Building Faith

Reviews / Votes

The book develops interaction ritual chains in a novel way and provides an assortment of future research directions, both in the United States and internationally. * Rory Jones, Review of Religious Research * This book demonstrates the relevance of studying religious buildings from a sociological perspective ... the proliferation of described observations offers the reader a wealth of leads to initiate new research into the social impact of religious buildings. * Anneke Pons-de Wit, Sociology of Religion * An engaging preliminary consideration of the sociology of religious buildings. * J.H. Rubin, emeritus, University of Saint Joseph, CHOICE * Too long ignored, religious buildings shape - in ever-changing ways * the groups that worship in them and the communities that surround them. Brenneman and Miller show us why and how that matters, with examples that range from simple Guatemalan pentecostal structures to mosques in Vermont. In lively fashion, this book expands our understanding of how religion works.Nancy T. Ammerman, author of Sacred Stories, Spiritual Tribes: Finding Religion in Everyday Life * Whether church, mosque, or temple, Brenneman and Miller guide readers to see religious architecture as more than private devotional spaces. These public spaces structure individual and collective behavior, providing an infrastructure that shapes and re-shapes social life - even as the buildings themselves are innovatively re-shaped over time. A necessary read that resources a much-needed focus on the material basis of religion. * Gerardo Marti, co-author of The Glass Church: Robert H. Schuller, the Crystal Cathedral, and the Strain of Megachurch Ministry * Is it true that a church is not the building but the people? If so, why do congregations invest so much time and money in their places of worship and have such strong opinions about them? Brenneman and Miller demonstrate that religious buildings continue to matter today. They need to be taken seriously by their congregations and by society at large. * Duncan Stroik, architect and author of The Church Building as a Sacred Place *