On Purpose is a sociological investigation on the meaning of life. While life's purpose is the theme of many self-help books, philosophical texts, and religious tracts, it is rarely addressed from a sociological perspective. Froese explores how people talk about, think about, and conceptualize the meaning of their lives. We instinctually imagine a moral meaning to our lives, in personal narratives as well as timeless cosmologies. A sociological analysis of this fact yields an additional fact: that how we think about the purpose of life is socially determined. Specifically, Froese investigates how the idea of life's purpose is shaped by historical trends, group attachments, norms of "self," cultural tempos, and power dynamics. The book is structured around a series of questions posed to the reader. Instead of collapsing the meaning of life into a single authoritative answer, as self-help, religious, and philosophical perspectives often do, Froese deconstructs each question to reveal the social pathways that guide people to distinctive answers. Empirical evidence from observations, interviews, and surveys guide the book's conversation. In the end, On Purpose renders a consistent picture of the fact that life's purpose can only be imagined within social contexts. These determine who will be a True believer, who will benefit from self-help, who will reach nirvana, and who will descend into nihilism. With that in mind, enlightenment is not guaranteed. Instead, On Purpose encourages the reader to consider the meaning of her own life in relationship to this plurality of possibilities. The moral of the book is not that life has some ultimate meaning or no meaning at all, but rather that a purpose-driven life has always been a collective project.

Despite all the hype surrounding the "New Atheism," the United States remains one of the most religious nations on Earth. In fact, 95% of Americans believe in God-a level of agreement rarely seen in American life. The greatest divisions in America are not between atheists and believers, or even between people of different faiths. What divides us, this groundbreaking book shows, is how we conceive of God and the role He plays in our daily lives. America's Four Gods draws on the most wide-ranging, comprehensive, and illuminating survey of American's religious beliefs ever conducted to offer a systematic exploration of how Americans view God. Paul Froese and Christopher Bader argue that many of America's most intractable social and political divisions emerge from religious convictions that are deeply held but rarely openly discussed. Drawing upon original survey data from thousands of Americans and a wealth of in-depth interviews from all parts of the country, Froese and Bader trace America's cultural and political diversity to its ultimate source-differing opinions about God. They show that regardless of our religious tradition (or lack thereof), Americans worship four distinct types of God: The Authoritative God-who is both engaged in the world and judgmental; The Benevolent God-who loves and helps us in spite of our failings; The Critical God-who catalogs our sins but does not punish them (at least not in this life); and The Distant God-who stands apart from the world He created. The authors show that these four conceptions of God form the basis of our worldviews and are among the most powerful predictors of how we feel about the most contentious issues in American life. This updated edition includes a new preface and afterword in which the authors reflect on their goals in writing this book, and explore trends that have developed since the initial publication. America's Four Gods provides an invaluable portrait of how we view God and therefore how we view virtually everything else.