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There are moments when I’m reading and one particular word or phrase will cause me to pause. Where my mind wanders from there will likely have nothing to do with the context in which I read the word in the first place, but it sends me on a journey of thought nonetheless.
I was just reading an article called, “The Changing Chaplaincy” from the October edition of University Business. While quoting Douglas and Rhonda Jacobsen, the writer, Ron Schachter, tells us that they “authored The American University in the Postsecular Age.”
Pause.
Rewind.
Postsecular Age.
Pause.
Rewind.
Postsecular Age?
I guess for us religious folk, this is a good thing to know. We have now moved into the postsecular age. Whatever that means.
Perhaps it means that just as we saw more talk of religious views during the most recent presidential election, it is no longer bad form to discuss our religious views in secular circles.
Bill Maher comes to mind as I continue to pause, rewind, and ponder “postsecular age.” Maher’s recent documentary Religulous may very well be his reaction to our moving into a more religious world rather than evidence that we are moving away from religion.
I should be clear. I have not yet seen the movie. This is not because of any moral reasoning, but only because I NEVER GET TO GO TO THE MOVIES ANYMORE. That is a frustration of parenthood that I will leave for another post. When my Netflix list works down to it, I will watch Maher’s critique of all things religious. Being a huge fan of Politically Incorrect and his HBO show, I know enough about Maher’s views to have a sense of the points made in the film. Heck, the title says it all!
So, if scholars are right and we are moving into (or have already arrived) in the postsecular age, will we begin to hear more and more from our atheist brothers and sisters as a natural reaction? And, more importantly for me, will this mean that those on the religious right (really far right), will be quiet? That really would be a new age.
And, that brings another phrase to my mind.
“Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.”
I’m attending a conference here in Memphis this weekend on “The Great Emergence.” That is the title of a new book by Phyllis Tickle. Doug Pagitt and Tony Jones have organized the event being held at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Memphis. There are about 300 of us participating. There are three really interesting things to me about the event.
1. It is the first time I’ve ever been to anything that invited people to have their laptops on and “twitter” away while the speaker is speaking. Not only that, the twitter posts are actually projected onto a screen while Phyllis Tickle is presenting her ideas. I realized very quickly that I’m quickly approaching being an old fogey! Of course as soon as I could when I got home tonight, I checked out www.twitter.com.
2. The issues for the emerging church, while they will effect the WHOLE CHURCH eventually, is primarily a “white problem” right now. I could count on one hand the number of people of color who are in that room talking about the shifts occuring in the Church and what we need to do about it. I can’t help but wonder what this means for us as a global community and if we are being too self-involved as the white protestant churches.
3. I was introduced to a fantastic form of workshopping. I was not looking forward to the workshop time. I hadn’t been given an assignment nor had I been able to choose from a list of things in which I was interested. Being the control freak that I am, this was difficult for me. I was told to go to a room with about 100 other people and Doug Pagitt explained that each presenter would be giving a very brief presentation. There were 8 of them!!! The form is called “Ignite” and each person is given five minutes to present his or her ideas. You can check out the movement at http://ignite.oreilly.com. I think Tim Keel’s kick-off to our time together really set the tone. He even referred, when beginning, to it as “performance art haiku.” It was so well done and the others fell right in line behind him. We ended our time of response to the presentations with a totally impromptu creation of a chant. It was wonderful to be in a group where the Holy Spirit had room to move and breathe!
You can check out www.emergentvillage.com or www.thegreatemergence.com to learn more about what is going on.
