Building Cultures of Trust

The presidential election of 2000, the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, and the wars ins Afghanistan and Iraq called into serious question for many individuals the degree to which trust in political and religious leaders has been completely broken. In his thoughtful and probing study, Marty, the dean of American religious thinkers, examines some of the reasons that mistrust is fostered in society and then suggests ways that trust can become a more evident feature of society, enriching our lives. Rather than striving to construct a utopian state in which everyone trusts everyone else completely, Marty suggests a more incremental approach in which individuals in various cultures and sub-cultures, such as science and religion, begin to build trust step-by-step through conversations about the nature of human communication and the human self. Open flow of communication is vital, for Marty, to the development of trust as part of the goal of building cultures in a complex society. Part of the Emory University Studies in Law and Religion series, Marty's little book offers hopeful suggestions for restoring trust in a world sorely lacking it. (July)