The Juvenilization of American Christianity
Mar 15, 2015 16:37:46 GMT -5
Post by Berean on Mar 15, 2015 16:37:46 GMT -5
The Juvenilization of American Christianity
Article ID: JAF8361 | By: Thomas E. Bergler
This article first appeared in the CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL, volume 36, number 01 (2013). The full text of this article in PDF format can be obtained by clicking here. (GO TO LINK)
Americans of all ages are not sure they want to grow up. It is common to hear thirty-, forty-, or even fifty-year-olds say things like, “I guess I have to start thinking of myself as an adult now.” Many emerging adults ages eighteen to twenty-three want to get married and have children eventually, but they think of settling down as the end of the good part of their lives. As one young woman put it, having children would be nice someday because they are “what makes your life, like, full, after like, you are done with your life, I guess.”1 Try this experiment. Ask a group of college students to raise their hands if they think they are adults. They won’t know what to do. I can guarantee they won’t all raise their hands.
The problem goes deeper than just a fear of growing old. Early in my teaching career, I asked a group of college students, “What does a mature Christian look like? Let’s list some traits of spiritual maturity.” They disliked the question and came back with responses like these: “I don’t think we ever arrive in our spiritual growth.” “We’re not supposed to judge one another.” “No one is perfect in this life.” Sadly, these evangelical Christian college students did not think of spiritual maturity as attainable or even desirable. They wrongly equated it with an unattainable perfection.
REACHING YOUNG PEOPLE BUT LOSING SIGHT OF MATURITY
Where did this problem of low expectations originate? Over the past seventy-five years, three factors combined to create what I call the juvenilization of American Christianity. First, new and more powerful youth cultures created distance between adults and adolescents. Second, Christians responded by creatively adapting the faith to adolescent tastes. Finally, the journey to adulthood became longer and more confusing, with maturity now just one among many options. The result was juvenilization: the process by which the religious beliefs, practices, and developmental characteristics of adolescents become accepted as appropriate for Christians of all ages.
The History of Juvenilization and Where It Went Wrong
Long article; continued link.
Article ID: JAF8361 | By: Thomas E. Bergler
This article first appeared in the CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL, volume 36, number 01 (2013). The full text of this article in PDF format can be obtained by clicking here. (GO TO LINK)
Americans of all ages are not sure they want to grow up. It is common to hear thirty-, forty-, or even fifty-year-olds say things like, “I guess I have to start thinking of myself as an adult now.” Many emerging adults ages eighteen to twenty-three want to get married and have children eventually, but they think of settling down as the end of the good part of their lives. As one young woman put it, having children would be nice someday because they are “what makes your life, like, full, after like, you are done with your life, I guess.”1 Try this experiment. Ask a group of college students to raise their hands if they think they are adults. They won’t know what to do. I can guarantee they won’t all raise their hands.
The problem goes deeper than just a fear of growing old. Early in my teaching career, I asked a group of college students, “What does a mature Christian look like? Let’s list some traits of spiritual maturity.” They disliked the question and came back with responses like these: “I don’t think we ever arrive in our spiritual growth.” “We’re not supposed to judge one another.” “No one is perfect in this life.” Sadly, these evangelical Christian college students did not think of spiritual maturity as attainable or even desirable. They wrongly equated it with an unattainable perfection.
REACHING YOUNG PEOPLE BUT LOSING SIGHT OF MATURITY
Where did this problem of low expectations originate? Over the past seventy-five years, three factors combined to create what I call the juvenilization of American Christianity. First, new and more powerful youth cultures created distance between adults and adolescents. Second, Christians responded by creatively adapting the faith to adolescent tastes. Finally, the journey to adulthood became longer and more confusing, with maturity now just one among many options. The result was juvenilization: the process by which the religious beliefs, practices, and developmental characteristics of adolescents become accepted as appropriate for Christians of all ages.
The History of Juvenilization and Where It Went Wrong
Long article; continued link.
