Christian Smith is currently the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Sociology at the University of Notre Dame, Director of the Center for the Sociology of Religion, and Principal Investigator of the National Study of Youth and Religion. He recently served as Associate Chair of the Department of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, from 2000 to 2005. Smith worked at UNC Chapel Hill from 1994 to 2006. Before moving to UNC Chapel Hill in 1994, Smith taught for six years at Gordon College. During his years at UNC Chapel Hill, Smith has brought in about eight million dollars of research grant money from the Pew Charitable Trusts and Lilly Endowment, Inc. Smith is the author, co-author, or editor of numerous books, including Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers ; Moral, Believing Animals: Human Culture and Personhood ; The Secular Revolution: Power, Interests, and Conflict in the Secularization of American Public Life, American Evangelicalism: Embattled and Thriving , and The Emergence of Liberation Theology: Radical Religion and Social Movement Theory . He is also author or co-author of numerous journal articles. Smith’s scholarly interests focus on American religion, cultural sociology, adolescents, and sociological theory.