How the West Really Lost God

A New Theory of Secularization

By: Mary Eberstadt

Narrated by: Nan McNamara

In this magisterial work, leading cultural critic Mary Eberstadt delivers a powerful new theory about the decline of religion in the Western world. The conventional wisdom is that the West first experienced religious decline, followed by the decline of the family. Eberstadt turns this standard account on its head.

Marshalling an impressive array of research, from fascinating historical data on family decline in pre-Revolutionary France to contemporary popular culture both in the United States and Europe, Eberstadt shows that the reverse has also been true: the undermining of the family has further undermined Christianity itself.

Drawing on sociology, history, demography, theology, literature, and many other sources, Eberstadt shows that family decline and religious decline have gone hand in hand in the Western world in a way that has not been understood before - that they are, as she puts it in a striking new image summarizing the book's thesis, "the double helix of society, each dependent on the strength of the other for successful reproduction."

©2013 Mary Eberstadt (P)2020 Tantor

Compelling theory

Eberstadt convincingly identifies the institution of the family (more or less the elephant in the room of public speculation and debate) as the hinge point on which religion turns, both in terms of personal belief and practice and cultural identity and values. A breath of fresh air for the puzzling and controversial question of secularization.

Losing God

I.M.O. WE NEVER LOST GOD, WE JUST FORGOT THAT IT WAS US WHO GAVE HIM AWAY..

So well done!

Brilliantly researched, and marvelously written! I cannot begin to explain how well this book handled such a difficult subject! Most impressive and well worth the read!

Bullseye on the problem

I would differ on what many would say are small issues. Yet she centers on the problem in Western society.

A typical reflection on the most dominant form of American Christianity.

Having found this book through a talk on philosophy, I did not expect so much representation of thought and standard laid out by the squeaky wheel that is Evangelical commercialism found in the United States.
The assertion that evangelical industrial complex’s definition of sexual morality that has been forefront since the second world war ended, is the standardbearer for faithfulness to God, was a disappointment. By limiting a relationship to God to this particular vein of Christianity, a huge chunk of those who profess valuable relationship with God have been left out of the equation.
Although the final chapters of this book, R, a more honest evaluation of spirituality overall, sifting through the statistics and dogmatic representations of a single line of protestant theology was an undesirable process for this listener.