The Sixth Sense

Author Interview: Gerardo Marti

Following on from yesterday’s introduction, here is the interview with Gerardo Marti.

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Thanks Gerardo for agreeing to be interviewed for The Sixth Sense. Why don’t you start by telling us a bit more about who you are and what you do?

Anything for you, Sam!  I am a sociology professor at Davidson College, a small liberal arts college in North Carolina. Before that, I taught classes at several colleges, universities, and seminaries including “Race and Religious Faith” and “The Sociology of Hollywood” while serving on pastoral staff at several churches in Southern California.  Classes at Davidson are typically very small, so I have lots of opportunity for rich discussions on intriguing topics with really smart students. I use time outside of class to accomplish my own writing and research, share what I know with scholars and church leaders, and spend time with my family.

Your first book is called ‘A Mosaic of Believers’ (published by Indiana University Press). Tell us a bit about what the book is about and why you wrote it.

I remember an afternoon in June 2001, I had been busy around my office in Los Angeles answering phone calls, returning email and looking through letters and came to an abrupt realization. A steady stream of calls, letters and emails came from church planters, seminary students, sociologists, journalists, pastors of churches of all sizes, church consultants, and professional Christian researchers. In the previous few years, aspects of Mosaic LA appeared in book chapters, articles and newspaper stories.  The lead pastor and other staff members were solicited for conference speaking and church consultations.  Even our lay leaders were accustomed to being spontaneously interviewed at our Sunday services and made themselves available throughout the week for guests wishing to learn more about the church.  Mosaic had become an important resource for a new generation of church leaders.

I realized I was at the center of this unique phenomenon. A Mosaic of Believers gives an inside view on how this church pursues innovation while negotiating ethnic and racial differences along the way. Mosaic LA is still one of the most creative and diverse churches in the United States. Before the book, I and other church leaders always answered questions openly, honestly, and with as much detail we had available.  Yet, the hunches we carried with us in day-to-day ministry had not been examined systematically.  The in-depth research carried out for the book is the most extensive ever done.

Is there a specific group of people you’d really like to see having a copy of this book in their hands?

You may know that sociologists once believed that modern technology would kill religion.  They were wrong.  Now, no one denies the continued strength and importance of religion. If you want to understand the relationship between religion and social change, you should read this book.

Why should anyone part with their hard earned cash and precious time to read your book? Sell it to us!

One reviewer wrote, “Clearly, Mosaic is spiritually compelling. Its members are on fire with their faith…. Its leaders take risks that most pastors would not dare.”  A Mosaic of Believers gives a close look at a church with a vibrancy most people find hard to believe — and then often wish they could experience for themselves.

Are there any new projects you’re working on now?

I’m thrilled to have a new book coming out this summer called Hollywood Faith: Holiness, Prosperity and Ambition in a Los Angeles Church.  http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu/acatalog/Hollywood_Faith.html  It’s about negotiating the tension between pursuing faith and pursuing fame: How do people pursuing careers in Hollywood’s entertainment industry maintain their religious devotion without sacrificing their career goals? It’s the first book to provide an in-depth look at religion among the “creative class” and previews a possible future for religion in the 21st century.

What books/magazines/websites are you reading at the moment and, more specifically, what would you recommend?

There’s a fascinating blog on religion in American history found at http://usreligion.blogspot.com/.  There’s always an interesting discussion happening at the Generous Orthodoxy Think Tank http://www.generousorthodoxy.net/thinktank/.  Then, of course, I keep up with the world through your blog, The Sixth Sense.

On books, I’m reading David Smilde’s Reason to Believe: Cultural Agency in Latin American Evangelicalism, Brian Cowan’s The Social Life of Coffee, and Drew Gilpin Faust’s This Republic of Suffering.  I’m reading some fiction as well, including Evidence of Things Unseen by Marianne Wiggins, Birds without Wings by Louis de Berneires, and The Year of Jubilo by Howard Bahr.

Thanks again for your time, Gerardo. We really appreciate you taking the time to answer our questions.

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If you are based in the UK you can buy the book here. If you’re from the US you can get your hands on it here.

Any thoughts, comments, or questions?