Down in the Chapel: Religious Life in an American Prison

by Joshua Dubler

A bold and provocative interpretation of one of the most religiously vibrant places in America—a state penitentiary

Baraka, Al, Teddy, and Sayyid—four black men from South Philadelphia, two Christian and two Muslim—are serving life sentences at Pennsylvania's maximum-security Graterford Prison. All of them work in Graterford's chapel, a place that is at once a sanctuary for religious contemplation and an arena for disputing the workings of God and man. Day in, day out, everything is, in its twisted way, rather ordinary. And then one of them disappears.

Down in the Chapel tells the story of one week at Graterford Prison. We learn how the men at Graterford pass their time, care for themselves, and commune with their makers. We observe a variety of Muslims, Protestants, Catholics, and others, at prayer and in study and song. And we listen in as an interloping scholar of religion tries to make sense of it all.

When prisoners turn to God, they are often scorned as con artists who fake their piety, or pitied as wretches who cling to faith because faith is all they have left. Joshua Dubler goes beyond these stereotypes to show the religious life of a prison in all its complexity. One part prison procedural, one part philosophical investigation, Down in the Chapel explores the many uses prisoners make of their religions and weighs the circumstances that make these uses possible. Gritty and visceral, meditative and searching, it is an essential study of American religion in the age of mass incarceration.

Genres: Ethnography, Nonfiction, School, Sociology, Spirituality

400 pages, Hardcover

First published August 13, 2013

Reviews

[Dex]

This took a long while to read because it is dense. Boy oh boy is it dense. That being said, there is a lot to love in this book, at the forefront being Josh’s relationships with various individuals, from chapel employees to inmates. His time in Graterford is so richly described and engaging, although at times he lost me with his deeply philosophical asides. As someone who has studied some theory in college, it was somewhat (although not totally) digestible. However, for someone not versed in some of this theory, I don’t think it successfully bridges the gap into the mainstream.

If you are a student of “religion,” I think this is a worthwhile read. If you are not, I still think there’s a lot to be gained from this although many passages could be skimmed/skipped unless you want to do lots of background reading every time you see a name you don’t recognize in this context. And I think there is no shame in that, I skimmed numerous paragraphs here and still got a lot out of it.

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This became slightly repetitive towards the end which is why I’m not giving it a full five stars. But this was soooo good! Dubler had me forgetting these people commuted extremely heinous crimes way too often. 😭 this is an academic text so take this review with a grain of salt

[Nils Jepson · Rating 5 out of 5]

really fantastic and emotional and surprisingly at conflict with itself in a really good why. makes me excited for the future of ethnography.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but became slightly repetitive which I know is ironic considering the conceptual understanding of daily prison life

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't able to hear the whole audio book before my loan from the library expired. I think I only missed the very last chapter.

I feel a bit stupid for not thinking of this before, but most of what I learned from this book was about the fragmented nature of all religions. I knew there were branches of Judaism, & I'm very familiar with the shattered, innumerable denominations of Protestant Christianity, but I had only a vague idea of the denominations of the Muslim faith. Of course there are Muslims who favor one teacher & others another. There are huge splits & splits within splits throughout history, notably during the mid 20th century in the US.

The writer of this book visits & listens to teachers of all faiths, but I wish more people that I know could read / hear the Muslim teacher talking to his group about how those who incite violence are not of the true faith, how all people are connected.

[Daniel Parker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Author attempts to cover too much in a dissertation type approach, and for what I think could've been a very informative and enlightening read ended up being a chore to get through. Suffered from lack of proficient editing which I think would have cut some of the fat and focused on the meat.

[Margaret Lewis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had very high hopes for this book, but I learned very little about the prisoners and their beliefs, and far too much about the author and his opinions, which weren't terribly interesting.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book on America, Freedom, unFreedom & Religion I've ever read.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

open heart to let word in truth flood in, no atheist in foxholes, everyone a victim before an offender, self uplift through self knowledge, focus on God, Islam forbidden to take a life and cause fear be good to neighbor, religion transforms.