This book provides a solid introduction to the study of intentional communities and religious vitality literatures. The writing is accessible to undergraduates and public audiences, and offers new insight into the contemporary religious landscape.

Review of Religious Research

Dr. Killian brings first rate research to bear to develop a badly needed nuanced model of religious vitality. His exploration of CICs not only strengthens our understanding of these kinds of groups, but also provides an ideal place to explore the vitality in all of its daily complexity. This text is immediately indispensable for my courses and my own research.

Josh Packard

Throughout the history of Christianity, we find deeply devoted religious people who live out their convictions apart from ‘the world’ yet still in community with like-minded others. Killian takes us into two deeply religious communities, both of which consist of devoted Christians who bond together without marriage or kinship to live out their most sacred values. His comparative analysis reveals the joys and challenges of creating an authentically loving and spiritually missional community in the midst of a culture that challenges this way of life.

Gerardo Martí, Davidson College

Mark Killian’s new book vividly illustrates the significance of Christian Intentional Communities, both for the broader comparative study of religion and for social movements seeking to thrive amid the conditions of late modernity. Through intimate fieldwork with two urban communities in Midwestern America, he teaches us a great deal about how institutional struggles, attachment to place, and social relations figure in religious vitality.

James S. Bielo, Miami University