{"product_id":"9781250050328","title":"Down in the Chapel : Religious Life in an American Prison","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eDown in the Chapel\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Joshua Dubler\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eA BOLD AND PROVOCATIVE EXPLORATION OF ONE OF THE MOST RELIGIOUSLY VIBRANT PLACES IN AMERICA—A STATE PENITENTIARY\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBaraka, Al, Teddy, and Sayyid: Four black men from South Philly, two Christian and two Muslim, are serving life at Pennsylvania's maximum-security Graterford Prison. All of them work in the prison chapel, where they have regular opportunities to dispute the workings of God, faith, and self-transformation. And then Sayyid disappears.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eDown in the Chapel\u003c\/i\u003e tells the story of one week in Graterford's chapel. We learn how the men at Graterford pass their time, care for themselves, foster relationships, and commune with their makers. We observe Evangelicals, Catholics, Jews, and black Muslims at prayer and study and song. And we watch what happens when an interloping scholar of religion is thrown into the mix with hopes of making sense of it all.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen prisoners turn to God, they are often scorned as \"bad men\" who fake their piety or as \"poor men\" who have no better option than to adopt simplistic and rigid creeds. Joshua Dubler goes beyond these stereotypes to show the religious life of a prison in all its vital complexity. An essential interpretation of faith in an age of mass incarceration, \u003ci\u003eDown in the Chapel\u003c\/i\u003e reveals what prisoners do with religion, and what religion does with them.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Nothing short of amazing.” —\u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Powerful and often surprising.” —\u003ci\u003eThe Christian Science Monitor\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A fascinating look inside an American prison.” —\u003ci\u003eThe Daily Beast\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This book is a masterful and magisterial probing into our new Jim Crow, told with subtle intelligence and genuine compassion. I salute Brother Joshua Dubler!” —\u003ci\u003eCornel West\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9781250050328\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Picador","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":40626155290830,"sku":"9781250050328","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/getimage_99b12ffd-7e09-4791-a5a2-42a936cde7b2.jpg?v=1638669458","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9781250050328","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}