Adolescence: Moving to the Scientific Mainstream

Around the world, there appears to be a growing concern with spirituality in the general public as well as among scholars. Whether one looks at the list of best-selling books, searches the Web, watches contemporary movies or TV shows, or reads general-interest magazines, one quickly finds evidence of this trend. And one sees religion and spirituality (mixed with nationalism and ethnic tensions) playing defining roles in most major geopolitical conflicts in a world that is becoming both smaller and more fragmented. While spirituality in general has considerable currency, there is additional focus on the spiritual development of children and adolescents. The source of this interest varies considerably. For example, some people—particularly those within religious communities—worry that the beliefs, narratives, and commitments of the world’s religious traditions are not adequately taking root in young people’s lives (e.g., Lindner, 2004). As Wuthnow (1998) puts it, “When the sacred no longer has a single address, people worry that it may disappear entirely” (p. 10). Other observers contend that the world’s religious heritage is “tainted by an incriminating record of injustice, tribalism, violence, and the violation of fundamental human rights” (King, 2001 p. 2). Instead, they say, the urgent need is to engage young people in new ways of seeing, knowing, and discovering, since “a simple return to or retrieval of past spiritualities is no longer enough to meet urgent contemporary social and personal needs” (King,