On the Catholic Faith and Postmodern Culture
The ABC’s of Gen XYZ: The Spirituality of Postmodern Youth
A. Defining an Age, Not a Generation: An Introduction to Postmodernism and Postmodern Culture
Many philosophers and cultural commentators point out that we are living through a massive shift in Western and global society from a modern worldview to a new worldview, a rejection of the values and outlook of the modern world. In this talk, the nature of the shift from modern culture to postmodern culture is explained and explored for the sake of understanding all those who live on the postmodern side of the shift.
B. Peering Through the Mist: The Dangers of Postmodern Culture
Every age carries within it the germ of its own destruction. The germ of destruction in modern culture was an arrogant optimism about the human ability to be good and to solve all problems. In the postmodern world, it is a deadly pessimism that threatens to destroy the possibility of meaning and goodness in human life. In this talk, the fog of postmodernism is investigated, and transcendent human realities are identified that have the power to overcome the fog of postmodern pessimism which blurs, de-signifies and conceals human meaningfulness, including the truth of the Gospel.
C. Light from Light: With My Body I Thee Worship
Bodiliness is one human reality that shines through the fog of postmodern pessimism. Regardless of the postmodern ideal of radical freedom to be whatever, in the end one still is bodily, and still has a face through which their unique identity is revealed. In this talk, the human body is considered in its significance for postmodern culture by interpreting two obsessions of postmodern youth – sexuality and tattooing. By comparing these cultural phenomenon to two classic symbols of Christian intimacy with Jesus Christ – the kiss and the spiritual marking of Baptism, Baglow shows how reaching postmodern youth with the Gospel requires adopting a true reverence for bodily realities.
D. Tattered and Torn: Suffering and Salvation in the Postmodern World
The postmodern world has no place for a sense of morality, and therefore no place for any sense of guilt. Yet this only means that now guilt roams free and unfettered, causing anguish, self-doubt and self-loathing amongst the very people who reject the truth about goodness. Suffering is another human reality that shines through the fog of postmodern culture, and calls for an answer – the redemptive suffering of God’s only Son.
E. Unlikely Adorers?: The Eucharist and Postmodern Youth
In this concluding talk, Baglow presents two more luminous human realities that cut the fog of postmodern culture – the mysterious and interpersonal relationships, and then shows how all of the transcendent human realities are present in the Eucharist. It is the Eucharist which shines most clearly today, and has the greatest potential for the evangelization of our culture.