BOOK REVIEWS

BE VERY AFRAID: THE CULTURAL RE-SPONSE TO TERROR, PANDEMICS, ENVI-RONMENTAL DEVASTATION, NUCLEARANNIHILATION, AND OTHER THREATS.By Robert Wuthnow. New York: Oxford Uni-versity Press, 2010. 304 pp. $29.95 cloth.

Every time we board an airplane, or read,watch, or listen to the news, we are remindedof the impending disasters lurking in our in-dividual and collective lives. The threats frompotential terrorist attacks, the ease with whichinfluenza can spread across the globe, and thecontinued threat of nuclear disaster (whetherfrom weapons or meltdown) seem ever andalways present. In Be Very Afraid, however,Robert Wuthnow shows that these threats havea cultural and institutional history that, counterto Freudian assumptions of denial or panic inthe face of such dangers, have developed par-ticular forms of action as a way to address theseexistential fears.

Wuthnow begins with the cultural falloutfrom the nuclear era, including both the fear andpreparation for avoiding either nuclear holo-caust or the worst outcomes of such a con-flagration, that generations of Americans weresocialized to accept as a taken for granted partof life. Subsequent chapters deal with otherthreats such as acts of terrorism, weapons ofmass destruction, panics and pandemics, andenvironmental catastrophe.

While Be Very Afraid is focused on the in-stitutionalization of responses to these fears—what could be called the disaster industry andthe culture it has created, including responseactivities and plans, educational materials, andthe like—I kept wondering about everyday peo-ple who live their lives in the shadow of thesethreats but who do not have the assignmentto “officially” deal with them. How do theylive their lives under the constant threat of po-tential disasters such as those that Wuthnowaddresses? Wuthnow himself suggests that formost people, life just goes on, regardless thepotential doom, but argues that this is neitherfear nor denial, but part of a broader cultural re-sponse of taking some form of action, although

often assigned to official agencies. Perhaps thefocus on the kinds of potential disasters thatthis book emphasizes leads to this conclusion.However, having lived in southern Californiamost of my life, and thus with the constantthreat of natural disasters such as wild fires(there is a wild fire season) and earthquakes, notto mention tsunamis, and of course the catas-trophic, and inevitable “big one” that is guaran-teed to destroy great swaths of the area, thereseems to be a different emphasis in the faceof these threats. Is it denial, action, or maybesomething else?

My hunch is that the cultural response de-pends at least in part on the perception of thedanger on the part of those most effected. To besure, in southern California at least, there is anentire cultural response set organized around“the big one,” but virtually no one in the gen-eral population, save, perhaps, members of theMormon Church, are actually prepared for that,or any, earthquake. Is this denial? It certainlyis not panic, but neither is it action. The threatfrom an impending earthquake is simultane-ously that it will happen, but when it will comeis completely unknown, leading to a “kind ofbut not really” level of active preparation of thepopulace. This then seems a different kind ofthreat than the seasonal natural disasters suchas hurricanes and wild fires, but is also dif-ferent from the threat of a potential terroristattack or nuclear annihilation. How then canwe theorize about this kind of blase response towhat is surely an inevitable disaster? To remainprepared (stockpiling food and water, knowingthe strongest parts of any building in which youmight find yourself) in the face of an inevitable,but date unknown, threat seems to be difficultto maintain for individuals and communities.

Wuthnow does not address religion in asystematic way in Be Very Afraid, other thanat the most macro level, that these are “ex-istential” threats both to ourselves and to thevery existence of societies and the planet, in-cluding how approaches from popular religion(novels like the Left Behind series) or estab-lished religious teachings have presented dif-ferent conceptions of the end of the world. Thedisaster literature, however, is full of referencesto defining and developing resilience, of indi-viduals and communities, in the face of threats

Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (2011) 50(3):631–637C© 2011 The Society for the Scientific Study of Religion

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and the aftermath of disasters, whether naturalor human-made. For me, this raises a signifi-cant question not raised by Wuthnow regardingthe various roles of religion, whether from per-sonal faith or religious congregations, commu-nities or other faith-based organizations. In theterms used in this book, don’t religious beliefsand communities have a significant role(s) inthe cultural response to the various threats topersonal and communal life?

This of course may be beyond the scopeof this book. However, owing to the fact thatsignificant actors within the official responseagencies now all acknowledge the importantrole of religious groups in preparing for dis-asters and for recovery and mitigation of theireffects (for example, FEMA has its own Cen-ter for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Parner-ships) it is a crucial question to ask. That said,given the quantity and variety of threats thatwe face everyday—whether we consciously ac-knowledge them or not—Be Very Afraid is aninsightful and important book that helps us tothink through how we are made to understandand respond to these threats.

RICHARD FLORYUniversity of Southern California

Los Angeles, California

THE NEW HOLY WARS: ECONOMICRELIGION VERSUS ENVIRONMENTALRELIGION IN CONTEMPORARY AMER-ICA. By Robert H. Nelson. University Park,PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2010.xxiv + 388 pp. $24.95 paper.

It is well known that churches, mosques,synagogues, and other religious organizationsplay a central role in the US religious land-scape. It is no surprise, then, that these insti-tutionalized forms of religion also dominatethe social scientific study of religion. Morerecently, however, scholars have been payingmore attention to the noninstitutionalized shapeof contemporary religion. Interesting questionsbegin to arise when we step outside of theseinstitutional locales and search for religion inplaces where we might not otherwise expect.In The New Holy Wars, Robert Nelson ven-tures on such a quest, and explores modern eco-

nomics and the modern environmental move-ment as two competing modern religions, eachof which, he argues, is a reembodied form ofChristianity. Nelson, a trained economist andlong-time analyst for the Department of theInterior, is particularly well suited to explorethe ideological, or “religious,” underpinningsof economics and environmentalism. Drawingfrom this experience, Nelson produces a bookthat is highly readable, well-researched, and,for the most part, able to cash in on its provoca-tive premise.

To make his argument that modern eco-nomics and modern environmentalism are reli-gions, Nelson uses a mix of historical analysis,exegesis of myriad public and private docu-ments, and draws on his own extensive pro-fessional experience in each field. As Nelsonnotes in the preface, readers who are familiarwith his past work on economic religion willfind Part I of the book repetitive, and would dowell to focus their energies on his discussion ofenvironmental religion (Parts II and III).

The dominant theoretical theme runningthrough the book is that modern religion is morediffuse than we like to think. For Nelson, reli-gion does not require god or transcendence, butrather is a more encompassing frame in whichpeople align their values and meanings. Thereasoning behind economics and environmen-talism as types of modern religions is two sidesof the same utopian teleological coin. Mod-ern “economic religion” is rooted in beliefsabout progress, and the ability of humans toproduce an ideal world, by eliminating povertythrough efficiency, productivity, and scientificmanagement. Environmental religion, in con-trast to the spirit of economic progress, is a reli-gious worldview rooted in beliefs about an idealworld (e.g., Eden) that was, and is, being de-stroyed by human progress, and demands thatwe repent and return to “Eden” (pure wilder-ness). In this sense, environmental religion is areaction to the excesses of modern optimism,its control of nature, and its failure to bringabout a modern utopia.

Nelson argues that these implicit secularreligions have their origins in traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs and practices. In this sense,Nelson is able to link these secular mean-ing systems to parallel Christian beliefs and

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practices, making their “religious” aspectsmore noticeable. In Part II, he traces envi-ronmental religion back to the English branchof Calvinism and its emphasis on human cor-ruption and moral urgency. The activist wingof environmental religion, argues Nelson, isnot simply a reaction to economic religion,but has its legacy in Puritan ideals and prac-tices. In addition to having a doctrine of theFall (destruction of the environment), environ-mental religion also has a doctrine of creation(protecting and fostering wilderness). Nelsondraws on environmental prophets such as Muir,Thoreau, and Leopold—as well as more currentpolicy players in the governmental and NGOsectors—to describe environmental religion’sattempt to “re-create the creation.” Because ofthe sins of economic religion, followers of envi-ronmental religion demand that humans repentand restore nature to the impeccable conditionsthat existed before human intervention. Nelsonargues that this is its own spiritual project withthe same moral force and strong teleologicaldedication as economic religion.

A recurrent component running throughevery chapter of the book is Nelson’s attemptto uncover the implicit theological systemsburied beneath these two modern “secular”projects. It is an unmasking of sorts, and abroader effort to bring to the surface the ide-ologies that largely remain unconsidered byparticipants of these “religions” as well as thegeneral public and policymakers. A skepticmight contend that Nelson’s definition of re-ligion is too broad and thus loses its explana-tory power. Sociologists of religion interestedin definitions of religion might find his earlydiscussion about what counts as religion a bitthin, or missing out on the long history of de-bate on invisible religion, or substantive ver-sus functional definitions. Certainly, the argu-ment would have been strengthened by moreengagement with past discussions in this area.But that it not to say that the heart of thebook rests on one definition or another. Rather,the book succeeds, albeit controversially, in itsability to uncover religion in two important,and least expected, areas of contemporary so-ciety. And for that, Nelson has done us a greatservice.

This book should be of interest to a widevariety of audiences, not only to scholars of reli-gion, but also to economists, environmentalists,and the general public interested in religion. Itis highly readable and touches on many rele-vant and controversial issues in contemporarysociety, and concludes (most likely to the cha-grin of economists and environmentalists) thatthese are religions like any other. For scholarsof religion, it reminds us to reconsider the socialmovements of our time, and to devote more en-ergy to uncovering and considering the implicitassumptions buried beneath these movements,many of which are not “secular” at all, but aresaturated with adapted versions of traditionalreligious beliefs and practices.

JUSTIN FARRELLUniversity of Notre Dame

Notre Dame, Indiana

SACRED SPACE: THE QUEST FOR TRAN-SCENDENCE IN SCIENCE FICTION FILMAND TELEVISION. By Douglas E. Cowan.Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2010.xi + 314 pp. $24.95 paper.

What can scholars of religious learn fromthe way transcendence is explored in sciencefiction? Douglas E. Cowan seeks to address thisquestion in Sacred Space: The Quest for Tran-scendence in Science Fiction Film and Tele-vision. Early in the book, Cowan relates thestory of Barbara Adams, who served as an alter-nate juror for the 1996 Whitewater trial whileproudly wearing her Starfleet uniform, mod-eled after those worn on the popular science fic-tion television show Star Trek: The Next Gener-ation. Adams, Cowan points out, saw wearingthe uniform as a duty, and perhaps not an in-appropriate one given Starfleet’s commitmentto justice. In this light, Adams’s behavior isnot dissimilar to that of another juror who maychoose to wear a cross necklace or a Star ofDavid pendant as representative of his or hervalue system. This story neatly encapsulateswhat Cowan is attempting to demonstrate inSacred Space: that science fiction, for many,represents communion with the transcendent.Following his work in Sacred Terror, which

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looked at sociophobics or how what we fearis socially constructed, Cowan’s prime direc-tive in Sacred Space is to examine sociosperia,using science fiction film and television as aprism through which to understand sociocul-tural orientations towards transcendence andthe boundaries of human understanding. In do-ing so, Cowan has written a penetrating andthought-provoking book that both scholars orreligion and science fiction fans will find en-gaging.

Sacred Space is, ostensibly, about the re-lationship between religion and science fic-tion. However, Cowan regularly quotes CarlSagan saying that “Western theology” prob-lematically portrays “a god of a tiny world, andnot a god of a galaxy” (p. 6). Following this,Cowan wisely chooses to avoid simply map-ping particular religious beliefs onto the narra-tives and imagery of the science fiction texts heis examining. In fact, one of the themes runningthrough Sacred Space is that it is not enough topoint out that a particular character is Christ-like, or a particular bit of imagery could beread as representing the Garden of Eden. Thissort of analysis, Cowan suggests, fails the “sowhat” test, providing us with little insight intoour relationship with transcendence. Instead,Cowan chooses to take a step back and explorethe myriad ways in which science fiction of-fers us glimpses of the transcendent outside ofany one particular faith tradition. In doing so,Cowan exposes the narrative processes at theheart of how we explore humankind’s relation-ship with the “unseen order” when we use sci-ence fiction to speculate about what lies at theboundaries of our knowledge, perception, andunderstanding.

For example, Cowan critiques readings ofthe critically acclaimed film Blade Runner thatattempt to map Christian theology directly ontothe narrative while missing that the centraltheme of the film is the broader question aboutwhat it means to be human. These sorts ofphilosophical and theoretical questions makeup the bulk of Sacred Space. Cowan does of-ten point out when we can infer sociologicalinsight from science fiction. These examplesrange from a cogent analysis of different ver-sions of War of the Worlds in which Cowandemonstrates how the portrayal of religion in

the story is informed by concurrent thinkingabout religion and its relationship to the state,to the use of Battlestar Gallactica’s amusinglycraven character Gaius Baltar to illustrate therational choice approach to understanding re-ligion. However, most chapters concentrate onbig-picture philosophical and theoretical ques-tions in which Cowan asks us to allow sciencefiction to shake up our understandings of reli-gion, knowledge, and existence. Is “human ex-ceptionalism” essential to religion and, if so, do“first contact” movies, such as Contact, chal-lenge our faith? What happens when differentgroups have contested visions of the unseen or-der, as among the Bajoran on Star Trek: DeepSpace Nine? How does Battlestar Gallacticademonstrate that there is not “one” way to prac-tice a particular faith, but as many ways as thereare practitioners? By shifting away from con-centrating on particular religious notions andtowards using the extra-terrestrial meaning sys-tems inherent in much science fiction, Cowanis able to explore the processes at work in theselarge theoretical questions about meaning.

At the outset of Sacred Space, Cowan sug-gests he has three goals: the analytic, the peda-gogic, and the invitational. I believe he largelysucceeds in these goals. His reading of sciencefiction texts indeed provides a refreshing anal-ysis that challenges the way scholars often ap-proach issues of meaning and transcendence.Likewise, as a science fiction fan, I often foundmyself appreciating his nuanced interpretationsof some of my favorite films and televisionshows. As a sociologist, however, I wished foreither a more thorough engagement with thesocial scientific literature on religion or mediaor, conversely, greater emphasis on the culturaland structural conditions that contribute to dif-ferent portrayals of religion and transcendencein science fiction. The chapter on War of theWorlds is by far the most penetrating explo-ration of how social conditions contribute tothe portrayal of faith in science fiction. Thisshortcoming, however, detracts little from agenerally engaging book. One could, in fact,easily imagine how an undergraduate special-topics course could be organized aroundSacred Space. No doubt many students wouldenjoy having their thinking about the big onto-logical questions Cowan explores in the book

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challenged through watching and discussingStar Wars and Blade Runner. Even skepticalstudents may find that Cowan’s sophisticatedtake on these films and television shows findscontinuity between topics that may appear, atfirst, to be strange bedfellows. After all, whereelse but a church or a science fiction movie isone so emphatically implored to keep watchingthe skies?

TODD FUISTLoyola University Chicago

Chicago, Illinois

BUDDHAYANA: LIVING BUDDHISM. ByAnil Goonewardene. London: ContinuumPress, 2010. xxii + 298 pp. $27.95 paper.

In Buddhayana, Anil Goonewardene seeksto offer a comprehensive look at Buddhism as aliving tradition. Working to correct misconcep-tions that Buddhism is not a religion, the textoffers highly detailed lessons into all aspectsof Buddhism from philosophy to history, andmorality to practice.

The text’s central thesis is that each ofthe various streams within Buddhism has thesame fundamental understanding and teach-ings. This thesis provides us with the book’s ti-tle: rather than focus on Theravada, Mahayana,Vajrayana, we simply have Buddhayana, thesingular Buddhist tradition with a variety ofdifferent colors.

The book provides a wealth of informa-tion on the Buddhist traditions. From a lengthychapter on the Jataka tales to individual chap-ters devoted to rebirth and rebecoming; litera-ture; and meditation, mindfulness, and retreats,the sheer volume of information in the text isimpressive. Offering examples from each of thevarious schools of Buddhism, the text does suc-ceed in providing its portrait of the relativelyunified foundation to Buddhism without dis-missing the variations entirely.

While the detailed information offered isworthwhile, it is too easily obscured by themany problems with the text. The work itselfcomes across far more as a textbook than aunique book with a unique thesis or as a ver-dant exploration of living Buddhism. Even as atextbook, the work is rife with problems.

The book itself is separated into five parts,which simply fail to come together as a co-hesive whole. It is unfortunate that Part 1 isthe first thing the reader encounters because itrepresents the most problematic portion of thebook. I found the text to be biased, inconsistent,and disjointed.

The issue of bias is apparent from the firstparagraph of the introduction where Gooden-wardene begins:

Buddhism points to a civilization where the empha-sis is not on living in luxurious houses, travelling infast cars, using mobile telephones and microwaveovens and having power over people, but rather ontreating all living beings with respect, generosityand loving kindness.

This is one of the more un-Buddhist state-ments I have come across in any book onreligions. Not only does it generalize non-Buddhists; it insults them. The potentialstrength of the insider’s view is tarnished fromthis small-minded treatment and a poor tone isset for the remainder of the text.

The author also provides a decidedly patri-archal view of Buddhism. While he mentionsthe Buddha’s reluctance to include nuns in theSangha, he glosses over the eight extra rulesfor nuns entirely. The single line “having for-mulated a few extra rules to protect the order”gives no indication of the severity of these rulesor their impact on women in Buddhism. Therule that all nuns, regardless of seniority, areconsidered junior to the most junior monks de-serves at least some attention.

Perhaps the major problem with the text isits inconsistency. The book offers an appendixbut the majority of the Sanskrit and Pali wordsare neither explained in context nor foundin said appendix. Furthermore, Goonewardeneis not consistent with his usage of Sanskritand Pali terms. Though not all that trouble-some in and of themselves, these inconsisten-cies demonstrate an overall paucity of thor-ough proofreading, something the text sorelyneeds.

The latter parts of the text (Parts 2–5) faremuch better. Though still blemished with awk-ward phrasing and inconsistencies, the bulk ofthe text works as an extensive reference on the

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Buddhist tradition as a whole with highly de-tailed sections on the many nuances and con-cepts within the tradition. The strengths ofthis portion of the text lie in its use of pri-mary sources to elucidate Buddhist conceptsand place them in context.

The book’s claim to explore Buddhism as aliving tradition was the primary reason I wantedto review it. Unfortunately, there is little in thetext that lives up to this claim. Even an ex-tended section on the author’s own experienceat a retreat fails to fulfill the potential for thickdescription and a rich, insider’s perspective. Forthose seeking a robust lived experience, I be-lieve the text will disappoint.

Buddhayana tries to be too many things totoo many audiences and thereby falls short onmost accounts. Its thesis argues that the vari-ous Buddhist streams share a common under-standing, but this claim is hardly disputed inBuddhist studies literature, thus this book addslittle of interest to the discussion. Strippedof said thesis, the book could still provide avaluable reference on Buddhism, but has toomany structural failings to be recommended.It assumes a great deal of prior knowledgeyet explains rudimentary Buddhist principles,promises a rich first-hand experience but failsto deliver, and is in desperate need of a com-petent editor. As it stands, the book provides agreat deal of useful information, but as a whole,its deficiencies overshadow its contributions.

NICOLE LIBINMount Royal University

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

ATLAS OF AMERICAN ORTHODOXCHRISTIAN CHURCHES. Edited by AlexeiKrindatch. Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Or-thodox Press, 2011. xiii + 221pp. $19.95paper.

The title of this book is deceiving. Yes, it isan atlas of the 21 national Orthodox ChristianChurches in the United States, but it is morethan that. It is also a fascinating story of theemergence of the Orthodox Christian Churchesin the United States; an overview of each ofthe 21 national Orthodox Churches; a directory

of Orthodox monasteries in the United States;and a set of detailed county-level statistics onparishes, membership, and church attendancefor each of the national churches.

The book begins with a timeline and a verybrief history of the establishment of the Ortho-dox Christian Churches in the United States,written in a style that is engaging and accessi-ble to the general reader but also carefully an-notated for the reader who wants more depth. Ittells a story of the personalities, communities,and forces that shaped Orthodoxy in America.For example, who knew that the first Americanconvert to Orthodoxy was a Virginia aristocratwho gave the young George Washington hisfirst commission in the British army? This isbut one of the interesting facts about the historyof Orthodox Christianity in the United Statesthat is presented here.

The majority of the book is devoted to theatlas. This section begins with state-level mapsthat illustrate the patterns of growth of the Or-thodox Christian Churches over the course ofthe 20th century and into the 21st. The maps uti-lize data on membership and parishes collectedby the U.S. Bureau of the Census in 1906 andin 1936 as well as current data collected byeditor Alexei Krindatch in his 2010 U.S. Na-tional Orthodox Census. Following these mapsis an overview of 21 national Orthodox churchbodies, which details the international govern-ing body of each national church, contact in-formation for their U.S. headquarters, a shortarticle with information about each nationalchurch, and two maps. One state-level map il-lustrates the number of parishes of that nationalchurch in each state and another county-levelmap shows the number of adherents of that na-tional church in each county.

This is followed by a directory of Ortho-dox monasteries in the United States, whichprovides a general introduction into Orthodoxmonasticism in the United States as well asa map of their locations and detailed contactinformation. The final section of the book pro-vides data tables from the 2010 U.S. NationalOrthodox Census. The tables detail, state bystate and then county by county, the numbersof parishes, members, and church attendancestatistics for each national church.

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This book is written for a number of au-diences. Although it is more a reference bookthan a textbook, it will be a useful additionfor a survey of religion course, a course oncomparative religions, or a religion and cul-ture course. The brief overview of the devel-opment of the Orthodox Christian Churches inthe United States will appeal to historians andthose engaged in comparative religious stud-ies as well as general readers who are curiousabout the Orthodox Churches. The maps andinformation about the national churches willappeal to sociologists of religion as well asthose who would like to know a little more, forexample, about the difference between GreekOrthodox and Russian Orthodox. The direc-tory of Orthodox monasteries will be useful forthose who would like to go a little deeper intheir cultural studies of these churches—manyof these monasteries even offer overnight ac-commodations for guests. Finally, the statisti-cal tables at the end of the book are an in-

valuable contribution to the sociology of re-ligion. The county-level data on the numberof parishes, missions, adherents, and atten-dance that were collected by Krindatch fromthe parish leaders will be much more accurateand useful than the estimates typically providedby the national churches and reported in othervenues.

The Orthodox Christian Churches have along and rich religious tradition, a colorful andvibrant ethnic culture, and a resilience that hashelped them to flourish despite hardship and re-ligious persecution. Their stories, told in words,maps, and numbers in this atlas, contributeto our understanding of the cultural diversitythat makes up the religious tapestry of theUnited States.

MARY L. GAUTIERCenter for Applied Research in the Apostolate

Georgetown UniversityWashington, DC