Catholic Culture in the USA: In and Out of Church

Description

This study of American Catholicism summarizes a widespread contemporary tendency to adapt traditional spirituality to a world of moral diversity, to hold onto some essential portions of religious experience in an increasingly secular world. Catholic Culture in the USA articulates what is perhaps only implicit in other scholarship with regard to how theological teachings trickle down from the Vatican and influence decisions about food, marriage, sex, community celebrations, and medical care. John Portmann defends these Catholic dissidents and explores alternative expressions of Catholic devotion. Taking a holistic approach, the author indicates cultural change as resulting from interaction among individual rights assertions, grassroots mobilization, scholarly production and legislative innovation.

John Portmann is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia, USA.

Reviewed in the Church Times. "The sociological approach to Roman Catholicism used to favor regular church attendance and doctrinal conformity as the two most relevant benchmarks of the alleged religious involvement of the faithful. Exploring the composite nebula of the "cultural Catholics", who claim to a Catholic identity without conforming themselves to the ecclesiastical standards, John Portmann's book offers a vivid and renewed overview of the internal plurality of Roman Catholicism, and enlarges the sociological approach to its normative system." - Professor Daniele Hervieu-Leger, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France, and author of Religion as a Chain of Memory 'An important avenue of inquiry. ... [Portman's] questions are excellent and his accommodating tone is admirable.' Catholic Herald -- Jonathan Wright * Catholic Herald * '... creative and often thought-provoking.' -- David Gibson * Catholic News Service *