Happy Feast of the Nativity! It is interesting that amid native Spanish-speakers, I have yet to hear any replacement for "Feliz Navidad." Hien spent the week trying to teach me to give the greeting in Vietnamese, but, at best, I only got it right 10% of the time. I did better with French last night, although my adult children informed me that I should never, ever again try to pronounce a word in Spanish again in public. Once one reaches age 50 as a white guy, one is terminally white.

Continue reading "Merry Christmas!"

Posted by johnwright at 6:11 PM | Comments (1)
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Smith's sixth chapter provides an heuristic abstract "ideal" types that appeared as a result of the 2300 interviews that he and his associates did with "emerging adults." He warns, rightfully, that these are abstractions. Individuals do not necessarily fit entirely between one or another, particularly at one time or another. Yet they provide a helpful means to understand how the culture tends to form person in these days where the Protestant cultural hegemony is present, but fading.

Continue reading "Souls in Transition: A Typology"

Posted by johnwright at 8:01 PM | Comments (2)
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Chris Smith attempts in chapter 4 to describe the "relgious and spiritual lives" of 18-24 years olds. Again, this is an abtraction as the study only has statistical warrant to analyzed groups that Smith argues are "Conversative Protestants," "Black Protestants," "mainline Protestants," "Roman Catholics," "Church of Later Day Saints," and "Jews." Sociologically, the groupings emerge that put Conservative Protestants, Black Protestants, and LDS emerging adults together; mainline Protestants fall with Roman Catholics and Jews -- with Jewish young adults showing the deepest accomodations to the liberal democratic culture in which we live that undercut their own sense of adherence to the synagogue. The statistics suggest that America is currently doing what early 20th century German could not -- eliminate the Jews as a historic, visible, distinct worshipping people.

Continue reading "Souls in Transition: Chapter 4 -- The Statistical Morass"

Posted by johnwright at 12:31 PM | Comments (7)
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Chapter 3 in Souls in Transition provides comparative data to ask if North American culture is secularizing within ages 18-23. Sociologists (and pastors) have long known that this demographic in the US possesses the lowest church attendance rate in North America -- except for those over 80, but probably for different reasons! With the emergence of the cultural elements that have formed this new life phase, Smith's data shows both continuities and shifts that are occuring. I think these shifts are related to how deeply churches have accomodated to the liberal democratic presuppositions/formations of the society in which we live. This shows that what we call "secularization" is not a "natural process" in relation to science and the "advancement" of the age, but is very much a political program that is still very much in progress.

Continue reading "Souls in Transition: Chapter 3"

Posted by johnwright at 2:52 PM | Comments (1)
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I am trying to use the blog just to communicate what life is for those whose homes are on the streets downtown. I found this news just on a website, quite by accident. I'm trying to get more information from friends downtown. I want to cut and paste the news in, and then, afterwards copy a letter that I sent a week ago, asking the city to allow persons who have tents to use them during the cold weather.

Continue reading "Interruption of Smith: The Fate of the Poor"

Posted by johnwright at 6:30 PM | Comments (51)
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The particular socially and culturally-induce life-state of emerging adulthood, according to Christian Smith, has implications for adherence to the life of the church, synagogue, or mosque. Smith does not extend his analysis to liberal democractic political theory, but the connection is very clear. Emerging adulthood results from the institutional stripping of the concrete tradition in which a human being exists in order to assimilate a person into the liberal political tradition -- a tradition that masques that it is a tradition. This move is a move from particular traditions to another, hegemonic tradition that presents itself as "wider, more inclusive, and generic." The supposedly particular traditions that one must leave behind make no claim on lives except in terms of "choice." This retraditioning makes adherence to another tradition "optional" -- anchored in the will rather than what is good, true, and beautiful. It is a painful, long instituted, institutionally constructed realignment that is necessary because of the demands of liberal democratic practice.

Continue reading "Emerging Adults Cultural World, Faith, and Congregational Involvement"

Posted by johnwright at 9:57 AM | Comments (3)
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It seems as if the disruptions downtown have played themselves out. I do not know exactly what happened, but those who were displaced from the library on Thursday night have been allowed to return to their homes -- although Tuesday night the numbers had been thinned about 1/2 to 2/3rds. I am awaiting contact from an officer of the "Homeless Outreach" unit to discuss the incident. It highlights the tenuous life of those whose home and neighborhoods are on the streets. We forget the stability that comes from the architectural feature of walls, doors, and roofs.

I do want to return daily to summaries of Souls in Transition. I think that it is an important work to understand ourselves, our world in North America, and some of the dynamics of Mid-City. I hope that the change of pace the next couple of days in much of our culture will allow you to follow and participate in the discussion. Today I focus on the first half of chapter 2 -- the new, socially constructed "developmental stage" of "emerging adults" -- age 18-29, or for Smith's study, 18-23.

Continue reading "Back to Souls in Transition"

Posted by johnwright at 8:21 AM | Comments (8)
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I really don't have much to report as far as advance. I hope to go downtown this evening and see what is going on. Supposedly several news organizations are looking into the story of the re-location program -- we should call it for what it is. I did hear last night that some had reoccupied the area around the library.

I received an email response from Amy Benjamin that spoke only that the City Attorneys had ruled that setting up tents was illegal "on public and private property" (I wonder if that includes backyards throughout the city?) and that the tent, holding 220 people will be open on Sunday. I did get this last night from my friend, London, who one can't help but like and who will soon be moving to Texas -- to my loss.

Continue reading "Updates from the re-location of those whose home is the sidewalk"

Posted by johnwright at 7:09 AM | Comments (2)
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I have an entry on Christian Smith already done and ready to post. As I checked my email this morning, however, my day quickly changed. It was from Gary, one of my friends from downtown, a man looking for employment, but unable to find it. He and London look out for each other underneath the overhang of the library. Here is his email to me:

As of Thursday November 19th the Library and Post Office have been "BANNED" for the homeless as far as sleeping. The SDPD has cleared most of the homeless out of the immediate downtown area. Only real groups of homeless now are down "A" Street and down by 16th and Market. Thought you should know so you can pass the word around.

Continue reading "Emergency Interruption on Christian Smith"

Posted by johnwright at 8:14 AM | Comments (3)
Filed under: Reflections

I finally finished the major chapter that will introduce the interviews that I conducted with George Lindbeck, David Burrell, and Stanley Hauerwas three years ago. As part of my research, I discovered that Christian Smith, a prominent sociologist, has a new book out to follow up his "Soul Searching" -- a sociological study of the theological convictions of American 13-17 year olds. This new book, published in September, is called Souls in Transitions: The Religious and Spiritual Lives on Emerging Adults. I have decided to blog the contents of the book and my responses in the next week, chapter by chapter.

Continue reading "Important Series: Souls in Transition"

Posted by johnwright at 9:26 AM | Comments (3)
Filed under: Reflections