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Ministry in a Post‐Religious Society: Can we do it at All?
Author(s) -
McDade John
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
new blackfriars
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1741-2005
pISSN - 0028-4289
DOI - 10.1111/nbfr.12445
Subject(s) - doctrine , christian ministry , religiosity , beauty , sociology , religious belief , religious studies , environmental ethics , political science , law , epistemology , philosophy
This paper considers some of the issues relating to Christian ministry in a cultural world that thinks of itself as post‐religious. It builds upon some ideas of Simone Weil on forms of the implicit love of God (with particular attention to beauty and music), Karl Rahner's anthropology and the Christian doctrine of the creational relationship. It discusses the way Rousseau's bifurcation of religion into personal religiosity and a public civil religion is a template that the modern world seems to favour, making it difficult for Christian religion to find a place in liberal cultures of rights and tolerance. It ends by exploring Marilynne Robinson's suggestion that ‘people live profound lives’ and suggests that the virtues of hope and love might be signs of serious living in the absence of explicit religious belief.