Faith on the Avenue : Religion on a City Street

## Abstract Faith on the Avenue looks at just one street in one city—Germantown Avenue in Philadelphia—and the 80-90 communities of faith that are present on it. Sociologist Katie Day draws from her findings of a seven year study to argue that these religious communities are active agents in their local urban contexts, both shaping and being shaped by it. Far from being a benign presence, these congregations are engaging, and contributing to, the urban ecology in myriad ways and to varying degrees. Their agency, analyzed by this study, is captured in vivid images by photographer Edd Conboy. Through both quantitative and ethnographic research, Day analyzes the religious presence of historic churches, small independent Latino and African American congregations, mosques, mega churches and syncretized religious groups within the urban context with a critical clarity, insight and appreciation. For over 300 years, communities of faith along Germantown Avenue have provided spatial and cultural anchors to their neighborhoods, formal and informal human services, subtle contributions to safety and quality of life, bases of social boundary transcendence, and acted as vehicles for establishing identity for new arrivals to the city. This book can change the way faith communities in urban areas are seen by policy makers, students and researchers of cities, and religious institutions themselves. In a revelatory study of Philadelphia's Germantown Avenue, home to a diverse array of more than 90 congregations, Katie Day explores the formative and multifaceted role of religious congregations within an urban environment. In a richly illustrated, revelatory study of Philadelphia's Germantown Avenue, home to a diverse array of more than 90 Christian and Muslim congregations, Katie Day explores the formative and multifaceted role of religious congregations within an urban environment.Germantown Avenue cuts through Philadelphia for eight and a half miles, from the affluent neighborhood of Chestnut Hill to the high crime section known as ''the Badlands.'' The congregations along this route range from the wealthiest to the poorest populations in Philadelphia. Some congregants are immigrants who find safety and support in close fellowship, while others are long-time residents whose congregations are actively involved in providing social services. Cities undergo constant change,and their congregations change with them. As Day observes, some congregations have sprung up in former commercial strips, harboring new arrivals and recreating a sense of home, and others form an anchor for a neighborhood across generations, providing a connection to the past and a hope of stabilityfor the future. Social scientists, urban planners, and politicians have long overlooked the agency of communities of faith in the construction of the social, cultural, economic, and physical reality of life in the city. Drawing on years of research, in-depth interviews with religious leaders and congregants, and a wealth of demographic data, Day demonstrates the powerful influence cities exert on their congregations, and the surprising and important impact congregations have on their urbanenvironments In a richly illustrated, revelatory study of Philadelphia's Germantown Avenue, home to a diverse array of more than 90 Christian and Muslim congregations, Katie Day explores the formative and multifaceted role of religious congregations within an urban environment. Germantown Avenue cuts through Philadelphia for eight and a half miles, from the affluent neighborhood of Chestnut Hill through the high crime section known as "the Badlands." The congregations along this route range from the wealthiest to the poorest populations in Philadelphia. Some congregants are immigrants who find safety and support in close fellowship, while others are long-time residents whose congregations work actively to provide social services. Cities undergo constant change, and their congregations change with them. As Day observes, some congregations have sprung up in former commercial strips, harboring new arrivals and recreating a sense of home, and others form an anchor for a neighborhood across generations, providing a connection to the past and a hope of stability for the future. Drawing on years of research, in-depth interviews with religious leaders and congregants, and a wealth of demographic data, Day demonstrates the powerful influence cities exert on their congregations, and the surprising and important impact congregations have on their urban environments.