Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton are the authors of  Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. Christian Smith is the William R. Keenan, Jr. Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at the University of Notre Dame. He received his MA and PhD from Harvard University in 1990 and his BA from Gordon College in 1983. Smith was formerly the professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for 12 years before his move to Notre Dame. Smith’s research interest and focus is in the areas of religion and modernity, adolescents, American evangelicalism, and culture (Notre Dame, 2008). Melinda Lundquist Denton is currently an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Clemson University. She received her MA and PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her BA from Seattle Pacific University (Clemson, 2008).

Many published reports on the subject of adolescence leaves one with the distinct impression that American youth do not have religious and spiritual lives. Thus, the thesis of the authors of Soul Searching is a response to that notion by developing a better scholarly and public understanding of the religious and spiritual lives of American adolescence. The book attempts to describe and evaluate the shape and texture of American religion broadly by viewing it through the lens of the religious and spiritual practices and nonreligious American youth (Smith & Denton, 2005).

The book’s data is based on the findings from research that was conducted from July 2002 to March 2003 by the National Study of Youth and Religion. It was a mixed method research project that involved a national, random digit-dial telephone survey of U.S. households containing at least one teenager age 13-17, surveying one household parent for about 30 minutes and one randomly selected household teen for about 50 minutes. These results were then combined with the results of 17 trained project researchers that conducted 267 in-depth face-to-face interviews from 45 states (Smith & Denton, 2005).

Smith and Denton develop their thesis over seven chapters beginning in chapter one with some key themes as they are played out in the lives of two teenagers that were interviewed in the study. The second chapter delivers the extensive findings of the national research survey on the religious and spiritual identities, affiliations, beliefs, experiences and practices of American adolescents. Chapter three highlights the “spiritual seekers” who as the authors identify as “spiritual but not religious,” those that are diagnosed from religion, and the seriously religious in order to better understand who these teens are. In chapter four the authors develop more thoroughly the thoughts, beliefs and feelings about and experiences about religion and spiritual things while developing central themes of the youth. Chapter five looks at forces and factors that form the lives of American teenagers, and chapter six focuses on American Catholic teens and why they seem to score lower on the religiosity of the survey. The final chapter, seven examines questions of how religious practices associate with different outcomes in the lives of adolescents (Smith & Denton, 2005).

Smith and Denton produce a very thorough, substantial, scholarly and reliable work because of the extensive research that the book is based upon Yet, Smith is modest in admitting that it is not a perfect book, but its good generalities come from the statistics of teens that have been gathered. Smith has also produced a film with teens from the original survey and interviews which is equally compelling.

There are a number of positive elements that are gained from Soul Searching. One point which seems to have been a major motivator in doing the research and writing the book is that there is a lot of material written today that suggests that the spiritual lives of teenagers is either non-existent or relegated to being “spiritual seekers.” Smith notes that there is not much research evidence to back this up, but it all is based on popular stereotyping, anecdotal and impressionistic material. This is a great observation, and Smith later writes in an article that the issue of integrity comes into the picture for which both non-believing scholars and evangelicals are to be called into question.

Smith and Denton debunk the myths and stereotypical picture of American teenagers as they draw out from the research that teens are accessible, receptive to adults, it is possible to develop relationships with them, and they are not “aliens.” What teens need according to the authors are acceptance, good role models, support and the opportunity to develop good and well meaning relationships.

The authors do a wonderful job of identifying a cultural drift into what they call Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. This view embraced by some teens believes that God or a god exists and orders the moral world, but they believe that the main purpose of life is to be happy, and God is not necessarily involved in people’s lives unless they get into trouble. They further observe that religious traditions are being colonized and eroded by this Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, and many social forces are fueling it and working against the religious traditions.

Another positive that the authors observe is that many of the teens surveyed are confident in their faith, especially conservative protestant and Mormon teens. A problem that was recognized though from the study is that many teens, primarily of the evangelical ranks have a difficult time articulating their faith.

One of the conclusions that was determined by the study which is very positive in developing a strong religious teenager is the impact that parents make upon their children. Though there are so many things pulling at teenagers today from the culture, parents get what they are in all respects, but particularly in the area of faith. The more the parents are committed to their faith, the more the teens will be committed to the faith of their parents. This is power and responsibility that parents must recognize they possess.

Another conclusion that is discovered from the study is that faith practice and community are shaping young people and their moral reasoning. The culture is arguing for vacating religious influence in exchange for relativism, but the study has shown that for the most part, the moral fiber of teens is being shaped by their faith practice and not this nonsensical relativism.

There are a few negatives in the book that are identified, but they are minor in comparison to the overwhelming positives. First, Smith and Denton could have given more sources and illustrations when they referred to the scholars’ and media’s pseudo-promotion of the majority of teens being drawn into the “spiritual seeker” mentality. This is also true in the section Therapeutic Individualism. Also, in the section Mass-Consumer Capitalism, it sounds like the authors may be arguing against capitalism, although they state that they are not. It may just have been their struggle in how strongly they should express the contribution of this over indulgent form of economics contribution to unhealthy teen lifestyles. Then, in the section on Moral Order, it seems to lack the historical perspective on the foundation Christian principles that were used and sought after by the forefathers of this nation. American culture was settled by those seeking religious freedom and they established this nation on Judeo-Christian principles. So, there is a long standing historic precedent in the establishment and order of this nation’s moral order that the authors did not argue well. In summary of this section, the extensive scholarly study that yielded this book has voluminously impacted the teen generation, American culture, and the church today, and the negatives stated here pale in comparison.

This book is very encouraging and valuable for it has shown that the American teenager is in a much better state than what many have purported, and that is good news for the evangelical church, parents, and the family. It shows that there are areas that need work such as the percentage of teens that still need to know Jesus Christ as their Savior, and the Christian teens that need to learn how to articulate what they believe with confidence. It also shows that the youth and education ministries of the local church need to stop and reevaluate the programs and approaches they have, and in many cases retool in order to do a better job in these areas. Also, since parental influence is such a major contributor to the lives and faith of teenagers, the church needs to put an emphasis on developing more faithful parents, and helping parents in the area of parenting skills. Family ministry should become an important part of the church’s educational ministry and budget.

In conclusion, Soul Searching is a well written and developed book based on sound and thorough research which is conducted by two qualified scholars who provide accurate and weighty insight into the faith lives of the teenage population in America. It is the opinion of this reviewer to highly recommend this volume to pastors, youth workers, parents, teachers, and all who work with teenagers.

The Navigators Men’s Ministry of Grace Baptist Church will be hosting a Super Bowl Party, Sunday, February 1st at 5:30 p.m. A video testimony of Tampa Bay’s All-Pro Derrick Brooks will be viewed prior to the game along with plenty of pizza and chips! A great fellowship and outreach opportunity!