"Cnaan has reported an elegant story about religious congregations
and their role in providing social welfare assistance. The book is
emperically rich, narratively enhanced, and theoretically thick. It
not only documents the role of congregations but also identifies
their limitations as social welfare providers. The book is
informative and catalyzes reflection on the issues. It is grounded
in a large, national, multimethod research project spanning the
United States, with a limited focus in Canada. The weaving together
of these data is impressive. I particularly appreciate the use of
case studies to explicate the array of congregational approaches to
caring. For aficionados of case study method, of which I am one,
these materials are rich, dense, and artfully constructed. The
survey data are also well presented. Together, these data provide a
story that resembles an artfully constructed mosaic."--"Non Profit
and Voluntary Sector Quarterly"
""The Invisible Caring Hand" represents an excellent addition to
studies focused in understanding the role of local churches in
their community."
--"Sociology of Religion"
"This book provides some much needed insight into the way
congregations function in the povision of social
services."--"Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Social
Work"
"An important and timely contribution to our understanding. . .
. Policy makers and church leaders alike will benefit from Cnaan's
groundbreaking investigation of the facts."
--" The Social Policy Journal"
"The first systematic and comprehensive social science
description of social service contributions of diverse religious
congregations. . . . Could not be more timely or useful toacademic
and religious community audiences which now seek credible 'handles'
for accessing and understanding this newly exposed but surprisingly
extensive faith based contribution to human welfare in the United
States."
--Edward Newman, Temple University
"Cnaan's newest book should be required reading for anyone
interestedin American congregational life and faith-based social
service provision in the wake of the welfare reform. It makes many
valuable contributions and will be a sourcebook on congregational
service provisions for some time to come."
--"Social Forces"
"A significant new study . . . Cnaan's book is an encouragement
for churches, many of whom face resistance to their building or
expansion plans from municipalities that don't acknowledge their
value to the community."
--"Leadership Quarterly"
Popular calls to transform our current welfare system and
supplant it with effective and inexpensive faith-based providers
are gaining political support and engendering heated debate about
the separation of church and state. Yet we lack concrete
information from which to anticipate how such initiatives might
actually work if adopted.
Despite the assumption that congregations can help many needy
people in our society, it remains to be seen how extensive they
wish their involvement to be, or if they have the necessary tools
to become significant providers in the social service arena.
Moreover, how will such practices, which will move faith-based
organizations towards professionalization, ultimately affect the
spirit of volunteerism now prevalent in America's religious
institutions?
We lack sufficient knowledge about congregational life and its
ability to play a keyrole in social service provision. The
Invisible Caring Hand attempts to fill that void. Based on in-depth
interviews with clergy and lay leaders in 251 congregations
nationwide, it reveals the many ways in which congregations are
already working, beneath the radar, to care for people in need.
This ground-breaking volume will provide much-sought empirical data
to social scientists, religious studies scholars, and those
involved in the debates over the role of faith-based organizations
in faith-based services, as well as to clergy and congregation
members themselves.
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