Making Moral Citizens - (Where Religion Lives) by Jack Delehanty (Paperback)

About the Book

"Jack Delehanty analyzes faith-based community organizing and how it can give rise to persons and groups who sustain democratic vision, multiracial commitments, and political work for structural change in society. Through a case study of large faith-based community organization in the United States, Delehanty argues that faith-based community organizing hinges on a complex cultural project: making social justice action into a means of personal moral fulfillment for people of different race, class, and faith backgrounds"--

Book Synopsis

This fascinating book takes readers inside the world of faith-based progressive community organizing, one of the largest and most effective social justice movements in the United States. Drawing on rich ethnographic observation and in-depth interviews, Jack Delehanty shows how organizers use religion to build power for change. As Delehanty convincingly demonstrates, religion is more than beliefs, doctrines, and rituals; within activist communities, it also fuels a process of personal reflection and relationship building that transforms people's understandings of themselves, those around them, and the political system.

Relational practices like one-on-one conversation and public storytelling take on new significance in faith-based community organizations. Delehanty reveals how progressive organizers use such relational practices to help people see common ground across lines of race, class, and religious sect. From this common ground, organizers work to develop and deploy shared ideas of moral citizenship that emphasize common dignity, equity, and prosperity and nurture the sense that public action is the only way one can live out religious faith.

Review Quotes

"A remarkably rich and detailed ethnography. [Making Moral Citizens] is a testament to the value of long ethnographic work--the stories of organizing campaigns and meetings are highly evocative, and Delehanty captures not only what happens, but also the affective tenor of the activities."--Reading Religion

"Delehanty's excellent new book . . . draws on rich ethnographic and interview data to explore how one of the largest progressive faith‐based community organizations (FBCO) in the United States--an organization Delehanty calls ELIJAH--effectively brings together diverse constituencies to work toward common goals. By focusing on how organizations motivate and sustain civic action, Delehanty makes an important contribution to our understanding of the intersections between religion and progressive politics."--Contemporary Sociology

"A probing and thoughtful exploration of how faith-based organizers use religion to further the political project of moral citizenship. . . . [Delehanty] takes this familiar claim and goes to new depths: politics is personal, yes, and for religious participants in faith-based community organizing, politics is religious."--Journal of Church and State

"A timely contribution to contemporary sociological debates about religion, politics, and social movements in the United States. . . . [A] welcome intervention in the debate on religion and activism in the United States and recommended for sociologists interested in culture and politics and political sociology more generally."--American Journal of Sociology

"Commendable. . . . [B]ecause it provides substantial practical and theoretical insights into social movements and religion, Delehanty's book should be appreciated by both undergraduate and graduate readers alike."--Social Forces

"Jack Delehanty has written the best book on faith- and broad-based community organizing in a generation, and one of the best books in cultural sociology and the sociology of religion."--Sociology of Religion