Religious Education: The Depth of the Field

This article responds to sociologist Christian Smith's claim that many teenagers today have lost traditional religious faith and instead espouse a new and erroneous faith in God the “Cosmic Therapist.” The author challenges this claim by comparing two of Smith's chief complaints vis-à-vis teen faith to established portraits of adolescent faith. The comparison reveals that despite differences significant continuities exist between adolescent faith “then” and “now,” a finding that underscores the inherently (but not exclusively) developmental nature of religious faith. The article concludes by affirming Christian Religious Education as a dynamic process of bringing “life to faith and faith to life” with humility, compassion, and hope.