The Political Influence of Churches

Paul A. Djupe is Associate Professor of Political Science at Denison University in Granville, Ohio. He is the coauthor of Religious Interests in Community Conflict: Beyond the Culture Wars, The Prophetic Pulpit: Clergy, Churches, and Communities in American Politics, and Religious Institutions and Minor Parties in the United States, as well as articles on religion and politics appearing in such journals as American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, Politics and Religion, and Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. Christopher P. Gilbert is Professor of Political Science at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. He has written extensively on Minnesota politics, third parties in the United States, and the religious dimensions of American political behavior.

• 1. A theory of religious influence on political behavior; 2. Social networks and church structure: congregations, small groups, informal contacts; 3. Clergy influences and religious commitment reconsidered: reconciling old and new influences on political behavior; 4. Church-centered influences on public opinion; 5. The resourceful believer: generating civic skills in church; 6. The construction of political mobilization in churches; 7. Present but not accounted for: churches, institutional treatment, and gender differences in civic resources; 8. Conclusion.

'Djupe and Gilbert have written an important book on the impact of religion on the politics of individual church members. Rather than viewing religion from afar - as another characteristic held by individuals or another organization to which some individuals belong - they look at it from the inside. They consider the structure of life in churches, and the networks of relationships that connect church members to each other and to the world outside the church. This produces a very sophisticated treatment of the contingent circumstances under which churches make a difference in the politics of church members. By giving primary attention to the patterns of social interaction and communication within churches, the authors produce a masterful analysis that is reminiscent of the classical treatment given to labor union politics by Lipset, Trow, and Coleman in Union Democracy. Political science needs more studies like this one.' Robert Huckfeldt, University of California, Davis