Soul Searching

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Starring: Christian Smith
Rated: NR (Not Rated)
Type: DVD
Directed By: Michael Eaton
Studio: Revelation Studios
Release Date: 2007-12-17
Based on the book, Soul Searching: the Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers, by Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton, which reports on research conducted over a seven year period by the National Study of Youth and Religion. Featuring interviews with the books authors, youth pastors, and teenagers from around the country, this compelling documentary illustrates some of the major themes and findings of the book, and goes behind the book in depicting the inner lives of a sample of American teenagers. Find out what these teenagers really think about God and religion, what their hopes and aspirations are, and what the research says about the effects of religion in their lives. In 2005, Oxford University Press released a very important book. Sociologists from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill had just released their findings of a comprehensive study of the religious views of American teenagers. And what they found was nothing less than shocking. According to Christian Smith, the primary author of the book Soul Searching, the actual professed religion of most young adults, whether they're being raised in Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Presbyterian, or Jewish homes, is what he called Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. What this means is that although many teens believe in God and go to church regularly, they end up defining belief in very vague and subjective terms, such as, God exists, He's there when we need him, He wants us to be happy, The purpose of life is to feel good, Good people go to heaven, and so forth. Now, in 2007, a documentary film version of Soul Searching was just released by Revelation Studios. And on this edition of the White Horse Inn webcast, Michael Horton talks with Michael Eaton, the co-director of the film, as well as Christian Smith himself, the primary researcher behind the project, about their new documentary. Based on a seven year study of the religious views of American teens, this film presents some troubling findings about the content and quality of the faith being passed on to the next generation. Find out what these teenagers really think about God and religion, what their hopes and aspirations are, and what the research says about the effects of religion in their lives.

Soul Searching
This was a great movie to watch with teens and to open up a discussion on what they believe and how their friends feel.

Dated
On the positive side the presentation tries to let teens speak for themselves. Yet, the presentation is somewhat dated. Teens currently change rapidly and within a four or five year period you have a new breed. For someone totally unfamiliar with teen thinking it does provide a frame of reference. My experience with teens and their parents also suggests that even parents who give their teens a good model of faith and religious practice does not assure that such will rub off on their teens.

Great teaching tool
This is a great tool to show parents what is going on in the lives of teenagers today. I am using it to teach a parent Bible study. Everyone should watch this video.

Informative But Not Representative
Finished watching the documentary with the lead researcher (Christian Smith) and two directors (Timothy and Michael Eaton) available for a quick Q&A following the screening. As the other reviews have raved, the movie is of the highest media and video quality, telling a compelling documentary of how youth today see issues of spirituality and religion. Though informative, my concern however in making this video a "must see" for all parents and pastors is in its lack of an accurate representation of youth in America. That is, who really are our youth and did the movie accurately portray this? For instance, not until the last 10 minutes of the movie was an Asian American edited into the final cut, with only a few seconds given. In comparison, the majority of the interviews were with White, middle to upper-class youth. Though there was one African American and a few Hispanic Americans throughout (in addition to the White Americans), the Hispanic Americans were from the inner cities, and appeared rougher, adding to the negative stereotyping of Hispanic Americans (e.g., there weren't any White Americans from lower socioeconomic status, nor any Hispanic Americans from middle-class suburbia). My concern in raising these issues is to bring up the point that although the book and study may have addressed the issues of representation well (I have yet to read the book), the movie either failed to edit in a more representative group of "youth" or a step previous, did not conduct enough interviews with a substantial sampling to warrant a must see movie on teens and religion/spirituality. If I were a youth pastor from a Korean American church, I'd have to think twice about whether or not to use this documentary.

A Wake-up Call for the Future of Religion In America
This compelling movie provides an overview of the most comprehensive study of teenagers and religion in America conducted by the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) that was reported in the book "Soul Searching" by Christian Smith, Oxford Univ. Press. Every parent of teens and pre-teens, youth workers, and religious leaders should see this film. The movie traces the lives of several teenagers and their families from a variety of religions perspectives and interviews the principal researchers who discuss the major findings of the NSYR research in light of the lives of real teenagers. Several youth workers also respond to the challenging lives of teenagers in light of the research findings. But, this research and film concerns far more than teenagers. This is a wake-up call for adults and religious leaders alike. The faith of teenagers it turns out is most often a reflection of the faith of their parents as clearly documented in the film. In other word "we get who we are." Parents who believe that dropping off their kids at church or synagogue for religious training is enough will be deeply disappointed with the results. What happens in the home is surprisingly more important that what happens in religious institutions. This is an excellent resource to show at a gathering of parents of teenagers or a gathering of parents and their teenagers. Discussion questions are provided and this emotionally challenging film will certainly lay the foundation for significant discussion. Any household, ministry, church, or synagogue that is serious about passing on their faith to the next generation will re-think their approach after viewing this film (and reading the book). Watching this film will change the way you raise your teenagers or minister to teenagers.