Richard Wood, Associate Professor of Sociology and founding director of the Southwest Institute on Religion & Civil Society, both at the University of New Mexico, will lead the dialogue at the monthly meeting of the NM Interfaith Dialogue on Wednesday, May 17 from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. at the Islamic Center of New Mexico, 1100 Yale Blvd SE, Albuquerque.

Richard L. Wood teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the sociology of religion, social theory, democratic organizing, and ethnographic research methods. During his sabbatical, he is conducting research around the country on faith-based activities in the public sphere.

Wood’s scholarly expertise focuses on the cultural and institutional bases of democratic life, especially those linked to faith communities. His early work studied congregation-based community organizing in low-income neighborhoods of the United States, culminating in Faith in Action: Religion, Race, and Democratic Action in America (University of Chicago Press 2002); the book received the 2003 award for the outstanding book in the sociology of religion from the American Sociological Association.

Tags: faith in action, interfaith