As part of his Doctor of Ministry (DMin) in Ministry to Emerging Generations (Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary), Tom's written a number of book responses and given several short presentations (personal and group). In this series he not only "shares the wealth," but also looks forward to your feedback as he refines his project: An argument for vocational discernment for graduate studies in the context of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (Stay tuned to learn more!). Earlier posts on the program: Ministry to Emerging … [Read more...] about Book Response: Soul Searching
christian smith
Book Review: Souls in Transition
Souls in Transition: The Religious & Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults (Oxford University Press. 2009) is chock-full of insights and all the graphs and tables you could ask for. Some of the most significant to me were the commentary on emerging adult culture -- which the authors saw as governed by an intuitional morality -- one just knows what is right for oneself but is also characteristically free-wheeling in terms of alcohol consumption, sexual hook-ups, risky behaviors and often a lack of clear purpose. Of … [Read more...] about Book Review: Souls in Transition
Book Review: Soul Searching
Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers by Christian Smith (now William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society, University of Notre Dame) with Melinda Lundquist Denton (now Assistant Professor, College of Business and Behavioral Science, University of Clemson) is an important study of the spiritual lives of American teenagers. Not surprisingly, Smith and Denton find that teenagers are significantly influenced by the … [Read more...] about Book Review: Soul Searching
Book Review: The Bible Made Impossible (Christian Smith)
Once again "Thank-you!" to Bob Trube, Senior Area Director for InterVarsity's Graduate & Faculty Ministry in the Ohio Valley, for his contribution to the Emerging Scholars Network (ESN) Blog! Consider these thoughts on Christian Smith's The Bible Made Impossible: Why Biblicism Is Not a Truly Evangelical Reading of Scripture to some degree an extension of ESN's interaction with work of Peter Enns, including an earlier review of two of Enns' books by Bob. Before getting to Bob's review, let me point out that I … [Read more...] about Book Review: The Bible Made Impossible (Christian Smith)
Emerging Adults’ View of Education
I've just begun reading Christian Smith's new book (with Patricia Snell), Souls in Transition: The Religious & Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults, and it's already proving to be a useful resource. This is the follow-up to Smith's last book (with Melina Denton), Soul Searching, which examined the religious lives of teenagers (ages 13 to 17). Technically, the term "emerging adults" applies to ages 18 to 29, but Souls in Transition only looks at ages 18 to 23. The rest of the "emerging adults" spectrum will be the … [Read more...] about Emerging Adults’ View of Education