Moral ambition
Subtitle: mobilization and social outreach in evangelical megachurches
By: Omri Elisha
Series: Anthropology of Christianity -- 12; Anthropology of Christianity -- 12.
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Berkeley
Language: eng
Number of pages: 263
ISBN-13: 9780520267503; 9780520267510
Subjects: Evangelicalism; Big churches; Church work; Missions; Church and social problems
Description: "In this evocative ethnography, Omri Elisha examines the hopes, frustrations, and activist strategies of American evangelical Christians as they engage socially with local communities. Focusing on two Tennessee megachurches, Moral Ambition reaches beyond political controversies over issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage, and public prayer to highlight the ways that evangelicals at the grassroots of the Christian Right promote faith-based causes intended to improve the state of social welfare. The book shows how these ministries both help churchgoers embody religious virtues and create provocative new opportunities for evangelism on a public scale. Elisha challenges conventional views of U.S. evangelicalism as narrowly individualistic, elucidating instead the inherent contradictions that activists face in their efforts to reconcile religious conservatism with a renewed interest in compassion, poverty, racial justice, and urban revivalism." -- Publisher's description.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 223-251) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: Awaking sleeping giants; title: A region in spite of itself; title: The names of action; title: The spiritual injuries of class; title: Compassion accounts; title: Taking the (inner) city for God; title: Epilogue.