American Evangelicalism: Embattled and Thriving

by Christian Smith

Evangelicalism is one of the strongest religious traditions in America today; 20 million Americans identify themselves with the evangelical movement. Given the modern pluralistic world we live in, why is evangelicalism so popular?

Based on a national telephone survey and more than three hundred personal interviews with evangelicals and other churchgoing Protestants, this study provides a detailed analysis of the commitments, beliefs, concerns, and practices of this thriving group. Examining how evangelicals interact with and attempt to influence secular society, this book argues that traditional, orthodox evangelicalism endures not despite, but precisely because of, the challenges and structures of our modern pluralistic environment. This work also looks beyond evangelicalism to explore more broadly the problems of traditional religious belief and practice in the modern world.

With its impressive empirical evidence, innovative theory, and substantive conclusions, American Evangelicalism will provoke lively debate over the state of religious practice in contemporary America.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, Sociology, Academic

324 pages, Paperback

First published October 16, 1998

About the author

Christian Smith is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at the University of Notre Dame. Smith's research focuses primarily on religion in modernity, adolescents, American evangelicalism, and culture.

Reviews

[John Pawlik · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been very formative to the way I see how religion will interact with modernity and secularism in the future. I have learned much from the nationwide polling that Smith and Pew Research did back in the late 90’s about how evangelicalism differs from other Christian and non-religious traditions that currently exist within the United States. It also gave me much to think about in terms of how Christian approach social issues and what causes us to have so many internal struggles. I look forward to continuing to wrestle with the information and concepts that Smith has laid out in this book.

I would also say that it allowed me to rethink how I saw his other book: Divided by Faith. I am no longer convinced that Divided by Faith (written just two years after this one) has been properly understood by either myself or others in the conversations I’ve seen around it. So I am also thankful for the helpful contextual info on how Smith sees evangelicals and will certainly be rereading Divided by Faith in light of Embattled and Thriving which came right before it.

Great book! I would recommend to anything struggling to figure out how Christians should interact with the world in cultural, economic, and political spheres.

[Zachary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating and useful study that I think introduces some really engaging theoretical explanations for evangelicalism's historical strengths and weaknesses in the recent past and even contemporary society. Though this study itself is a bit old, I think its main tenets hold, and the sociological theories it advances for evangelicalism's flourishing and its controversial elements are compelling. Now, this is an academic study of religion, and one based on a fairly objective-seeming methodology. But I think the one deficiency of the study is its lack of attendance to particular evangelical theologies; it elides differences between denominations and just provides a blanket understanding of "evangelicals" as a broader category, ignoring that evangelicals of different denominations vehemently disagree and aren't quite as united under that umbrella as the study may make them seem. In addition, attending to theology could maybe advance the theory by speculating as to how evangelicalism could grow and change over time. The evangelicalism we're seeing in American politics in 2020 is a bit distinct from the evangelicalism of the mid-90s, and theology (I think) could be the space where that could be explained. As such, this is a fascinating read, and good theoretical ground, which could also use some additions.

[rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting but dense as hell

[Zak Schmoll · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting book, but keep in mind it is dated. On Amazon, I saw the publication date was 2014, but most of the data is from the mid-1990s. Therefore, this is more interesting as a consideration of the past rather than necessarily a diagnosis of even the past 10 years.

I had read another book by Smith in my PhD program, so I know he is a good sociologist. His central thesis is that evangelicalism is specifically positioned to thrive in a pluralistic society in contrast to secularization theory which posits that religions become weaker in a pluralistic society. He argues that it is encourages distinction but promotes engagement, so that is a double benefit in a pluralistic society.

However, what was most interesting to me was the central data set that Smith is operating from. It is a survey of over 2000 people, complete with substantive interviews. While he does not define the term evangelical specifically (as you know, something I really don't like), he asks his subjects many questions about their theological beliefs, so you can kind of paint a theological rather than political picture of evangelicals. What is interesting is that most of his subjects are quite well spoken. This is so intriguing as compared to the picture we see of evangelicals today who often times answer surveys and don't know the theological distinctives of Christianity, much less evangelicalism specifically. Are evangelicals different, or are the people who are surveyed as evangelicals different? What has changed in these almost 30 years?

Perhaps my favorite part of this book was his chapter on theories of religious vitality. It is an academic chapter full of definitions, but I want to think about those theories more and how they may or may not apply to evangelicalism today.

[Stephen Cranney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even though others have said the same thing, he was able to bring all the pieces together into a unified theory. I Agree with his conclusions.