From Publishers Weekly
Carroll's title promises to answer a question that is not new; the decline of liberal Christianity and the rise of the evangelical movement has been a source of scholarly and journalistic fascination for more than 20 years. Carroll, though, gives an up-to-the-minute account of this phenomenon. She spent a year beginning in 2001 and ending in 2002 conducting research and interviews around the U.S., and, unlike most treatments of the new American passion for orthodoxy, hers focuses on the Catholic and Orthodox Churches as well as evangelical Protestantism. This emphasis on orthodoxy and ancient, liturgical tradition among young members is both novel and timely. While evangelical Protestant mega-churches were the big story 15 years ago, record-breaking conversion rates in conservative Catholic and Orthodox churches are today's headline. Carroll quotes many young people who yearn for both conservative interpretations of the Bible and the mystery and symbolism of liturgy. Especially popular among young orthodox Catholics is the pre-Vatican II practice of Eucharistic adoration, which involves reverencing a consecrated communion wafer. In her introduction, Carroll makes brief mention of her identification with the young, conservative Catholics she features, and this identification shows in analysis that often bleeds into advocacy. She does occasionally quote critics of the trend toward orthodoxy, but she never fully explores these dimensions. However, this is a book that generously and comprehensively examines a group that is often misunderstood and caricatured.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
With the help of a Phillips Journalism Fellowship, St. Louis Post-Dispatch journalist Carroll traveled the country to interview young adults to ascertain how religion fits into their lives. Most of her interviewees were Catholics or evangelical Protestants, along with some Orthodox Christians. Carroll found a turn to the Right in the religious lives of her peers, born between 1965 and 1983; not everyone in this age group is religiously oriented, but those who are have more often than not turned to traditional beliefs and morality. Among Catholic priests, for example, the youngest are as traditional as the oldest, with the baby boomers falling in between. It is not unusual for married couples in this age group to embrace natural family planning as opposed to artificial birth control and for singles to reject premarital sex. These young adults are seeking authoritative guidelines and meaningful commitments. Carroll's journalistic skills are evident in this very readable volume about a tendency toward traditionalism that she predicts will spread. Highly recommended.John Moryl, Yeshiva Univ. Lib., New York Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
During the past decade, there has been a remarkable resurgence of religious fervor among members of Generation X. Born into privilege and prosperity, many of these young people are now searching for spiritual, rather than materialistic, fulfillment. They are finding answers to their questions in a relatively new style of Christian Orthodoxy. Conservative churches are attracting droves of new members seeking both substance and sustenance. Not content to merely practice their faith privately, many of the newly committed embrace a more evangelical and action-oriented approach to worship. Based on countless interviews with young adults across the country, this exploration probes beneath the surface of Christian Orthodoxy, analyzing the root causes and the diverse consequences of this new religious movement. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Wall Street Journal
Carroll combines first-hand reporting with social-science metrics to examine a remarkable trend toward religious orthodoxy among Americans...


Publisherís Weekly
Önovel and timely... a book that generously and comprehensively examines a group that is often misunderstood and caricatured.


Fr. Benedict J. Groeschel, CFR, author, Journey Towards God
Öyou canít afford to leave this book unread.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Saving sex for marriage. Attending the Latin Mass. Witnessing to others about Christ. Baby boomers largely rejected these trappings of traditional Christianity -- so why are their children embracing them with such fervor? Author Colleen Carroll taps into the restless hearts of America's Gen-X believers, revealing their deep attraction to tradition, longing for truth, and determination to change the world. As Carroll writes, "The grassroots movement they have started bears watching because it has thrived in the most unlikely places, captured the hearts of the most unlikely people, and aims to effect the most unlikely of outcomes: a revitalization of American Christianity and culture."

SYNOPSIS

Now in Paperback! Born between 1965 and 1983, the young adults of Generation X grew up in an era of unprecedented wealth and consumerism. Rebelling against the liberal family, social, and academic environments in which they were raised, some have made strengthening their faith a priority.

The New Faithful is a groundbreaking book that examines the growing trend toward religious orthodoxy among today￯﾿ﾽs young adults. Author and journalist Colleen Carroll offers strong opinions on how this movement might transform an American society steeped in moral relativism and secularism.

Blending investigative journalism with in-depth analysis, Carroll seeks the reasons behind the choice of orthodoxy in a society that often denigrates traditional morality and rejects organized religion.

FROM THE CRITICS

- Wall Street Journal

In 1993, 24-year-old David Legge seemed to have the world by the tail. Blessed with Tom Cruise-ish good looks, he had just finished his second year at Yale Law School and was a summer associate at a big New York law firm. Making more money than he could spend, he painted the town red four or five nights a week with lavish parties and big bar tabs. A bright future beckoned.

There was only one problem. He wasn't happy.

"I had a good time, I guess," Mr. Legge recalls, "but I didn't have that many real friends in New York. And I realized that it was just kind of an empty life."

Like many Gen X (and Y) Catholics raised in the wake of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, Mr. Legge's childhood religious formation had been spotty at best. He was raised in a Catholic family, but he found that his religious courses in school consisted mostly of "psychobabble." The spiritual emptiness he was feeling that summer in New York led him to apply to his own faith the kind of intensity he had previously reserved for his legal studies. The result was a revelation.

"It was like God hit me over the head with a bottle," he said. It took a few years, but eventually Mr. Legge found the courage to walk away from his job and the girlfriend who did not share his deepening Catholic faith and enter a Dominican seminary to become a priest.

David Legge's conversion (or re-conversion) story is one of many that animate the pages of Colleen Carroll's "The New Faithful" (Loyola, 320 pages). A reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Ms. Carroll combines first-hand reporting with social-science metrics to examine a remarkable trend toward religious orthodoxy among Americans born roughly between 1960and 1983. These were the children exposed full-force to the consumerism, secularism and "me-first" ideology that seized the helm of American society in that period—very much including most mainstream religious denominations.

Among young adults, a turn (or return) to prayer, worship and orthodoxy.

Concentrating her reporting on Catholics and evangelical Protestants, Ms. Carroll borrows G.K. Chesterton's definition of "orthodoxy" as the Apostles' Creed. ("I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth . . . "). For the young adults profiled in her book, that means the acceptance of a transcendent moral authority, a commitment to regular prayer and worship, a belief in absolute truth and an allegiance to objective standards of conduct.

What drives these young people in such a, well, un-orthodox direction? The high rate of divorce among baby-boomer parents certainly played its role. And anyone with the least experience of young people knows that a high percentage of them, almost by reflex, are skeptical of the dogmas laid down by their elders. That seems just as true when the dogmas are relativism, permissiveness and militant secularism as when they are their opposites. The appeal of Pope John Paul II to young people, evident from the first days of his pontificate, is mentioned frequently by Catholics and Protestants alike.

"They want to get off the merry-go-round," says the Rev. David Burrell, a Catholic priest. "They really want something that can touch their souls. And a faith culture is the only thing that can respond to that."

One of the most refreshing aspects of Ms. Carroll's book is the near absence of I-found-God-when-I-hit-rock-bottom stories. Most of the newly faithful are successful in their worldly endeavors, a fact that conventional wisdom would say works against fervent religious belief.

But as Ms. Carroll notes, affluence may now be one of the engines driving religious revival. One result of the good (secular) life, apparently, is the kind of "premature mid-life crisis" that David Legge experienced. And while most who confront such a crisis do not end up at a seminary, many do find that their turn to religious seriousness requires new friends and a new career.

The orthodoxy vogue, if it may be called that, does not please everyone. Some baby-boomer priests actually seem bitter abo it—or envious. After all, new and orthodox religious orders like the New York-based Sisters of Life and the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal are turning away candidates while liberal orders wither on the vine. Potential seminarians, approaching a particular order, warily demand to know whether the priests wear their clerical collars and whether they accept the teaching authority of the Church on abortion and extramarital sex. "There's a kind of nostalgia for a church they've never experienced—and I have," one priest grouses. "I don't want to go back there."

But the young orthodox faithful are not looking back. They are looking forward, striving to make something "countercultural" in the non-1960s sense of the word. Thus they are eager to evangelize their peers. That their peers often remain unaffected doesn't discourage them, either. You don't need to convert a whole generation, one of Ms. Carroll's subjects points out. Jesus, after all, started with just 12.

CBA Marketplace

What makes this book unique is Carroll's ability to focus on both Catholics and Protestants returning to the faith. Catholic and Protestant ministries, resources and references are used throughout. This is a great resource for anyone involved in young-adult ministry.

National Post

...It's a blockbuster of a book and explains why that 'old-time religion' is bringing the beautiful people back.

Publishers Weekly

Carroll' s title promises to answer a question that is not new; the decline of liberal Christianity and the rise of the evangelical movement has been a source of scholarly and journalistic fascination for more than 20 years. Carroll, though, gives an up-to-the-minute account of this phenomenon. She spent a year beginning in 2001 and ending in 2002 conducting research and interviews around the U.S., and, unlike most treatments of the new American passion for orthodoxy, hers focuses on the Catholic and Orthodox Churches as well as evangelical Protestantism. This emphasis on orthodoxy and ancient, liturgical tradition among young members is both novel and timely. While evangelical Protestant mega-churches were the big story 15 years ago, record-breaking conversion rates in conservative Catholic and Orthodox churches are today' s headline. Carroll quotes many young people who yearn for both conservative interpretations of the Bible and the mystery and symbolism of liturgy. Especially popular among young orthodox Catholics is the pre-Vatican II practice of Eucharistic adoration, which involves reverencing a consecrated communion wafer. While Carroll does not announce her own identification with the young, conservative Catholics she features, her position quickly becomes obvious and, as such, her analysis of their beliefs tends to bleed into advocacy. She does occasionally quote critics of the trend toward orthodoxy, but she never fully explores these dimensions. However, this is a book that generously and comprehensively examines a group that is often misunderstood and caricatured. (Sept.) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal