The Catholic Church in State Politics
Negotiating Prophetic Demands and Political Realities
By (author) David A. Yamane
Not available to order
Publication date:
08 September 2005Length of book:
200 pagesPublisher
Sheed & WardISBN-13: 9781461604396
What role, if any, should religion play in politics? By what authority and methods does the Catholic Church apply its teachings to public policy discourse? How do Bishops and lay leaders work together in Catholic conferences, and how do they work with political leaders? What impact do they have?
The political advocacy of the American Catholic Bishops at the state level is one of the Church's best-kept secrets. In this groundbreaking work, David Yamane reveals the rich history, accomplishments, and challenges of bishops and their lay colleagues in local politics. Through sociological analysis, up-to-date examples, and personal interviews, Yamane explains how the local Catholic advocacy organizations in thirty-three states and Washington, D.C., negotiate the tension between the prophetic demands of faith and the political realities of secular political institutions. The Catholic Church in State Politics invites readers to understand better the role of religion in the public square.
The political advocacy of the American Catholic Bishops at the state level is one of the Church's best-kept secrets. In this groundbreaking work, David Yamane reveals the rich history, accomplishments, and challenges of bishops and their lay colleagues in local politics. Through sociological analysis, up-to-date examples, and personal interviews, Yamane explains how the local Catholic advocacy organizations in thirty-three states and Washington, D.C., negotiate the tension between the prophetic demands of faith and the political realities of secular political institutions. The Catholic Church in State Politics invites readers to understand better the role of religion in the public square.
With its empirical focus on policy advocacy by state-level Catholic Conferences, The Catholic Church in State Politics fills in a long-felt scholarly gap for understanding American Catholicism and politics. It deserves to be widely read by sociologists of religion. Deftly written, Yamane's book will be of broader interest to those who study politics, secularization theory and religious organizational structures. Yamane shows how the dual structure of religious lobby groups ( relying not just on religious grounding but also on lay expertise) constrains and enables them to mesh religious legitimacy with secular competence and language, shielding them, thereby, from any overly narrow sectarian stance