Since its inception in the 1960s, research on premature (i.e., pre-retirement) clergy attrition from congregational ministry has focused identifying factors that precipitate and mitigate exits, while rates at which leave have been inconsistently tracked. The literature is peppered with claims of alarmingly high departure; however, these studies lack strong empirical support. evidence, fragmenta...

Abstract The paper examines doctrinal and political reasons to explain why the Ancient Greek religion did not feature a distinct class of professional priests as suppliers religious goods. Doctrinal relate worshiping multitude powerful anthropomorphic gods with flawed characters; absence founder scripture; lack doctrine code moral behaviour piety manifested mass participation in rituals. These ...

As Du Bois observed a century ago, the White Church as an institution is largely associated with maintaining status quo of racial stratification rather than offering progressive force. To analyze rhetoric predominantly clergy on race, I sample sermons from congregations in Charlottesville, VA following 2017 supremacist rally (N = 87 38 congregations). find that draw individualistic, other-world...