This volume examines the intergenerational transmission of religion, spirituality, and secularity. The authors treat intergenerational religious influence as occurring under national-historical conditions that variously reinforce or inhibit the reproduction of religious beliefs and practices across generations.
Religious Change and Continuity Across Generations: Passing on Faith in Families of Six European and North American Nations brings together scholars of religious studies, secularism, and family science to examine how religion is passed down the generations in six European and North American nations. Taking a social change perspective within the context of family socialization theory, the authors treat intergenerational change and continuity in religion and spirituality as occurring under specific national and historical conditions. As such, they consider the social forces that variously reinforce or inhibit transmission of religiosity across successive generations within families. The volume provides a nuanced view of the role that societal context plays in religious transitions and transformations. Chapters consider the strong influence of the Roman Catholic church in Italy, Communist suppression of religion in Hungary, aversion to religious discussions in Finland, the East-West/Catholic-Protestant divide in Germany, and rapid religious deculturation in Canada and the U.S. Further, each chapter takes a mixed-methods approach, using quantitative survey data to describe the strength and pattern of intergenerational transmission and interview data to clarify family dynamics by which parents, and ofttimes grandparents, influence the religious beliefs and practices of younger generations—taking care to consider how the absence of religion is also conveyed to the next generation.
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Passing on religion seems increasingly difficult today, as many young people in both Europe in America leave their parents tradition behind. What does successful transmission look like? This book explores and problematizes that question, drawing on original research and thoughtful analysis by top international scholars. We learn that even in the age of the internet, there are still real social, political, and institutional differences between cultures, and we come to see how the story of religious transmission reflects that. We also learn how the very meaning of religion has changed over time, which raises interesting questions about the ways we define and measure who is and isnt religious. Anyone curious about the future of religion should read this book! -- Christel Manning, Sacred Heart University, author of Losing our Religion: How Unaffiliated Parents are Raising their Children Reporting on research that is methodologically sophisticated and innovative, this book breaks new ground in the study of the transmission of religion and nonreligion within families in 6 countries. Multinational and interdisciplinary in scope, the volume contributes new insights into the profound religious change in the of the past 50 years. -- Lori Beaman, University of Ottawa Whether religion persists or declines is rarely a matter of adults deciding that they do or dont want to go to church. It is a matter of children choosing whether or not to follow in their parents footsteps. The transmission of religious identity, belief and practice from one generation to the next is therefore the single most important topic in the study of religious change, and this book reports on two of the most significant investigations of this issue. It will be required reading for anyone trying to understand the erosion of religious involvement in contemporary Western societies. -- David Voas, University College London
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This volume examines the intergenerational transmission of religion, spirituality, and secularity. The authors treat intergenerational religious influence as occurring under national-historical conditions that variously reinforce or inhibit the reproduction of religious beliefs and practices across generations.
Foreword, Amy Adamczyk
Introduction, Merril Silverstein, Christel Gärtner, and Maria T. Brown
Chapter 1: Continuities and Discontinuities in the Transmission of (Non-)
Religion: West and East Germany Compared, Christel Gärtner, Linda Hennig, and
Olaf Müller
Chapter 2: Historical Changes in Childhood Religious Practice in Hungary:
Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Data Using a Mixed Methods Approach,
Gergely Rosta, Zsuzsanna Szvetelszky, and Virág Sövegjártó
Chapter 3: Investigating Italian Religious Socialization Paths: Findings and
Lessons from a Mixed-Methods Exercise, Roberta Ricucci, Ferruccio Biolcati,
Luca Bossi, Marcello Cabria, Renzo Carriero, and Francesco Molteni
Chapter 4: The Complexity of Religious Change across Generations in Finland
from the Perspectives of Gender and Religious Biographies, Kati Tervo-Niemelä
and Jenni Spännäri
Chapter 5: Transmission, Transformation, and Reversal in the Context of
Intergenerational Decline of Religiosity in Canada, Peter Beyer and Jacob
Legault-Leclair
Chapter 6: Intergenerational Evolution of Religiosity and Spirituality in
Sexual Minorities in an American Sample, Maria T. Brown, Joseph Blankholm,
Dusty Hoesly, Woosang Hwang, RianSimone Harris, and Merril Silverstein
Chapter 7: Spiritual Beliefs and Practices of the Non-Religious in an
American Context: A Cross-Generational Perspective, Woosang Hwang, Joseph
Blankholm, Dusty Hoesly, Maria T. Brown, RianSimone Harris, and Merril
Silverstein
About the Contributors
Merril Silverstein holds the Marjorie Cantor Chair in Aging Studies at Syracuse University where he is professor in the Departments of Sociology and Human Development and Family Science.
Christel Gärtner is a sociologist and mentor at the Graduate School and Cluster of Excellence in Religion and Politics at the University of Münster.
Maria T. Brown is associate research professor in Syracuse Universitys School of Social Work and Aging Studies Institute.
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