S O U L S OF T H E C I T Y
Polis Center Series on Religion and Urban Culture David J. Bodenhamer and Arthur E. Farnsley II, editors
SOULS OF THE CITY Religion and the Search for Community in Postwar America E TA N D I A M O N D
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS BLOOMINGTON AND INDIANAPOLIS
This book is a publication of Indiana University Press North Morton Street Bloomington, Indiana - USA http://iupress.indiana.edu Telephone orders Fax orders Orders by e-mail
-- --
[email protected]
by Etan Diamond All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z.-. Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Diamond, Etan. Souls of the city : religion and the search for community in postwar America / Etan Diamond. p. cm.—(Polis Center series on religion and urban culture) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN --- (cloth : alk. paper) . Cities and towns—United States—Religion. . United States—Religious life and customs. I. Title. II. Series. BL .D .⬘⬘—dc
For Eli and Shira, Remember . . . if you always keep a smile on your face, the world will be a better place.
CONTENTS
I II III IV V VI
Metropolitan Growth and Religious Change: An Introduction ‘‘Hi, Neighbor!’’: Building New Religious Communities in Suburbia From Small Town to Mall Town: Rural Communities and Their Congregations What Is ‘‘Our’’ Community? The Dilemma of the InnerCity Congregation Tying the Metropolis Together Finding Community in the Modern Metropolis
ix
vii
PREFACE
Unlike many history books that have their roots in the personal history of the authors, this book does not represent some culmination of a lifelong curiosity. Rather, this book found me. The Project on Religion and Urban Culture (RUC) was already three years old when I joined the Polis Center in Indianapolis. Charged with studying the role of religion in a mid-sized American city, the RUC project had already undertaken intensive sociological analyses of several neighborhoods across Indian