Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers
by Christian Smith, Melina Lundquist Denton
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Book Summary Information
Author: Christian Smith, Melina Lundquist DentonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-04-13
ISBN: 0195384776
Number of pages: 368
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Book Reviews of Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers
Book Review: Essential Reading on the Spiritual Lives of Our Teens
Summary: 5 Stars
As a former youth minister and long-time priest and school teacher, I've read many books on youth, youth culture, and youth ministry. While many of these have been more practical in nature than "Soul Searching," this book by Christian Smith (with Melinda Lundquist Denton) provides the most up-to-date and careful research into "the religious and spiritual lives of American teens" (which is the subtitle of the book). This is an excellent work of sociology. If you're serious about what's really going on in the spiritual lives of our teens, then make sure to read this book along with any others you read.
The major themes and findings of the book are worth reading and reflecting on. Here are some of the findings:
1. Religion is still a significant presence in the lives of American teens.
2. The characteristic religiosity of teens in the U.S. is extraordinarily conventional.
3. The single most important social influence on the religious and spiritual lives of adolescents is their parents. (This is supported by innumerable other books, and I wish parents would more fully grasp this truth!) In fact, it's uncanny how much the spiritual lives of teens reflect that of their parents, which suggests that if we want to change the lives of teens we must first change the lives of parents.
4. U.S. teens have a difficult time explaining what they believe.
5. A distinct faith which the authors call "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism" has established a significant foothold in American youth, especially those whose engagement with their religious communities is weak. Moralistic Therapeutic Deism may be summarized by the beliefs that: 1) God created the world and watches over humans. 2) God wants people to be good, nice, and fair. 3) The central goal of life is to be happy and feel good about oneself. 4) God doesn't need to be involved in one's life except when there's a problem 5) Good people go to heaven when they die.
This may sound good to many, but it is not, for example, the teaching of Christ and Christianity. In addition, the majority of American teenagers appear to espouse inclusive, pluralistic, and individualistic beliefs. In the U.S., teens aren't being secularized: rather, the Trinity, holiness, sin, grace, church, heaven and hell are being replaced with the language of happiness, niceness, and an earned heavenly reward. "Christianity is actively being colonized and displaced by a quite different religious faith."
6. There are significant differences between more and less religious teens in the U.S. In other words, while there is a lot of negative news out there, many U.S. teens are still strong in their faith.
Smith and Denton have arrived at these conclusions, and others, through a rigorous process of sociological investigation. The book is a minefield of data and interpretation - more than most readers will want!
For anyone interested in the spiritual lives of teenagers today, I can't recommend this book highly enough.
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