ABSTRACT
The first section of this volume focuses on setting the conceptual and methodological background for the study of the efficacy of faith-based social services. Given that social science has largely neglected the study of religious issues for more than half a century, and because of the complexity of the new faith-based initiative as outlined in the following Chapter 1, by Cnaan and Boddie, we must set the foundation that will help us form a benchmark for acceptable standards and procedures for such future study. In this section, we ask a set of scholars to answer one set of questions: What are the challenges and methods that will enable us to assess the efficacy of faith-based social services? The responses are quite varied, and combined they form a beginning understanding of the challenges that lie ahead.
