Christian Smith borrows from a biblical parable to conclude his newest book: “perhaps a season has come for traditional religion’s remaining seeds to fall to the ground and appear to die so that some much more fruitful life might be born.” Why Religion Went Obsolete “powerfully covers cultural trends…that undermined the religion in America,” cultural critic Aaron Renn declares. Everything from neoliberal capitalism to the rise of the internet “tended towards undermining” the Christian faith.
“If you’re tired of ‘try harder’ solutions, and ready to engage the real cultural climate before us,” Travis Fleming writes for Deep Roots Society, “this book will give you clarity, language, and insight.” As he observes, “Few books so thoroughly unpack the economic systems, social movements, and cultural transformations that have progressively ‘crowded out’ Christian faith from the everyday lives of ordinary people.”
Professor of sociology, and founding director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at University of Notre Dame, Smith “does more than present statistics or trends,” Fleming adds. “He offers what might be called a cultural MRI—a deep diagnosis into the spiritual condition of American society, and why traditional Christianity no longer makes sense to so many.”
Why Religion Went Obsolete: The Demise of Traditional Faith in America
By Christian Smith
Oxford University Press, 2025