The University of Chicago Martin Marty Center

The Religion, Culture, and Family Project

The Religion, Culture, and Family Project, directed by Don S. Browning, Alexander Campbell Professor Emeritus of Ethics and the Social Sciences, and funded by a grant from the Lilly Endowment, Inc., has devoted nearly a decade to ecumenical conversation among scholars, practitioners, and public policy experts who take seriously the historical and contemporary influences of religion on both the vitality and the varied forms of family life. The project has produced twelve books, a series of conferences, and major media projects on theological, ethical, and institutional resources of the Christian and Jewish traditions for understanding the family in its relations to law, economics, and culture, as well as religion. In winter 2001, the Project aired a three-part PBS documentary, "Marriage: Is It Just a Piece of Paper?" which analyzes the meaning and history behind contemporary wedding practices.