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Foreword Throughout his academic career, Henry Pratt was intrigued by the dynamic and reciprocal relationship between political interest groups and public policy formation. In an introduction to Gray Agendas, a cross-national study of the relationship between old-age interest groups and public pension formation , he notes, “I have been fascinated for a number of years by the social and cultural settings that have proved conducive to interest group formation, and to later reorientations of groups’ accustomed modes of social action” (Pratt, Gray Agendas, 1993: 9; see also The Gray Lobby, 1976). Although perhaps best known in gerontological circles for his pioneering work in interest group formation and influence among older adults, he returned in his later years to a previous study of the relationship between church-based interest groups and urban politics. The present book is thus the product of a long-standing scholarly inquiry, which he first explored in his 1962 Columbia University doctoral dissertation on “The Protestant Council of the City of New York as a Political Interest Group.” A Detroit native, he fell in love with New York City during his first year as a graduate student at Columbia. As a native New Yorker myself, I was particularly thrilled to hear of this evolving interest in one of his many letters to me during our engagement. In November 1958, he wrote: “I supposed there are some studies which are best carried out on a secluded and restful campus among what is sometimes referred to as a community of scholars. But for the student of metropolitan government the intellectual reinforcement (which contributes to any kind of scholarly effort, regardless of subject) may flow in large degree from the place in which he finds himself. In New York City, data is the very soot of the air and clang of the fire bell.” Always fascinated by the nitty-gritty of urban politics, he became a “runner” for the Riverside Democratic Party and once found himself inadvertently doing errands forTammany Hall. He also immersed himself in the life of urban churches, attending services at St. John the Divine, Riverside Church, and other politically influential churches all over the city. ix He returned to Detroit in the early 1970s to accept a position at Wayne State University, a move that rekindled his interest in the political continuities and transformations of his native city. During the 1970s he became curious about the role of ethnic loyalties as they interact with organized religion to influence community solidarity and political interventions in Detroit, which led to his edition of a collection of essays on Ethno-Religious Politics (1974). Throughout his life, Henry also invested himself personally in a number of political “callings,” including a variety of political campaigns, the Civil Rights movement, opposing religious persecution, and a number of feminist causes. He was thus personally invested in the role that individuals, acting alone but particularly in groups, can play in American life and politics. Henry remained fascinated by the role played by church organizations in urban politics . While at Columbia, he agreed with Reinhold Niebuhr’s realistic approach to politics and his application of theology to both national and international political affairs. So, in the innocent, indefatigable way anyone who knew him would immediately recognize, he went to Professor Niebuhr’s office and introduced himself as someone interested in religion and politics. By the time I arrived back in New York shortly before our marriage in 1960, he was Professor Niebuhr’s research assistant, doing library runs for him and enjoying Sunday luncheons at his apartment. During the late 1960s, we returned to New York City for him to undertake the interviews and archival research for a book on the National Council of Churches, which Wayne State University Press published in 1972 as The Liberalization of American Protestantism. In this first book, he analyzed how the National Council responded to the political and ethical challenge of the Civil Rights movement by becoming more liberal. He demonstrated how the council emerged from “political quiescence ” to insist that “major social issues be confronted by the churches,” demonstrating the crucial role of “pressure group activity aimed at social reform goals” (Pratt, The Liberalization of American Protestantism, 1972: 265). The present book, therefore, represents the final outcome of a set of passions and interests, both scholarly and personal, that Henry developed and elaborated on throughout his career. His particular excitement about the relationship between church political interest groups and urban politics, and the...

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