January 11, 2001 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Habitat for Humanity: Building Private Homes, Building Public Religion
by Jerome P. Baggett
Appealing to donors’ and volunteers’ religious faith has allowed the grassroots house-building ministry Habitat for Humanity to become one of the world’s most successful and far-reaching charities, writes the author of this new book.
Jerome P. Baggett, an assistant professor of religion and society at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, Calif., explains that since its inception in 1976, the Americus, Ga., charity’s evangelical Christian leaders have called on people’s religious convictions to help their organization expand.
By appealing to potential donors’ and volunteers’ religious beliefs, he writes, Habitat for Humanity has mastered the art of recruiting volunteers and focusing public attention on its mission. Mr. Baggett credits this faith-based development approach as the primary reason for the growth of the organization, which now has more than 1,500 local affiliates in the United States alone.
The influence of celebrity volunteers, he notes, has also helped Habitat for Humanity flourish. Attracting celebrities such as Willie Nelson, Paul Newman, and former President Jimmy Carter, the charity has been able to “stir broad civic participation and commitment to the common good.”
Those celebrities choose to donate their time, money, and energy to Habitat for Humanity, in particular, Mr. Baggett insists, because it serves as “an expression of faith” for them to do so. The organization draws volunteers and donors, he believes, because they see it as a “kind of institutional vessel in which action can be mixed with proclamation, where works are blended with grace.”
Mr. Baggett also examines some of the difficulties that its staff members and volunteers have faced. Class conflicts between the volunteers who build houses and the poor people who receive them, he writes, have proven to be the most common tension points.
Mr. Baggett gathered the majority of the information included in this book from interviews with Habitat for Humanity staff members, volunteers, and beneficiaries of the organization’s efforts.
Publisher: Temple University Press, Attn: Order Department (083-42), 1601 North Broad Street, 305 USB, Philadelphia, Pa. 19122-6099; (800) 447-1656; fax (800) 207-4442; http://www.temple.edu/tempress; 295 pages; $24.95 paper, $74.50 cloth; I.S.B.N. 1-56639-803-7 paper, 1-56639-802-9 cloth.
