Contemplating Culture: A Missionary Walk Through A Secular Age: Recent Episodes
Contemplating Culture
Part book-club, history lesson, philosophical pondering, sisterly conversation, launchpad for reflection, our hope beyond anything else is that Contemplating Culture blesses you.
A Secular Age by Charles Taylor is a big fat book full of good stuff that most of the world's population will never read. So we're doing it for you. Kathryn is reading through the book and cartooning as she goes, taking these into conversations with Katherine. Together, we explore the state of contemporary culture, how we got here, and what this all means for us as missionaries in the world today.
We proceed into looking at Part II: The Turning Point, as Charles Taylor outlines deism as a hinge point between classic Christianity and exclusive humanism.
In this episode we look at the 4 anthropocentric shifts Taylor outlines that characterise the shift to providential deism:
i) the eclipse of higher purpose than human flourishing in the here and now
ii) the eclipse of grace and intervention of God in daily life
iii) the eclipse of mystery and reduction of the world to a knowable closed unit
iv) the eclipse of the goal of human transformation/deification in this life
Taylor says of this line of Christianity that "it barely involved the saving action of Christ, nor did it dwell on the life of devotion and prayer, although the 17th century was rich in this. The argument turned exclusively on demonstrating God as reator, and showing his Providence" (p 225).
References:
-Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (221-225)
Website:
https://sites.google.com/contemplatingculture
In our second episode with Bishop Mark Edwards OMI, we explore the role of a missionary within a culture.
Matteo Ricci SJ provides the example of taking Christianity into China, where he offers us three key guides for this kind of mission: i) befriend the people, ii) disentangle faith from your own culture so that you can inculturate into the new culture, and iii) seek to be authentic to your faith and to the culture you are living in.
Plenty of thought-provoking questions in this one.
Reflection:
-How do I feel about living in the culture and times that I do?
-What do I understand the missionary task to be in today's world?
References:
-'A Catholic Modernity', Charles Taylor (https://ecommons.udayton.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=uscc_marianist_award)
-'A Catholic Modernity: 25 Years On', Charles Taylor (https://www.aup-online.com/content/journals/10.5117/NTT2021.3/4.009.TAYL)
-'Matteo Ricci, Missionary of Inculturation', Jesuits Communication Office (https://www.jesuits.global/2022/12/19/matteo-ricci-missionary-of-inculturation/)-'Matteo Ricci: Shaped by the Chinese', Nicolas Standaert (https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20100521_1.htm)
In this very special episode of Contemplating Culture, Bishop Mark Edwards from Wagga Wagga Diocese in regional New South Wales joins us as we review Part I: The Work of Reform.
We look at key learnings, themes that stick out to us, and try and hold together the overarching story of the road travelled with Charles Taylor to date.
Reflection:
-Why did I begin listening to this podcast?
-What episodes have stuck out to me so far? Why?
-email us at: contemplatingculture@gmail.com
References:
-A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (1-218)
In the conclusion of Part I: The Work of Reform, we spend some time reflecting on what the driving force behind history is. Is it ideas that provide the power for change (Idealism), or do the external factors and motivations lead the way and wait for the ideas to take shape around them (Materialism)?
Taylor concludes in The Spectre of Idealism that it is both.
As missionaries, it is not just the movements of society through history, but the history of individual lives that we are concerned with. In this episode we explore how these principles apply for the big personal shift through history of conversion.
References:
-Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (212-218)
Website:
https://sites.google.com/contemplatingculture
This week we look at one of the bequests of the shifting social imaginary: direct access society.
As things started to become more 'secular' (relating exclusively to ordinary time), the importance of higher times and therefore those that mediate to these higher times (priests, kings, etc) diminishes. What unfolds is the direct-access citizen-state, and the implications of this are huge.
We cover Taylor Swift, Jesus as a Saviour vs. Jesus as a friend, and a smattering of in-betweens.
Reflection:
-How does my own faith hold the tension of direct and mediated access to God?
References:
-Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (207-211)
Website:
https://sites.google.com/contemplatingculture
Why did the American Revolution hold where the French case failed? How can a society honour both individual freedom and the common good?
In this episode we explore these and other questions as we look at the notion of "The People" as a commonly held notion distinct from religion and politics. Elements such as agreed-upon traditional practices, unifying spearhead figures, underlying philosophy and theories, the understanding of freedom - all these elements of the "path" to creating a common sense of the people indeed impact the "outcome".
Reflection:
-How would I articulate to a friend how choosing to follow the structures of my faith are not an impingement on my freedom but a fulfilment of it?
-Spend time this week conversing with others about how they understand freedom, and how this interacts with the common good
References:
-Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (196-207)
-Sensus Fidei in the Life of the Church, International Theological Commission (2014): https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_cti_20140610_sensus-fidei_en.html
Website:
https://sites.google.com/contemplatingculture
In the second of three social imaginaries that we look at as mutations away from the religion/politics stronghold, we talk in this episode about the public sphere.
Charles Taylor guides us through the changing landscape of dialogue that comes with commercial print media in the 1800s, as a trans-location, inter-referring conversation opens up. And the speed and reach of this dialogue has only amplified with the internet. How is the common opinion formed? How are are personal opinions formed? Is something true just because we saw or read it somewhere? Are things in the digital realm as real as things in the tangible?
Reflection:
-What forces and fears are at work when I curate how I express myself in the digital realm?
-What am I doing to develop my own moral conscience and power for reasoned decision making?
References:
-Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (185-196)
Website:
https://sites.google.com/contemplatingculture
In this episode we look at the emergence of 'The Economy', an amoral object that we can talk about, the place where the happenings of society began to shift to. How did we get here, and what was it like before? The economy has truly taken root in the society of mutual benefit, where as Alexander Pope notes "true SELF-LOVE and SOCIAL are the same thing" (ASA, p 181.)
We look at the trifold Catholic Social Teaching principles of human dignity, solidarity, and subsidiarity as a starting point for returning morality to our engagements with the economy. Referring to the Church, Saint Pope John Paul II proclaimed: "Her moral vision in this area ‘rests on the threefold cornerstone of human dignity, solidarity and subsidiarity'… which aims to encourage governments, institutions and private organizations to shape a future consonant with the dignity of every person" (http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_22011999_ecclesia-in-america.html).
Reflection:
-What questions did this episode raise in me about how I am living and the costs of my engagement with the economy?
-Where can I find non-productive Sabbath in my week this week?
References:
-Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (176-185)
Website:
https://sites.google.com/contemplatingculture
In this episode we tackle the concept of the social imaginary, the believable reality held by a people. Understanding what a social imaginary is, and how it's held in place through things such as stories, images, law, and collective action, we are positioned for intentional response.
We highlight three areas of response that can be useful for missionaries: compassion for understanding someone else's reality and what is holding it in place, effective communication, and critical (outside the social imaginary) and creative (within the social imaginary) thinking.
Reflection
-
What social imaginary experiences have I noticed in my life?
-
How might I be called to grow in compassion, effective communication and/or critical or creative thinking in my sphere of influence?
References:
-Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (171-176)
Website:
https://sites.google.com/contemplatingculture
A jam-packed episode this week exploring the shift in moral order.
We take a look at the shift away from three levels of pre-modern morality:
- Form- the notion that there is a pre-existing ideal self for us to pursue
- Function- all people are part of the higher hierarchy, and find identity through the function they play in the wider sphere of society
- Goal- people work together towards the higher goals of society
This shift is enabled by:
- individualism
- the buffered self
- the secular public sphere
With the shift away from the pre modern moral order, a society of mutual benefit emerges, characterised by:
- A society of individuals, society not pre-existing the individual but established for their sake
- Life (security) and the means to life (prosperity) shift from aiding the higher goals, to the end goal
- Freedom becomes essential, and so expressions of society must be expressly consented to by the individual (e.g. the rise of democracy)
- Hierarchical order must be rejected
In our discussion we look at some of the implications of the society of mutual benefit, including:
- moral confusion
- isolation and the search for belonging and purpose
- complications in interpersonal relationships
Reflection:
- Where does the mentality of the society of mutual benefit impact my relationships, and how can I move towards transcending this mindset in favour of love?
References:
Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (164-171)Website: https://sites.google.com/view/contemplatingculture
In this episode we begin Chapter 4, Modern Social Imaginaries. We take a look at the transformation of Natural Law from a theory of the philosophical elite to a functional structure that carries western civilisation from a pre-modern to a modern social imaginary.
As Natural Law created space for secular moral discussion, we propose a few tools that can be useful for us in this space today.
i) plant seeds not trees
ii) keep the door open with love
iii) appeal to the senses
Reflection:
-Where am I being called to witness to the morality that transcends reason? What is the wisdom of God in this space? What do I need to ask for to be faithful in this witness?
References:
References:
Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (126-128, 159-163)Website: https://sites.google.com/view/contemplatingculture
In this episode we tackle the entirety of Chapter 3, The Great Disembedding.
With the separation of religion and society, individuals can come to have identity and purpose that is independent of a particular formulation of these.
Taylor points to three anchors that had been holding this relationship in place: i) social order, ii) the cosmos, iii) human good. As each of these comes undone, how we view ourselves and how we conceive of society both shift significantly.
What is society, and why does how we think about it matter for missionaries?
Reflection:
1) What frustrates you, and how does this reveal your notion of what society is or should be? How is this impacting how you operate as a missionary?
2) Who are you being called to walk alongside in accompaniment and discipleship?
3) Spend some time with the Holy Spirit seeking to be reconnected to the greater whole, rather than being only a solitary "I".
References:
Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (146-158)Website: https://sites.google.com/view/contemplatingculture
How did a world where the immanent and transcendent were intricately woven come to bequeath us a world where it is possible to live in a closed world where communication between the natural and supernatural is largely foreign and unexpected? As Taylor says “Manypeople are happy living for goals which are purely immanent. They live in a way that takes no account of the transcendent” (p. 143).
In this episode we explore this movement through the twin slicing of the immanent from the transcendent through the rage for order, and the intense propagation of the sanctity of ordinary life. The end result is a situation where things of the transcendent come to be "experience-far", more and more removed rom daily living, and eventually, culture.
Reflection:
What concepts would you like to be reintroduced into culture as "experience-near"?
References:
Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (143-144)
Cartoons: https://sites.google.com/view/contemplatingculture
In this week's episode we discuss how polite society and the glorification of reason eventuated in a decline in intimacy.
How did the development of table manners play a role in shame of self-exposure and vulnerability? We trace this and other historical developments as we seek to discover the ways that the hangover of society-prescribed shame still lives in us today.
NB: The audio quality on this episode is lower than normal due to a technical issue not identified at time of recording. Our apologies.
Reflection:
When in my life do I notice an sense of shame emerge that is not grounded in my objective present? How have I internalised shame in ways that I am held captive by it? Spend time bringing these to Jesus and allow Him to set you free.
References:
Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (137-142)
Cartoons: https://sites.google.com/view/contemplatingculture
In this episode we delve further into Chapter 2 (The of Disciplinary Society) by looking at the rise of reason. As the writings of Justus Lipsius find their way into the right hands at the right time, a program for Christian neo-Stoicism emerges. Can reason and hard work really bring about perfect human living? If reason is a gift from God, is it enough that we use this gift well? What is the role of worship in all of this?
Reflection:
How am I being called to grow in intimacy with God with my whole being, as opposed to following Him only by assent of will?
References:
Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (112-125, 129-136)
Cartoons: https://sites.google.com/view/contemplatingculture
The journey towards a disciplined society was the introduction of civility to the masses; wide-scale discipline and programs to educate into (or safeguard against threats to a civilised society. Statecraft and religious reform become entangled in the movement, and perhaps this has a part to play in how tearing down "the establishment" led in centuries to come to tearing down "religion".
In this episode we explore
-the three avenues these reforms took: i) excellence and refinement, ii) ordered governance, iii) domestic peace
-five programs that are indicative of how these avenues were actualised: i) poor laws, ii) popular culture crackdown, iii) shaping for improvement, iv) government structures, v) modes of discipline
Kat closes us off with an Ignatian examen, a fruit of this period of history.
References:
Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (99-112)
Cartoons: https://sites.google.com/view/contemplatingculture
Was there really a time when nature wasn't taken under a microscope? When art and music was used to tell stories, and the thought of testing its limits hadn't really been explored?
With this episode we begin looking at Chapter 2: The Rise of Disciplinary Society. Here, Charles Taylor begins by looking at the story of how humanity started looking at nature for its own sake.
As we follow the story through to today, it becomes scary to realise how quickly treating nature as void of intrinsic purpose can lead us to treating people as void of intrinsic purpose; things/people start to be seen more explicitly as valuable for what they can do.
References:
Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (92-98)
Cartoons: https://sites.google.com/view/contemplatingculture
The new Christian transport is taking off: disenchantment and humanism start find movement in Christianity through inner personal devotion, uneasiness with sacramentals, and anxiety of judgment. We find Christianity swept up in the movements of reform, rejecting the old and charging on towards forging something new. Finding its peak in a Puritan Calvin society, it seems that remade, well-ordered society can become a human achievement. What we find however is that underneath is a deep anxiety, a society that we must constantly be at work to sustain, for God has been done away with as the sustainer.
Is this anxiety one of the inheritances bequeathed to the Western world by history? What role does control play in all of this?
With this episode we reach the end of Chapter 1: Bulwarks of Belief
References:
Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (75-88)
Cartoons: https://sites.google.com/view/contemplatingculture
The pagan fear of the dead and the unsettled souls in the afterlife starts to give way in Christianity to a fear of death itself, on account of personal judgment. The increasing notion of the individual person means that the final judgment starts to give way to each person's particular judgment. We see the rise of auricular confession, indulgences, concern for sexual sin.
So how did this develop over the years, and where does it leave us now?
References:
Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (66-70)
Cartoons: https://sites.google.com/view/contemplatingculture
Dissatisfaction has been a part of the human story since its beginning. But what happens when the widespread dissatisfaction of the masses is empowered with the belief that change is possible, and the tools to carry it out? In this episode we look at the drive for reform powered by dissatisfaction, and some of the implications in both ancient and modern history. What can learn from history, and what is our call moving forward?
Reflections:
Where does my own dissatisfaction lie within myself, and in the world?
What am I called to do in response to dissatisfaction I encounter in myself, in the Church, in the world?
References:
Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (60-63, 70-75)
Cartoons: https://sites.google.com/view/contemplatingculture
In this era when time is a resource, and a valuable one at that, it can be difficult to fathom a relationship with time that isn't based on equal units of chronological time. Is there another way of viewing time? In this episode we launch from Charles Taylor's notion of a common sense of higher time that slowly eroded, into an exploration of time as we know it. Are we slaves or free? Is time empty, or can it carry some meaning independent of what we bring to it or fill it with? Our longest conversation yet, and one that could have gone much longer!
Reflections:
Where does FOMO or external pressures create a lack of freedom for you in your life?
What would it be like to add a connection to kairos time, like Jesus, into how you went through your days and weeks?
References:
Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (55-59)
Cartoons: https://sites.google.com/view/contemplatingculture
Cartoon referenced: https://www.leunig.com.au/works/recent-cartoons/769-jomo
With the development of the buffered self, space slowly opens for people to shift from thinking primarily in the "I" instead of the "we". Slowly, society was no longer something held in place by God that we were part of, society became something we can (and must) make.
In a disenchanted world, it started to become possible to imagine a world where the tensions of a hierarchical society were simply crafted out of existence: enter the French revolutions.
In this week's episode we look at what sparked the period of revolutions and reform in France, and the impact of that experiment for the rest of the Western world. And for us today.
Reflections:
Where are the tension points in your life, in how you sit within society and your relationships?
What would it be like to say yes to the "we" of society as opposed to only operating from a stance of the "I", the self? In what areas could you explore putting this into action?
References:
Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (42-53)
Cartoons: https://sites.google.com/view/contemplatingculture
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/
We begin Part 1, The Work of Reform. Over the coming episodes we will be exploring the dynamics at play that caused a flurry of movements that set out to "remake" society, rather than acceptance of the stability of how things were.
In this episode we begin Chapter 1, the Bulwarks of Belief. Belief was held in place by three key fortresses, and as each of these began to be taken out from the wall and examined, suddenly the pastures outside belief became a possibility. In 500 years Western society went from Christian faith for the masses to a state where even the Christians remaining cannot help but be posed with the question of why they choose faith when there are so many other viable options; questioning has become inescapable. The next few episodes will delve deeper into each of these bulwarks.
Reflections:
- How did I end up with the beliefs I have about God and the world? What keeps me here? What is the reason for the hope that I have?
References:
Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (25-26)
Cartoons: https://sites.google.com/view/contemplatingculture
Charles Taylor claims that the heart of modern secularity is "exclusive humanism", where a life can be conceived involving no goal beyond human flourishing. How did we get here? The stage is set for the eclipse of the tri-fold connections to transcendence:
- a higher good,
- for a higher power
- for a time/place beyond this life
Reflections:
- As the final episode breaking open ideas raised in the introduction, a guided reflection is included in this episode. What is the call for you at this time? Is it a call to community, compassion, remembering the transcendent, boldness, or something else? Spend some time with God exploring this
References:
Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (17-21)
Cartoons: https://sites.google.com/view/contemplatingculture
What shapes the background of belief? In this episode we explore elements of our contemporary world view which mean that belief today cannot be the same as belief 500 years ago. Ideas covered include:
- Distinctions such as natural/supernatural, immanent/transcendent, theist/atheist
- Assumptions we might have about people who sit in a different stance to us
- Pain points of the modern stances of unbelief
Reflections:
- Take an element of today's discussion into conversation. What intrigued you? How does it fit with the world and people around you?
- Who is the most unlikely person in your life to come to faith? How would the marketing world abuse their pain points? Spend some time with God wondering about how the Gospel speaks into these pain points and pray for that
References:
Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (8-12)
Cartoons: https://sites.google.com/view/contemplatingculture
How do we view this life? Does it end with death, or is there something beyond? In this episode we explore the human pursuit of fullness, and the shape this can take from different worldviews.
- Is death's door open or closed?
- Is our daily life shaped by FOMO or surrender, anxiety or freedom?
- What is the "full life" we are working towards?
Reflections:
- Take something from today's episode into conversation with a friend or loved one. What is your pursuit of fullness influenced by?
- Notice in yourself the pressures of "I have to", "I need to", and identify times you need to remember the wider perspective of your life in order to be free
References:
Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (6-8)
Cartoons: https://sites.google.com/view/contemplatingculture
The journey begins! In this episode we enter the first few pages of A Secular Age by Charles Taylor, looking at a few key ideas:
- Language shapes our experience of and reaction to the world
- Our world is in a new phase of being secular, where faith is no longer just (i) separated from the state or worldly things, or (ii) on the decline or openly opposed, but rather (iii), one option among many in the marketplace of options and opportunities in modern western society. Further, it is no longer an assumed foundation, but something that must be individually chosen irrespective of upbringing
- All of this impacts how we see ourselves in the world as Church, and the nature of the mission we take up
For reflection:
- Have a conversation with someone about something you heard or thought about in today's episode
- How do you see 'the marketplace' at work in the world around you, and within you? What are some of the options available, and what is it like to be in the marketplace?
References:
ABC article referenced: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-25/russia-ukraine-invasion-borders-power-vladimir-putin-identity/100858372?fbclid=IwAR0qZ62enCHuwWVoKRxGZNA1eobjm1jfWX0OHJt2bKhnKd2Y_8dosJGChAg
Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (1-4)
Cartoons: https://sites.google.com/view/contemplatingculture
The run down of what's coming and why we'd love you to jump on board and join the conversation!
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