Why the old language of traditional religion is out, and a new language of spirituality is in

An Anxious Age—and an Antagonistic Future?

By Christopher White

Jody Bottum's new book examines why the old language of traditional religion is out, and a new language of spirituality is in.

Bottum’s project in An Anxious Age: The Post-Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of America is twofold: 

1. First, to trace the decline of mainline Protestantism in America, which has been central to our public institutions and vocabulary. “When the Mainline died,” he writes, “it took with it to the grave the vocabulary in which both criticism and support of the nation could be effective.”
2. Secondly, Bottum chronicles the rise of intellectualized Catholics who attempted to offer an alternative of this moral practice and vocabulary in America and the difficulties of fashioning a new Catholic culture in its place.

In 1965, more than 50 percent of Americans were active members of mainline Protestant churches. Today that number is down to under 10 percent. 

Meanwhile, Catholicism in America continues to enjoy moderate success, primarily due to the wave of new immigrants, but weekly Mass attendance is in significant decline. 

Yet ask the average passerby on the streets about their religious beliefs and few are willing to dismiss religion all together. 

From the increased practice of yoga, to the deeply moralistic rationale of Wall Street’s occupiers in 2011, to Tea Party members who invoke the Almighty as often as they do patriotic duty, there is no shortage of spiritual language filling our public discourse today—it’s just that American religion as we have known it is seemingly passé.

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