Short Synopsis
A vivid critique of American life today and a guide to how Christians—and particularly Catholics—can live their faith vigorously, and even with hope, in a post-Christian public square.

Full Synopsis
From Charles J. Chaput, author of Living the Catholic Faith and Render unto Caesar comes Strangers in a Strange Land, a fresh, urgent, and ultimately hopeful treatise on the state of Catholicism and Christianity in the United States.

America today is different in kind, not just in degree, from the past. And this new reality is unlikely to be reversed. The reasons include, but aren't limited to, economic changes that widen the gulf between rich and poor; problems in the content and execution of the education system; the decline of traditional religious belief among young people; the shift from organized religion among adults to unbelief or individualized spiritualities; changes in legal theory and erosion in respect for civil and natural law; significant demographic shifts; profound new patterns in sexual behavior and identity; the growth of federal power and its disregard for religious rights; the growing isolation and elitism of the leadership classes; and the decline of a sustaining sense of family and community.

"Readers of faith will find much to contemplate in Chaput's well-argued examples of the state of Christian influence on American culture." ---Publishers Weekly

"Erudite and eloquent . . . his book should be read by serious-minded people of whatever religious, partisan or intellectual inclination." ---Wall Street Journal

"Chaput is an erudite writer, and his work includes a wide array of quotations and allusions. . . . An optimistic account of the church's future in the midst of a secular age." ---Kirkus

"Well documented, with citations to a wide variety of sources in such areas as literature, philosophy, theology and politics, this book will appeal to traditionally oriented Catholics." ---Library Journal