Mark Chaves is the Anne Firor Scott Distinguished Professor of Sociology, and Professor of Religious Studies and Divinity, at Duke University. Professor Chaves specializes in the sociology of religion. Among other projects, he directs the National Survey of Religious Leaders (NSRL), a nationally representative survey of religious leaders conducted in 2019-20, and the National Congregations Study (NCS), a wide-ranging survey of a nationally representative sample of religious congregations conducted in 1998, 2006–07, 2012, and 2018-19. Results from the NCS have helped us to better understand many aspects of congregational life in the United States.

Professor Chaves is the author of American Religion: Contemporary Trends (Princeton University Press, 2017), Congregations in America (Harvard University Press, 2004), Ordaining Women: Culture and Conflict in Religious Organizations (Harvard University Press, 1997), and many articles, mainly on the social organization of religion in the United States. He has chaired the General Social Survey's Board of Overseers, and he has been President of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.

Professor Chaves can be reached at mac58@duke.edu or 919-660-5783. His mailing address is Department of Sociology, Duke University, Box 90088, Durham, NC 27708-0088.

Mark Chaves' Curriculum Vitae

  • 1,600 participating religious leaders representing 70+ Christian denominations, plus Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, and other religious groups
  • Information on demographics, job and career, pastoral activities, health, perspectives on science, political activities, and much more

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