Thinning the Soul

Cover via Amazon

Bernie Gillespie

Twenty years ago Robert Bellah's Habits of the Heart made the point (as mentioned by Ken Myers, Mars Hill Audio), that many Americans don't have a vocabulary for talking about their lives except in individualistic terms. Even when they are communally active, the language of individualism provides categories of thought and deflects their sense of what they should be pursuing in their lives.

A few years ago Christian Smith released new research on the religious views of teens. [Smith is the Stuart Chapin Distinguished Professor and associate chair of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill] He is also the director and chief investigator of a year's research with thousands of teens called "A National Study on Youth and Religion." The research was based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As a result of this research, Smith co-authored (with Melinda Lundquist Denton) a book, "Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers," which summarizes the research. [Summaries of the research can be found at www.youthandreligion.org]

One of the things they discovered was another language deficiency (than Bellah discovered) among most American teens. They were shocked about the lack of knowledge teens had about their own religious traditions and how little they seem invested in their own particularities. He was surprised that many of the Baptist kids he talked with were virtual deists. He came to see that among a widespread sample of young people, across denominational (Pentecostal to Baptist to Episcopalian) and even religious (Moslem) lines, a fairly coherent religious belief system. He labeled this belief system "therapeutic-moralistic deism." He summarized this system with these basic tenets:

God exists, God created the world, God ordered the universe and this is how we understand that things are the way they are. The purpose of life is to be a good, nice and kind person. God does not have to be particularly involved in one's life, but He is available if you get into trouble or need some help along the way. He professionally takes care of your problems (kind of like a therapist), but he doesn't hang around to get in the way. The purpose of life is to be happy. There is a heaven and a hell. Good people go to heaven. Most people are good and go to heaven.

He observed that mainline Protestant, Catholic and Jewish youth speak more in these terms. He also noted that the higher percentages of teens who don't talk in the "therapeutic-moralistic deism" terms are found among conservative, Protestant, evangelical youth (and even Mormons). Nevertheless, he was astounded at how many Evangelical teens don't know how to talk about Jesus, the Bible, or justification. They talk as if religion is just about being a good person, so what else is there? Theological terms - such as redemption or grace - are virtually non-existent. Very few teens used the word "grace" in a theological sense; it was used mostly when referring to the TV show "Will & Grace."

There were those teens who could articulate the idea that Jesus died on the Cross to forgive our sins. But, when they were asked to explain what that meant or how or why that was so, they were at a loss. It was more of a catch-phrase. Smith says that when he interviews older theology or Bible teachers who have taught across generations of students, they say their students today are typically less literate in their faith than students of prior generations.

I know it is never wise to buy 100% into a research project. Yet, I find my own experience confirming a lot of what Christian Smith sees. I find that my children and their friends are either less interested, or maybe just unaware, of the traditional theological language of the Church. They talk more about life as functionality or how to better function in the world than about the issues of meaning from a transcendent perspective. There seems to be more preoccupation with the economic means of attaining a comfortable life, than a search for transcendent fulfillment. [Please realize this is a limited observation and not a criticism. I am criticizing myself as much as anything.]

If what Smith observes is partially true, illiteracy about the faith leads to an exchanging of one faith for another. The "therapeutic-moralistic deism" (TMD) fills the hole which churches have left through their neglect of intentional catechesis in the basics of the Christian faith. [I realize there is more to the Christian faith than catechism; but the faith must at least start with knowing it. You can't believe and live what you do not know.] Overreactions to aspersions of "fundamentalist," or the fear being censured for bigotry, can create a larger gap more easily filled by a vacuous, secular faith. I think that many teens are not invested in their own particularities because, in many cases, they are not taught the "vocabulary." Increasingly churches are reticent about articulating "particularities," -- theirs or any other tradition's -- for fear of being considered rigid, intolerant or divisive.

I certainly see the perils of fundamentalism and exclusiveness (they are legion). I still see these as serious problems in Christianity and have written much about them (and will continue to do so). At the same time, it appears to me that there is an equally troubling trend. I am speaking of the increasing penchant to minimize the value of teaching the particulars of the Christian faith. This is done to avoid accusations of fundamentalism or exclusivism, while bowing to the pervading religion of cultural pluralism. We don't want to appear "singular" in our worldview or beliefs, so we fail to teach anything of with substance or a real edge. Why be committed to anything in particular when nothing is absolute?

It seems to me one of the problems with this is that the vacuum is filled by something like TMD. Another problem: we fail to give the coming generations the means or language by which to engage in the discussion of the great issues of life from a perspective outside the finite, current culture. The dominant culture has the language advantage and controls the conversation. Lastly, and most importantly, the absence of a structured religious instruction in the Faith robs youth (everyone) of the vocabulary of the Kingdom, the words of life and the historic Christian way of naming the world. The flattening of the world leads to the thinning of the soul.