Center for Religion & Civic Culture

Welcome to our new site!

Welcome to the new website of the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture.  We hope that you enjoy the new look and improved access to resources and information. We are also launching “The Wire,” our collective blog that

Transmission of Religion Across Generations

The Transmission of Religion Across Generations project examines patterns of religious experience and the consequences of these patterns for individual and family well-being among participants in USC’s 35-year Longitudinal Study of Generations. The John Templeton has provided grant funding

Survivors of the Rwandan Genocide

Donald Miller has traveled to Rwanda on numerous occasions to conduct research with survivors of the 1994 genocide. He and Lorna Touryan Miller have conducted numerous interviews and trained survivors to initiate their own oral history projects. Past projects

Pentecostal and Charismatic Research Initiative

This initiative, funded by the John Templeton Foundation, provides a scholarly framework to investigate Pentecostalism and the various charismatic renewal movements that have emerged in Roman Catholicism, various Orthodox traditions, and mainline Protestantism. The program $3.5 million in grants

Jewish Community Organizing to Save Darfur

The growing movement within the American Jewish community to end the Darfur genocide presents an opportunity to examine religion’s civic role and the interaction between congregations and activists to address social issues. The USC Casden Institute for the Study

Exploring Community, Worth and Life on the Slabs

Slab City, an informal community built on the remains of a Marine base near the Salton Sea, is the location for a new project led by Matt Gainer. Gainer, research associate and director of the USC Digital Library, will

Los Angeles Dream Center

The Dream Center is a Pentecostal ministry and a significant provider of social outreach services in Los Angeles. The Dream Center includes over 200 ministry and outreach programs that reach more than 40,000 people each week. These programs serve

Religion, Identity, and Global Governance Program

CRCC is a partner in the RIGG project, a three-year initiative (2006-09) from the Henry R. Luce Initiative on Religion and International Affairs. The Luce Foundation sought to increase America's capacity for international understanding with new focus on deepening

Global Pentecostalism

Donald Miller, executive director of the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture and director of the USC School of Religion, co-wrote "Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement" with Tetsunao Yamamori.

Finding Faith: The Spiritual Quest of the Post-Boomer Generation

Finding Faith: The Spiritual Quest of the Post-Boomer Generation Rutgers University Press, 2008 Richard Flory and Donald E. Miller examine the "expressive communalism" and the spiritual orientation of Christians under the age of 40.

Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement

Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement University of California Press, 2007 Donald E. Miller and Tetsunao Yamamori explore the rapid growth of Pentecostal social ministries in twenty countries. The book includes a DVD with interviews and footage

Innovative Programs Servicing Homeless and Street-Living Children Around the World

A Compilation of Best-Practice Models from Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Nairobi Authors Kristin M. Ferguson, Donna Spruijt-Metz, Grace R. Dyrness, Donald E. Miller, Neela Dabir, and Karl Dortzbach, explore how faith-based organizations use faith and religion to intervene in the

Engaged Spirituality: Spirituality and Social Transformation in Mainstream American Religious Traditions

This report by Gregory C. Stanczak and Donald E. Miller summarizes findings from a research project funded by the Governance and Civil Society unit of the Ford Foundation. Download PDF

Orphans of the Rwanda Genocide

"When I think about my dear ones who passed away, a song arises in me. I sing it; it is a grief song." --An orphan survivor The United Nations has designated April 7, 2004 as an "International Day of Reflection"

Engaged Spirituality 2002: Spirituality and Social Transformation in Mainstream American Religious Traditions

This report by Gregory C. Stanczak and Donald E. Miller is the result of a one year study on the ways in which individual spirituality may be understood in relation to social transformation. A detailed report supplement (PDF) is also

Immigrant Religion in the City of Angels

Donald E. Miller, Jon Miller, and Grace Roberts Dyrness report on two years of research on immigrant religious congregations. Download PDF

Power, Justice, Faith: Conversations with the IAF

Donald E. Miller, Roger Gustafson, Timothy Sato offer selections Download PDF

Los Angeles Metropolitan Churches: Organizing Congregations to Create Change

Donald E. Miller and Timothy Sato provide an overview of a congregation-based organizing effort in South Los Angeles. Download PDF

Christians Supporting Community Organizing: A New Voice for Change Among Evangelical, Holiness, and Pentecostal Christians (September

Timothy Sato and Donald E. Miller report on the activities of Christians Supporting Community Organizing. Download PDF