"The participants in the American Sociological Association, the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, and the Association for the Sociology of Religion meetings who responded graciously and provided helpful critiques to portions of the book. The museum staff, archivists, local historians, and librarians who helped in researching communities and case studies. Student research assistants who helped with data organization and finding sources for various parts of the book, including Matthew Porter, Marielle Merry, Jessica Mohkami, Jasmine Stein, Bethany Thomas, Maurice Bokanga, Rebecca Carlson, and Isabella Wallmow. Ryan Burge for the data for Chapter 7. Theo Calderara and Oxford for believing in and carrying out this project"--
The suburbs are home to the majority of Americans, including millions of evangelical Christians and thousands of evangelical congregations and organizations. And while American evangelicals are a potent force in society and politics, their connection to and embrace of the suburbs are rarely examined. How did white evangelicals come to see the suburbs as a promised land, home to the evangelical good life and to dense concentrations and networks of evangelical residents, churches big and small, and nonprofit organizations? This book systematically assesses how evangelicals became intertwined with the suburbs and what this means for evangelical life.
Brian Miller shows how evangelical views of race and ethnicity, social class, and gender led to anti-urban sentiment, white flight, and the pursuit of racial exclusivity-all of which has led evangelicals to make the suburbs their physical and spiritual home. At the same time, clusters of evangelical organizations were planting themselves in the suburbs, drawing evangelicals out of the cities. Through sociological analysis, case studies of multiple communities with clusters of evangelical residents, and examinations of evangelical culture, Miller shows that in order to fully understand American evangelicals we must take a deeper look at how evangelicals embraced suburbs and how the suburbs shaped them.
The suburbs are home to the majority of Americans, including millions of evangelicals and thousands of evangelical congregations and organizations. This book explains how white evangelicals came to see the suburbs as a promised land.
