{"id":2167,"date":"2010-08-15T13:56:42","date_gmt":"2010-08-15T19:56:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/?p=2167"},"modified":"2015-03-13T17:01:08","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T22:01:08","slug":"almost-christian-parents-matter-most","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2010\/08\/15\/almost-christian-parents-matter-most\/","title":{"rendered":"Almost Christian: Parents Matter Most"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I\u2019m blogging through Kenda Creasy Dean\u2019s new book<\/a>, a theological follow up to Christian Smith\u2019s <\/em>Soul Searching<\/a>. I hope you\u2019ll join me. Find all the posts here<\/a>.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Kenda begins Part Three, \u201cCultivating Consequential Faith\u201d of Almost Christian<\/em><\/a>, with chapter six<\/strong>, \u201cParents Matter Most: The Art of Translation.\u201d\u00a0 Here, Kenda takes a bit of a turn, into the neo-liberal world of theologians like Hans Frei<\/a> and George Lindbeck<\/a>.\u00a0 This is particularly interesting to me because it is territory that I know well.\u00a0 I wrote extensively in defense of this line of thinking in my first book<\/a>, and I have since retreated a bit from that position.<\/p>\n

In short, Frei and Lindbeck and me, and now Kenda Dean, argue that a incumbent to Christian catechism and formation is a language that is unique to Christianity.\u00a0 But before Kenda gets to that, she emphasizes what every youth pastor knows and what the NYSR reported conclusively:<\/p>\n

Research is nearly unanimous on this point: parents matter most in shaping the religious lives of their children.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But how do parents (and youth workers) do this?\u00a0 By becoming bilingual.\u00a0 Kenda posits that parents must be fluent in both the language \u201con the wall\u201d (youth culture) and \u201cbehind the wall\u201d (the language of Christian faith):<\/p>\n

God calls God\u2019s people both to converse fluently behind the wall, using the Christian community\u2019s distinctive language, perceptions, and assumptions, and<\/em> to take part in the conversation on the wall, which requires competence in the language, perceptions, and assumptions of the broader culture.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What the behind-the-wall conversation does is to afford youth an alternative version of reality, a version that aligns their own self-identity with the the purposes for which God created them.\u00a0 And bilingual parents are able to translate the theological language of Christianity into language that teenagers can understand.\u00a0 Kenda even proposes rules for parents who translate Christianity for young people:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The best translators are people, not programs.<\/li>\n
  2. The best translators are bilingual.<\/li>\n
  3. The best translators invoke imagination.<\/li>\n
  4. Translation can threaten the people in charge.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This last one I found most interesting, especially as Kenda quotes sociologist Talcott Parsons<\/a>, who \u201conce described every generation of teenagers as a \u2018barbarian invasion\u2019; we must either domesticate them or be overtaken by them.\u201d\u00a0 Translating the biblical narrative, Kenda posits, will most likely upset the established hermeneutical positions of the elder generations.\u00a0 This I can agree with.<\/p>\n

    What I wonder about, however, is the \u201con the wall\u201d versus \u201cbehind the wall\u201d metaphors.\u00a0 It smacks to me a little bit of hiding the lamp under the bushel, of the idea that the Christian story can only be understood by those who have been catechized into it, or worse, only by those who have been \u201ctouched\u201d by the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 While I doubt Kenda believes this, it seems to me the logical conclusion of the neo-Aristotelian thesis of Frei, Lindbeck, Hauerwas, MacIntyre, and others.\u00a0 While this makes sense to me coming from Catholic philosophers and theologians like Alasdair MacIntyre<\/a> and William Cavanaugh<\/a>, I\u2019m becoming more confounded by Protestants who, as I used to, argue that the church constitutes some kind of discrete linguistic community.<\/p>\n

    Am I off my rocker?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I\u2019m blogging through Kenda Creasy Dean\u2019s new book, a theological follow up to Christian Smith\u2019s Soul Searching. I hope you\u2019ll join me. Find all the posts here. Kenda begins Part Three, \u201cCultivating Consequential Faith\u201d of Almost Christian, with chapter six, \u201cParents Matter Most: The Art of Translation.\u201d\u00a0 Here, Kenda takes a bit of a turn, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,41],"tags":[52,375,595],"class_list":["post-2167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-youth-ministry","tag-almost-christian","tag-kenda-creasy-dean","tag-stanley-hauerwas"],"yoast_head":"\nAlmost Christian: Parents Matter Most<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I'm blogging through Kenda Creasy Dean's new book, a theological follow up to Christian Smith's Soul Searching. I hope you'll join me. 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