Not available to order

Publication date:

02 July 2010

Length of book:

274 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

ISBN-13: 9781461633945

This edited collection provides an in-depth ethnographic study of faith-based development organizations in the United States, shining a much needed critical light onto these organizations and their role in the United States by exploring the varied ways that faith-based organizations attempt to mend the fissures and mitigate the effects of neoliberal capitalism, poverty, and the social service sector on the poor and powerless. In doing so, Not by Faith Alone generates provocative and sophisticated analyses-grounded in empirical case studies-of such topics as the meaning of "faith-based" development, evaluations of faith-based versus secular approaches, the influence of faith-orientation on program formulation and delivery, and examinations of faith-based organizations' impacts on structural inequality and poverty alleviation. Taken together, the chapters in this volume demonstrate the vital importance of ethnography for understanding the particular role of faith-based agencies in development. The contributors argue for an understanding of faith-based development that moves beyond either dismissing or uncritically supporting faith-based initiatives. Instead, contributors demonstrate the importance of grounded analysis of the specific discourses, practices, and beliefs that imbue faith-based development with such power and reveal both the promise and the limitations of this particular vehicle of service delivery.
Not by Faith Alone demonstrates that faith-based organizations (FBOs) play a major role in contemporary American life, from California to New England and from the Dakotas to the Texas border. The authors address a broad range of significant and controversial social and economic issues—community services, community development, education, homelessness assistance, refugee services, and drug addiction/rehabilitation programs. The volume's chapters emphasize an anthropological and ethnographic approach to FBOs while showing awareness of the contributions from other disciplines. Especially valuable is the editors' introduction, in which they offer an excellent history of 'faithful service' in America in light of several typologies for understanding the diversity of FBOs in the United States and abroad. This volume will be of great value to scholars and to practitioners and will serve as a landmark collection for appreciating the important role of faith-based organizations in American society.