In the course of a lifetime

by Michele Dillon

"In the Course of a Lifetime provides an unprecedented portrait of the dynamic role religion plays in the everyday experiences of Americans over the course of their lives. The book draws from a unique sixty-year-long study of close to two hundred Protestant and Catholic men and women who were born in the 1920s and interviewed in adolescence, and again in the 1950s, 1970s, 1980s, and late 1990s. Woven throughout with rich and intimate life stories, the book presents and analyzes a wide range of data from this study on the participants' religious and spiritual journeys. Michele Dillon and Paul Wink explore how such factors as early life experiences, personality traits, marriage and parenthood, mid-life, retirement, and adversity influenced the participants' religious engagement. In turn, they ask how religion and spirituality relate to well-being, community participation, political attitudes, health, depression, life satisfaction, and the fear of death. A testament to the vibrancy of rel