Religion As Social Capital : Producing the Common Good

While Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone (2000) highlighted the notion of volunteerism, little attention has been paid to religion's role in generating social capital--an ironic omission since religion constitutes the most common form of voluntary association in America today. Featuring essays by prominent social scientists, this is the first book-length, systematic examination of the relationship between religion and social capital and what effects religious social capital has on democratic life in the United States.

CORWIN E. SMIDT is a professor of political science and director of the Paul B. Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is the coauthor and editor of numerous books including The Bully Pulpit: The Politics of Protestant Clergy, Religion and The Culture Wars: Dispatches from the Field, and the forthcoming The New Religious Order in American Politics.