Quest for Purpose

Perry L. Glanzer is Professor of Educational Foundations at Baylor University and a Resident Scholar with the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion. His books include Restoring the Soul of the University: Unifying Christian Higher Education in a Fragmented Age (coauthored with Nathan F. Alleman and Todd C. Ream). Jonathan P. Hill is Associate Professor of Sociology at Calvin College and the coauthor (with Christian Smith, Kyle Longest, and Kari Christoffersen) of Young Catholic America: Emerging Adults In, Out of, and Gone from the Church. Byron R. Johnson is Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences at Baylor University and the author of More God, Less Crime: Why Faith Matters and How It Could Matter More.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction Searching for Meaning and Purpose in College: A Dying Quest? Part I: The Context of the Quest 1. Are Colleges Giving Up on Life’s Meaning and Purpose? The Historical and Cultural Context 2. The Adolescent Journey: The Precollege Path to Finding Meaning and Purpose 3. Mapping the Presence of Purpose: How Identity, Social Context, and Education Matter Part II. Figuring Out College Students’ Quest 4. Developing Purpose in the Contemporary University: Four Stories 5. Mapping What Makes Life Meaningful 6. The Diverse Purposes of College Students 7. Is Purposelessness a Problem? Part III. Questing in the University 8. Encountering Purpose in the Classroom 9. Looking for Purpose Outside of Class Part IV. The Heart, Hope, and Soul of Purpose 10. Purpose with Soul: The Religious 11. Finding Purpose in a Universe without One: The Nontheists 12. How Does the Story End? Purpose, the Good Life, and the Future Conclusion Appendix A: MethodsAppendix B: Interview Guide: 110 Students at 10 CampusesAppendix C: Statistical Supplement to Chapters 3 and 10 NotesBibliographyIndex