Dean Hoge

Hoge spend his childhood at New Knoxville, Ohio.^[1] He graduated from the Ohio State University School of Architecture in 1960,^[1] and studied in 1961 at the University of Bonn, Germany.^[2] He received his bachelor's degree from Harvard Divinity School in 1964, and a master's degree in 1967 and a doctorate in 1970, both in sociology from Harvard University.^[3]

He served as an instructor and assistant professor at Princeton Theological Seminary, Department of Christianity and Society in New Jersey^[3] before joining the Catholic University's faculty in 1974.^[3][4] He served as director of the university's Life Cycle Institute from 1999 to 2004.^[3][4]

In his 34-year career, he wrote 25 books about religious life in America.^[4] His research primarily focused on Catholicism. His first major work was Understanding Church Growth and Decline 1950-1978, co-edited with David Roozen. In 1987 he published The Future of Catholic Leadership: Responses to the Priest Shortage, and in 2001 he co-authored Young Adult Catholics: Religion in the Culture of Choice. He co-authored American Catholics: Gender, Generation, and Commitment (2001), authored The First Five Years of the Priesthood (2002), and co-authored Evolving Visions of the Priesthood (2003) and International Priests in America (2006).

Two major Protestant research studies resulted in co-authored books, Vanishing Boundaries: The Religion of Mainline Protestant Baby Boomers (1994) and Pastors in Transition: Why Clergy Leave Local Church Ministry (2005). A cross-denominational study, including Catholics, looked into factors in church giving and led to the book Money Matters: Personal Giving in American Churches (1996).^[2]

In 1979/80, he served as president of the Religious Research Association^[3] and from October 2007 until his death he served as president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.^[5]