A term coined by sociologist Christian Smith (with others) in Soul Searching (2005) to describe the de facto working theology of American teenagers — which Smith labeled "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism" (MTD). The MTD creed: (1) God exists and created the world; (2) God wants people to be nice; (3) the central goal of life is to be happy and feel good about oneself; (4) God is not particularly involved in life except to resolve problems; (5) good people go to heaven when they die. This therapeutic gospel has become the operating theology not only of teenagers but of a significant slice of American adult evangelicalism.
The therapeutic gospel is not Christianity with a smile; it is a different gospel. Paul's warning applies: "Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8). Four specific replacements the therapeutic gospel makes. (1) Sin is replaced with low self-esteem. The problem is not that I have rebelled against a holy God; the problem is that I don't like myself. (2) The cross is replaced with self-acceptance. God doesn't atone for sin on Calvary; He simply affirms me as I am. (3) Repentance is replaced with therapy. I need insight and coping skills, not a radical reordering of my heart. (4) The Church is replaced with the support group. Community exists to make me feel validated, not to disciple me into Christlikeness. When the preaching of a church focuses on "your best life now," emotional wholeness, self-discovery, and affirming inclusion — without sin, blood, cross, wrath, judgment, or repentance — it has likely drifted into the therapeutic gospel regardless of what its doctrinal statement says. The antidote is not harshness but truth: the real gospel is more therapeutic than the therapeutic gospel, because it deals with the actual problem (sin) and offers the actual remedy (substitutionary atonement and new birth). Grace that doesn't confront sin doesn't comfort; it anesthetizes.