Department of Sociology

Wendy Cadge

Wendy CadgeProfessor of Sociology

Wendy Cadge teaches and writes about religion in the contemporary United States, especially as related to health care, immigration and sexuality. She is the author of "Heartwood: The First Generation of Theravada Buddhism in America" (University of Chicago Press, 2005), "Paging God: Religion in the Halls of Medicine"(University of Chicago Press, 2012) and numerous articles including recent ones on airport chaplains, the role of religion on hospital ethics committees, and the development of chaplaincy as a profession. 

A committed teacher, she is a recipient of the Michael Walzer ’56 Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Dean of Arts and Sciences Mentoring award for Outstanding Teaching of Students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

She founded and co-directed the Transforming Chaplaincy Project from 2015-19, and in 2018 launched the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab. An award-winning teacher, she has published more than 75 articles and raised more than $6.5 million in support of her own research and teaching and that of colleagues.

Education

  • PhD, Department of Sociology, Princeton University, 2002

  • MA, Department of Sociology, Princeton University, 2000

  • BA, Religion, Sociology and Anthropology, Swarthmore College, 1997

Selected Publications

Cadge-Paging God

"Religion on the Edge: De-centering and Re-centering the Sociology of Religion" Oxford Scholarship Online, 2012.

Cadge-Paging God

"Paging God: Religion in the Halls of Medicine." University of Chicago Press, 2012.

Heartwood book cover

"Heartwood: The First Generation of Theravada Buddhism in America." University of Chicago Press, 2005.

Articles 

  • 2019. “Perspectives from the Edge: Chaplains in Greater Boston, 1945-2015” with Katherine Wang* and Mary Rowe. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 58(6): 269-286.

  • 2019. “Humanizing Agents of Modern Capitalism? The Daily Work of Port Chaplains” with Michael Skaggs. Sociology of Religion 80(1):83-106.

  • 2018. “Translating Spirituality: Universalism and Particularism in the Diffusion of Spiritual Care from the United States to Israel” with Michal Pagis and Orly Tal* Sociological Forum.33(3):596-618.

  • 2017. “The Evolution of American Airport Chapels: Local Negotiations in Religiously Pluralistic Contexts” Religion & American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation. 28(1):135-165.

  • 2017. “God on the Fly? The Professional Mandates of Airport Chaplains” Sociology of Religion. 78(4):437-455.

  • 2017. “Structure, Operation, and Experience of Clinical Ethics Consultation 2007-2013: A Report from the Massachusetts General Hospital Optimum Care Committee.” with Ellen Robinson, Kimberly Erler, Sharon Brackett, *Julia Bandini, Alexandra Cist, M. Cornelia Cremens, Eric Krakauer, Andrew Courtwright. Journal of Clinical Ethics. 28(2): 137-152.

  • 2017. “The Role of Religious Beliefs in Ethics Committee Consultation for Conflict Over Life-Sustaining Treatments” with *Julia Bandini, Ellen Robinson, Andrew Courtwright, Angelika Zollfrank. Journal of Medical Ethics. 43(6):353-358.

  • 2017. “Roundtable on Global Reflections on the Fiftieth Anniversary of The Sacred Canopy.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion. 85(4):1116-1117.

  • 2017. “Religion in Public Institutions: Comparative Perspectives from the U.S., U.K., and Europe,” with Mar Griera, Kristen Lucken, Ines Michalowski.Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 56(2).