Nurturing Happiness: How Religion Shapes Emotional Practice by RobertWuthnow, New York: Oxford University Press, 2025. x + 232 pp. $29.99 (paperback). ISBN: 978‐0‐19‐780704‐0

In Nurturing Happiness: How Religion Shapes Emotional Practice, the relationship of faith and religiosity with happiness in the context of the United States is explored, complicating the straightforward relationship between religion and happiness. Given that religion is one of the major institutions that shapes people's views of happiness, in relation to meaning and purpose in life, to relationships with God and other people or to particular virtues and values, author Robert Wuthnow uses the concept of ‘emotional practice’ to complicate this relationship, illustrating how American faith leaders and communities have developed the way their communities understood and practiced happiness, and how these different ways of knowing and doing the practice of happiness affected the ways in which communities respond to their current milieu. Wuthnow describes this phenomenon in various aspects of American society, sandwiched between an introduction chapter and concluding chapter. In Chapter 1, Wuthnow discusses how religious authorities during the colonial period in America's history shaped emotional practice of earthly happiness by situating it in relation to or even in opposition to the more superior heavenly joy, as seen in three broad modes or categories: the denial of the possibility of earthly happiness; acknowledging the possibility of earthly happiness but downplaying such happiness; or possibly attaining earthly happiness if one engages in virtuous living. The author showed that ‘carnal frivolity and sensual mirth, let alone licentious pleasure, were incompatible with Christian piety, but a godly person could reasonably seek joy in contemplating God's blessings and supporting the church … Earthly happiness was closely associated with moral living, but it was also coming to be regarded as mannerly, healthy, conducive to inner peace, and favorable to domestic tranquility’ (47). In his next chapter, Wuthnow examines the revival era, where the author tackles how faith communities handled and managed various emotions together, such as exuberance, conviviality and worship. Wuthnow further shows how emotions are social practices, and how the locations and situations can facilitate certain kinds of emotional practice, such as very strong exuberant emotions or even the more tempered worshipful joy, by looking at the phenomenon of camp meetings, which were crucial to the Second Great Awakening of religious revival, contributing to the creation of faith communities even before official churches or ministers were set up. Chapter 3 then delves into festivities during the industrial age, specifically ladies' fairs, which were one of the most significant ways that women contributed to their congregation during a time when women were otherwise excluded from church leadership in the early 19th century. Wuthnow asserts that the study of church fairs to the study of emotional practice is important due to its three contributions: First, church fairs reflect how the authority that influences how emotions are expressed is rarely singular or centralized; second, this dispersed authority ‘varies to the extent with which it is coordinated or contested’; third, the dispersion of authority ‘opens the possibilities for multiple emotions to be expressed and at the same time necessitates improvisation in the norms governing those modes of expression’ (73). In Chapter 4, the author explores the concept of durable happiness, especially in relation to work and service, a kind of happiness that people could rely on no matter what happened in their lives. Wuthnow shows how useful service was employed in the early 20th century to attain durable happiness. Such a connection between productive work, charity, social reform and kind action was made with the concept of happiness that was believed to be lasting, persuading people that the ‘quiet contentment’ they experienced in doing such acts was the most enduring kind of happiness that ought to be pursued. Chapter 5 shifts to the mid to late 20th century in exploring the relevance of play in faith communities in relation to happiness and emotional practice, particularly as a way of achieving self-transcendence. This connection was developed in how play was conceptualized: ‘culturally situated … located in a way that added to its symbolic significance’ (123). While difficult to manage, religious authorities took some form of control here by ‘rebranding the church as a place to play’ and ‘rediscovering teachings about happiness in their own traditions’ (124). As a foil to Chapter 5, Chapter 6 explores the idea of finding joy through hard work and discipline: ‘the difficulty with play as a pleasurable way of relating to the sacred is that play … is free form, spontaneous, given to creativity and improvisation, and therefore the kind of thing that is hard for any faith community to manage … an alternative is to argue that true spirituality can only be pursued by working at it. Working at it implies following the rules, gaining the skill, and spending time to get better and better at what one is doing to achieve a relationship with the sacred … like other emotional practices, these spiritual practices are composed of rules and skills that shape how practitioners connect their faith with their emotional lives’ (146). In contrast to the first chapters that dealt with widely accepted ways that people agreed on to pursue happiness and be faithful at the same time, Chapter 7 talks about illicit pursuits of happiness and their effects on a faith community, especially in terms of trust. The chapter discusses several scandals within different churches and how that affected the practice of organized religion and the emotional practice of the community. Overall, this book is an important addition to the sociology of religion and understanding how religion affects a faith community's understanding of happiness, as well as how it is regulated and practiced. The text would be a welcome addition to a course on the sociology of religion at the graduate level, as it does require a particular knowledge of some concepts in the discipline to understand more deeply the ideas being presented in the book. While it is focused on the context of the United States, it would be a good way to invite reflection on the same field in various other contexts.