Christian Smith (sociologist)

Christian Stephen Smith (born 1960) is an American sociologist, currently the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame. Smith's research focuses primarily on religion in modernity, adolescents and emerging adults, sociological theory, philosophy of science, the science of generosity, American evangelicalism, and culture.[3] Smith is well known for his contributions to the sociology of religion, particularly his research into adolescent spirituality, as well as for his contributions to sociological theory and his advocacy of critical realism.[4][5]

Christian Smith
Born
Christian Stephen Smith

(1960-10-23) October 23, 1960
NationalityAmerican
Academic background
Alma mater
ThesisThe Emergence of Liberation Theology[1] (1990)
Influences
Academic work
DisciplineSociology
Sub-discipline
School or traditionCritical realism
Institutions
Doctoral studentsMark Regnerus
Notable ideasMoralistic therapeutic deism
Websitechristiansmith.nd.edu

Biography

Smith was born on October 23, 1960.[6] He attended Wheaton College (1978–1979) and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology from Gordon College in 1983. Smith earned his Master of Arts (1987) and Doctor of Philosophy (1990) degrees from Harvard University, where he also spent a year studying theology at Harvard Divinity School. Smith began his academic career as an instructor, and then assistant professor at Gordon College. In 1994 he joined University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was an assistant professor, full professor, and then Stuart Chapin Professor of Sociology. He remained at North Carolina for 12 years before moving to Notre Dame as the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society. He is also a Faculty Fellow of the Kroc Institute for Peace Studies and the Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies. Smith has been awarded more than $20 million worth of research grants from the Pew Charitable Trusts, Lilly Endowment Inc., the John Templeton Foundation, and other foundations and institutes.

Accolades

In 2012, the American Sociological Association section on Altruism, Morality, and Social Solidarity awarded Smith with the Distinguished Career Award.[7]

He was awarded the Lilly Fellows Program Distinguished Book Award in 2011 for his 2009 book, co-authored with Patricia Snell, Souls in Transition: the Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults. He was also awarded Christianity Today's 2010 Distinguished Book Award for the same book, Souls in Transition.[8] He previously won Christianity Today's 2005 Distinguished Book Award for his 2005 book, co-authored with Melinda Lundquist Denton, Soul Searching: the Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers.

In December, Choice Magazine magazine selected What Is a Person? as one of its Top 25 (out of 7000 reviewed) Outstanding Academic Titles of 2011.[9] The book also received the “Cheryl Frank Memorial Prize for 2010,” from the International Association for Critical Realism.[10]

In 2007, Smith's alma mater, Gordon College, presented him with the "Alumnus of the Year" award in "recognition of his many accomplishments and work as one of the leading Christian sociologists in the country."[11]

Michael Emerson and Smith's Divided by Faith was the winner of the "2001 Outstanding Book Award" from the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.

He was co-author with Mark Regnerus on the 1999 "Outstanding Article Award", granted by the American Sociological Association Section on the Sociology of Religion, for "Selective Deprivatization Among American Religious Traditions: The Reversal of the Great Reversal", published in Social Forces.

Moralistic therapeutic deism

In his 2005 book Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers co-written with Melinda Lundquist Denton, he introduced the term moralistic therapeutic deism (abbreviated MTD) to describe the common religious beliefs exhibited by American youth in a survey.[12][13][14] It has also been referred to as egonovism.[15] The book summarized the "National Study of Youth and Religion", privately funded by the Lilly Endowment.

They label moralistic therapeutic deism as a religion with the following traits:

  1. A God exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.
  2. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
  3. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
  4. God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.
  5. Good people go to heaven when they die.[16]

Critical realism

Critical realism (CR) is, in Smith's view, the most promising general approach to social science for best framing our research and theory. CR, as a philosophy of (social) science (not a sociological theory per se), offers the best alternative to the problems and limits presented by positivist empiricism, hermeneutical interpretivism, strong social constructionism, and postmodernist deconstruction. It is the meta-theoretical direction in which American sociology needs to move

Smith's work in CR involves What is a Person? Rethinking Humanity, Social Life, and the Moral Good from the Person Up (Chicago 2010) (with Moral, Believing Animals (OUP 2003) forming a pre-CR theoretical backdrop); To Flourish or Destruct: A Personalist Theory of Human Goods, Motivations, Failure, and Evil (Chicago 2014), and Religion: What it Is, How it Works, and Why it Matters (Princeton 2017).

CR is a significant position within which scholars work in Great Britain, Scandinavia, and the rest of Europe. Yet few North American sociologists are aware of the substance and importance of the CR account. Smith's view is that CR is a genuinely alternative approach to reality and social science that requires serious, focused study and intellectual re-tooling in order to learn well enough to not simply fall back into the old assumptions, instincts, and paradigms.

Published works

Smith is author, co-author, and editor of numerous scholarly books, articles, book chapters, book reviews, and research reports. A selection of Smith's books includes:

  • To Flourish or Destruct: A Personalist Theory of Human Goods, Motivations, Failure, and Evil (2015) (Chicago)
  • The Bible Made Impossible: Why Biblicism Is Not a Truly Evangelical Reading of Scripture (2011) (Brazos)
  • How to Go From Being a Good Evangelical to a Committed Catholic in 95 Difficult Steps (2011) (Cascade)
  • Lost in Transition: The Dark Side of Emerging Adulthood (2011) (Oxford)
  • What Is a Person?: Rethinking Humanity, Social Life, and the Moral Good from the Person Up (2010) (Chicago)
  • Passing the Plate: Why American Christians Do Not Give Away More Money (2008) (Oxford)
  • Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults (2009), with Patricia Snell (Oxford)[17]
  • Soul Searching: the Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers (2005), with Melinda Lundquist Denton (Oxford)
  • Moral, Believing Animals: Human Personhood and Culture (2003) (Oxford)
  • The Secular Revolution (2003) (California)
  • Christian America?: What Evangelicals Really Want (2000) (California)
  • Divided by Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America (2000), with Michael Emerson (Oxford)
  • American Evangelicalism: Embattled and Thriving (1998), with Michael Emerson, Sally Gallagher, Paul Kennedy, and David Sikkink (Chicago)
  • Resisting Reagan: The U.S. Central America Peace Movement (1996) (Chicago)
  • The Emergence of Liberation Theology: Radical Religion and Social Movement Theory (1991) (Chicago)
  • Religion: What it Is, How it Works, and Why it Matters (2017) (Princeton)
  • The Sacred Project of American Sociology (2014) (Oxford University Press)
gollark: You could use metric prefixes like kilokelvin if you wanted.
gollark: It's as consistent as imperial, if not more so.
gollark: I don't see why you would use imperial when you could use the superior furlong-firkin-fortnight system.
gollark: Everyone doing that subject that is.
gollark: The closest thing to a science fair my school did is one night last year or something where everyone presented DT (design and technology) projects.

References
  1. Smith, Christian Stephen (1990). The Emergence of Liberation Theology: Radical Religion and Social Movement Theory (PhD thesis). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University. OCLC 77348849.
  2. "Christian Smith". Science of Generosity. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame. Retrieved May 29, 2019.
  3. Dame, ENR // Marketing Communications: Web // University of Notre. "Home // Christian Smith, PhD // University of Notre Dame". Christian Smith, PhD. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
  4. "The best days of their lives?". The Economist. September 17, 2011. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on November 8, 2011. Retrieved December 6, 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. Ruby, Mary, ed. (2012). "Smith, Christian 1960–". Contemporary Authors. New Revision Series. 227. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale. p. 380. ISBN 978-1-4144-7261-4.
  7. "Altruism, Morality, and Social Solidarity Award Recipients". October 6, 2011. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
  8. Religion News: Christian magazine announces book awards Archived 2012-03-26 at the Wayback Machine
  9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 29, 2014. Retrieved July 26, 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. Hartwig, Mervyn (April 13, 2011). "International Association for Critical Realism (IACR): Cheryl Frank Memorial Prize". Criticalrealismblog.blogspot.com. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
  11. "Dr. Christian Smith's Award-winning Book-turned-film, Soul Searching, Premieres at Gordon". Gordon.edu. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
  12. Collin, Hansen (April 20, 2009). "Death by Deism". Christianity Today. Retrieved January 9, 2010.
  13. Veith, Gene Edward (June 25, 2005). "A nation of deists". World. Retrieved January 9, 2010.
  14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 27, 2012. Retrieved November 1, 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. "The Number One Religion in the U.S. May Be Egonovism, Not Christianity". Retrieved September 15, 2010.
  16. Smith, Christian; Denton, Melinda Lundquist (2005). Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 162–163. ISBN 978-0-19-803997-6.
  17. Riley, Naomi Schaefer. "The Fate of the Spirit". Retrieved May 22, 2018.
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