Another Reason to Read A Secular Age

Another reason to read A Secular Age by Charles Taylor is the second chapter on the rise of a disciplinary society. Many sectors of the church today have been focusing on "practices" or "disciplines" because they are supposed to help us live faithfully by building habits. This chapter in Taylor charts the rise of the concept of disciplines historically and philosophically.

Confirmation Challenge

Confirmation Challenge
(Your Strengths Meet the Needs of the Neighbor)



Who: You, somebody who has given gifts by God, called by Christ, and empowered by the Spirit.
What: A faith-based project that matches your strengths to the needs of our community or congregation.
When: A minimum of 20 hours invested in a project that makes use of your strengths to love and serve your neighbor.
Where: At church, your neighborhood, school, or somewhere in God’s world.
Why: In order to practice living into your baptismal covenant.

You can use your project as the basis for writing yoru confirmation testimonial. You are encouraged to choose a Bible memory verse that is connected to your project.

Your parents, the pastor, and anyone affected by the project should sign off on it before you begin.

Answer the following questions to help you design your project:

1) What are the dependable strengths God has gifted me with in order to serve others? (review the Dependable Strengths activity you did this past year)



2) What’s a real need in our congregation or community that you could help with? (if you can’t identify a need, consider interviewing the pastor, school principal, or other community leader)



3) How does this project fulfill one of the promises I will make at my confirmation:
to live among God’s faithful people,
to hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s Supper,
to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed,
to serve all people, following the example of Jesus,
to strive for justice and peace in all the earth.




In the space below, write a brief description of your project. On the back of this paper, create a timeline for completion and write any other notes that will help you.

A Secular Age | The Reformation

Charles Taylor's A Secular Age is an important read for anyone who is interested in thinking through the meaning of the Reformation and its shaping of contemporary society in the West. I have never had my thinking on the historical import of that era re-framed to such an extent as through reading the opening chapter of the book, especially pages 60-90. I highly recommend it.

In the section he traces the decline of the "porous" self of the Middles Ages and the rise of a more stable, individual self in the modern period.

The price of entry is kind of high, it takes some time to get into his mode of thought, but taking your time and reading the volume slowly, even though it is long, is worth the effort because of how you think when you come out the other side. I often find this to be the case with long books. The entry fee is high but worth it for the pay-off.

In this case, I think in a completely new way about the idea of salvation by faith, magic, and the fear of death.

The Heidelberg Disputation

The Heidelberg Disputation

April 26th is the anniversary of the Heidelberg Disputation, 490 years ago. Read it here...