Contemplating Culture: A Missionary Walk Through A Secular Age

6. Disenchantment and the Buffered Self

Contemplating Culture: A Missionary Walk Through A Secular Age

Show Notes

In this episode we begin looking at the first of the three "bulwarks of belief", God the good spirit that protects us from a world of unruly spirits. With the progression of science examining the physical nature of the world, the mystery started to unravel and what was once a very "enchanted" world became slowly "disenchanted". As such, people began to shift from being "porous" (open to forces and meanings outside themselves) to "buffered" (able to close off to forces outside themselves and become their own makers of meaning).

Is there a place for mystery in a disenchanted world? What do we make of the things we cannot explain?

Reflections:

Where are the areas of tension and mystery in your life? Spend some time with God as He holds these tensions in place, and holds you in the midst of it as you ponder

References:

Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (27-41)

Cartoons: https://sites.google.com/view/contemplatingculture

Article about the eucharistic miracle in Buenos Aires, referred to in this episode: https://emmanuel.info/en/the-eucharistic-miracle-in-buenos-aires/

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