Journal: Journal for Baptist Theology & Ministry
Volume: JBTM 13:1 (Spring 2016)
Article: Emerging Scholarship On Youth And Religion: Resources For A New Generation Of Youth Ministry
Author: Joyce Ann Mercer

JBTM 13:1 (Spring 2016) p. 61

Emerging Scholarship On Youth And Religion:
Resources For A New Generation Of Youth Ministry

Joyce Ann Mercer

Joyce Ann Mercer is the Arthur Lee Kinsolving Professor in Pastoral Theology at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia.

Editorial Note: This article originally appeared in Resources for American Christianity, an online archive of projects funded by Lilly Endowment, Inc. Used with permission. The parenthetical citations have been maintained, but no effort was made to align the content according to its original, twenty-one page format.

The story of American Christianity includes a longstanding concern for the religious lives of young people. Particularly in the mid-twentieth century, as the idea solidified of adolescence as a separate life stage with its own unique characteristics and needs, scholars and church leaders in search of resources for understanding and working with youth began to utilize studies from psychology, sociology, or education. An important turn, moving into the twenty-first century, can be in an emerging body of research and literature that makes theology, spirituality and faith formation central to such inquiries about youth. This essay reviews a selection of books, edited volumes, and articles by scholars working at the intersections of youth and religion whose work has significant implications for the practice of youth ministry.

The resources under consideration here divide into three categories according to the type of project in which they originated: (1) reports on the findings of research studies; (2) writings arising from the various programs for high school youth; and, (3) works from other projects which, although not primarily about young people, include youth as a key constituency or focus of attention.

I. Writings From Research Projects On Youth And Youth Ministry

Among the thirteen works considered in this essay, two (Strommen, Jones, and Rahn, 2001; Martinson, Black, and Roberto, 2010) are book-length reports detailing the findings of studies specifically aimed at enhancing and supporting the work of youth ministry in the churches. Two others (Powell, Shelley, and O’Brien, 2009; and Powell, King, and Clark, 2005) offer article-length accounts of the preliminary findings of two additional studies. 61

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Together these writings illustrate a growing trend in practical theology toward empirical research in which social science research methods are employed in the service of learning for youth ministry. This trend toward research-based writings represents a particularly significant turn in the scholarship of youth ministry, away from theoretical, anecdotal, or p...