Robert Wuthnow, a sociology professor at Princeton University, continues to be a reliable researcher regarding the practice of religion in the United States. The God Problem examines the tension between these two realities: the citizens of the United States are highly educated, and also one of the most religious. How do Americans manage the not-always-cozy relationship between faith and reason? How do Americans reconcile the claims of faith with the claims of science? Using material from over 200 interviews, Wuthnow observes the variety of ways that such reconciliation occurs. Wuthnow highlights that understanding talk, listening closely to the use of language, reveals how people of faith sustain religious commitments in a world ruled by rationality. Pastors may want to read this book to understand the internal faith world of congregants. Or, to better understand how they arrive at their own faith claims.

Reviewed by Tim Shapiro