The Juvenilization of American Christianity

<DIV>Pop worship music. Falling in love with Jesus. Mission trips. Wearing jeans and T-shirts to church. Spiritual searching and church hopping. Faith-based political activism. Seeker-sensitive outreach. These now-commonplace elements of American church life all began as innovative ways to reach young people yet they have gradually become accepted as important parts of a spiritual ideal for all ages. What on earth has happened?<BR /><BR /> In The <I>Juvenilization of American Christianity</I> Thomas Bergler traces the way in which over seventy-five years youth ministries have breathed new vitality into four major American church traditions -- African American Evangelical Mainline Protestant and Roman Catholic. Bergler shows too how this "juvenilization" of churches has led to widespread spiritual immaturity consumerism and self-centeredness popularizing a feel-good faith with neither intergenerational community nor theological literacy. Bergler’s critique further offers constructive suggestions for taming juvenilization.<BR /><BR />  </DIV>