In this definitive collection of essays spanning fifteen years, R. Stephen Warner traces the development of the “new paradigm” interpretation of American religion. Originally formulated in the 1990s in response to prevailing theories of secularization that focused on the waning plausibility of religion in modern societies, the new paradigm reoriented the study of religion to a focus on communities, subcultures, new religious institutions, and the fluidity of modern religious identities. This perspective continues to be one of the most important driving forces in the field and one of the most significant challenges to the idea that religious pluralism inevitably leads to religious decline.

A leading sociologist of religion, Warner shows how the new paradigm stresses the role that religion plays as a vehicle for the bonding and expression of communities within the United States—a society founded on the principle of religious disestablishment and characterized by a diverse and mobile population. Chapters examine evangelicals and Pentecostals, gay and lesbian churches, immigrant religious institutions, Hispanic parishes, and churches for the deaf in terms of this framework. Newly written introductory and concluding essays set these groups within the broad context of the developing field. A thoughtfully organized and timely collection, the volume is a valuable classroom resource as well as essential reading for scholars of contemporary religion.

R. STEPHEN WARNER is a professor of sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In 1989, he received the Distinguished Book Award from the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion for New Wine in Old Wineskins: Evangelicals and Liberals in a Small-Town Church.

Here we have in one volume both the intimate portraits and the ground-breaking insights that have changed the way we think about religion in the U.S.

A generation from now Warner will be remembered as the scholar who argued that free markets are as good for the soul as they are for capitalism-the Milton Friedman of American religion. Fans and critics alike will benefit from reading this stimulating collection of essays.

Nearly two decades ago, with the publication of New Wine in Old Wineskins: Evangelicals and Liberals in a Small-Town Church, R. Stephen Warner secured his place as one of the leading interpreters of American religion. This volume of essays, penned in the intervening years, stands as a worthy successor. It reveals a breadth of vision that is as remarkable as the subtlety of its analysis.