ABSTRACT
Over the course of the past 25 years or so, the USA has witnessed a marked shift in the study of religion. Much of the attention that was once turned to broad theories of religion’s influence on culture or on very large institutions such as denominations or ecumenical movements has now been directed towards relatively small, local and particular religious organizations, especially congregations. Interest in congregations and the development of congregational studies as a
subfield of both religious studies and sociology occurred at the confluence of three different streams. The first stream is a theoretical, intellectual movement away from grand theories and towards particular, empirical studies. A growing interest in organizational studies within sociology is just one part of that larger trend. The second stream carries concerns about the nature of community in a technological, post-industrial age, concerns that have led to greater practical, applied interest in what conservatives tend to call ‘mediating institutions’ and liberals term the ‘institutions of civil society’. This preoccupation with organizational practice spawned everything from management consulting for congregations to faith-based welfare reform. The third is a funding stream, as money for research and the increased availability of certain kinds of academic jobs have drawn ever more intellectuals into the first two currents. None of these developments could have changed the field so drastically by
itself. The theoretical developments, even if they represent a true paradigm shift, would never have taken root if the applied interest and the funding had not been available. Proposed changes in practice would have foundered without the intellectual acceptance within the disciplines and the exploratory funding – essentially intellectual venture capitalism – from the foundations. And even large piles of money would not have created the field of congregational studies as a salient force unless it was perceived to have theoretical gravity and practical importance. Rather than provide an exhaustive bibliography of American congregational
studies, this chapter will sketch the three-pronged process by which the field developed. A better understanding of the conditions under which congregational studies flourished in the American setting may make it easier to compare the different conditions in the British setting in ways that offer at least a hope of predicting how developments in the UK might differ.
