November 15, 2012
Through the lens of language studies, Wuthnow (sociology, Princeton Univ.; Boundless Faith) explores how "reasonable" educated Americans negotiate faith in the face of "unreasonable" concepts such as prayer, heaven, and salvation. Through interviews with believers of different genders, ages, races, and religious backgrounds, he finds that believers balance faith and reason through linguistic approaches by which they explain their beliefs without coming across as, in the words of Ted Haggard, "spooky or weird." Wuthnow notes that when believers talk about heaven they nearly always admit uncertainty about what it is like or who will go there, rather than appearing unreasonable or naive by asserting certainty. Wuthnow distances himself from atheist critics such as Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins, instead aligning himself with scholars of language such as Susan Harding (The Book of Jerry Falwell: Fundamentalist Language and Politics). VERDICT Some readers, as with this reviewer, may feel that Wuthnow occasionally comes off as condescending toward believers, repeatedly expressing his amazement that educated people could believe in prayer or divine atonement for sin. Nonetheless, this academic exploration of American religious belief will be of interest to college and university students and faculty in religious or language studies, or sociology.--Jennifer Stout, Virginia Commonwealth Univ. Lib., Richmond
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