society. She makes us doubt it as she reviews the research by others, but when she leads us through the 2015 Synod on the Family, she shows Catholicism's potential to include, organize, and inspire despite differences. No forecast can be sure, but Dillon argues
for cautious optimism and optimistic activism. * Michael Hout, Professor of Sociology, New York University * Rather than being necessarily inimical to religious commitment and discourse, Michele Dillon's deft analysis of contemporary American Catholicism demonstrates how modernity constrains, transforms and opens up new possibilities for both the Church's self-understanding and its engagement within the public sphere. Never settling for such hidebound polarities as religious or secular, tradition or modernity, and the like, Dillon offers a relentlessly nuanced and truly
indispensable portrayal of the American Church. * Jerome P. Baggett, author of Sense of the Faithful: How American Catholics Live Their Faith * Michele Dillon's Postsecular Catholicism brilliantly analyzes the ways Catholicism engages our current social world. Her writing is accessible and clear, without missing the complexities and tensions inherent in the work that Catholics are undertaking...Dillon's familiarity with both a postsecular landscape and her fluency in Catholic concerns and interests allow her to cogently illustrate the overlap between Catholicism and the broader social world as well
as the tensions that are inherent to a postsecular Catholicism. This is a must-read for academics who study religion or civic engagement as well as involved Catholics and their leaders. * Maureen K. Day, America Magazine * Dillon's thesis is compelling. The analysis of Pope Francis' discourse would be of particular interest to the social theory audience. * Sarah Louise MacMillen, Catholic Books Review *
for cautious optimism and optimistic activism. * Michael Hout, Professor of Sociology, New York University * Rather than being necessarily inimical to religious commitment and discourse, Michele Dillon's deft analysis of contemporary
indispensabl
as the tensions that are inherent to a postsecular Catholicism.