Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195180954
- eISBN:
- 9780199835829
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019518095X.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This book aims to provide new insights on the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers. It presents the main findings of the National Study of Youth and Religion, a research project on the ...
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This book aims to provide new insights on the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers. It presents the main findings of the National Study of Youth and Religion, a research project on the religious and spiritual lives of American adolescents conducted at the University of North Carolina from 2001 to 2005. The survey captured a broad range of differences among U.S. teens in religion, age, race, sex, socioeconomic status, rural-suburban-urban residence, region of the country, and language spoken. The book provides answers to questions about the character of teenage religion, the extent of spiritual seeking among youth, how religion affects adolescent moral reasoning and risk behaviors, and much more. It is hoped that by informing readers about the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers, it will help foster discussions in families, religious congregations, community organizations, and beyond, not only about the general state of religion in the United States, but also about cultural and institutional practices that may better serve and care for American teens.Less
This book aims to provide new insights on the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers. It presents the main findings of the National Study of Youth and Religion, a research project on the religious and spiritual lives of American adolescents conducted at the University of North Carolina from 2001 to 2005. The survey captured a broad range of differences among U.S. teens in religion, age, race, sex, socioeconomic status, rural-suburban-urban residence, region of the country, and language spoken. The book provides answers to questions about the character of teenage religion, the extent of spiritual seeking among youth, how religion affects adolescent moral reasoning and risk behaviors, and much more. It is hoped that by informing readers about the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers, it will help foster discussions in families, religious congregations, community organizations, and beyond, not only about the general state of religion in the United States, but also about cultural and institutional practices that may better serve and care for American teens.
Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195180954
- eISBN:
- 9780199835829
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019518095X.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of the lack of attention given to the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers. It then provides a brief description of the National ...
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This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of the lack of attention given to the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers. It then provides a brief description of the National Study of Youth and Religion, a research project on the religious and spiritual lives of American adolescents conducted at the University of North Carolina from 2001 to 2005. This is followed by an overview of the chapters included in this volume.Less
This introductory chapter begins with a discussion of the lack of attention given to the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers. It then provides a brief description of the National Study of Youth and Religion, a research project on the religious and spiritual lives of American adolescents conducted at the University of North Carolina from 2001 to 2005. This is followed by an overview of the chapters included in this volume.
Jonathan H Ebel
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780300176704
- eISBN:
- 9780300216356
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300176704.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Social History
G.I. Messiahs examines soldier veneration in twentieth- and twenty-first century America and argues that soldiers are the theological center of American civil religion. This book also recognizes that ...
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G.I. Messiahs examines soldier veneration in twentieth- and twenty-first century America and argues that soldiers are the theological center of American civil religion. This book also recognizes that soldiers engage with and are shaped by the symbols, rituals, and mythologies of American civil religion and are thus its most committed, consistent practitioners. G.I. Messiahs builds this argument by examining episodes from the long American century in which the nation has interpreted itself through the bodies, words, and deeds of soldiers and by describing and analyzing soldiers’ struggles with the burdens placed on them. The aim of this book is to redirect conversations about American civil religion toward consideration of its contours as a lived tradition focused on the service, suffering, and sacrifice of the American soldier.Less
G.I. Messiahs examines soldier veneration in twentieth- and twenty-first century America and argues that soldiers are the theological center of American civil religion. This book also recognizes that soldiers engage with and are shaped by the symbols, rituals, and mythologies of American civil religion and are thus its most committed, consistent practitioners. G.I. Messiahs builds this argument by examining episodes from the long American century in which the nation has interpreted itself through the bodies, words, and deeds of soldiers and by describing and analyzing soldiers’ struggles with the burdens placed on them. The aim of this book is to redirect conversations about American civil religion toward consideration of its contours as a lived tradition focused on the service, suffering, and sacrifice of the American soldier.
Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- October 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195180954
- eISBN:
- 9780199835829
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019518095X.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter discusses some of the possible implications of the National Study of Youth and Religion’s survey for communities of faith. Religious communities should stop presuming that U.S. teenagers ...
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This chapter discusses some of the possible implications of the National Study of Youth and Religion’s survey for communities of faith. Religious communities should stop presuming that U.S. teenagers are actively alienated by religion, are dropping out of their religious congregations in large numbers, cannot relate to adults in their congregations, and need some radically new “postmodern” type of program or ministry. Instead, parents, pastors, ministers, religious educators, and congregational leaders must improve their ability to engage and challenge the youth already at their disposal, and help them make faith a more active and relevant part of their lives.Less
This chapter discusses some of the possible implications of the National Study of Youth and Religion’s survey for communities of faith. Religious communities should stop presuming that U.S. teenagers are actively alienated by religion, are dropping out of their religious congregations in large numbers, cannot relate to adults in their congregations, and need some radically new “postmodern” type of program or ministry. Instead, parents, pastors, ministers, religious educators, and congregational leaders must improve their ability to engage and challenge the youth already at their disposal, and help them make faith a more active and relevant part of their lives.
Christian Smith
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823226474
- eISBN:
- 9780823236640
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823226474.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
For the last four years, through the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR), the author has been intensely researching the religious and spiritual lives of teenagers ...
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For the last four years, through the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR), the author has been intensely researching the religious and spiritual lives of teenagers in the United States. This chapter explores some NSYR findings about the religious and spiritual lives of U.S. teenagers that have implications for the challenge of religiously socializing youth and shed light on the question of internal secularization. The guiding question is this: What are the prospects of success for established religious communities in contemporary U.S. culture seeking to induct their youth into the beliefs, commitments, and practices of their historical faith traditions in ways that will both form the lives of their youth as individuals and carry on with significant continuity those collective faith traditions into the future? The chapter begins by exploring some of the social and cultural difficulties and challenges that faith communities face in this task. It then describes one of the major results of faith communities’ general failure to successfully meet those difficulties and challenges: a pervasive, functional, religious belief system among teenagers called Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. It concludes by suggesting ways that, from a sociologist's point of view, faith communities might respond to this popular “alternative” de facto religious faith and better form and educate their young people.Less
For the last four years, through the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR), the author has been intensely researching the religious and spiritual lives of teenagers in the United States. This chapter explores some NSYR findings about the religious and spiritual lives of U.S. teenagers that have implications for the challenge of religiously socializing youth and shed light on the question of internal secularization. The guiding question is this: What are the prospects of success for established religious communities in contemporary U.S. culture seeking to induct their youth into the beliefs, commitments, and practices of their historical faith traditions in ways that will both form the lives of their youth as individuals and carry on with significant continuity those collective faith traditions into the future? The chapter begins by exploring some of the social and cultural difficulties and challenges that faith communities face in this task. It then describes one of the major results of faith communities’ general failure to successfully meet those difficulties and challenges: a pervasive, functional, religious belief system among teenagers called Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. It concludes by suggesting ways that, from a sociologist's point of view, faith communities might respond to this popular “alternative” de facto religious faith and better form and educate their young people.
Philip Schwadel
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823226474
- eISBN:
- 9780823236640
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fso/9780823226474.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter explores the characteristics of 114 American teenagers' Jewish identities using data from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR). The NSYR includes a ...
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This chapter explores the characteristics of 114 American teenagers' Jewish identities using data from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR). The NSYR includes a telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of 3,290 adolescents aged 13 to 17. Of the NSYR teens surveyed, 141 have at least one Jewish parent and 114 of them identify as Jewish. The NSYR also includes in-depth face-to-face interviews with a total of 267 U.S. teens: 23 who have at least one Jewish parent and 18 who identify as Jewish. Only a small minority of Jewish teens in the NSYR sample regularly performs religious rituals or attends worship services. Most say religion has little effect on their daily lives. A substantial number of the Jewish teens surveyed are unsure about the existence of God. Some were indifferent or even antagonistic toward religion in general. Most take a pluralistic and individualistic approach to their religious beliefs and practices. They approve of exploring and practicing other religious traditions and feel entitled to adapt Jewish traditions to suit their needs.Less
This chapter explores the characteristics of 114 American teenagers' Jewish identities using data from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR). The NSYR includes a telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of 3,290 adolescents aged 13 to 17. Of the NSYR teens surveyed, 141 have at least one Jewish parent and 114 of them identify as Jewish. The NSYR also includes in-depth face-to-face interviews with a total of 267 U.S. teens: 23 who have at least one Jewish parent and 18 who identify as Jewish. Only a small minority of Jewish teens in the NSYR sample regularly performs religious rituals or attends worship services. Most say religion has little effect on their daily lives. A substantial number of the Jewish teens surveyed are unsure about the existence of God. Some were indifferent or even antagonistic toward religion in general. Most take a pluralistic and individualistic approach to their religious beliefs and practices. They approve of exploring and practicing other religious traditions and feel entitled to adapt Jewish traditions to suit their needs.
Christian Smith, Kyle Longest, Jonathan Hill, and Kari Christoffersen
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199341078
- eISBN:
- 9780199366972
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199341078.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This book provides an in-depth description and analysis of American Catholics (and ex-Catholics) ages 18–23. The main focus is on their religious and spiritual lives but also includes an examination ...
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This book provides an in-depth description and analysis of American Catholics (and ex-Catholics) ages 18–23. The main focus is on their religious and spiritual lives but also includes an examination of how their religious faith and practice do and do not affect other life outcomes. Based on nationally representative survey and interview (longitudinal/panel) data of the highest quality, the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR—first and third waves). It describes the distribution of religious beliefs and practices among them, how they cluster into different types of young adults religiously, shows the kind of changes that have happened in the lives of this group of (ex-)Catholic emerging adults, and which factors from their teenage years tend to produce higher levels of religiousness five years later. It also contains the most careful and sophisticated methodological discussion of how to conceptualize and measure who in the U.S. should even count as “Catholic” in social-science studies. It contributes both to our scholarly knowledge about religious change and stability in the U.S., especially among emerging adults, and to our understanding of how and why the Catholic Church is undergoing changes over time, particularly with its younger members. All of the findings are also set into big-picture historical context with a chapter that shows how sweeping changes in the twentieth century set up the Catholic Church for what it is confronting today.Less
This book provides an in-depth description and analysis of American Catholics (and ex-Catholics) ages 18–23. The main focus is on their religious and spiritual lives but also includes an examination of how their religious faith and practice do and do not affect other life outcomes. Based on nationally representative survey and interview (longitudinal/panel) data of the highest quality, the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR—first and third waves). It describes the distribution of religious beliefs and practices among them, how they cluster into different types of young adults religiously, shows the kind of changes that have happened in the lives of this group of (ex-)Catholic emerging adults, and which factors from their teenage years tend to produce higher levels of religiousness five years later. It also contains the most careful and sophisticated methodological discussion of how to conceptualize and measure who in the U.S. should even count as “Catholic” in social-science studies. It contributes both to our scholarly knowledge about religious change and stability in the U.S., especially among emerging adults, and to our understanding of how and why the Catholic Church is undergoing changes over time, particularly with its younger members. All of the findings are also set into big-picture historical context with a chapter that shows how sweeping changes in the twentieth century set up the Catholic Church for what it is confronting today.
Jonathan Z. Smith and Christopher I. Lehrich
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199944293
- eISBN:
- 9780190258375
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199944293.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter presents Jonathan Z. Smith's account of his appreciation for the work of Wilfred Cantwell Smith. He reflects on W. C. Smith's article “The Study of Religion and the Study of the Bible” ...
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This chapter presents Jonathan Z. Smith's account of his appreciation for the work of Wilfred Cantwell Smith. He reflects on W. C. Smith's article “The Study of Religion and the Study of the Bible” published in Journal of the American Academy of Religion (JAAR) in 1971. He suggests that W. C. Smith's constant use of the singular “The Bible” and “The Church” commits the same sort of reification, the same sort of misplaced concreteness, he has elsewhere warned against. Jonathan Z. Smith also says that the JAAR article opened for him a larger world of texts that he probably never would have otherwise read, texts which raise issues he never would have thought about.Less
This chapter presents Jonathan Z. Smith's account of his appreciation for the work of Wilfred Cantwell Smith. He reflects on W. C. Smith's article “The Study of Religion and the Study of the Bible” published in Journal of the American Academy of Religion (JAAR) in 1971. He suggests that W. C. Smith's constant use of the singular “The Bible” and “The Church” commits the same sort of reification, the same sort of misplaced concreteness, he has elsewhere warned against. Jonathan Z. Smith also says that the JAAR article opened for him a larger world of texts that he probably never would have otherwise read, texts which raise issues he never would have thought about.
Nicholas K. Rademacher
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780823276769
- eISBN:
- 9780823277292
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823276769.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
In the years leading to Furfey’s retirement, he adapted his vision for the sociology department at CUA to make broader claims about the social justice mission for Catholic higher education. He ...
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In the years leading to Furfey’s retirement, he adapted his vision for the sociology department at CUA to make broader claims about the social justice mission for Catholic higher education. He continued to model how to marshal university resources for the common good in his own department. Into the 1950’s and 1960’s, Furfey shifted the emphasis in his writing and activism back to science and philosophy without abandoning his theological commitments. While personalism was still the hallmark of Furfey’s and his associates’ community activism at Fides House, the shape of their work changed over time as the operation expanded. Fides House enjoyed tremendous success. Within a decade, their work became more technical and they moved into increasingly larger quarters to serve increasing numbers of people. Furfey returned to empirical sociology on juvenile delinquency and, in his theoretical work, he adjusted his rhetoric to reach a broader audience by adopting a more conciliatory tone. He published his magnum opus Scope and Method of Sociology (1953). As he approached retirement, Furfey vowed to redouble his personal contributions to social justice activism by living in solidarity with the marginalized in his neighborhood.Less
In the years leading to Furfey’s retirement, he adapted his vision for the sociology department at CUA to make broader claims about the social justice mission for Catholic higher education. He continued to model how to marshal university resources for the common good in his own department. Into the 1950’s and 1960’s, Furfey shifted the emphasis in his writing and activism back to science and philosophy without abandoning his theological commitments. While personalism was still the hallmark of Furfey’s and his associates’ community activism at Fides House, the shape of their work changed over time as the operation expanded. Fides House enjoyed tremendous success. Within a decade, their work became more technical and they moved into increasingly larger quarters to serve increasing numbers of people. Furfey returned to empirical sociology on juvenile delinquency and, in his theoretical work, he adjusted his rhetoric to reach a broader audience by adopting a more conciliatory tone. He published his magnum opus Scope and Method of Sociology (1953). As he approached retirement, Furfey vowed to redouble his personal contributions to social justice activism by living in solidarity with the marginalized in his neighborhood.
Melinda Lundquist Denton, Richard Flory, and Christian Smith
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- April 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190064785
- eISBN:
- 9780190064815
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190064785.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
What do the religious and spiritual lives of American young people look like as they reach their mid to late 20s, enter the full-time job market, and start families? In Back Pocket God, the authors ...
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What do the religious and spiritual lives of American young people look like as they reach their mid to late 20s, enter the full-time job market, and start families? In Back Pocket God, the authors provide a look beyond conflicting stories that argue that emerging adults either are overwhelmingly leaving religion or are earnest spiritual seekers maintaining a significant place in their lives for religion. Denton and Flory show that while the dominant trend among young people is a move away from religious beliefs and institutions, there is also a parallel trend in which a small, religiously committed group of emerging adults claim faith as an important fixture in their lives. Yet, whether religiously committed or not, emerging adults are increasingly personalizing, customizing, and compartmentalizing religion in ways that suit their idiosyncratic desires. For emerging adults, God has become increasingly remote yet is highly personalized to meet their particular needs. In the process, they have transformed their conception of God from a powerful being or force that exists “out there” to their own personal “Pocket God”—a God that they can carry around with them but that exerts little power or influence in their daily lives. God functions, in a sense, like a smartphone app—readily accessible, easy to control, and useful but only for limited purposes. Back Pocket God shows the changing relationship between emerging adults and religion, providing a window into the future of religion and, more broadly, American culture.Less
What do the religious and spiritual lives of American young people look like as they reach their mid to late 20s, enter the full-time job market, and start families? In Back Pocket God, the authors provide a look beyond conflicting stories that argue that emerging adults either are overwhelmingly leaving religion or are earnest spiritual seekers maintaining a significant place in their lives for religion. Denton and Flory show that while the dominant trend among young people is a move away from religious beliefs and institutions, there is also a parallel trend in which a small, religiously committed group of emerging adults claim faith as an important fixture in their lives. Yet, whether religiously committed or not, emerging adults are increasingly personalizing, customizing, and compartmentalizing religion in ways that suit their idiosyncratic desires. For emerging adults, God has become increasingly remote yet is highly personalized to meet their particular needs. In the process, they have transformed their conception of God from a powerful being or force that exists “out there” to their own personal “Pocket God”—a God that they can carry around with them but that exerts little power or influence in their daily lives. God functions, in a sense, like a smartphone app—readily accessible, easy to control, and useful but only for limited purposes. Back Pocket God shows the changing relationship between emerging adults and religion, providing a window into the future of religion and, more broadly, American culture.
Wesley J. Wildman
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- December 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198815990
- eISBN:
- 9780191853524
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198815990.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
In Our Own Image is a work of comparative philosophical theology answering three questions. First, it is a study of the roles anthropomorphism and apophaticism play in the construction of conceptual ...
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In Our Own Image is a work of comparative philosophical theology answering three questions. First, it is a study of the roles anthropomorphism and apophaticism play in the construction of conceptual models of ultimate reality. This answers the question: Do we create our ideas of God? Second, it is a comparative analysis of three major classes of ultimacy models, paying particular attention to the way those classes are impacted by anthropomorphism while tracing their relative strengths and weaknesses. This answers the question: Can there be better and worse in our constructed ultimacy models? Third, it is a constructive theological argument on behalf of an apophatic understanding of ultimate reality, showing how this understanding subsumes, challenges, and relates ultimacy models from the three classes being compared. This answers the question: Is there a best way to think about ultimate reality? The book describes and compares competing ultimacy models, fairly and sympathetically. The conclusion is that all models cognitively break on the shoals of ultimate reality, but that the ground-of-being class of models carries us further than the others in regard to the comparative criteria that matter most.Less
In Our Own Image is a work of comparative philosophical theology answering three questions. First, it is a study of the roles anthropomorphism and apophaticism play in the construction of conceptual models of ultimate reality. This answers the question: Do we create our ideas of God? Second, it is a comparative analysis of three major classes of ultimacy models, paying particular attention to the way those classes are impacted by anthropomorphism while tracing their relative strengths and weaknesses. This answers the question: Can there be better and worse in our constructed ultimacy models? Third, it is a constructive theological argument on behalf of an apophatic understanding of ultimate reality, showing how this understanding subsumes, challenges, and relates ultimacy models from the three classes being compared. This answers the question: Is there a best way to think about ultimate reality? The book describes and compares competing ultimacy models, fairly and sympathetically. The conclusion is that all models cognitively break on the shoals of ultimate reality, but that the ground-of-being class of models carries us further than the others in regard to the comparative criteria that matter most.