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Building Cultures of Trust New

Emory University Studies in Law and Religion Book Series

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  • Format: Book
  • Published: 2010, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
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September 11 and conspiratorial thinking, the economic crisis, banks and lenders, mistrust of government as a rescue agency, mortgage-lending to foreclosures, retirement accounts, the exploited and exploitable public. All of these are points of mistrust within our cultures today. In his new book, Building Cultures of Trust, CSLR Senior Fellow Martin E. Marty addresses this pressing issue and looks at practical ways we can begin to rebuild trust. Marty’s approach is to take a practical outlook, rather than attempt to talk about unreachable, utopian ideas.  “In what will become a virtual case study, I want to concentrate on problems of trust in discourse, in human communication, using the example of discourse among and between scientists and religious thinkers, remaining aware, of course, that many people are both scientists and religious people,” Marty said. Although he is not looking to resolve conflict among what he calls the “science-and–religion front,” his book offers a way to reach beyond the boundaries of the respective fronts and begin an honest conversation between them.  This book is an important piece for anyone living in our society, as it addresses those fundamental things that so often divide us from our neighbors.

About the Author: Martin E. Marty

MARTIN E. MARTY is Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago. A renowned church historian and author, he was in residence at Emory for the 2003-2004 academic year to co-direct The Child in Law, Religion, and Society, and to host the CSLR Family Forum Series. Marty taught for 35 years at the University of Chicago, where the Martin Marty Center has been founded to promote "public religion" endeavors. Time magazine has called him the "most influential interpreter of religion" in the nation. Marty is the author of more than 50 books, including a National Book Award winner and several classics in the field of American religious history. He recently retired as senior editor of The Christian Century and is past president of the American Academy of Religion, the American Society of Church History, and the American Catholic Historical Association. He has served on two U.S. Presidential Commissions and was director of both the Fundamentalism Project of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Public Religion Project at the University of Chicago. Marty's honors include the National Humanities Medal, the National Book Award, the Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the University of Chicago Alumni Medal, the Distinguished Service Medal of the Association of Theological Schools, and the Order of Lincoln Medallion (Illinois' top honor).

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