Meet the Author
Mary Tedeschi Eberstadt is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and consulting editor to Policy Review, the Hoover Institution’s bimonthly journal of essays and reviews on American politics and society. Her work considers issues related to American society, culture, and philosophy. Eberstadt’s previous books include The Loser Letters: A Comic Tale of Life, Death, and Atheism (2010), and Home-Alone America: The Hidden Toll of Day Care, Behavioral Drugs and Other Parent Substitutes (2004). Additionally, she has written for National Review Online, Policy Review, The Weekly Standard, Commentary, the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Times, First Things, and the American Spectator.
Book Basics
Eberstadt’s How the West Really Lost God: A New Theory of Secularization isn’t a new theory of secularization; it is a powerful, thoughtful, and challenging appeal to reconsider existing theories as lacking appropriate attention to a key element of change: the family factor. Rather than overstating her case, Eberstadt masterfully explores the possible shortcomings in the dominant perspectives by asking questions not addressed in the scholarly literature. In short, she suggests that it wasn’t the loss of religion and welcoming of secularization that led to the decline in the traditional family, but rather that changes in family formation preceded changes in religious belief.
So What?
Which came first: the chicken or the egg? Rather than asking questions on this level regarding secularization, most have focused on narrower and more specialized sub-questions living with the widespread assumption that shifts in religious belief caused changes in the makeup of families. What if, however, religion isn’t as powerful as we assume? What if the decline of the family is the primary reason for the decline in Christianity? How might this shape how people of faith seek to reverse the trend?
Mary Eberstadt. How the West Really Lost God: A New Theory of Secularization (Templeton Press, 2013). ISBN: 9781599473796.