Modernity, the religious, and the spiritual

Research on the post-World War II generations offers the opportunity to examine significant trends in American religion that will shape the early decades of the next century. A reclaiming of the spiritual, the more experiential aspects of religion, is at the very heart of these changes for younger cohorts of Americans. The crucial question is, Will religious institutions adapt to these experimental quests and provide the symbolic resources needed to sustain them? Drawing from insights from Ernst Troeltsch, several possible scenarios are described as we move into the new century.