The best new books I’ve read in the last month are
- (5+) Why Religion Went Obsolete: The Demise of Traditional Faith in America by Christian Smith (Oxford University Press, 2025)
- (4.5) Church Camp: Bad Skits, Cry Night, and How White Evangelicalism Betrayed a Generation by Cara Meredith (Broadleaf Books, 2025)
- (4.5) Future-Focused Church: Leading Through Change, Engaging the Next Generation & Building a More Diverse Tomorrow by Kara Powell, Jake Mulder, and Raymond Chang (Baker Books, 2025)
- (4.5) Rage Prayers by Elizabeth Ashman Riley (Morehouse Publishing, 2024)
- (4.0) Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson (Avid Reader Press, 2025)
- (4.0) Here: A Spirituality of Staying in a Culture of Leaving by Lydia Sohn (Convergent, 2025)
- (4.0) Braving Difficult Decisions: What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do by Angela Williams Gorrell (Eerdmans, 2025)
- (3.5) Wired to Lead: Being the Leader the Church Didn’t Think You Could Be by Suzanne Nadell (Chalice Press, 2025)
5+ Rating
Why Religion Went Obsolete is the first book published in 2025 to receive a 5+ rating here on So What Faith.
This distinction has been awarded to just three to five books a year in recent years:
- 2024: Everything Good About God is True: Choosing Faith by Bruce Reyes Chow, Funding Forward: A Pathway to More Sustainable Models for Ministry by Grace Duddy Pomroy, and Baptizing America How Mainline Protestants Helped Build Christian Nationalism by Brian Kaylor and Beau Underwood,
- 2023: Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond, Beautiful and Terrible Things: Faith, Doubt, and Discovering a Way Back to Each Other by Amy Butler, and Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents – and What That Means for America’s Future by Jean M. Twenge
- 2022: Reorganized Religion: The Reshaping of the American Church and Why It Matters by Bob Smietana, Scapegoats: The Gospel through the Eyes of Victims by Jennifer Garcia Bashaw, Between the Listening and the Telling: How Stories Can Save Us by Mark Yaconelli, The Flag + The Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy by Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, 20 Myths About Religion and Politics in America by Ryan P. Burge
Why Religion Went Obsolete
I have lost count of the number of books I have read that examine the decline of religion in the United States. While each offers its own particular insights, it takes only a few to become familiar with the broad contours of the prevailing narrative.
Christian Smith’s new book, Why Religion Went Obsolete, fulfills the expectations one might have of a work by a prominent sociologist: it carefully delineates the key changes that have occurred and links each to a timeline. However, Smith’s primary objective is not merely to recount what has changed. Rather, he uses this groundwork to undertake the far more ambitious task of explaining why these changes have taken place.
For pastors, church leaders, and anyone guiding a faith community, this book is a must-read. If you want to grasp the cultural forces that are reshaping not only your congregation but the entire landscape of ministry, now is the time to acquire and devour your copy of Why Religion Went Obsolete. The questions Smith tackles aren’t just academic; they are pastoral. This is a one of a kind opportunity to better understand your present ministry context and to more ably prepare for the future.
Welcome Back
Kara Powell appeared on So What Faith in 2019 when I rated the book she co-authored that year, Growing With: Every Parent’s Guide to Helping Teenagers and Young Adults Thrive in Their Faith, Family, and Future, 4.0.
Christian Smith appeared on So What Faith in 2011 when I reviewed the book he authored that year: The Bible Made Impossible: Why Biblicism is Not a Truly Evangelical Reading of Scripture.