Show Notes
In this episode we enter into the halls of Part III of A Secular Age - The Nova Effect. Once there is one viable option of unbelief, more and more become available and viable, as do ways of believing, as well as options at every point in between - an explosion of options for belief and unbelief.
Part III begins with Chapter 8 - The Malaises of Modernity, where Charles Taylor looks at what it feels like to be in a world so "progressed" and "free" but feeling like something isn't quite right.
We take time to note where we see the malaise in the world around us, and the response it draws out.
References: -Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (299-304)
More from Contemplating Culture: A Missionary Walk Through A Secular Age
In this episode we look at the changing shape of religion post WWII, taking the American case as an example. Here we see the interlocking and reinforcing interplay of family/church/state start to unravel in favour of the seeker, who has no set beginning, end, or path. We note that whilst this search is often seeking fullness in terms of humanism (for the good of the human person), this doesn't always have to be at odds with a genuine faith in the transcendent.
In our milestone 50th episode we set about delivering a summary of the nature, rules, and people that can be found in the Age of Authenticity's marketplace of faith. Listen through for a special memento to celebrate the milestone with us!
What impact did the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 1970s have on how people understood and interacted with the sacred? What has the response of the faith been to this dramatic shift in the western world? Together we explore these questions, and look ultimately to the teaching of Pope St John Paul II as a treasure trove the Age of Authenticity in understanding the beauty of the sexual ethic of the Catholic Church.
Like every other age, the Age of Authenticity has its own set of ethics and goals. In this episode Kat opens up what it is like being a formator in a religious community and a spiritual director in the midst of this age, particularly when elements of the age seem at odds with the nature of religious life or Christian discipleship.
With the rise of migration from rural areas into cities, people were displaced from community and there was a felt lack which provided the perfect ground for the emergence of the Age of Mobilisation. Many societal structures and efforts of evangelisation were based around the needs and nature of this Age. In this episode we explore what some of the elements of the Age of Mobilisation were, and the enduring impacts of it into Western society today. References: -Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor (pp 437-472)