Inside Sunday school: Cultural and religious logics at work at the intersection of religion and education

The dominant narrative about mainstream religious life in late 20 th century America was one of mainline religion on the decline. This narrative, however, was created by religion scholars without looking very closely one of the backbone institutions of American congregations: the Sunday school. By taking the Sunday school into account, we see that congregations are not only religious institutions, but also settings for education. As hybrid organizations, congregations are sites where the logics of schooling and religion are both in operation. When we recognize this hybrid nature of congregational activity, we can turn to additional bodies of literature and ways of understanding organizations.; This comparative, ethnographic study looks inside three congregations and their Sunday schools. Data from interviews, observations, and printed materials are brought to bear on the guiding question: In what ways does religious tradition make a difference in the way a congregation constructs and understands its program of religious education? Extending scholarship from the history of education, I argue that shared cultural expectations about two things---where "real" learning happens and what congregations are supposed do---has led to similarities in the way congregations organize their programs of religious education, regardless of variation in faith tradition. At the same time, evidence from the study shows that theology still matters; congregations' understandings of what religious education is for and what it can do are clearly aligned with their religious tradition. Cultural factors impact how religious education is constructed, but religious factors impact what it means.; Scholarship in the fields of religion and education tends to assign organizations to one sector or another, but not all organizations fit so neatly into just one social category. Furthermore, the groups of people who populate these organizations live their lives moving among multiple sectors every day; as a result, particular logics or ways of thinking that generally operate in one social arena find their way into another. Using the case of the congregational Sunday school, this study shows how the logics of schooling and religion are each transported across the boundaries of their home sectors and make their mark in new territory.