Faith and Modernity

Lecture 2Religious Responses to Modernity

Religious Responses to Modernity

1 Religious ferment since the Enlightenment; some examples 2 Religious resistance to modernity (Fundamentalism) 3 Religious adaptation to modernity 4 Some thoughts on Coventry Cathedral

Measuring Secularisation

• 1. Belief levels, depths, quality of religious belief

• 2. Church going• 3. The ‘meaning’ and ‘significance’ of church

going• 4. The socio-political influence of religion

Religious ferment since the Enlightenment; some examples

John Wesley; Joanna Southcott; MuggletoniansJoseph Smith; Mormons Miracles and apparitionsLourdes (1858); Bernadette Soubirous[www.lourdes-france.org] Fatima, Portugal (1917) Medjugorje, Bosnia (1981- present)[www.medjugorje.org]

GROTTO AT LOURDES

SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY

SPIRIT PHOTOGRPAHY

Sites of Pilgrimage

Taizé, France [www.taize.fr]Mecca – HajKumbh Mela Festival [www.hindu.org] http://news.sky.com/story/1043420/kumbh-mela-millions-gather-for-hindu-festival

‘Reformist’ Responses

• Adaptation and compromise• Dialogue• Ecumenism• Adjust religious teaching• Adjust pastoral work• Espousing radical political/social stances

The ‘Fundamentalist’ Response

• Rejection of modernity• Confrontation with modernity• Rejection of toleration, pluralism etc.• Assertion of ‘Divine Origins’• Questioning of the secular state

Fundamentalism: Some General Characteristics

• 19th century origins• Definitions• Fundamentalists share a rejection of

Enlightenment/secular assumptions about religion

• Fundamentalists share a preoccupation with the text

• Change the world?/dismiss the world?

Recent Cultic Activity1960s ‘New Age’ of Aquarius – hippy inspirationBeatles – Maharishi Mahesh Yogi – Transcendental Meditation 1968/9 Charles Manson – ‘Manson Family’ – Pacific Palisades – Spahn Movie Ranch – Murders at 10050 Cielo Drive – Film star

Sharon Tate (wife of Roman Polanskii) and others 1978 Jim Jones – People’s Temple, San Francisco – mass suicide of 900 members in Jonestown, Guyana 18/11/1978 1997 Heaven’s Gate Cult San DiegoMarch 24/5/6 39 suicides (18 men 21 women) to release their souls to join a UFO concealed behind Hale-Bopp comet Among first to utilize web for cultic ends, based on astrology. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho) 1931-901970s based in Pune, IndiaEventually 300,000 visitors per year to stay in the ashram.Mixture of therapy, encounter groups, violence and sex 1981-5 moves to Oregon, takes over town of Antelope renames it Rajneeshpuram, home to thousands of, mostly Anglo-Saxon,

western followers known as Sanyassin. Explosion between local community and the newcomers – shootings, bioterrorism (contaminating local salad bars with salmonella, 750 reported ill)

Movement of escapism, immediacy of living life to the full. (quotes) Bhagwan blessed by his grateful followers with no less than 93 Rolls Royces

Religious resistance to modernity (Fundamentalism)

Pope Pius IX Syllabus of Errors (1864)Doctrine of Papal Infallibility (1871) Vatican Council Action FrançaiseLe PenArchbishop Lefebre Lateran Accords (1929) Kulturkampf (Prussia 1871-1878) Pope Leo XIII Rerum Novarum (1891)Christian Democracyprimacy of the spiritualopposition to all materialisms (capitalism/liberalism/socialism/ communism/rationalism)concern for material welfare of poor and oppressedresponsibilities of property holding (stewardship) as well as rights

Protestant FundamentalismProtestant resistance more tied up with anti-Darwinism Scopes trial 1925 – Clarence Darrow; William Jennings Bryan (later U.S. Secretary of State)

to contemporary creationists and ‘Intelligent Design’ 1920 ‘those ready to do battle for the Fundamentals of Protestantism’ – Baptist newspaper. 1910 Presbyterian Definition of FundamentalismBiblical inerrancyVirgin Birth of JesusJesus died to redeem humanity from sinBodily resurrection of JesusAuthenticity of miracles

Fundamentalism in the Middle EastShari’a lawFatwasJihad 1977 Fall of Israeli Labour Party1979 overthrow of Shah of Iran replaced by Ayatollah Khomeini

1979 election of President Reagan1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan - US funds militants in Peshawar including one Osama bin Laden Islamic modernisersKemal Ataturk (Turkey 1920s)Nasser (Egypt 1950s) Anti-imperialist religious rebellionsShamil (Caucasus 1850s)Mahdi (Sudan 1890s)Indian Mutiny (1857)Tai’ping (1860s) and Boxer (1900-1) rebellions in ChinaAmritsar massacre (1919)

Adaptation

From Biblical literalism to Bible analysis

Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) Christian Palaeontology

Pope John XXIII and Vatican II (early 1960s)

Death of God theology – from transcendence to

immanence

Liberation Theology

Some thoughts on Coventry Cathedral

Finally a few points about Coventry Cathedral notably 1. Its inconspicuous location; (argument over its

reconstruction)2. Its iconic status, along with the ruins, as a centre of

peace and reconciliation 3. Its modernity of materials –glass screen; the tapestry

design; light and airy interior; the Epstein bronze of St Michael and the Dragon combined with

4. A very traditional, neo-gothic feel – long, high nave, traditional shape.

Who lives in a house like this?

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