Strangers in a Strange Land: Living the Catholic Faith in a Post-Christian World

The clergyman critiques contemporary American life and offers Catholics—and Christians—guidance to living their faith vigorously, with confidence and hope.

From the author of Living the Catholic Faith and Render unto Caesar comes a fresh, urgent, and ultimately hopeful treatise on the state of Catholic life and Christian community 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, the decline of sustaining sense of family and community, the impact of new technologies and economic changes that widen the gulf between rich and poor, diminished religious belief among people, significant demographic shifts, profound new patterns in sexual behavior and identity, the growth of federal power and its disregard for religious rights, and the growing isolation and elitism of our leadership classes. But the author gives more than a penetrating diagnosis of the nation’s problems. Archbishop Chaput offers a compelling reflection on the person of Jesus Christ, the nature of the Church, the urgency of radical faith, and the redemptive power of beauty—all in the spirit of Psalm 8 and the enduring words of Irenaeus: “The glory of God is man fully alive.”

Praise for Strangers in a Strange Land

“Erudite and eloquent . . . [Chaput’s] his book should be read by serious-minded people of whatever religious, partisan, or intellectual inclination.” —The Wall Street Journal

“A thought-provoking depiction of a complex contemporary scene. . . . With remarkable clarity and gentle wit, the author offers remedial lessons in Catholic morality and social doctrine for generations.” —Catholic World Report

“An optimistic account of the Church’s future in the midst of a secular age.” —Kirkus Reviews

“An invigorating new book.” —Breitbart.com

© 2024 Henry Holt and Co. (Ebook): 9781627796750

Release date

Ebook: 2 July 2024