[easyazon_image add_to_cart=”default” align=”left” asin=”0830841121″ cloaking=”default” height=”160″ localization=”default” locale=”US” nofollow=”default” new_window=”default” src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ELvQp36QL._SL160_.jpg” tag=”douloschristo-20″ width=”107″]Kindle[/easyazon_image]Page 2: Len Kageler – Youth Ministry in a Multifaith Society
In addition to these positives, there is also room for critique in portions of this volume. In the chapter on Nones and syncretists it draws upon a categorization used to understand the Nones, including “religiously indifferent,” “religiously disconnected,” and “irreligious.” Elizabeth Drescher has conducted some important research on the Nones, and she notes that while these labels do cover the outlooks for many of them, two things are lost in this categorization. First, she notes that religious/spiritual identity is not a fixed trait and that many people move across the boundaries of these categorizations at different life stages. Second, many who identify as Nones and claim no institutional religious affiliation actually maintain some kind of loose connection. In our recent email exchange in preparation for this interview she wrote that, “using categories of identity in a world of fluid identities isn’t particularly helpful overall.”
This chapter also includes a statistical table that addresses the “[p]ercentage of 13-17-year olds by Religious Tradition Who Left That Tradition and Became Nonreligious as 18- 23-year-olds,” with conservative Protestants coming in at 15%. Even with this mention, greater attention should have been drawn to this phenomenon in the text of the book. Every religious institution is challenged by late modernity, including Evangelicalism, with many, including youth, who are embracing the things wrapped up in an identity known as “The Nones.” Thus, this is not only a problem for “them,” it’s also a problem for us. We might be thinking as a religious subculture how to better recognize and respond to the rise of the Nones from our own congregations.
The chapter on theology in praxis also has its problems. At one point in describing the “traditional view” of youth ministry Kageler says that, “the historic view of the Christian church, is that the Bible pretty much means what it says” (98). But this self-evident meaning of the biblical text is not as literal or unambiguous as the author assumes, as the plethora of Protestant denominations and independent churches, not to mention the other branches of Christendom remind us. To say “the Bible pretty much means what it says” also involves a particular interpretation, and this volume would have been stronger with an awareness of this and more clarity in defining the “traditional view.”
Elsewhere in this chapter, Kageler explores “postmodern religious pluralism.” He defines the essence of “postmodernism as “the notion that beliefs are just that, and that absolute truth is illusory” (104). He then goes on to critique this, and includes an alleged representative of this way of thinking. He mentions Eboo Patel, founder of Interfaith Youth Core, and characterizes him as having a “postmodern view of faith” (105). However, this is an inaccurate. April Mendez, an Evangelical who has worked with IFYC for many years, states that Patel “does not hold a postmodern view of religion or interfaith cooperation.” Instead, she characterizes his views as “high modern,” and one “that both affirms particular faith identity and achieves pluralism.” Hageler acknowledges that Patel “seeks to unite youth of any or no religious belief for understanding and cooperation “(106), but this does not mean he rejects the significance of truth claims for religious adherents.
One final critique comes by way of the chapter on Christian engagement with other religions in terms of the sketch of the four types of encounter Jesus used as he shared the gospel of the Kingdom of God. While Kageler’s approach is a helpful introduction for consideration, it is very generic. A more specific focus would be to consider the example of Jesus in his encounters with Gentiles and Samaritans. Bob Robinson has explored this in his volume Jesus and the Religions, and the resulting theology and praxis of mutlifaith engagement in the way of Jesus would be very helpful in application to youth ministry.
This is a helpful book. Len Kageler has written a volume that should be read by youth workers who want to strengthen the religious identities of Evangelical youth, help them contribute to the common good in partnership with other faiths, and consider new ways to engage other youth with the gospel.
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John W. Morehead is the Custodian of the Evangelical Chapter of the Foundation for Religious Diplomacy and the Director of the Western Institute for Intercultural Studies. He is the editor of Beyond the Burning Times: A Pagan and Christian in Dialogue (Lion, 2009), and works in interreligious dialogue in the areas of Islam, Mormonism, and Paganism.
C. Christopher Smith is the founding editor of The Englewood Review of Books. He is also author of a number of books, including most recently How the Body of Christ Talks: Recovering the Practice of Conversation in the Church (Brazos Press, 2019). Connect with him online at: C-Christopher-Smith.com
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