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EP #71 The New Spiritual Hunger – with Christian Smith

Leaving Egypt Podcast

We hope that you are enjoying Leaving Egypt. We would invite you to join the Leaving Egypt community on Substack by becoming a paid subscriber: https://leavingegyptpodcast.substack.com/subscribe In this episode, Al Roxburgh and Jenny Sinclair talk with Christian Smith about what is happening to spirituality in the US. Christian’s deep research on attitudes to religion among the young has led him to the sober conclusion that traditional faith in North America has become “obsolete”. Something massive is shifting across Western societies: amidst the exhaustion of liberal modernity, the turn toward re-enchantment means that the churches’ framing of the culture as secular no longer holds. The spiritual hunger of the young is attaching to politics, identity, conspiracy, the occult and techno-utopianism as readily as to church. When asked how priests and pastors should respond, he sees that authentic Christianity embodies what the young are yearning for: a cosmic vision, sacramental life, disciplined prayer practices, embodied community, faithful doctrine and moral clarity. But rather than conventional evangelising, the times call for a posture of listening, hospitality and dialogue as a better way to connect. Christian Smith is a leading figure in the sociology of religion. Best known for coining the term “moralistic therapeutic deism” to describe the beliefs of American teenagers, he has written many influential works on faith, culture and the moral life. His books include the forthcoming Occulture: The New Face of American Spirituality (2027) and the recent Why Religion Went Obsolete (2025). Christian is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame, where he taught for nearly twenty years and founded the Center for the Study of Religion and Society. Prior to Notre Dame, he spent twelve years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He holds a BA from Gordon College and an MA and PhD from Harvard University. Raised an evangelical, he and his wife, Emily, were received into the Catholic Church in 2010. He lives in South Bend, Indiana. Links For Christian Smith: https://sociology.nd.edu/people/christian-smith/ https://christiansmith.nd.edu/ “Why I’m Done with Notre Dame” (First Things, on his decision to leave) Selected Books: Occulture: The New Face of American Spirituality (forthcoming, 2027) Why Religion Went Obsolete: The Demise of Traditional Faith in America (2025) Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults (with Patricia Snell) (2009) Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers (with Melinda Lundquist Denton) (2005) For Alan J Roxburgh: http://alanroxburgh.com/about Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alan.roxburgh.127/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecommonsnetwork Books: Forming Communities of Hope in the Great Unravelling (with Roy Searle) Joining God in the Great Unravelling Leadership, God’s Agency and Disruptions Joining God, Remaking Church, Changing the World For Jenny Sinclair: Substack: https://t4cg.substack.com/s/from-jenny-sinclair Website: https://togetherforthecommongood.co.uk/from-jenny-sinclair LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-sinclair-0589783b/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/T4CG Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TogetherForTheCommonGoodUK Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/t4cg_insta/ Get full access to Leaving Egypt at leavingegyptpodcast.substack.com/subscribe