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.
Summary of Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers
In innumerable discussions and activities dedicated to better understanding and helping teenagers, one aspect of teenage life is curiously overlooked. Very few such efforts pay serious attention to the role of religion and spirituality in the lives of American adolescents. But many teenagers are very involved in religion. Surveys reveal that 35% attend religious services weekly and another 15% attend at least monthly. 60% say that religious faith is important in their lives. 40% report that they pray daily. 25% say that they have been "born again." Teenagers feel good about the congregations they belong to. Some say that faith provides them with guidance and resources for knowing how to live well. What is going on in the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers? What do they actually believe? What religious practices do they engage in? Do they expect to remain loyal to the faith of their parents? Or are they abandoning traditional religious institutions in search of a new, more authentic "spirituality"? This book attempts to answer these and related questions as definitively as possible. It reports the findings of The National Study of Youth and Religion, the largest and most detailed such study ever undertaken. The NYSR conducted a nationwide telephone survey of teens and significant caregivers, as well as nearly 300 in-depth face-to-face interviews with a sample of the population that was surveyed. The results show that religion and spirituality are indeed very significant in the lives of many American teenagers. Among many other discoveries, they find that teenagers are far more influenced by the religious beliefs and practices of their parents and caregivers than commonly thought. They refute the conventional wisdom that teens are "spiritual but not religious." And they confirm that greater religiosity is significantly associated with more positive adolescent life outcomes. This eagerly-awaited volume not only provides an unprecedented understanding of adolescent religion and spirituality but, because teenagers serve as bellwethers for possible future trends, it affords an important and distinctive window through which to observe and assess the current state and future direction of American religion as a whole.Parenting Books
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