Listening, religion, and democracy in contemporary Boston: God's ears

This is a study of religious practices of listening in the Boston area.

Through ethnographic study of a variety of religious communities, with an extensive focus on Quaker listening, William Young argues that religious practice shapes our habits of listening by creating a plurality of regimes of listening in across Boston's landscape.

These practices, moreover, cultivate specific dispositions, as well as distinct patterns of religious and democratic virtues.

Through these dispositions and virtues, religious listening facilitates a diverse range of forms of democratic engagement, and varied contributions to the pursuit of social justice.

Young provides an innovative interpretation of these religious practices.