Book Review: Tom Beaudoins Virtual Faith - Essay Example

Book Review: Tom Beaudoin’s Virtual Faith Talking about a production of Rent that he had gone to see for the fourth time in 1997, Tom Beaudoin opens the preface to his book Virtual Faith with a brief description of the audience he observed around him. “During some songs, people raised their hands in the air as if at an evangelical revival. They seemed to acknowledge that the drama – the liturgy – was about us and yet beyond us, giving meaning to our lives, and life to our fragmented existence.”1 This message of religiousness within secular pop culture and how it is translated and understood by members of Generation X is the central theme of this book. Beaudoin explores the various means by which Generation X has found an irreverent yet not necessarily less meaningful approach to religious faith through the unconventional blending of pop culture and theology that resonates with a deeper meaning than it has previously been credited. Comfortably falling within the genre of Theology, the book is not necessarily written for the faithful alone. Beaudoin indicates he wrote the book with the faithful in mind, but also for the unfaithful, for those familiar with theology and those who are experiencing it for the first time in his book, for those who fall within the Gen X classification and for those who are simply trying to understand this seemingly meaningless generation. While it professes to offer assistance to religious educators and ministers in attempting to reach out to this unique generation, Beaudoin also details how he himself fits within the Gen X culture, enabling him to also make that essential connection through the book itself. Rather than appealing strictly to the academic or only to the layman, Beaudoin traverses the fine line in between through a careful combination of cultural analysis and conversational voice ultimately producing a relatively concise overview of the true spirituality of Generation X and how it fits, or doesn’t, within traditional definitions. Beaudoin approaches his subject with a pseudo-scientific viewpoint and a great deal of personal illustration. To support his initial argument, that members of Generation X have discovered a new means of participating in religiousness, Beaudoin first illustrates how he himself fits within the classification, providing him with an expert voice from within. Then he identifies three main areas of pop culture in which he has discovered ample evidence of a deep spiritual quest among Gen Xers. These are through fashion, cyberspace and music videos as these were all areas to which Gen Xers devoted much of their formative years to varying degrees. He bases this assumption upon his own experiences as they are briefly conveyed in an early chapter, as well as upon casual and formal conversations he had with members of this generation in a variety of locations throughout a two-three year period. In making his case for the correctness in using these three areas of pop culture as appropriate research areas for the new religiousness of the Gen X generation, Beaudoin also illustrates how each of these segments of culture both contribute to an individual’s sense of spirituality and are shaped by that individual’s spirituality. As selected popular music videos, fashion trends and common behaviours on the internet are analysed, Beaudoin identifies four common themes that emerge as common to the Gen X theology. The first of these is an overall suspicion toward any and all formal, traditional (especially religious) institutions as this generation experienced a great deal of hypocrisy and alienation from a young age with many of the major institutions their parents had only nominal faith in to begin with. Secondly, the importance of the personal as opposed to related experience took on greater importance as this generation struggled to experience things for themselves as a means of verifying the concepts and ideas they were being told. The identification of suffering of any kind – from the piercing of a belly-button to the battle of poverty – as being spiritual in nature is a third common theme that provided a sense of connection with Jesus while circumventing some of the more formal aspects of the church. Finally, a concept that runs through all of the others, is the idea of ambiguity in all things – Gen Xers tend to accept things only on a relative basis with little to no room for absolutes. As an attempt to debunk the long-standing assumption that Gen Xers had no religion, no reverence and hence no true soul-saving belief in their lives, this book accomplishes its goal. At the very least, it throws doubt upon these ideas and illustrates how religion has become one of the prime concerns of this generation, perhaps even more so than it has been for the preceding generation. For example, in discussing the fashion trends of the 1980s, Beaudoin examines the military camouflage craze that has often been interpreted as this generation’s desperate attempt to feel a part of the ‘big event’ that never occurred as it had in previous generations. “I interpret the trend not as much about our losing ourselves in romantic notions about the military as about our acting out a slow-burning fight for social and economic survival, as well as the more important battle for meaning in our lives.”2 These types of reinterpretations spread throughout the book help to illustrate the deeper meanings, whether they were carried out consciously or subconsciously, behind many of the things Gen Xers deemed important while also illustrating how they were religious in nature: “Even the military boots, which are made for lengthy, heavy-duty marches, implied a prolonged trek toward wholeness and out of suffering.”3 As the above example and many others throughout the book illustrate, the book’s title, Virtual Faith, is particularly appropriate to the content within. Beaudoin discusses the various ways in which Gen Xers have come to interpret God’s word as symbolic, whether it appears within the context of the formalized church setting or within the expressions and images of pop culture. “Symbolic thinking is a natural way of thinking for a generation that, as I suggested, knows that the sacred is always cloaked in cultural forms.”4 This is done through several references both to traditional Biblical stories that appeal particularly to the Gen X generation as well as to the various pop culture icons that have taken on new meanings. While he discusses the various ways in which virtual faith, such as a plaster cast of a footprint supposedly left by Jesus as he ascended from Mount Olive, helps to question and augment real faith, such as the realization that Jesus really did walk on that ground, leaving footprints in the dust, Beaudoin manages to connect the virtual and the real through their shared dependence on symbolism. While the traditional religious system depends upon a specific set of iconographic symbols that have remained more or less the same for centuries, the new religiousness of the Gen Xer, thanks to this recognition of the role of the symbol, is in direct relation to the ever-shifting nature of the new culture. Rather than adhering to a single iconographic set, the spirituality of the typical Gen Xer emerges as a collection of symbols taken from a wide variety of religious and other traditions, all joining together to form a cohesive, individually experienced, ever-changing religiousness that is directly reflected in the pop culture produced. In discussing these often complex ideas and concepts, Beaudoin presents his observations and findings in a well-structured, organized format that helps illustrate the connections being made. The book starts with a brief description of Beaudoin’s own childhood, which goes a long way toward defining the specific characteristics that typify this rather undefined generation. As this biography leads up to the period before he started writing the book, Beaudoin introduces the question that gave birth to the investigation: “Does religion really still matter? For a generation, this book is my answer.”5 From individual experience and the question that spawned a book, Beaudoin expands to discuss what is meant when he refers to Generation X as well as what is meant when he uses terms such as religious or religiousness. He introduces his three main forms of pop culture that he will examine as well as providing some illustration of what is meant by being virtually religious. This section ends with the identification of the four primary themes he found running through all of these. The second section goes into a more detailed discussion of each of these four themes as they appear in popular culture and in traditional religious circles. For instance, he points out how the fish used in one popular culture music video symbolises Jesus, who “was symbolized in early Christian tradition as a fish.”6 However, while the symbolism is the same, the reverence with which the symbol is portrayed is much different. “The Jesus whom the video presents is shorn of will and identity and is packed (in ice?) snugly into a full-blown system of institutional religious trappings from which he cries for liberation in his deafening resignation.”7 In many of the pop culture scenarios he discusses, Beaudoin provides a reinterpretation of the typical cynical slant on the Gen X culture to illustrate how they can be seen, from a theological stance, as a desperate seeking, finding, assimilating and developing a new religiousness that is as deep, or perhaps deeper, than some of the traditional religions of the Baby Boomers and preceding generations. Having explained the major themes of the Gen X spirituality, Beaudoin moves on to explore the possible ways in which Gen Xers can deepen this spirituality even further and extend it into the future of an increasingly fast-changing world. This is first approached by examining the concepts behind simulation, primarily how it came to be so important in the postmodern world and how it has increasingly become confused with, supplementary to or as replacement for the real. While it is recognised that these things are virtual, this symbolism is precisely the factor necessary to allow Gen Xers to create their individual religiousness through the accumulation of only those symbols that make sense to them without dragging along with them the formalised trappings of the traditional religion from whence it originated. In making distinctions between the real and the virtual, it is necessary for Gen Xers to investigate more of what it means to be real, in other words, reclaiming the traditions behind the real or the simulation. Working to help Gen Xers find the deeper meanings and the base for a sustained future religiousness, Beaudoin stresses the need for Gen Xers to allow tradition to play a significant role in their spiritual life as a means of preserving it. At the same time, he stresses that this is not necessarily the stretch it might at first appear to be as Gen Xers have had a tradition of irreverence throughout much of their history. Also in this third segment of the book, Beaudoin discusses what ministers can do to help Gen Xers develop their unique religiousness without pushing them away from the traditional establishment. It is here that he stresses the need for the modern church to extend into the vaults of popular culture, approaching it from a theological perspective and interpreting it in context with religious tradition and scripture, if the Gen X crowd is to be effectively reached. Like the proposed effort for Gen Xers to make room in their hearts and lived religiousness for tradition, this concept of making room within traditional religious thought for the lived popular culture of Generation X is not as one-sided as it might, at first, seem. While it does mean bringing change to the church, this is not necessarily negative. “GenX popular culture can refresh the religious imagination for ministry. Imagination is central to ministry because it is indispensable to theology.”8 There are also some specific steps ministers can take to help bring Gen Xers back into the institutional church, such as taking on a new humility. Rather than claiming to have already answered all the questions, Beaudoin recommends that the church admit to its faults and use them, as it uses its triumphs, to instruct and bring about positive growth. “For example, I once heard an extremely powerful sermon to a largely Xer audience at a Wednesday night service in a Baptist church. The sermon was about the brokenness of the church as a model for the brokenness of our lives.”9 This return to humility would open many other doors for the church as well, such as finding new avenues through which it can reach Christian Xers and a new examination into how the institution might be broken, fixed, altered or renovated to meet the challenges of a new age in which even the malleable Xers might have difficulty facing on their own. Beaudoin’s work brought a great number of issues into much clearer focus for me, made all the more believable because of his heavy use of external studies and experts in the field. While some sections of the book remained somewhat difficult to read, particularly as he detailed his methodology and definitions of terms, much of it was presented in a conversational tone that remained full of anecdotes to accomplish deeper understanding. In this sense, the book mirrored its own argument. By providing his information from the approach of modern story-telling, Beaudoin illustrates in practice how popular culture has taken on new meanings and abilities in our modern lives, particularly as it applies to the Gen X generation who grew up already attuned to this style of living. While the postmodern language of the ‘virtual’ and the ‘real’ can often become confused, especially when theories and abstract concepts are being discussed, Beaudoin assures his readers will not become lost in the text by interspersing real life examples that illustrate this concept in action. Rather than leaving his readers hanging with questions of ‘so what?’ or ‘so what do we do now?’, Beaudoin provides detailed discussion into what Gen Xers can do as individuals to deepen and extend their spirituality as well as discussion into how ministers and educators can help ease this process while making the traditional institutions better stewards. There remain some problems with the novel, however. The first problem is found in his haphazard research methodology, which he admits is not intended to be all-inclusive and encourages others to make similar, more formal studies as a means of reaching greater understanding. While it delves into some of the concepts in popular culture, it provides limited examples and not enough expert support where this is most needed, such as in his interpretations regarding the psychological or theological assumptions behind these trends. However, he admits this fault openly, as well, continuously stressing that these are only his interpretations and may be seen differently by someone else. In fact, he encourages the dialogue, this being one of his primary goals in writing the book. By writing in a style and format that is approachable by a wide audience, severely limiting his selection and keeping his field research at an informal level, Beaudoin has created an easy-to-read handbook for the Gen Xer or the academic to open dialogue and gain greater understanding. References Beaudoin, Tom. Virtual Faith. San Fracisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1998. Read More