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Title: Virtual Faith : The Irreverent Spiritual Quest of Generation X by Tom Beaudoin ISBN: 0-7879-5527-2 Publisher: Jossey-Bass Pub. Date: 30 June, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.63 (35 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Is tradition the answere?
Comment: Virtual Faith is a free flowing theological interpretation of the heart beat of modern culture. The question the author asks is "will you be there for me?" In the modern age, this question is paramount to Gen Xers. Those who grew up in one parent or no parent households. It seems that the alienation the Xer's feel is rooted in their abandonment an isolation by their elders! This is a generation without rites of passage as found in native cultures. Xer's mistrust modern forms of establishment. Tom suggests that Tradition may offer something to Xer's who in fact are quite spiritual. This is a great book! The older generation stands to learn much in its pages! My only criticism of the book is rooted in my own alienation from the tradition he speaks favorabley about. While there is a richness in traditonal forms of Christianity it is rarely exercised in modern forms of practice these days. Patriarchal forns are oppresive and mean spirited to the Souls of women and other minorities.The Pope speaks eloquently and correctly about injustice outside the Catholic Church. About injustice within the Church he is silent and culpably negligent. I give this book my highest recommendation!
Rating: 3
Summary: good premise, I have only two critiques
Comment: I read this book for a Youth and Culture class in seminary and it was by far my favorite book of the semester. Beaudoin does a good job in describing a generalized picture of Generation X's conception of Christianity, but there are two places where I feel he misses the mark somewhat.
I feel that Beaudoin could have made better choices in his selection of videos, and this is not about personal preference or taste. Soundgarden's "Outshined" or "Rusty Cage" were both more attuned, in my estimation, to the emotions, struggles, and general attitude of Generation X than "Black Hole Sun", generally speaking. Beaudoin could have also explored why a band like Pearl Jam, which is overwhelmingly non-imagistic, could still continue to have an impact despite Pearl Jam's lack of visual exposure beyond 1992. Another example: replace "Like a Prayer" with Tool's "Sober" or with Nine Inch Nails "Head Like a Hole", and you've got something. And one last musical point: where is hip-hop? Surely the amazing success of rap music in the ninties, especially gangsta rap, says something about Generation X theologically.
My second critique concerns Beaudoin's theological engagement. I simply feel that he could have gone a little deeper. I was also looking for some wrestling with the greats. I took Systematic Theology the semester before I read this book and was looking for Beaudoin to utilize Barth, Tillich, Bultmann, etc. An examination of Tillich's views of Christianity and culture would have been especially rewarding in the context of the book. It simply seemed to me that Beaudoin could have gone a tad deeper theologically.
Rating: 4
Summary: A theological dissection of this group from one of its own
Comment: I'm a little bit older than this age group discussed. Okay, I'll admit it, I'm near the advance guard of the Boomer generation! However, as someone charged with developing educational offerings for my church, I found this to be compelling reading.
The age group of 18-30, no matter what generation in recent years, has typically been absent from our pews. What makes the Gen-Xers so different, Beaudoin says, is that they WANT to be in a spiritual place, and are hungry for it. He cites evidence from music, music videos and other sources of pop culture appealing to the Gen-Xers.
One of his arguments I found especially interesting was that which states that this generation has grown up not knowing war, hard times or any of the events that tend to galvanize previous generations. His theory is that this explains the rise in popularity of self mutilation, otherwise known as body piercing and tattooing, as visible signs of the theme of "suffering servant."
Whether one buys into his theories or not, there is much here to provide food for thought for mainstream churches wanting to reach out to the Gen-Xers. He looks at those aspects of Biblical stories that have appeal to this group; he speaks of styles of worship or study that would most attract them. I don't think anyone who has looked at shelves of bookstores can disagree that there is a great spiritual hunger in our world. Beaudoin's book will certainly enocurage us to think about how that hunger could be met for this demographic group.
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Title: Write the Vision: The Church Renewed by Wilbert R. Shenk ISBN: 1579106471 Publisher: Wipf & Stock Publishers Pub. Date: May, 2001 List Price(USD): $15.50 |
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Title: Believing in the Future: Toward a Missiology of Western Culture (Christian Mission and Modern Culture Series) by David Jacobus Bosch, David J. Bosch ISBN: 1563381176 Publisher: Trinity Press International Pub. Date: 01 May, 1995 List Price(USD): $9.00 |
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Title: The Church Between Gospel and Culture: The Emerging Mission in North America (Gospel & Our Culture) by George R. Hunsberger, Craig Van Gelder ISBN: 0802841090 Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company Pub. Date: 01 March, 1996 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: The End of Christendom and the Future of Christianity by Douglas John Hall ISBN: 1579109845 Publisher: Wipf & Stock Publishers Pub. Date: June, 2002 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
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Title: The Gospel in a Pluralist Society by Lesslie Newbigin ISBN: 0802804268 Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company Pub. Date: 01 December, 1989 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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