Families and Faith: How Religion is Passed Down across Generations
"[T]he authors' research reminds us that family and faith are deeply entwined and that strengthening the bond of one may strengthen the continuity of the other" -Wall Street Journal"An important contribution to the much discussed phenomenon of intergenerational religious transmission  the book manages the rare feat of being both very nuanced in its portrayal and very readable and compelling for a diverse target audience." --Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion"What if we could study the transmission of faith for four generations spanning 35 years? What would we learn about what practices do (and do not) effectively pass on the faith? In this brilliantly researched study of over 3000 subjects and over 300 multi-generational families, Vern Bengtson turns some of the most widely accepted conventional wisdom about faith transmission on its ear.  Written in a warm, engaging style, this book is a must read for parents, grandparents, and leaders who long to see faith faithfully passed on to the coming generations." --Mark DeVries, Founder, Youth Ministry Architects; Associate Pastor for Youth and Their Families, First Presbyterian Church, Nashville, Tennessee"Research on the religious and spiritual lives of American young people and on the transmission of religious faith across generations has grown tremendously in recent years.Families and Faithmakes a major and very impressive contribution to our knowledge in these areas, using data across multiple generations to shed light on processes at work over long stretches of time. This is now one of the best books on the market in this general area of study. I highly recommend it." --Christian Smith, author ofSouls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults"Vern Bengtson'sFamilies and Faithis an important contribution to our understanding of how faith is or isn't transmitted within families across generations. It charts changes and continuities across the various generations over the past century and is full of new insights that challenge many of our taken-for-granted assumptions. An excellent empirical study." --Wade Clark Roof, J.F. Rowny Professor of Religion and Society Emeritus, Research Professor, University of California at Santa Barbara