In most discussions and analyses of American teenage life, one major topic is curiously overlooked--religion. Yet most American teens say that religious faith is important in their lives. 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? Answering these and many other questions, Soul Searching tells the definitive story of the religious and spiritual lives of contemporary American teenagers.

Prizes

Winner of Winner of the Christianity Today "Christanity and Culture" 2006 Book Award.

The National Survey of Youth and Religion is comprehensive and reliable research and will be central for the consideration of teenage spirituality and religion and a starting point for future research. * Simon Best, Quaker Studies, Vol. 11, Issue 2 *

Christian Smith is Stuart Chapin Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is the author of Moral, Believing Animals (OUP, 2003) and co-author of Divided by Faith (OUP, 2000). Melinda Lundquist Denton is a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.