Bridging Divided Worlds: Generational Cultures in Congregations - Book Review

Sociology of Religion, Fall, 2003 by Jerome P. Baggett

by JACKSON W. CARROLL and WADE CLARK ROOF. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002, xi 268pp. $23.95 (cloth).

Only a relatively modest fraction of the sociology of religion books published each year is likely to appeal to practitioners and scholars alike. Marshalling their considerable expertise in, respectively, congregations (particularly congregational leadership) and generations (particularly baby boomers), Jackson Carroll and Wade Clark Roof have collaborated seamlessly to produce such a book.

Based on participant observation and interviews with members of twenty congregations and two campus ministries in North Carolina and southern California--as well as a telephone survey of a random sample drawn from those two regions--Bridging Dividing Worlds has basically two parts. The first (chapters 1-4) addresses the myriad social, religious and generational changes that have marked American society since the middle of the past century, Among social changes, the authors point to shifting family and educational patterns as well as certain technological developments as being especially salient. Religious pluralism, privatized religion and a shift in the dominant style of spirituality from what Robert Wuthnow has elsewhere dubbed a spirituality of "dwelling" to one of "seeking" are highlighted as key religious trends. Particularly interesting is their analysis of how these changes have in turn shaped the worldviews and shared expectations of religious involvement for the three generations that are the focus of scrutiny: pre-boomers, boomers and generation Xers. Some of this material will not he new to many readers. However, because the authors present even the more familiar socio-religious changes with such lucidity and freshness and so convincingly support their discussion of generational differences with original survey data, this part of the book will prove worthwhile reading.

The same is true of the book's second part (chapters 5-7, Epilogue), which traverses new ground in delineating three ideal types of congregations based on their level of adaptation to the generations participating within them. Using three congregational exemplars for each, the authors describe these ideal types with an eye toward assessing their capacity to create a multigenerational community among their members.

The first of these is the "inherited-model" congregation. Although it typically has a multigenerational constituency, its allegiance to programs and practices inherited from the past ensures it will pay scant attention to the generational differences within it. This type will continue to draw people who value a sense of history and religious (often ethnic) heritage, the authors contend, but it augers to have an increasingly difficult time attracting younger people with an ever-expanding array of religious options.

This is certainly not a problem for the "generation-specific" type, though. Carroll and Roof describe these as congregations specifically tailored to address the religious style and needs of boomers and, more commonly, generation Xers. They are liturgically and pastorally innovative, relevant to members' everyday concerns and, even if members do not stay affiliated for long, adept at introducing the previously unchurched to a religious tradition. Nonetheless, they too experience their share of challenges, particularly as the members of their targeted generations age and raise children with their own unique religious needs.

Finally, there is the "blended" type. Like the inherited-model congregation, it too is multigenerational, but it is unique insofar as it makes a concerted effort to address the religious needs of all generations and, in the process, build bridges between them. Consequently, this type is susceptible to conflicts among its congregants ranging from disparate expectations of religious orthodoxy to disagreements concerning tastes in music for worship.

Even with its problems, Carroll and Roof prefer this last type by dint of its efforts to span generational cultures and because it, in their estimation, best reflects "the values of the great religious traditions" (209). In a telling paragraph lauding the blended type, they depict the strength of these congregations as coming from their potential to accept others' beliefs and values and to recognize that "all our many interpretations of faith and practice are just that: interpretations, ham out of biography and the historic encounter of our community with the tradition by which we name ourselves" (213). This, I think, is well stated, but it raises further, complicating issues. Namely, we need to look more closely to determine which congregations (only mainline ones?) are capable of assuming this degree of reflexivity about their own traditions and under what conditions (only in times of tension?) they are likely to do so. Similarly, even though the authors acknowledge that generational differences are "but one among many important aspects of religious transformation" (214), we must be attentive to how generational cleavages are related to other cleavages within (and beyond) congregations such as those wrought of racial, gender and class divisions. The authors touch on these complicating factors but, given the focus of their study, cannot expand upon them fully. Yet, practitioners and scholars intent on further exploring the generational cultures within American congregations will find in Carroll and Roof's provocative hook an indispensable and lively guide.