Habitat For Humanity: Building Private Homes, Building Public Religion

by Jerome Baggett

Temple University Press, 2001
Paper: 978-1-56639-803-9 | Cloth: 978-1-56639-802-2
Library of Congress Classification BV4407.63.B34 2000
Dewey Decimal Classification 267.13

ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC

ABOUT THIS BOOK

Habitat for Humanity®, a grassroots house-building ministry founded in 1976 by evangelical Christians, is one of the best-known and most widely popular nonprofit organizations in operation today. With approximately 1500 local Habitat affiliates in the United States and more than 85,000 homes primarily by mobilizing concerned citizens, who include about 250,000 American volunteers each year.

The author tells the story of Habitat's development and the special fervor it evokes among volunteers and those for whom it builds houses. Through interviews with staff, he also provides a look into the organizational dynamics of Habitat, a non-profit whose religious mission for social change is inevitably affected by the instrumental, bottom-line orientation of the state and the market.

Baggett argues that Habitat is an examine of a particular social form of religion, the paradenominational organization, that is uniquely adapted to the climate of the modern world. It is one of the vital forms that voluntarism takes today.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Jerome P. Baggett is Assistant Professor of sociology at Carroll College in Helena, Montana.

REVIEWS

"Jerome Baggett has taken a searching look at Habitat for Humanity®. Along with striking success he has found significant problems arising from differences in social class between volunteers and homeowners, the impingement of the market, and the individualism of the volunteer culture. His book is a major contribution to the self-understanding of Habitat and of religious volunteer groups in America generally. Those interested in civil society and the public role of religion will find this book indispensable."
—Robert N. Bellah, co-author of Habits of the Heart

"This is an excellent book on Habitat for Humanity®—its vision, its appeal to volunteers, its construction of 'real religion.' Baggett brings to this analysis a theoretical grasp of the role of parachurch organizations, an appreciation for how building houses can take on religious and civic meaning for volunteers, and a sensitivity to the many Americans today looking for ways to become engaged in a hands-on, service-oriented activity. The book is both informative and a genuine pleasure to read."
—Wade Clark Roof, J.F. Rowny Professor of Religion and Society, University of California at Santa Barbara

"Jerome Baggett's Habitat for Humanity® is an original and ground-breaking sociological study. In this first in-depth sociological investigation of Habitat for Humanity®, Baggett also provides keen insights into voluntarism and faith-based special purpose groups which engage in social service. He asks: How does faith embrace and challenge our common citizen ideals? For, as the subtitle of the book suggests, building public religion should also get linked to our public citizenship together."
—John A. Coleman, S.J., Casassa Professor of Social Values, Loyola Marymount University, and author of Public Discipleship: Para-Church Groups and Citizenship

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

1. The Voluntary Sector and American Religion

2. The Founding Vision of Habitat for Humanity®

3. Habitat's Organizational Structure and Growth

4. Citizenship and Its Class-Based Distortions

5. Citizenship and the Instrumental Logic of the Market

6. Habitat's Construction of "Real Religion"

7. Religious Pluralism and Spiritual Selves within Habitat

8. Building Upon a Sturdy Foundation

Appendix A: Affiliate Covenant: A Basic Covenant between Habitat for Humanity® International and an Approved Habitat Affiliate Project

Appendix B: Steps to Affiliation

Appendix C: Habitat's Local Affiliate Structure

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index

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