Bio: (1950-) American sociologist. Nancy Ammerman holds a Ph.D. from Yale and has taught at Emory University and Boston University. Throughout her career, she studied sociology of religion. In Bible Believers: Fundamentalists in the Modern World (1987), Ammerman explores conservatism and fundamentalism in an independent Baptist church. The study of Baptist churches and the sociological and historical reasons for their divisions continues in the book Baptist Battles (1990). She later studied many American Protestant congregations and sects. She is known for the description of the event known as the “Waco siege” in Texas when the representatives of the Branch Davidians cult clashed with the American federal authorities. In her books, she explores how religion affects the daily lives of religious people and how they, through religion, find meaning in their lives.

Main works

Bible Believers: Fundamentalists in the Modern World (1987);

Baptist Battles: Social Change and Religious Conflict in the Southern Baptist Convention (1990);

Southern Baptists Observed (1993);

Work, Family, and Religion in Contemporary Society (1995);

Congregation and Community (1997);

Pillars of Faith: American Congregations and their Partners (2005); 

Everyday Religion: Observing Modern Religious Lives (2006);

Sacred Stories, Spiritual Tribes: Finding Religion in Everyday Life (2013);

Studying Lived Religion (2021).