In our second episode with Bishop Mark Edwards OMI, we explore the role of a missionary within a culture.

Matteo Ricci SJ provides the example of taking Christianity into China, where he offers us three key guides for this kind of mission: i) befriend the people, ii) disentangle faith from your own culture so that you can inculturate into the new culture, and iii) seek to be authentic to your faith and to the culture you are living in.

Plenty of thought-provoking questions in this one.

Reflection:

-How do I feel about living in the culture and times that I do?

-What do I understand the missionary task to be in today's world?

References:

-'A Catholic Modernity', Charles Taylor (https://ecommons.udayton.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=uscc_marianist_award)

-'A Catholic Modernity: 25 Years On', Charles Taylor (https://www.aup-online.com/content/journals/10.5117/NTT2021.3/4.009.TAYL)

-'Matteo Ricci, Missionary of Inculturation', Jesuits Communication Office (https://www.jesuits.global/2022/12/19/matteo-ricci-missionary-of-inculturation/) -'Matteo Ricci: Shaped by the Chinese', Nicolas Standaert (https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20100521_1.htm)

In this very special episode of Contemplating Culture, Bishop Mark Edwards from Wagga Wagga Diocese in regional New South Wales joins us as we review Part I: The Work of Reform.

We look at key learnings, themes that stick out to us, and try and hold together the overarching story of the road travelled with Charles Taylor to date.

Reflection:

-Why did I begin listening to this podcast?

-What episodes have stuck out to me so far? Why?

-email us at: contemplatingculture@gmail.com

References:

-A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (1-218)

In the conclusion of Part I: The Work of Reform, we spend some time reflecting on what the driving force behind history is. Is it ideas that provide the power for change (Idealism), or do the external factors and motivations lead the way and wait for the ideas to take shape around them (Materialism)?

Taylor concludes in The Spectre of Idealism that it is both.

As missionaries, it is not just the movements of society through history, but the history of individual lives that we are concerned with. In this episode we explore how these principles apply for the big personal shift through history of conversion.

References:

-Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (212-218)

Website:

https://sites.google.com/contemplatingculture

This week we look at one of the bequests of the shifting social imaginary: direct access society.

As things started to become more 'secular' (relating exclusively to ordinary time), the importance of higher times and therefore those that mediate to these higher times (priests, kings, etc) diminishes. What unfolds is the direct-access citizen-state, and the implications of this are huge.

We cover Taylor Swift, Jesus as a Saviour vs. Jesus as a friend, and a smattering of in-betweens.

Reflection:

-How does my own faith hold the tension of direct and mediated access to God?

References:

-Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (207-211)

Website:

https://sites.google.com/contemplatingculture

Why did the American Revolution hold where the French case failed? How can a society honour both individual freedom and the common good?

In this episode we explore these and other questions as we look at the notion of "The People" as a commonly held notion distinct from religion and politics. Elements such as agreed-upon traditional practices, unifying spearhead figures, underlying philosophy and theories, the understanding of freedom - all these elements of the "path" to creating a common sense of the people indeed impact the "outcome".

Reflection:

-How would I articulate to a friend how choosing to follow the structures of my faith are not an impingement on my freedom but a fulfilment of it?

-Spend time this week conversing with others about how they understand freedom, and how this interacts with the common good

References:

-Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (196-207)

-Sensus Fidei in the Life of the Church, International Theological Commission (2014): https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_cti_20140610_sensus-fidei_en.html

Website:

https://sites.google.com/contemplatingculture

In the second of three social imaginaries that we look at as mutations away from the religion/politics stronghold, we talk in this episode about the public sphere.

Charles Taylor guides us through the changing landscape of dialogue that comes with commercial print media in the 1800s, as a trans-location, inter-referring conversation opens up. And the speed and reach of this dialogue has only amplified with the internet. How is the common opinion formed? How are are personal opinions formed? Is something true just because we saw or read it somewhere? Are things in the digital realm as real as things in the tangible?

Reflection:

-What forces and fears are at work when I curate how I express myself in the digital realm?

-What am I doing to develop my own moral conscience and power for reasoned decision making?

References:

-Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (185-196)

Website:

https://sites.google.com/contemplatingculture

In this episode we look at the emergence of 'The Economy', an amoral object that we can talk about, the place where the happenings of society began to shift to. How did we get here, and what was it like before? The economy has truly taken root in the society of mutual benefit, where as Alexander Pope notes "true SELF-LOVE and SOCIAL are the same thing" (ASA, p 181.)

We look at the trifold Catholic Social Teaching principles of human dignity, solidarity, and subsidiarity as a starting point for returning morality to our engagements with the economy. Referring to the Church, Saint Pope John Paul II proclaimed: " Her moral vision in this area ‘rests on the threefold cornerstone of human dignity, solidarity and subsidiarity'… which aims to encourage governments, institutions and private organizations to shape a future consonant with the dignity of every person" (http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_22011999_ecclesia-in-america.html).

Reflection:

-What questions did this episode raise in me about how I am living and the costs of my engagement with the economy?

-Where can I find non-productive Sabbath in my week this week?

References:

-Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (176-185)

Website:

https://sites.google.com/contemplatingculture

In this episode we tackle the concept of the social imaginary, the believable reality held by a people. Understanding what a social imaginary is, and how it's held in place through things such as stories, images, law, and collective action, we are positioned for intentional response.

We highlight three areas of response that can be useful for missionaries: compassion for understanding someone else's reality and what is holding it in place, effective communication, and critical (outside the social imaginary) and creative (within the social imaginary) thinking.

Reflection

- What social imaginary experiences have I noticed in my life?

- How might I be called to grow in compassion, effective communication and/or critical or creative thinking in my sphere of influence?

References:

-Pages of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor: (171-176)

Website:

https://sites.google.com/contemplatingculture