Djupe and Gilbert investigate how membership in organized religious bodies shapes the political life of members.

Paul A. Djupe is Associate Professor of Political Science at Denison University in Granville, Ohio. He is the coauthor of Religious Interests in Community Conflict: Beyond the Culture Wars, The Prophetic Pulpit: Clergy, Churches, and Communities in American Politics, and Religious Institutions and Minor Parties in the United States, as well as articles on religion and politics appearing in such journals as American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Political Research Quarterly, Politics and Religion, and Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.

1. A theory of religious influence on political behavior; 2. Social networks and church structure: congregations, small groups, informal contacts; 3. Clergy influences and religious commitment reconsidered: reconciling old and new influences on political behavior; 4. Church-centered influences on public opinion; 5. The resourceful believer: generating civic skills in church; 6. The construction of political mobilization in churches; 7. Present but not accounted for: churches, institutional treatment, and gender differences in civic resources; 8. Conclusion.